Erebus spun around, and raised his hands in front of his body. The familiar blue surge of power shot from his palms and hit the first branch. The noise was deafening, the light blinding, and the power his force unleashed reverberated through the forest. The blast whipped the air into a frenzy, and I fell backward as if I’d been hit by a physical force.
When I lifted my head and squinted at the point of impact, all I could see was a smouldering pile of sawdust on the forest floor.
The attacking demons didn’t give up. Their cocky, smug smiles remained.
“Let’s see what you do with this one!”
Erebus stood straight, his arm raised, armed and ready to respond to whatever was about to come his way. This time there was no sudden movement, just a low hissing noise. I looked to the ground, shifting from one foot to the other, and pulled my skirts tight around my ankles as I looked for the expected snake.
Shadows sprung forward from where the two unwelcome demons stood. A ribbon of black mist rolled along the forest floor before rising and swirling toward Erebus.
“You seriously think this will stop me?” Erebus laughed as the mist rose in front of him.
I placed my hand over my mouth and nose as a pungent smell crept around me. I was so busy watching Erebus, keeping him within my sight and ensuring nothing untoward happened to him, that I didn’t see the mist crawling up my body and wrapping itself around my neck. I gasped as a tightness pulled around it. I tried to call Erebus’s name but his compelment still had a hold on my voice. Each breath I took became more urgent, and I clawed at the mist with my fingers, trying to loosen its hold, but I met no resistance—there was nothing to grab. With a desperate determination I flung myself from behind the tree, eager for Erebus to see what was happening to me. He had to stop the mist, stop playing games, and get rid of these demons that were attacking us.
“Athena!”
As soon as he saw me he roared. There was no pause as he focused on the source of the mist, and sent bright zigzags of power through the air. The surge hit the demon who had sent the broken branches, and he shot backward. He landed against a tree trunk, speared on the remnants of one of the branches that he’d hurled at Erebus.
Verin, the demon who had sent the black mist, ran into the thick darkness of the undergrowth. But he wasn’t fast enough. Erebus lit the forest in another blinding light. His power once again whipped the air and the force crashed into me, flinging me onto my back. I knew the exact moment Verin had died. I breathed deeply, filling my lungs with gasped breaths of air as I lay on the damp ground, looking up at the angular branches above me.
“Get up,” Erebus said, replacing his gloves and releasing his compelment on me. “We need to go home, quickly.”
He stepped toward me and roughly took hold of my arm. I tried to shake him off as I stumbled to my feet, but he wasn’t letting go. No sooner was I standing then Erebus was marching forward with me. I struggled to keep up with his demanding pace, and each time I slipped or fell slightly behind, his tight fingers dug into my arm even more. But the bruising throb his fingers caused was nothing compared to the ache in my stomach. It wasn’t a sickening feeling though, it was a fluttering of nerves, excitement and the urgency for something more. Each time he shifted his hold on my arm, or sighed or huffed, my breath quickened. My nerves tingled and I craved more of his touch however harsh.
The time had come for me to be honest with him about my feelings.
AS WE STEPPED THROUGH THE door of the house, Erebus removed his gloves.
“I have to tell you something,” I said, prepared to admit how wrong I’d been about everything.
“Me first.”
Before I had chance to speak, he grabbed my shoulders and slammed me back against the wall.
“I know what emotion of yours is feeding me.” His face was mere inches from mine. “And I want you to be honest.”
He pushed his body against mine, trapping me between the wall and his muscular frame.
“I will,” I gasped, my voice a rushed breath of air.
“It’s not pain. It’s not anger. And it’s definitely not hate. Those are nothing to me.” His voice was no more than a whisper. He lifted an ungloved hand to my face. I flinched when tiny sparks tickled my flesh. “Nothing compared to what they are when you laugh, when you talk to me as though I am the only man in the world who has your attention.”
His fingers gripped my chin, and the ensuing sensation of his crackling power nipped at my skin causing me to whimper. “Only one emotion of yours feeds me, Athena.” He paused and then looked me right in the eyes. Once again I was greeted with black orbs. “Love.”
