by Cynthia Sax
Julian chuckled, amused by her dilemma and stimulated by her need. “Let me help.” He cupped her ass, easily lifting her slight weight, and he thrust her down upon him. Her ass smacked against his thighs, her pussy lips slapped against his base, and they moaned, her voice high and feminine, his low and masculine, their combined sounds of satisfaction filling the small room.
This is what he’d fought for, worked for, killed for. Julian drove his hips upward. Being inside Larissa was worth every sacrifice, worth everything he’d given up to secure her, worth more than he could promise. Her curves bounced against his muscle, and her hair rippled over his fingers, the tendrils silky soft.
While he’d killed to prove his worth, she had studied how to please him. Julian gazed upon her upturned face, her eyes glazed with passion. She had the brain of a businesswoman, her financial acumen valued by her father, the body of a dancer, her muscles long and lean, and the heart of a mate, generous and true.
The passion coiled tighter and tighter around them, Julian’s balls drawing up close to his body, his breathing quickening, his control frayed. He couldn’t last much longer, her embrace too snug and too right.
“Larissa?” He asked her permission to come. Her satisfaction danced too far away for them to quickly reach but if she wished to come first, he’d wait.
“Fill me, Julian.” She met his gaze, her eyes darkened to a rich brown velvet. “Fill me with your cum.”
“Larissa!” he roared, driving his hips upward, finding release, his satisfaction intense and true. He pumped his cum into her tight virginal pussy, baptizing her with his seed.
“You’re mine, Larissa.” He collapsed against her, burying his face between her breasts, his scent clinging to her skin. A calmness fell upon him, the rage inside him quenched by her embrace. In her arms, he’d finally found peace.
Chapter Four
Larissa slid her palm against Julian’s, linking her fingers with his, as they walked toward her father’s study, answering his summons. They’d showered and changed, Julian’s broad shoulders clad in a black suit jacket, his hair still wet.
“Psst…” Cyra hissed from the shadows. “Dad’s really angry.”
“We mean really angry,” Tempest emphasized, indulging in her flair for the dramatic. “He looked ready to kill someone.” The two half-sisters glanced at each other, and Larissa silently groaned, knowing what question was coming next. “Was it worth it?”
“Yeah, did you try it up the butt?” Cyra whispered, her blue eyes and porcelain doll face deceivingly innocent.
“Is he as big as the dildo?” Tempest added, her pale skin framed by a riot of red curls.
“I can hear you,” Julian mumbled, his face turning an interesting shade of red. “That’s private information, and we have bigger concerns right now.”
“Right. Private.” Cyra winked at Larissa. Tell us later, she mouthed and the women hurried off, laughing to themselves.
“They need to be claimed,” Julian remarked dryly.
“They wouldn’t argue with you about that.” Larissa squeezed his fingers. “Don’t worry about Dad. He always looks like he’s ready to kill someone. He’s a demon,” she reassured Julian.
“I should see him alone,” Julian repeated his earlier argument. “I was to kill Trajan discreetly. I bungled that task. This is my failure, and it is my responsibility to face Magnus.” His eyes glowed red, his rage demon shimmering dangerously close to the surface.
“You killed Trajan in public to protect me.” Larissa hugged Julian’s arm, attempting to soothe him. “And we’re a team now. We’ll see him together.”
Julian’s lips twisted. He pushed the doors open.
“Are you hiding behind my daughter now, Julian?” Magnus sat behind his huge desk, Bono and Valens flanking him, their expressions blank.
“You taught me to take responsibility for my actions.” Larissa lifted her chin, meeting her father’s purple gaze. “My actions caused this. If I hadn’t been on stage, Trajan wouldn’t have ripped my skirt off, and Julian wouldn’t have killed him in public.”
Her father’s eyes narrowed. “Trajan touched you?” Smoke curled around his nostrils. Larissa nodded, and her father raked his fingers through his hair. “Then his immediate death was warranted but that changes nothing. Trajan’s people don’t respect females as we do, and his son, Tetricus, is a hothead. He wants blood.”
