The wild ferocity of the night matched my mood as waves of thunder punched the air in rapid succession. I took a steadying breath to try calming the need to destroy that continued to race through my veins and rose to my feet.
Already working to repair themselves, my healing ribs snapped into place. I turned back to the house to find Wren standing in the doorway with her knife in hand. I doubted much unsettled Wren, but as I stalked toward her, she edged away from the door, and me.
“Are you okay?” I demanded as I climbed the stairs toward her.
“I’m… I’m fine,” she stammered. “What about you? That thing, it—”
“It’s dead.”
I shoved some of the partially digested remains that had spilled from the macharah, out the door with my foot. Grabbing the door handle, I lifted the door and settled it into place to close it again.
“Do you think there’s more of them out there?” she whispered.
“No. They usually hunt solo, and they would have scared off any other demons or seal creatures close by.”
“Good.”
“We have to go. There may not be any more threats nearby, but this place has been compromised.”
“I know somewhere else we can go,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”
She spun away from me and ran into the living room. I watched as she snatched a cushion from the couch, sliced it with her knife and yanked the cover off. Stuffing the cover under her arm, she raced into the kitchen and flung open the cabinet doors.
She shoved the food and water into the cover, blew out the candles, and dumped them in too. She dropped the box of matches into one of her empty jars, recapped it, and shoved it into her makeshift bag.
I took the cushion from her when she returned to the doorway. When I stepped aside, she slid by me and out the door. The wind whipped her hair around her as she ran over to the terracotta plant, lifted it, and shattered it off the porch. Lifting a piece of broken pot, she slashed lines across the numbers before dropping it. She returned to the broken door and shoved it further open, making it clear that this place was no longer safe.
She didn’t protest when I took her hand and led her into the storm. Her eyes scanned the surrounding homes as we raced down the road. Water splashed up around us as we ran, plastering our clothes to us. We were halfway down the street when she tugged on my hand and pointed.
“There!”
I barely heard her shout as the wind and rain stole the word from her, but I saw the small brick house she pointed toward. Lifting her, I held her against my chest as I bolted down the walkway and up the steps of the porch with her. The macharah most likely had chased everything else away from here, but I had to hold her and feel her against me right now. That thing had tried to take her from me, and there were so many other things out here that wanted to do the same.
My feet didn’t touch the steps as I leapt onto the porch. Wren’s wet hair stuck to my neck and face when she squeezed my shoulders and squirmed in my arms. “It’s safe,” she said. “You can put me down.”
“You don’t know that.”
She pointed behind me, and I turned to look at the numbers carved into the wooden roof over the stairs. The last date was from two weeks ago. “There are two safe houses in this town,” I murmured.
“Yes,” she said.
I set her down but kept my arm around her waist. Gripping the doorknob, I turned to study the night once more, but all I saw was the endless rain. The lightning illuminated the night, but it didn’t reveal any enemies coming toward us.
When I turned back to the house, another burst of lightning illuminated the number twenty-five on the mailbox hanging next to the door. I twisted the knob, and rested my shoulder against the door to shove it open when the swollen wood stuck for a second. The door gave way and swung open with a squeak of rusted hinges.
The scent of mildew wafted out to me, but I didn’t detect the odor of anything else as I stared inside the house. Another flash of lightning pierced the darkness to illuminate our shadows on the floor before me, but little else of the house was revealed. I searched for a predator before the light vanished once more.
Wren’s shiver drew my attention to her. Her lips were taking on a bluish tint. Her wet hair straggled around her shoulders and her clothes stuck to her skin. The idea of being inside one of these houses again wasn’t one I relished. After the macharah’s attack, I was too wound up to be stuck inside again, but there was no other choice, she’d freeze if she stayed out in this storm.
Wren’s hands rested on my chest when I lifted her again, stepped inside, and closed the door behind us. With the door shut against the tempest, darkness descended on the house. I stiffened, my nostrils flaring and my ears twitching as I searched for any hint of something approaching us. The storm masked most noise, but my hearing was sensitive enough that I should be able to detect something approaching before it reached us.
“Give me the sack. I’ll get the candles out,” Wren said through her chattering teeth.
Reluctantly, I set her down and handed her the cover. Her fingers brushed mine as she took it from me and set it on the wooden floor with a small thud. Jars clinked together as Wren dug through it, and then the scratch of a match sounded. A small flame flickered to life before me. Wren extended a shaking hand to the wick and lit a candle.
“Stay here,” I told her.
She glanced at me and then froze. I don’t know what she saw on my face, but instead of protesting my command, she handed me the candle.
Turning away from her, I prowled into the kitchen, living room, and bedroom in search of anything that could be hiding in the house. Adrenaline continued to pulse through my veins in waves that had me on the verge of shredding the furniture in the rooms I stalked through. I almost hoped something was hiding in here so I could unleash some of my lingering tension on it.
I discovered Wren in the kitchen when I returned. She’d lit more candles and set them on the counter as she unpacked the jars and placed them in the cabinets next to more containers of food and water.
“It's safe down here,” I told her. “I’m going upstairs.”
