Chapter Nine #3
Last time we’d had sex, Onyx had pulled away almost immediately and went over to the washbasin on the other side of the room. Not looking at me. Not saying a single word except for when he told me to leave.
Now that he’d gotten his rocks off, would he do that again? Revert to denying our bond and trying to keep me at a distance?
“What are you thinking?” He smoothed his hand along my spine.
“Just wondering what happens next.” I pushed my face against his shoulder, hiding in the volley of his silky hair. The strands held traces of woodsmoke, as though he’d been standing beside a bonfire on a cool autumn night.
Onyx didn’t let me hide for long. He took hold of my chin and tipped my face up to meet his stare. “I’m incapable of staying away from you. Now more than ever. Whether that be because of the intensity of our fated bond or my sheer depraved selfishness, I haven’t an answer.”
“How does it make you selfish?” I asked. “I thought you didn’t want to be with me. So, technically, I’m the selfish one for letting it get this far.”
“You are far from selfish.” Onyx traced the edge of my jaw. “There’s truly not a wicked place inside you, is there? So unlike the one before you.”
The one before me.
Saint Vera.
“Does this mean you’re no longer suspicious of me and my saintly powers?” I asked, hopeful. “Or am I still a rotten snake in the grass?”
“Once again, I never said you were rotten.” His mouth slanted into a smile.
A smile that kick-started a round of flutters in my chest. Damn him.
“Perhaps I’m the rotten one.” Onyx rested against the headboard and gently shifted me off his lap. But he didn’t get out of bed or put any distance between us. Instead, he brought me against his side and draped the sheet over us. “Marring your skin as I did.”
“Are you talking about all these hickeys and bite marks?” I asked before yawning, feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion come over me. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you nipping at me.”
A soft laugh rumbled in his chest, low and musical. “You should rest.”
“But I’m not tired,” I lied, my eyes already threatening to close. Like weights hung off my lids. “Draven and Reign are leaving later tonight. I want to make them a special dinner before they go. That takes time, you know. Lots of prep.”
“I’ll be sure to wake you before then.” Onyx tucked in the sheet more around me. “I’ll also inform your mates where you fluttered off to. I’m sure they’ll be searching for you soon.”
“You’re one of my mates too.” I smiled at him just before my eyes lost the battle and finally closed. “Even if you deny it.”
He pressed his lips to the edge of my brow, letting them linger there. “I’m no longer capable of denying you, little bird.”
“Promise?” I felt myself sink deeper into relaxation, on the verge of falling asleep. “No more pushing me away.”
“I give you my word,” Onyx responded, resting his head on mine. Then, softer, he added, “Even if it damns us both.”
***
The loud pop of a log settling in the hearth woke me with a start.
Drool seeped from one corner of my mouth, and I wiped at it, confused. Having been sleeping so hard, the sudden jolt into the world of the living took my sleep-muddled brain time to function properly. I didn’t know where I was, who I was, or what was happening.
Reality slowly returned, bringing much-needed clarity.
Location: the demon lord’s bed.
But said bed was empty apart from me.
I sat up, wincing at the familiar ache in my muscles that came after one hell of a fuck-fest, and surveyed the room.
I seemed to be alone. The lit hearth crackled, the fire providing a cozy atmosphere.
A half-empty wine glass sat on the table in front of it, along with a book opened face down.
Seemed that while I’d slept, Onyx had sat and read.
Where was he now though?
Candles flickered low, having burned nearly down to the base, and fading daylight filtered in from the tall windows. The curtains had been pulled shut on the window closest to me, allowing the bed to stay shaded. Had Onyx closed them so the light wouldn’t bother me?
I smiled. For someone who claimed to be this wicked, selfish person, his actions said the opposite.
A distant murmur of male voices reached my ears. Sounded like it was coming from outside the door. Curious, I gathered the sheet around me and slid out of bed, tiptoeing down the steps leading from the sleeping quarters, past the seating area and hearth, and toward the door.
Eavesdropper Muffin was back in business. I crept closer to the door and placed my ear against the wood. It was quiet at first. Maybe I was too late and whoever it was had already left.
But just as I was getting ready to open the door and check the hall, a voice snapped from the other side.
“I demand you let me see him, demon.”
My insides stilled. I would recognize that deep, snarling tone anywhere. Given the fading daylight, I assumed Maddox had finished training and then sought me out like he always did. Only to learn I was with the lord of the castle.
“And I’ve already told you that he’s resting,” Onyx coolly responded.
“How do I know he’s still in one piece?” Maddox asked. I could imagine the expression he was making—brow furrowed, jaw tight, and blue eyes lethal. “That you haven’t harmed him?”
“Must you be so absurd?” Onyx said, a trace of emotion bleeding into his cold tone. “Or have you forgotten that you and I both share a bond with him? You aren’t his only fated mate, Captain.”
Despite the unease trickling through my veins like ice over the two of them, once again, at each other’s throats, Onyx’s words made my stomach flutter. An admission that I was his mate.
Silence followed his words.
I pressed closer to the door, resting a hand on it. Part of me wanted to throw it open and take them both into my arms. But the other part felt guilty for eavesdropping on them and didn’t want to make things awkward.
“Forgive my ill temper,” Maddox said, surprising me so much I nearly fell against the door.
“When Evan told us the two of you were bound by fate, I raged against the idea of you joining us. I didn’t trust you.
Yet, I trust Evan. From the day we arrived here, he’s insisted that you weren’t the beast we all believed you to be.
He saw something in you none of us did.”
“And what do you believe, Captain? What do you see?”
“A male who yearns for him just as deeply as the rest of us,” Maddox answered, losing his ire from earlier. “While I may still have my doubts in regard to your true intentions, I trust that you want what’s best for him.”
“What’s best for him might not be what he’s willing to accept,” Onyx responded. “He calls you and I stubborn yet fails to see that he also possesses that same stubbornness.”
Maddox surprised me by laughing under his breath. “A thing you and I can agree on. When Evan sets his mind on something, there’s no swaying him otherwise.”
“His pursuit of me being one example,” Onyx added in a lighter tone.
Were they… bonding? Trust was slowly forming between my men and Onyx. While they still had a long way to go, things were getting better day by day.
Not wanting to push my luck by hanging around longer and risk getting caught eavesdropping, I decided it was best to just slowly creep away and pretend I hadn’t heard anything.
Or… that had been the plan anyway.
I turned and only got three steps away from the door before my foot got tangled in the bottom of the sheet, and I tripped, crashing to the floor like I really was a sack of potatoes.
Shit.
The door swung open instantly—much to my horror. I hadn’t had time to cover up first. When I’d fallen, the sheet had twisted away from my lower half, leaving my ass exposed and in the air. Exposed… and the first thing that greeted the two males that rushed into the room.
Just kill me now.