Julian smiled, deadly intent in his eyes. “I can give him blood. My men and I will meet him.”
“You and your men will meet him, dragging our entire family into a war, endangering my daughter, your mate, my other daughters and their mates.” Magnus nodded at Valens and Bono. “Is that how you protect Larissa?”
Larissa opened her mouth to protest. Julian squeezed her hand, silencing her. “What do you propose we do?” he countered.
Her father’s face hardened, an indication that his proposal wouldn’t benefit the recipient. “Do you have men loyal to only you?”
“Of course.” Julian pressed his lips together.
The two men stared at each other, an understanding hanging between them. What understanding? And why would my father ask about loyalty? Larissa sucked in her breath. “You won’t denounce Julian.” She dropped Julian’s hand and stepped forward. “He deserves the protection of the family.” She folded her fingers into tight fists. “He was protecting me.”
Her father’s lips curled upward, respect gleaming in his purple eyes. “And he will continue to protect you. When I denounce Julian, claiming he acted as a rogue and I then deliver his whereabouts to Tetricus as a sign of my goodwill, you’ll be safe. You won’t be harmed.”
“That’s sending Julian on a suicide mission. Trajan’s organization is huge, rivaling our own. Without our resources, Julian will be killed. Is that what you’re proposing?” Larissa glanced over her shoulder. Julian nodded curtly, his expression grim yet accepting, her foolishly brave male.
“No, I won’t allow you to denounce him.” She moved to the right, standing protectively in front of Julian.
“You’d choose Julian over your half-sisters?” Her father glared at her. “Tetricus will go after every member of our family. He’s ruthless and bloodthirsty, without any sense of right or wrong, and if he has an opportunity to kill my daughters, he will. Would you have Tempest’s death, Cyra’s death on your conscience?”
I’m to choose between my family and Julian, the demon I love, a demon who’d voluntarily give up his life for me. Larissa glared back at her father, hating him for putting her in this position. “I won’t risk my sisters’ lives.” She stepped back and took Julian’s hand. “Nor will I abandon Julian; not now, not ever. I love him, he’s my mate, and if you denounce him, you denounce me.”
“Larissa, no.” Julian turned to her and caught her face between his big hands, forcing her to meet his gaze. His eyes glowed with a heartbreaking love. “Stay with your father,” he murmured, his voice soft. “He’ll protect you.”
“Protecting me is no longer my father’s job.” She willed him to understand. “It’s yours. And protecting you is my job. We’re a team now, a family, and families stick together.” She slid her gaze to her father. “My father taught me that.”
“I have to protect Cyra and Tempest,” her father rumbled. “A war hurts everyone. There are other demons as worthy as Julian.”
“There aren’t any other demons, not for me. I go with Julian.” Larissa lifted her chin proudly. “Should we leave now?”
Her father closed his eyes, his shoulders slumping, his handsome face reflecting his centuries of living. “No.” He waved his hand, dismissing them. “The morning will be early enough.”
* * *
The morning came too quickly.
Julian held Larissa as she slept, her cheek resting on his chest, her naked body draped over his, the small single bed giving him an excuse to lie beneath her. Her pink-and-white bedroom smelled of crushed rose petals and hot, scorching sex, much of the previous night spe
nt inside her, a lifetime of loving condensed into one day.
There wouldn’t be another day, not for them.
Julian sighed, gazing across the room. A massive white teddy bear clad in a ballerina’s powder-puff tutu glared at them disapprovingly from her perch on top of a dresser. Winning that bear had cost Julian an entire day’s wages, but it had been worth it. Larissa had gazed at him as though he were her hero.
I have to be her hero. Julian studied Larissa’s face, her countenance soothingly serene, her small, slender fingers pale and white and fragile against his tanned skin. I have to protect her.
He slid his body away from hers, his hard cock bobbing in protest. He wouldn’t live through this. He couldn’t ask his loyal males to face certain death, and Tetricus had too many males to face alone. But with his death, Larissa would be safe. She’d live.
“If you leave, I’ll follow you and I’ll be alone and unprotected.” Larissa opened her eyes, her gaze meeting his, her jaw jutted stubbornly. “I’ll die.”