So focused on her task, she didn’t look at me as she responded, “Okay.”
I heard the click of the cabinets closing before I bounded upstairs to search through the bedrooms and bathroom there. Wren had clothes in her hand and was coming from the lower bedroom when I returned to the top of the stairs. She’d wrapped a towel around her and held it against her chest. Beneath the towel, the straps of her bra were visible across her shoulders. She set the clothes on the back of the couch along with another towel. Her boots were turned upside down by the front door.
“I found us some more clothes,” she called to me. “We should both get dry before we freeze.”
I stood and stared at her as she gazed up at me. The dim light of the candles danced over her pale skin. Her wet hair had curled at the ends and waved around her face. In that instant, I knew only one thing could calm me again—her.
Water dripped from me as I descended the stairs toward her, closing the distance between us in less than a heartbeat. My rapid descent made her gasp and step back, but she didn’t try to pull away when my hand slid around her nape and I drew her flush against me.
Her hand tightened on the towel. I waited for her to tell me no, but she stared breathlessly up at me, her chest rising and falling against mine. I stared at her for a second more before crushing her against me and claiming her mouth.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Wren
I tried to process what was happening, but then what was there to process? Corson was kissing me, and not just any kiss, but one that would consume me. And I wanted to be devoured by him, I decided, as the fiery scent of him mingled with the November rain in an intoxicating combination that ensnared me.
His hand entangled in my hair, and he pulled my head back to deepen the kiss. Dimly, I realized I’d never truly been kissed before, or at least I’d never been k
issed as if I were everything to someone. Corson kissed me as if the most important thing to him was having me.
My hand loosened its grip on the towel, and before I knew what was happening, it fell with a whisper to pool around my feet. I still wore my bra and underwear, but his clothes pressed against most of my flesh. Instead of his wet body chilling me further, it heated mine more than any fire could have.
He moved me back a step and then another until my back was against the door. The heady evidence of his arousal rested against my belly while he continued to kiss me as if his life depended on it. I eagerly met his tongue as our breaths fell into rhythm with each other.
“If you decide to experiment on me, I might not let you go afterward.” His words from earlier drifted across my mind.
Pull away! Yet, I found myself being dragged further and further under by his kiss. I’d never experienced something like this before and I wanted him so badly that my entire body ached for him.
I went to reach for his shoulders, but he seized my wrists. With one swift move, he bound my wrists together with his hand and pinned them over my head. I realized he had me trapped and vulnerable, something I’d vowed never to be with a demon. Being at the mercy of a demon equaled death.
However, I didn’t experience any trepidation, and instead of fighting his hold, I arched into him until my breasts flattened against his chest. My mind spun, but it was impossible to grasp any thoughts when Corson had complete control of my body.
He’d let me go if I asked it of him, but I didn’t feel dirty, tired, and unattractive with Corson as I so often did. Instead, I felt the complete opposite of those things and alive in a way I never knew I could be. For the past fourteen years, my heart had beat, my lungs inhaled, but I’d only done those things because my body required me to do them.
Now, I did them because I wanted to do them.
I hadn’t realized I was mostly dead until he made me come alive. This could never go anywhere between us. He’d said he might not let me go, but he would. I wasn’t his Chosen. He desired me, there was no doubt about that, but he would find a demon to have demon babies with, and I….
I could be dead tomorrow, and it was time I started living for today.
I could never have a relationship with a demon, and Corson wouldn’t want one with me once he found his Chosen, but I would always remember what it had been like to have his touch make me come alive.
My breath came in pants as he broke the kiss to gaze down at me. His eyes held mine while he ran his free hand down my side, tracing over my ribcage and down to my hip. The sensation of his bare flesh against mine drove me crazy, and of their own volition, my hips thrust toward his fingers when they trailed from my belly button to the edge of my underwear.
When he pulled his hand away, I almost whimpered, but then one of his talons grazed my flesh. His eyes left mine to rake over my body before he sliced down the front of my underwear. The thin material gave way with a whisper when it slid down my thighs to land on the floor. He must have retracted his talons as I felt only skin when he slid his fingers between my legs, and one of them rubbed my clit.
I mewled before biting my lip to suppress the sound. His eyes remained focused on what he was doing as he spread the wetness growing between my legs in unhurried strokes that caused my legs to tremble.
“You have no idea how badly I want to be inside you,” he said as he slipped a finger into me. I was unable to suppress a cry as he bent his head to nibble on my earlobe. Then his lips were against mine once more while he continued speaking. “How badly I want my finger to be my dick you’re riding.” He moved his palm in such a way that it sent spirals of pleasure through me. “How much I want to hear you screaming my name while I’m buried deep inside you, making you come over and over again.”
I didn’t have any control over my body as his words and hand did things to me that I didn’t know could be done. My hips met the rhythm of the movement his finger created as tension built steadily within me. Then he removed his hand and disappointment crashed through me. My hips pushed demandingly toward him. “Why?” I moaned.
“I have to… I’m so hard it hurts.”
