85. Rafe
Chapter Eighty-Five
Rafe
T he photos will give me a chance to talk to her again and get her name. And apologize for how I behaved. I was demonic with her. Even from across the room, I can see fading bruises on both sides of her neck. Why didn’t she cover them?
As I close the distance, my primal instincts rise again. Mine! the demon roars, bucking against my control. Unable to resist touching her, I rest my hand on her hip and reach around from behind to show her one of the photos.
“Seems we left a permanent mark on the beach,” I say, the picture clear evidence of our night together, forever depicting how we came together.
She doesn’t startle or even tense at my touch, as if she were expecting it.
“Well would you look at that?” she says, leaning back as she looks down at the photo.
There is no regret in her, no fear. Just amusement.
Her presence relaxes me, soothing the part of me that constantly claws at my skin, the part that existed even before I became a demon.
Pursue. Chase.
What do you think I’m doing, demon?
My thumb rubs her hip, remembering the way my claws held her still as I took her, of the way every feral instinct I didn’t think I had, came roaring to life the moment I saw her.
I’d found a book about Pyrrhos in the resort’s library and spent the night studying it, trying to understand this sensation I feel around her.
Is it because I am a demon or because I am a Morningstar?
It can’t be the latter. This is the most me I’ve felt my entire life, even before I was tricked and used .
The book offered the barest overview of Pyrrhos, mainly focusing on how phoenixes thrive in extreme heat.
Rivers of lava move through their capital, and their homes and palaces are built from obsidian and brimstone.
But it was what I read after midnight, at the end of the book, that made my blood run cold.
Pyrrhos has maintained a close alliance with Hell.
Was that what this was? Some sort of trap set by Uncle Lu to get me to come quietly?
I am aware of how dangerous he is, but I see the side of him that no one else does.
The side that hates this role he is forced to play in the coming war.
I see the man who misses the brothers that hate him, even more than the ones who love him.
I’ve seen how my dad mourns the loss of him, even as he is duty-bound to fight against him, and now, I, too, can’t be in the same room as an angel without them going into an angelic avenging rage.
Even my own mother would be compelled to kill me.
Knowing all of this, it makes sense that Uncle Lu wants me in Hell.
It is angel-free, and I would be safe there.
I have no doubt there are other reasons as well, despite his claims of altruism.
“It was memorable,” I murmur. Fuck, her skin is even softer, and she smells even better than I remember. “You still haven’t told me your name.”
She tips her head to the side and looks up at me, her eyes roiling with those heady flames. She reaches up and grabs one of my horns, pulling my head down to bite my ear.
“Mira,” she whispers.
Her voice ignites something within me, the sound of her name pinging around my mind. Mira. She tightens her hold on my horn, slowly licking up the side of my neck. My eyes roll into the back of my head, and I moan, causing the person in front of us to turn and look.
So she’s definitely not mad at me for last night.
“He’s extremely single!” Alice shouts from across the restaurant. No doubt the three of them are watching us like weirdos. When I left Eden, I thought I’d be free of meddling siblings. Little did I realize.
Mira pulls back to peek around my shoulder at Summer, Alice, and the stranger watching us. I glare at Alice, but she just flashes two thumbs-up in my direction. Mira slowly releases my horn to give Alice a small wave.
“Now, ask her to marry you!” Alice shouts again, cupping her hands around her mouth to make sure the message is received .
Mira chuckles softly. “Fan club?”
“Worse,” I sigh. “My sisters.”
How quickly the two had fallen into that category of family. So quickly, they have become overbearing siblings I am protective of and would do anything for.
Her fiery brows furrow as she studies Summer and Alice. “A Fallen who has a vampire?.?.?. and some sort of unique fae as sisters?”
My body freezes, every muscle locking to bone, my nerves firing in warning. “What did you call me?”
Mira turns in my arms, tugging me out of line when she sees my expression, my sisters forgotten.
“A Fallen,” she says softly, her eyes flickering with flames.
Pyrrhos’s closest ally is Hell.
“How could you tell I’m not a Lilithim?” Only those who are well familiar with the inhabitants of Hell can tell the difference between the true Fallen and my cousins.
Those who were created by Uncle Lu and even his children with Aunt Lili.
But Fallen are strictly those who fell from Eden, and I am the first one in a thousand years. We are extremely rare.
“A couple of ways,” Mira says, sliding her hand over my shoulder and trailing her fingers down my arm, leaving a trail of fire in the wake of her touch. She brushes the scorch mark where my halo used to be. “You’re way hotter than any other demon I’ve ever met. And you’re a way better fuck.”
Pyrrhos is closely allied with Hell.
Closely allied with Hell.
With Hell.
“Was I?.?.?. just a comparison for you?” I hiss, my hand dropping from her waist.
Mira’s eyes flicker, scanning my hard face. “Come with me,” she says, taking my hand.