My mouth dropped open at his interpretation. “I don’t love you.” It was only this evening that I’d admitted to myself that I liked him. It certainly wasn’t love.
“Really? I beg to differ.”
“How can I love you? You’re a demon.” My argument was weak. Being a demon wasn’t a reason to not love him, not when he’d shown me how human he could be.
He released me and took a few steps back. I rubbed my chin where he’d held me, easing the raw sting.
“I’ve been asking myself the exact same question.” He removed his cloak and hung it up, beckoning for mine. When I’d handed it to him he prowled to the living room door and leaned on the frame. “How can a human love a demon? It’s practically unheard of. But somehow you’ve managed it.”
I stepped away from the wall, prepared to argue my case. “I can’t love you. I don’t!” My voice shook with emotion.
He stormed across the hall, stopping directly in front of me. “Don’t lie to me! Stop lying to yourself.” His warm breath blew across my face, and I found my gaze resting on the smooth outline of his lips.
“I’m not,” I murmured. “You’re impossible to love. Who could ever love you?”
His eyes darkened even more. Molten black fluid swirled across his pupil, like oil spilling onto water.
“You love me,” he said, quiet, as if in disbelief at his own words.
About to shake my head, I stopped the action as his eyes cleared of the blackness. His irises returned, bright amber with a black circle outlining his pupils. It was easy to lose myself in such hypnotising brightness and clarity. He was fed—completely full.
His already close face moved nearer to mine.
“I’ll ask you again to stop lying.” His words were soft in their delivery, caressing my ears, soothing my frustration.
With a movement so slow, but too fast, he pressed his lips onto mine. Heat, almost impossible heat, burnt my lips. It was like kissing a burning coal—scorching and white-hot.
He didn’t stop.
I didn’t want him to.
The burning increased as he pushed me back against the wall, although now the rest of me became consumed by the heat. The simmering embers in my stomach were building into a fire, one that was coming to life just for Erebus.
His hands gripped my wrists, and he lifted them above my head, pinning them together with one hand in an easy grasp. He curled his other hand around my waist and pulled my lower body against his. We moulded together perfectly—his hardness complemented my softness.
I gasped at his increasing forwardness, and he slipped his tongue into my mouth. There was no hesitancy, no long preliminary tenderness. Erebus was in charge, a demon who took what he wanted. But this wasn’t all him. I eagerly responded.
I pressed myself against him, matching contours, sighs and moans. A sudden light-headedness would have made me stumble if Erebus hadn’t had me locked in position. I whimpered as the first signs of his compelment took hold. Forcing my lips away from his, I gasped for breath.
“Don’t compel me,” I begged.
He rested his forehead against mine. “I’m not. I promised I wouldn’t, and believe me, you’d know if I was. You’d be half-naked, crawling all over me, begging for me to defile you here and now.”
Through a moment of clarity, my humour suddenly returned. “Only hal
f-naked?”
“Makes life more interesting.”
I drew in a deep breath, and my stomach clenched with jolts of pleasure at his teasing words.
“So the demon gets his wicked way.” I grinned at the easy way we sparred.
“I always get my way.” His free hand stroked the side of my face, venturing down my neck and across to my shoulder before slipping under the fabric of my dress. “Whether you know it or not.”
His lips crashed onto mine with an urgency that fanned the flames in my belly into a raging fire. I wanted him. It was no use trying to hide my primal instinct any longer.
With my hands still held above me, I hooked one of my legs around the back of his thigh and pulled him flush against me. A low growl sounded within his chest at the same time that he released my hands. He grabbed the skirt of my dress and pushed the hem up my legs. I held his shoulders, supporting myself as his warm hands rubbed up and down my naked thighs.
“I want to devour you.” His warm breath blew on my neck as he gripped my thighs with possessive hands. “But I also want to take my time.”
My breath hitched as he placed a soft kiss on my neck. The skin his lips covered tingled as if he’d latched on to every nerve I possessed.
