by Eden Winters
Vik ran his hands everywhere, reacquainting himself with Diomede’s body, while Diomede mapped out his skin with sure fingertips.
Mouth to mouth, groin to groin.
“Sire!”
Without sparing a glance, Vik shoved out his hand and banished the pesky fire minion to level seven. “Now where were we?”
He tossed Diomede onto his back to the floor. Like years past, the master of glamour conjured a cushiony bed. Oh yeah. Much better than jagged rocks.
Vik knelt, lifted Diomede bodily by the hips, applied his tongue to the base of the demon’s tail, and licked. And licked. And licked. From tail to tip.
Diomede groaned, squeezing his hands into fists, and shoving his hooves against the mattress he’d created. “Home, Vik! How I missed you.” He curled up, grabbed Vik by the horns, and brought him down for a kiss.
Hot. Demanding. Oh, yeah.
Vik snapped his fingers. Nothing happened.
“Allow me.” Diomede repeated the move and was rewarded by a tube of Really Fucking Hot lube, the only lube guaranteed not to burst into flames at 400 degrees.
Their favorite.
Watching Diomede apply a generous coating to his hole might have raised the temperature to 500 degrees. “Get me much hotter, that lube’s going up in flames.”
Diomede showed every inch of his fangs with his grin. “Burn, baby, burn.”
Staring into his lover’s eyes, he laid Diomede back, positioned himself, and slid home.
Home.
Diomede slipped his tail up Vik’s thigh, up higher, higher still, and…
Damnation!
Vik howled, his shrieks joined by the voice of another.
By Diomede. The way it was meant to be.
They had decades to catch up on.
Epilogue
“Okay, I admit it,” the Big Fucking Deal of the Sixth Level said. “They’re perfect together and our entire universe didn’t collapse because we called a truce. Happy now?”
The Terror of Level Five smiled. “Not yet. You know, Anna, you could have saved us all a lot of grief by admitting I was right centuries ago.”
“You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?”
“No. And what about all your dire predictions of electricity, the telephone, and space flight ending the world as we know it?”
Anna sighed. “Yeah, yeah, yadda, yadda.”
The throne room swayed. The gathered demons and fire minions clung to stalagmites to stay upright.
“Oh, dear.” Anna extended her throne to allow her guest room beside her. The demoness could’ve claimed her whole realm. Anna could be courteous.
Just this once.
A minion wobbled his way toward the throne. “What is it?” she asked.
The minion swayed unsteadily. “I tried to deliver your message, but he banished me!” the being wailed.
Chandra tutted. “Demons will be demons. Especially those two. Let them have their fun.”
Their fun, and a lot of explaining to do to the media, should they get wind of the true cause of widespread thunderstorms, tsunamis, and avalanches. “I suppose we’ll have a new volcano rising from the ocean tomorrow, or some such.”
“Definitely, I’m certain of it.” Chandra gave a coy smile. “Which might not be a totally bad thing.”
“How so?” With Vik claiming Diomede for his mate, the world might never be the same again.
“Their passion could be so useful to us.” Anna’s former rival examined a talon. “You do realize what kind of power we could have if we worked together and used their harnessed energy, right?”
“What kind of power? It’s just a wedding we need to plan, since we don’t appear to be at war anymore.”
“After that. Think big, as in ‘nothing is quite out of our reach.’”
Oh? Oh! The demonic rulers beamed at each other and chorused, “Granddemons!”
Anna sobered. “Really? We can do that? But which of our sons will carry them?”
“Ever play the human game ‘Paper, Scissors, Rock?’”
“Paper, scissors, rock!” they both screamed.
“Oh dear.” Anna glanced from her hands to Chandra’s. “Looks like we both lost.”
With a grin sure to grace dictionary pages under “conniving”, Chandra replied, “Or we both won.”
To be continued, mwa-ha-ha-ha…
Trademarks
Playstation: Sony Computer Entertainment
Grand Theft Auto: Rockstar Games, Capcom
Popsicle: Unilever
Waffle House: Waffle House, Inc.
Victoria’s Secret: L Brands
Sports Illustrated: Time Inc (Time Warner)
Mack Trucks: AB Volvo
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Dante’s Cove
You will know Eden Winters by her distinctive white plumage and exuberant cry of “Hey, y’all!” in a Southern US drawl so thick it renders even the simplest of words unrecognizable. Watch out, she hugs!
Driven by insatiable curiosity, she possibly holds the world’s record for curriculum changes to the point that she’s never quite earned a degree but is a force to be reckoned with at Trivial Pursuit.
She’s trudged down hallways with police detectives, learned to disarm knife-wielding bad guys, and witnessed the correct way to blow doors off buildings. Her e-mail contains various snippets of forensic wisdom, such as “What would a dead body left in a Mexican drug tunnel look like after six months?” In the process of her adventures she has written fourteen m/m romance novels, has won several Rainbow Awards, was a Lambda Awards Finalist, and lives in terror of authorities showing up at her door to question her Internet searches. When not putting characters in dangerous situations she’s a mild-mannered business executive, mother, grandmother, vegetarian, and PFLAG activist.
Her natural habitats are airports, coffee shops, and on the backs of motorcycles.
Keep up with Eden and Rocky Ridge Books by joining the newsletter.
edenwinters.com
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Also by Eden Winters
A Bear Walks Into a Bar
Meet Sawyer, Dillon, Brad, and the other shifters of Ballantine Mountain in their first sexy adventure, bringing order to Ballantine Mountain.
Two Bears and a Baby
Hibernation may be over for Sawyer and Dillon, but Mother Nature has a surprise for them. Are they really the last bears on Ballantine Mountain?
Naked Tails
Dr. Dusty Livingston has a passel of cranky possums who need a leader: can whoops-I’m-a-shifter? Seth step up to the pump?
Galen and the Forest Lord
Lord Erik may not be the sharpest sword in the scabbard, but when destiny raps him on the nose with Galen Olaf-kin and an outcast child, it’s time to fulfill a prophecy.
Find out what’s next from Eden and Rocky Ridge Books by joining the newsletter.