Chapter 28 #3
“Gaelan, Maddie.” Ivy comes over. “Percy and I will stay at the hotel tonight; you should be alone to celebrate your engagement.”
I open my mouth to speak, but Percy cuts me off. “Don’t be ridiculous, Ivy. Tonight is for family, we should all be together.” Holding back my growl, I slap him hard on the back.
“I will have the best room in the hotel ready for you.”
“You can use the car, Percy,” Maddie tells him, as she raises an eyebrow at him, daring him to talk to her like he does her mother.
I hide my grin; if he’s not careful, my Rose is going to turn him into stone without blinking an eye.
Percy grumbles, then pulls out his cigar and walks outside to light it.
Maddie rolls her eyes. “Mom, don’t let him speak to you like that; it makes me so mad when he does.”
Ivy kisses her daughter’s cheek. “He is a good man; he just has his moments.”
Maddie’s eyes lock with her father's, and I know her heart is breaking for him. “You had a good man, Mom.” She picks up her bag. “Ladies’ room, I’ll be back.” She kisses my cheek and walks toward the back of the restaurant.
“Percy means no harm,” Ivy says. I’m not sure who she’s trying to convince of this, us or herself. “I will go and check on him.” She walks off, leaving David and me.
“I could make him disappear if you wanted. No one would ever find his body,” I say, causing David to laugh.
“Son, as much as that would be ideal, Ivy loves him. I want that woman to be happy. Even if it’s not with me.”
“You are a good man, David. Better than most.” I pat him on the back.
“Dinner is on me tonight, Gaelan, it’s the least I can do for making my baby girl happy.”
He walks over to the desk to pay just as Maddie comes out of the bathroom.
She presses something into my hand and leans up to whisper, “For you… until we get home.” She kisses my cheek before walking back over to her dad.
I look down, and my eyes flash bright blue when I see her soaked panties in my hand.
I want to bring them to my nose to sniff them, but that will lead me to wanting to bury my face in her pussy.
I have to wait until we get home for that.
Turning toward her, I growl when I see the smile she’s aiming at me.
Fuck she knows how to get me going, how to tease the fuck out of me.
She will pay for that when we get home.
We didn’t stay long at the restaurant after David paid the bill; we had some champagne and a toast to our marriage.
Ivy set a few dates for wedding dress shopping and parties with Maddie.
Soon after that, the car came for Ivy and Percy, but David decided to take a cab.
Which left Maddie and me to shimmer home.
I do my regular checks of the house; Rex lies by the front door.
He’s still a young Hellhound, but even at his age, he’s loyal to Maddie and a deadly killer.
I pat his head and give him the hand I’d been saving for him.
For some reason, he loves the fingers; maybe it’s because he can chew on the smaller bones.
I head up the stairs and into our bedroom.
“Rose?”
“In the bathroom, baby.”
I undo my tie and the top button of my shirt, shrugging my jacket off, I throw it onto the bed and walk into the bathroom.
Maddie is standing in front of the mirror in a tight red teddy; her hair is pulled up high on her head in a ponytail.
I let my eyes run over every curve of her body, right down to her round ass.
My eyes flash bright blue as I step forward, pressing the front of my body against her back, letting her feel how hard I am for her.
Her eyes lock with mine in the mirror, making me grin, and I lower my head to kiss down her neck, my eyes never leaving hers.
“I love you.” I nip at her neck.
“I love you more.”
I lick the sting of my bite away before moving to bite her again. “Are you happy, my Rose?”
She moans and nods her head.
“I want to hear you say it, Maddie. Are you happy?”
She glares at me in the mirror, making me chuckle darkly. My next bite is a little harder, a little punishment for being a brat. My hands run down her side to her thighs, my fingers hook into the hem of the teddy, and I slowly start to drag it up.
“I’m happy, Gaelan… Oh god.”
“Wrong, lord, Maddie,” I growl and spank her left ass cheek hard, making her whimper.
A light growling sound echoes in my ear, but I pay it no mind when Maddie rolls her head back and wiggles her ass against my hard cock.
It’s screaming to be let out, but I want to take my time tonight, loving my Rose.
The growl is getting louder and closer, still not thinking about it, I move one hand to her pussy and run one finger along her soaked lips, we both moan at the feel of it. “Fuck Maddie, so wet for me.”