“Do whatever you want,” I whispered. My voice was not my own; it was the voice of the woman who wanted Erebus as much as she needed every single beat of her heart. I slid my hands around the back of his neck before pulling him closer for another demanding kiss.
“Oh, I intend to,” he said before my mouth covered his.
His urgency spurred me on, and I pulled at his jacket, wanting it off his body. He pushed a leg between my thighs, replacing the position of his hands, and assisted my removal of the cumbersome coat. All the time we kissed, fast, demanding, possessive. Our pace dictated our rhythm, and both of us were in a rush. I wanted him to claim me as his, to make me his wife in the most physical way possible. He knew my body, he’d seen it at our marriage ceremony, but this was different. Very different.
“Trousers,” I said, breaking our kiss and reaching for the buttons below his belt. He duly obliged and assisted my eager fumbling fingers in releasing them. I smiled as I slipped one of my hands into the gap of his trousers. He was already hard and smooth. His jaw clenched and his eyes closed as I wrapped my hand around him, stroking him, marvelling as he grew even firmer.
I breathed deeply, trying to calm myself, but the fire within me roared. A pleasant ache throbbed in my lower belly when Erebus’s hand slipped back to the top of my inner thigh. I gasped, a short intake of breath that stuck in my throat as his fingers slipped inside me. Dropping my head onto his shoulder, I tried to breathe out slowly, but a shuddering sigh escaped my lips.
Erebus chuckled before adding another finger to his slow thrusting. “You’ve made me wait, Athena, and now see how impatient you are.”
I kissed his neck and squeezed his erection. What he said was true. Why had I missed feeling like this? I wanted him—now. The delicious ache was spreading through me, matching the raging fire, one he would continue to feed, and one only he could smother.
“Please,” I whimpered, needing the full force of him inside me.
“Lean back.” He removed his hand and stepped back. “Shoes off.”
I moaned at the loss of his body but when I saw the eager glimmer of lust in his fully fed eyes, I did as he said, kicking my shoes off, and resting my back against the wall.
He pushed my legs apart with his foot, and then stepped between them, bending his knees. Realising his intention, I gripped his shoulders. My skirt was pushed around my waist as his hardness nudged at my inner thigh. And then he slid effortlessly into me.
My world stopped.
I exhaled deeply, revelling in the sensation of him inside me and of his demanding ownership of my body.
“Wrap your arms around me,” he said, slipping his hands under my bottom.
I did as he asked and was rewarded with him lifting me from the floor.
“Ohhh . . .” All my weight was centred on our deep connection, and I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist.
I pressed my back firmly against the wall as he began to thrust. His speed wasn’t slow; there was no build-up, no increase in depth or vigour. He immediately rammed into me—quick, deep, and consistent; stroke after stroke he stretched me fully each time he thrust.
My mind clouded, lost in a haze of dreams and fantasies. He was fulfilling every one of them as he defiled me in the most glorious way. I was trapped between the wall and him, vulnerable in my confinement, but never feeling safer. My movements were restricted, but my feelings weren’t. Each thrust caused his pelvis to rub against mine, increasing the throbbing heaviness that built within.
As our actions became steady, his lips searched mine. I eagerly welcomed his invasive tongue and matched his vigorous exploration with my own. I nipped his lips with my teeth, and he returned the favour. I sucked his lip, drawing away before releasing it. Grunts escaped from him, whereas an uncontrolled sharp intake of breath flew from me each time he thrust.
The slow burn of pressure morphed into something else. Something I’d caught a glimmer of before, but never quite found. Then it wasn’t a glimmer anymore. Erebus increased his pace, and my thighs quivered. They didn’t stop. I whimpered as the trembling in my thighs spread up my chest and along my arms and the fire inside me exploded. My whimpers turned into loud moans as I became lost within my own body. I bit into his shoulder, trying to silence my cries of crashing pleasure.