I heard a button and then a zipper before I felt his erection touch my stomach. It was so rigid, yet so smooth and hot as it rested against me. His talons emerged a few inches, and he sliced my bra down the middle. Cool air rushed over my bared flesh when my breasts spilled free. Corson’s gaze fastened on them and the sound he emitted was one of possession and hunger.
Then, he was dipping his mouth to trail his tongue over my skin. He licked around my hardening nipple before sucking it into his mouth. “Corson!” I cried and he turned his attention to my other breast.
I jerked against his hold on my wrists, needing to feel him, but he refused to let me go. When he released my nipple, and rose over me again, his eyes burned orange fire.
“Tell me to stop, and I will, but I won’t take anything less than all of you this time, Wren. Tell. Me. No,” he bit out, and I heard the torment in his voice.
I’d watched as he’d torn the macharah apart like it was no more than a piece of paper. He’d moved so fast he’d become a blur, but his destruction had littered the floor behind him. I’d followed his progress by watching the pieces of the octopus-looking creature flop on the ground before turning to ooze and slipping through the floorboards. The macharah had been a monster straight from Hell, and he’d pulverized it. His desire for me was evident, he could do whatever he wanted to me and I’d never be able to stop him, yet he’d just given me control. He would do whatever I said.
There were so many reasons to tell him no. All those reasons clamored through my head as I stared at him. I opened my mouth to tell him no, that we should stop. I could come to regret this, but I knew I would regret it more if it never happened.
“Yes,” I said.
Something crackled through the air and over my skin. I leaned back as I realized it was a wave of Corson’s power—a power he’d been keeping somewhat concealed, but it slipped free now. Before I could react, he slid his arm under my ass and lifted me up. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his waist. My gaze held his as the movement caused his erection to settle between my thighs and press against my center.
His hand tightened on my wrists, pinning them to the door as the head of his shaft parted my folds. In one swift motion, he plunged deep inside me and froze when I cried out. The sensation of him within me wasn’t unpleasant, but it was unfamiliar as he stretched and filled me. I wiggled and then winced as I tried to adjust to the size of him.
“Easy,” he murmured, his lips caressing mine as he spoke. “Wait a minute.”
I didn’t know if he was talking to himself or me, but it didn’t matter. Releasing my wrists, he cupped my neck tenderly as his tongue slid into my mouth again. Finally able to touch him, my hands sought the buttons of his shirt, impatiently tugging them free. The last button fell free, and I broke the kiss to shove the shirt off his shoulders. Adjusting his hold on me, he shrugged the rest of the way out of the clothing.
I sighed when my hands fell onto his bare flesh. My legs clenched around him when my gaze followed the rain water trickling from his hair. The beads of water trailing down his chest and abdomen emphasized the ridges and valleys of his stomach as they ran in and out of the dips of his body.
Like all demons, the only hair he had was on his head, eyebrows, and eyelashes, so the water flowed freely down him to where our bodies joined. The sight of him between my legs caused my mouth to go dry, and I gave an experimental rotation of my hips.
“Oh,” I breathed and repeated it as my body adjusted more to having him within me.
A muscle twitched in his jaw, and his hand flattened against the wall beside my head as the other remained cupped beneath my ass. His eyes fell to my breasts when my back arched toward him.
“Exquisite,” he murmured as he lowered his mouth to run his tongue over one of my puckered nipples.
My fingers curl
ed into the wet, silky length of his hair, drawing him closer. I’d never experienced anything like this before. A quickie in the woods didn’t leave much room for touching, kissing, and feeling, but now all I could do was feel Corson as he possessed me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Corson
The enticing scent of Wren’s arousal slid through the air. Everything about her was softer, warmer, more exquisite than anything I’d ever known before. I continued to savor her as I let her find her way and set her own pace.
She’d been unable to hide her wince when I first entered her. Not a virgin, and unbelievably wet, yet she was still unused to sex. If I wasn’t careful, this wouldn’t be mechanical for her, but it would be painful.
She’s human, be careful. You’ll hurt her.
I’d been with many humans, but this was the first time I worried I might injure one of them. With Wren, I knew I could lose complete control, something I’d never allowed to happen before.
The sensation of her muscles gripping my cock became too much for me to take, and I found myself unable to hold back any longer. Drawing back, I thrust into her while I nipped at her breast. Her fingers tightened in my hair as the rapid beat of her heart pulsed in my ears. All other sights, sounds, and smells were drowned out as everything in me became centered on Wren.
Releasing her breast, I lifted my head to watch her as her hips rose and fell and her pert nipples stood proudly in the air. I drank in every detail of her slender body, dusky nipples, rounded hips, and the pale blonde curls between her legs. Drawing back, I watched myself plunge in and out of her.
Her breath came in small pants; her body became more demanding as I pushed her closer and closer to release. When I pulled back before plunging into her again, her back arched, and she moaned as she came apart in my arms. The muscles of her sheath contracting around me nearly wrenched my orgasm from me, but I gritted my teeth and held it back.
Hell on Earth (Hell on Earth, Book 1) (Hell on Earth Series) Page 16