A loud crash, a howl, and then whining echoes through the bathroom, making both Maddie and me freeze; her amber eyes blaze to match my blue ones. “If Rex has decided to start play-fighting with the other hounds again, I’m going to castrate him myself.”
Maddie laughs. “He loves to play; he’s still young.
” She turns to me, leans up, and presses a kiss to my lips.
“Hurry, I’ll be waiting for you in bed.” She turns and walks into the bedroom.
I almost don’t bother going to see what the noise was, but last time Rex decided to play fight, and we lost the whole side of our house.
Walking into the bedroom, my steps falter when I see Maddie spread out on the bed, watching me, licking her lips. “Hurry, Gaelan.”
“Fuck.”
I don’t bother walking; I shimmer down to the front door—it’s quicker.
“Rex?” I shout, annoyed. I hear that low warning growl again, and the back of my neck tingles with something I don’t like.
Shimmering my twin blades into my hands, I slowly make my way toward the living room.
The lights are out, but I can make out one set of large red eyes —eyes that belong to a Hell-hound, but he’s not one of mine.
Fisting my daggers in my hands, the hound lunges forward but is taken out from the side as Rex comes out of nowhere and grabs ahold of his neck in his mouth.
Both hounds go crashing through the wall, Rex whimpers, and blood splashes over my chest. Lifting my hand, I go to throw my dagger, but stop when Maddie screams upstairs.
It pierces through my body and rips my heart in half.
“Not again,” I whisper as I shimmer to our bedroom.
“Maddie?” I yell out, she’s gone from the bed, and there’s blood all over the sheets and walls.
Fear rushes through my body, making it hard to breathe.
“Maddie?” I yell again, checking the bathroom, the closet, then rushing into the hall, searching the other bedrooms. “Maddie!” She can’t have been taken, not yet.
My feet are moving on their own., I’ve done this so many times now that my body is on autopilot, hoping I can find her before they hurt her, hoping I can save her.
The thought of losing her again is so fucking painful, my heart is already breaking. I run down the stairs and come to a stop when I see the front door now open and Maddie crawling on her hands and knees into the hallway, a blood trail behind her. “Maddie?”
She looks up at me and shakes her head when I move to take a step forward. Abaddon steps into view and places his foot on her back, pushing her to the ground. I try to move forward, but my body is frozen in place—I can’t move. Fuck, why can’t I move?
“I’m sorry, Gaelan,” Maddie sobs, making me frown.
I can feel a tingle of magic in the air, which makes me look up.
Above my head is a daemon trap, painted in gold.
It’s gold because it’s the Book Readers' magic, a spell My Rose cast on the house. Hearing a dark chuckle, I watch myself walk toward us. It’s a trick; they have tricked her into this.
“You know…” The body of my look-alike starts to shift.
Macy’s green and black hair comes into view before her body begins to take over.
“…when she thought you were in danger, she was quick to protect you; it’s a shame that it also bound you.
” She comes over and waves her hand in front of me as if she’s feeling the barrier between us.
“I have to be careful I don’t get trapped in there with you. ” She mocks.
My hands are at my sides, and I can’t move. The spell is too powerful, but if I could, I would rip her fucking head off with my teeth. “I will find you and make you pay for this.”
“You need a new line, Gaelan; that one is thousands of years old, it’s boring now.” Macy deadpans.
My eyes flash darker. “When I find a way, and I will, I’m going to kill you cunt.”
Macy tsks at me. “That is no way to treat a lady.” She walks over to Maddie and crouches down next to her. “Gaelan is going to have a tough choice to make here; either stay here and watch you die or go back to save his little village. I wonder which one he will pick?” Macy muses.
Maddie whimpers as a raw growl is ripped from my body. I fight in the hold the daemon trap has me in, but it pulls at my muscles, gripping around me tighter.
Macy stands up and smiles over at me. “Enjoy the show.” She winks and is gone.
Abaddon lifts his foot from Maddie’s back and steps back, as a daemon I’ve never seen before, walks into the house and grins at me. “Paid a pretty penny for this, bonus you get to watch,” he sneers.
I narrow my eyes at him, my voice lethal. “Touch her and I will rip your fucking heart out.”