Erebus shifted, leaning onto me fully as he pressed me back into the wall, and I gasped for breath, squashed between the cold wall and his burning body. He broke the steady rhythm he’d dictated from the start. His hips thrust harder, erratic and forceful. A low growl sounded from deep in his chest before he groaned loudly. And after one last deep thrust, he stilled.
He rested his head at the side of mine, and his heavy breathing blew across my forehead. My thighs were not gripping him anymore; they were limp, wrapped around him with no muscle strength left. He kissed the side of my forehead and ran his fingers through my hair.
“Unbelievable,” he said before kissing my ear. “Why did you make us wait so long?”
“I . . . I had no idea . . .” My words were lost in a fog of contentment. I was calm, satisfied.
“No idea about what?” Erebus nudged my head with his, requesting my full attention.
“That it could feel like that.”
“Really?” Erebus chuckled. “Oh my, Athena. You’re in for a treat this evening.”
I grinned stupidly, inwardly rejoicing at his promise.
“Let’s get more comfortable,” he said against the skin on my neck. “I’m nowhere near finished with you.”
He slipped from me and lowered me to the floor before tucking himself away. I screamed when he grabbed me around my waist and threw me onto his shoulder. As he marched up the stairs with me locked in position, and my skirt scrunched around my waist, I couldn’t contain the excited giggle that escaped me. His hands were firmly planted on my thighs, and I could sense the tingle of his power though his fingers. The whispered crackle of blue sparks lit the upstairs corridor as he strode to the door before mine—his bedroom.
He kicked the door open and carried me inside. The room was only lit by the glow from the fire and a few random candles, and my eyes struggled to adjust to the dim light. The bed had a canopy like mine, posts rising at each corner to support the structure above. The curtains were closed, blocking out the night outside. A powerful scent hit the back of my throat, and I drew in the taste of it. It was Erebus’s smell, the one that seeped into my senses and calmed but excited me at the same time. Musky, woody with a hint of pine—an intoxicating mix of pure masculinity.
He threw me onto his bed, and as I bounced on the thick mattress, he walked backward to the door, not taking his eyes off me. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he continued to stare at me.
I shifted to
the edge of the bed, returning his scrutiny. My heart beat fast as I concentrated on him. I wanted him next to me. I already missed his touch.
He spun around as if suddenly remembering something and turned a key in the lock of the door. I frowned as he resumed his position.
“Locking intruders out?” I pushed myself off the bed, and rested my back against the bedpost, mirroring his position at the door.
“There’ll be no intruders. There’s no one around to break into the house, never mind my bedroom.”
“Then why—?”
“To keep you in. I don’t want you running off again.”
My breath caught in my throat, and I curled my fingers around the wooden post behind me.
“Undress,” he said. The command was simple, concise. His voice had deepened to a breath—smooth, silky, and laced with desire.
“I thought you’d like to undress me,” I said, craving his touch on my skin.
“I want to watch. I want to see every inch of your skin revealed to me. Don’t go all shy on me after what’s just happened downstairs.” He paused, and his lips twitched before he continued. “Besides, if I attempt to undress you, I shall fail. The dress will be ripped and on the floor within a heartbeat.”
His deep, searching eyes drank me in, desperate to devour, but eager to savour the moment. With a wicked curl of my lips, I turned my back to Erebus and lifted my hands to the base of my neck. Collecting my hair, I placed it over my shoulder so it trailed across my front. I twisted my right arm, reaching for the lace tie on the low v-back of my dress. With a few tugs, it unfastened easily to the base of my spine. Attempting to play the seductress as well as I possibly could, I looked back over one shoulder at Erebus.
“Continue.” He was still at the door, his arms crossed over his chest.
I wriggled my shoulders, and the dress slipped from the one I had looked over. A quick tug on the bottom of the sleeve was all that was needed to release my arm. I repeated the action with my other arm, and the shift caused the weight of the dress to slip lower. I turned to face Erebus, my arms across my chest, holding the dress in place.
Iniquity (The Ascent Book 1) Page 27