“If you come with me, you’ll die. We’ll both die.” He knelt next to her, taking her hand in his. “Stay here so one of us will live.”
“A life without you isn’t living.” She pulled his hand, and he allowed her to guide him over her. His bigger body pressed her smaller form into the mattress. “And I want to live, Julian. I want all of those things you promised me.” Her mouth curved into a smile. “Let’s fly to Moscow and see the Bolshoi tonight. You promised to take me to see a ballet there, remember?”
“I remember.” Julian brushed his lips over the tip of her nose. He remembered everything. “I’ll drape you from head to toe in diamonds.” He settled between her welcoming thighs and her knees bent, cradling him.
“I’ll wear red silk, matching your eyes.” Larissa cupped his face, her fingers sinfully soft. “And you’ll wear your black tux.” She gasped as he pushed into her, his shaft engulfed with heat and moisture. “We’ll lose ourselves in the music, in the dance, and in each other.”
“Lose yourself now. Dance for me, angel.” Julian rocked. His chest dragged along her taut nipples, his hips brushed against hers, the slide of his cock in her pussy exquisite. “Love me with all you have.” She undulated under him, her body moving with a sensuous grace, her flexibility and strength awe-inspiring.
He followed her lead, matching her rising intensity, plunging into her deeper and deeper with a reckless abandon. This might be their only time, their last time, and he savored every touch, every caress, every emotion flickering in her expressive eyes. She gazed up at him with trust, with passion, with a love he’d kill to protect.
“Julian.” Larissa’s hips rolled in provocative circles as she ground into each hard thrust, the joining uniquely their own, her devotion to dance meshed with his warrior training, her creativity merging with his brute strength.
“No one dances as you do, Larissa.” Julian scattered kisses over her cheeks, her lips and her chin, as he fucked her fervently. The bed’s headboard slammed against the plaster walls, shaking the paintings of ballerinas, the pounding noise resembling the thump of a ballerina’s shoes on a stage.
Many times, he’d watched her dance and had been humbled by her grace and her joy. This morning, she danced for him alone, her movements free and happy, her face glowing as though love lit her from the inside. She was his. He dropped his head and sucked on the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder.
“Too much.” Larissa wrapped her arms around his torso, and dug her nails into his back, the pain exciting him. “Too good.” She panted, her breath ragged and quick, her breasts smacking against his chest, her nipples pointed and hard.
“Come for me, love.” Julian gritted his teeth as he labored over top of her, his balls clenched painfully, aching for release. Pictures fell from the walls. The windows rattled. The disapproving ballerina bear toppled from her perch, landing facedown on the carpet.
“Larissa,” Julian warned, his voice inhumanly deep. Smoke curled around his nostrils, his claws pressed against his skin, his demon bellowing to be freed.
“Julian,” she whimpered, arching and writhing under him.
“Come now,” he demanded, his control frayed. Can’t… last. Julian grimaced, his hands turning red. “Now, Larissa.” He nipped her neck.
She screamed, clenching down on his shaft with her pussy. Her body left the mattress, flying upward, and slapped against his, her curves bouncing off his muscles. As she fell, her pussy’s grip on his cock eased, loosening around him.
“Larissa!” Julian roared, releasing torrents of hot cum. He pushed deeper inside her, pinning her to the bed’s surface, bathing her with his seed and filling her with his scent, his essence.
He collapsed, lightheaded with bliss, flattening Larissa. She squeaked a protest and he rolled, taking her with him, forgetting about the small bed. They landed on the carpeted floor, his body breaking her fall.
“Fuck,” Julian groaned, the impact jarring his body, the ballerina teddy bear’s foot digging into his ass. “Remind me to ensure the hotel room in Moscow has a king-size bed.”
Larissa, his mate, the love of his eternal life, laughed.
Chapter Five
I’m leaving here forever. Larissa walked through the only home she’d ever known. She saw nobody, her father, sisters, and even the staff absent. The solitude made her good-byes even more difficult, the mansion a shell without its occupants.