He laughs at me, then pulls his cock out of his pants. “Try it, Dream Daemon, from where I’m standing, it looks like you can’t do shit.”
He lowers and straddles Maddie’s back, her eyes locking with mine in panic as she whispers, “I’m sorry.”
Tears fill my eyes in anger and frustration, my body shaking as I try to fight the hold on me. I don’t care if it rips me apart, I just need a second to save her, just one second to rip these daemons in half.
She whispers again, “I’m sorry.” It takes me a moment to realize she has the cuffs on—the cuffs that she’d made centuries ago to bind magic.
They were stolen, and now I know who had them.
Maddie cries out in pain and starts to sob as the daemon thrusts his cock into her ass.
My nostrils flare, and my chest starts to heave in a mix of pain and anger.
“Rose?” Her name on my lips is a silent prayer to the gods of hell that they stop this.
She closes her eyes for a moment before she snaps them open and finds mine.
The daemon is now lying on her back, grunting and thrusting into her faster.
The sound of his body slapping against her makes me grit my teeth so hard, I’m surprised my jaw hasn’t shattered.
I’m going to cut this piece of shit apart when I get hold of him.
He moves his hand to her neck and squeezes tightly, cutting off her air, her mouth opening in a silent scream.
“Let her go!” I shout, my voice unrecognizable. Maddie is still sobbing silently, and it breaks my heart further knowing I’m unable to help her, helpless to just watch.
The daemons’ thrusts get even faster, and I can hear him panting from the effort. He slams into her a few more times before grunting one last time, freezing in place as he fills her with his cum.
“Fuck, that was better than I thought.” He slaps her ass, then pulls his dripping cock out of her. As he moves to stand up, he grins at me. “Felt like I was the first one to take her ass.”
I say nothing to him; all words have left my body, only anger and pain are gone; he was the first. She wasn’t ready for that yet, so we were waiting. He turns and kicks her in her side before he shimmers away.
Abaddon laughs as he steps forward. The asshole has been standing, leaning against the wall, playing with his knife, watching the whole time.
“I love my job sometimes; I get to shit all over wasted daemons like you and this bitch.” He crouches down and pulls Maddie’s head up by her hair and spits in her face.
I struggle against the invisible bonds that are holding me, and I can now lift my hands to bang on the wards—the spell is getting weaker, which means that Maddie is getting weaker.
Abaddon drops her head to the ground, then kicks her side to roll her over. “See you around, Gaelan.” With that, he shimmers away. My eyes frantically search Maddie’s body for a wound—there’s blood on her stomach; they sliced her open.
“Maddie, my Rose… hold on.” She says nothing, but I can see her chest moving—she’s alive, barely. “Maddie, I’m coming. Hold on just a little bit longer.” The spell breaks a little more, allowing me to drop to my knees. I lie down so I’m at her eye level, her face still facing me.
“Maddie?”
Her eyes open for a second, she smiles lightly at me, then the spell drops fully, and I’m released. “Maddie?” I scramble over to her on my knees and pull her into my arms. “Baby? My Rose?”
My hand lifts to wipe the spit from her face and her hair so I can look into her eyes; they’re not glowing anymore, they’re just staring off into space, a space that I’m not in. “No, no, no, no.”
I scream, and the windows in the house burst out of their frames, shattering from the force of it and my pain—I’ve lost her again. “We didn’t have enough time, Maddie. I wanted to show you so much.” I lower my head as I bring her to my chest, rocking her as I sob.
I don’t know how long I stayed with her in my arms, suns and moons came and went, but I refused to let her go.
“Gaelan?” Ari’s soft voice pulls me out of my memory, the air in my lungs rushing in and out fast as I try to push past the pain I feel caging my heart.
Ari lifts her hand; her soft fingers wipe the tears I didn’t know were escaping my eyes. “Are you okay?” She asks me, her voice so full of concern.
Not trusting myself to speak without my voice cracking with my remembered devastation, I lower as I pull her onto my lap and place my lips hard to her, kissing her deeply with all the love I have for her. She gasps against my mouth, allowing me to slip my tongue into her mouth. Kissing her harder.
She is back; I pray to all the gods in heaven and hell that I don’t have to live through losing her again.
Each time I lose a little of myself, I start to wonder how much I have left inside.