I nod, not trusting my voice, and Mira leads me back out to the beach, away from the permanent damage we left, to a more secluded area.
She pulls off her sundress, revealing a green bikini that showcases her lush curves.
She walks into the water and turns, beckoning me to follow.
I stare at her, doubts gnawing at me. My uncle is not a stupid man, and I would not put it past him to set this trap.
Has she been sent to force me into Hell?
Or am I just something new for her to fuck ?
Don’t care. Pursue.
The demon is nearly drooling, watching the water lap at her toned thighs. I’d be lying if it weren’t just echoing my own desires in my head. I sigh and reach back, pulling my shirt off over my head before wading in after her. Stopping a few feet away, I stare at her, warily keeping my distance.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she demands, propping her hands on her hips, the water around her heating.
“You said I fucked better than Lilithim. Is that why you went with me last night? Because I’m Fallen?”
Is it once again about what I am, not who I am? First angel, now Fallen?
Angel sperm and demon egg. Only good because of what I am. A prisoner tricked into a deal.
“I didn’t know you were Fallen until after we fucked,” she says, glancing at my wrist again, the water around her cooling.
My anger eases as well, some of the past leaking off me, absorbed by the lapping waves.
Now that I think about it, I was wearing long sleeves until she burned my shirt off, so she couldn’t have known.
The only true mark of a Fallen is the black ring around our wrists that marks our burned halos.
“Then why did you go with me?” Why did you think I was worthy? What did you see in me that I can’t see in myself?
She steps closer until I can feel the heat coming off her, but she doesn’t touch me. “Because I was attracted to you. Very.”
That can’t be everything. There has to be a reason.
“Do you know many demons?” I ask, trying to read her and failing miserably.
“Of course I do,” she answers, her brows furrowed.
Closely allied with Hell.
“So you’ve slept with a lot of them?” I wince as the words come out of my mouth.
Mira’s lip curls back, and she crosses her arms. “And if I have, are you planning to shame me for it?”
“I?.?.?. No!” I stumble. “No, it’s not that. I don’t care. It’s your business.”
“Then why ask?” she hisses, but her arms lower.
I rub the back of my neck. “I’m not just a Fallen,” I admit, and she blinks again, looking at my wrist in confusion. “I’m the heir .”
Shit, I shouldn’t have said that .
“I feel like I’m missing something,” she says, the water heating around her again. “But I don’t have the time or the patience for this back-and-forth bullshit.”
“My uncle really wants me there,” I say, by way of explanation, though that is severely understating the situation.
“Well, tell him I said hello,” she snaps, stomping past me toward the beach, leaving a swathe of nearly boiling water in her wake. The demon revels in the warmth, easily reminded of Hell and how clean I felt during the Fall. No, she can’t leave yet.
“You’re not going to convince me?” I ask, grabbing her wrist before she gets out of reach.
Her eyes flash, the water steaming as she looks back at me. “Convince you of what?” The embers in her eyes flicker with anger, but there is also a glimmer of confusion.
“I’ve never?.?.?. Last night?.?.?. I’ve never experienced anything like that?.?.?. done anything like that,” I say, shame flushing up my neck. My eyes drift away from hers, mortified to admit the truth.
“Fucked a random phoenix in the sand?” she asks, her wrist growing hot under my fingers, and the ends of her hair sparking.
“Consented.” The word slips out. Fuck. “Never mind,” I say, dropping her wrist and turning away, staring out at the water. Prisoner. Stud horse. A child.
She’s quiet, and I can’t bear to look at her and see the pity. She steps in front of me and reaches up to cup my cheek. “What do you want now, Rafe?” she whispers.
I close my eyes and lean into her touch. “I like this. Your touch.”
It eases the demon. With such a simple gesture, he seems content, satiated, and warm.
“If I’d ?known, I’d have taken it slower.”
My eyes open, her words touching on something I didn’t even know was there. She wouldn’t have stopped. She would have just gone slower because she doesn’t consider me broken. Maybe I could live inside her eyes, a place where I don’t need fixing.
“I didn’t want slower,” I say, covering her hand on my cheek. “It helped. I know that’s stupid.”
“Can I help now?” she whispers, moving closer to me, and I slide my other hand around her waist .
“Did you mean what you said earlier about it being good?” I ask, the vulnerability I’m feeling forcing the words from me.
“Best of my life.”
I pull her close, fitting her soft curves against me. “I can’t tell if people are lying anymore.”
The taste of truth is gone, ripped from my mouth when I fell.
“What would I gain from lying, demon?”
“I don’t know,” I say, brushing her hair back from her face.
She wraps her arms around my neck again, leaning against me. “There would be nothing to gain.”
But lying isn’t always about gain. Some lie for pleasure, for power, for fun.
“I fell?.?.?. recently,” I whisper. “So I’m still a bit of a mess.”
She smiles up at me. “All the best people are.”