Larissa held Julian’s big hand, afraid of their future, needing his strength. He rolled a large suitcase filled with weapons. She carried a small tote packed with a few essentials, having decided to buy any clothes she needed.
Julian squeezed her fingers. “If you’ve changed your mind --”
“I haven’t.” Larissa smiled up at him. “You’re not seeing the Bolshoi without me.” She clung to that last dream.
“Never.” He opened the front door for her.
Larissa took one last glance around her childhood home, and she stepped over the threshold into the sunshine. Hundreds of familiar faces turned toward them. She froze, unable to believe her eyes. She blinked rapidly. The sight didn’t change. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re coming with you, Miss Larissa, Mr. Julian.” Diorite and the rest of the mansion staff stood on the front lawn, suitcases on the grass beside them. Julian’s men, some of the roughest, toughest demons Larissa had ever met, waited with them, guns and swords slung over their shoulders.
Larissa easily spotted Bono in the crowd, the massive greed demon looming head and shoulders above the others. Where Bono was…
“Surprise!” Cyra grinned as she stepped out from behind her mate, waving her hands cheerily. “You are surprised, aren’t you?”
“Very.” Larissa met Julian’s gaze. He appeared as dumbfounded as she felt, his mouth hanging open. “How did you hear we were leaving?”
“Not from Valens.” Tempest stomped down the stairs behind them, her carryon suitcase bouncing. “He tells me nothing.”
Valens narrowed his icy blue eyes at his mate’s designer-suit-clad back and remained silent, balancing Tempest’s massive suitcase on the top step. All of them turned and looked at Bono.
Bono’s face reddened. “Cyra’s my mate. I tell her everything.”
“You tell everybody everything,” Valens grumbled as he sauntered down the stairs, lifting the suitcase easily, swords strapped to his back.
Julian cleared his throat, Larissa reading the emotion in his eyes. “I can’t allow you to risk your lives for us,” her gallant demon declared.
“No, but I can.” Her father filled the doorway, his head held high. “I am still head of this family, for a little while anyway.” His gaze settled on Julian, his purple eyes glinting with pride. “We’ll strategize from here as the mansion is central and well-guarded from attack.”
“We’ll? We’ll?” Julian spluttered. “You denounced me.” He met the older demon’s gaze.
“Did I?” Her father raised one of his bush
y eyebrows. “I don’t recall ever saying those words.”
Larissa stared. He hadn’t said the words. She squeezed Julian’s hand. He hadn’t denounced them. But why… “You were testing Julian.”
All of my worry was for nothing. Larissa was torn between anger and relief. We’ll live. With the family’s support, we’ll defeat Tetricus, and survive this.
Her father grinned. “I was testing both of you. Julian proved he’d do anything to protect you.” He surveyed the crowd. “And that our people would follow him, whether he wanted them to or not.” His gaze met Larissa’s. “And you proved how much you loved him. He needs a strong female by his side if he’s to lead our family.”
Lead our family. Larissa gazed up at Julian, her stomach fluttering with nerves and pride. My father has chosen him as the heir to his empire.
“Bonosus and Valens are as worthy as I am,” Julian protested, her demon always thinking of others.
“They have other destinies,” her father proclaimed. The two demons nodded, Bono grinning widely, Valens’s expression stoic and cold. “This family is everything to me, Julian, and you are the demon to lead our family after I’m gone.”
Julian met Larissa’s gaze, his jaw clenched, a sheen shrouding his brilliant red eyes, his hand gripping hers with a painful intensity as though he feared she’d be ripped from his side.
“You are the demon, Julian,” Larissa whispered soothingly, dropping her tote to rub one of his huge arms. His muscles flexed under her fingertips. “I believe in you and in us. We’re a team. We’ll lead this family together.”
“My decision is made. You can’t change it,” her father arrogantly declared. “Come inside, and we’ll discuss how we’re to deal with Tetricus.”
* * *
Four hours later, Larissa led Julian into the small dance studio, a room her father had added to the mansion decades ago specifically for her. She locked the door behind them, ensuring they wouldn’t be interrupted by her two nosy sisters.