The moment it was done, she felt energy flowing back into her. And when her sight cleared, she saw Sparrow standing over Norman, gazing down at him almost in surprise.
A hole in the center of his chest still smoked, but Norman wasn’t dead. He growled in pain, fingers curled into claws above his chest as if the pain were so unbearable he couldn’t bear to touch. “You bitch,” he spat as Chloe approached to look down at him, too. The hole was slowly closing. Norman was healing.
“Leave here and never return,” she commanded him. Some instinct within her said he wouldn’t. But Sparrow’s voice came, quick and light, inside her mind.
Even if he can’t have you, Sparrow said sadly, he will find another woman to bear a child for him to sacrifice. That’ll be enough to make him a full demon.
Chloe couldn’t allow Norman to destroy another woman’s life—to kill her child. The idea that he’d only been upset at her miscarriage because he wanted to kill the baby turned her stomach. Yet after everything he’d done to her, everything he would have done, Chloe found it difficult to kill him now.
She had to. But it wasn’t easy.
Sparrow put a hand on her shoulder. “I can do this for you. Allow me.” He raised a hand to finish Norman off, but Chloe clutched it. Why? Why did she want to show Norman any kind of mercy after everything he’d done?
Sparrow smiled gently, though his eyes shone with tears as he spoke as if he’d heard her thought. “Because you’re a goddess, Gaia. Because you command creation, not destruction.”
Norman, still writhing in pain on the ground, laughed. “Creation? Everything she’s ever touched has been destroyed.”
“Hold your tongue,” Sparrow ground out. But Norman continued.
“Your mother died young because of problems that arose while she was pregnant with you,” he spat at her. “You managed to kill our child before I could with your faulty womb. I ended up in prison because you thought to run from me. And your father died because of what you are. You destroy everything you love, Chloe. Don’t let him trick you into thinking otherwise.”
Sparrow’s eyes on her were like a touch while he waited for her to react. Chloe managed to swallow, her spine straightening as the implications of what he’d said sank in.
“What do you mean my father died because of what—”
“Your father hated us,” Norman said, his voice ending in a whine of pain. “He did his job for a paycheck, but he never liked any of my family, least of all me. When my father discovered that he knew we were demons…let’s just say my father gets things done. If your father had stayed alive, you could never have been mine.”
He laughed, blood bubbling over his lips. “All these years and you never put it together, how convenient it was for you to move in with us after he died. I would have thought…a reincarnated goddess…might be a little smarter.” He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, smearing blood over his cheek. “Guess you got your intelligence from his side of the family.”
The hole in his chest closed with a crackling sound that Chloe barely heard over the rush of blood in her own ears. The tears that streaked down her face were hot, and they left the taste of salt on her lips. Sparrow’s hand raised—she knew he was going to kill Norman for her after that confession, because he loved her and wanted only to protect her.
Sparrow was right. There could be no mercy for one such as Norman. Only justice for her ruined life—and her father’s murder—and a baby’s life spared in the future.
“My father was twice the man you could ever be,” she hissed. Every ounce of hatred pooled inside her into a molten core that came out on her enraged scream with a push, and as the bolts of fire flew from her, lightning sparked from Sparrow’s hand, and with an ear-splitting scream of anguish, Norman was gone.
On Earth, Senator Allen Greyson felt his son die seconds before the searing heat drilled into him and left only a black scorch mark and some ash on the desk and chair in his den.
Chloe rocked on her feet, the force of her fury nearly toppling her. Sparrow’s hand steadied her. Together, they watched the small pile of ash scatter on the wind as it swirled around them, then died down to a breeze as the light came back to the sky, blue again, once more filled with chirping birds and butterflies.
“Sparrow,” she whispered, and she didn’t have to say anymore. He pulled her into his arms, holding her tight while she mourned her father all over again with her face pressed against his neck.
Her tears finally stopped as she realized the nightmare was truly over. Norman was gone, his father was gone, and they were never coming back.
Epilogue
“Once again, as we have eternally, we vow loyalty and allegiance to you, Gaia, and your consort, Jagar Anereroth. We will flourish under your gentle rule, serving you and…”
Sparrow only heard bits and pieces of the speech. Chloe stood in front of a glass and golden throne, a delicate filigree crown on her head and flowing robes decorated in white, purple, and gold. Her eyes were the blue of the perfect sky above them. Thousands of spirits and animals gathered around to witness her official coronation as the new Gaia, taking her rightful place in her palace, with Sparrow by her side.
After they’d killed Norman together, Sparrow thought it was time to leave the Twilight, at least for a while. Chloe had been reluctant, but once she realized they could go back anytime they wanted, she was willing. Her palace and its grounds were even more beautiful than his home, and far more befitting a goddess than his simple cottage. But she’d loved it there and made it clear they would go there often.
Sparrow was dressed in palace finery, a silk tunic and tights beneath it, white edged with gold, and a small crown sat atop his hair. Several bluebirds swooped down behind Chloe to lift the train of her robe as she reached out to take Sparrow’s hand to descend the steps of her throne as the crowd cheered and applauded her crowning and their joining made official.
Pride swelled in Sparrow’s chest to watch her take to her new role with patience and kindness, greeting those who wanted to speak to or touch their new goddess. She did so well, even though she’d admitted to him she felt like a fraud in many ways still. Her powers were real enough, but it felt like it belonged to someone else and she was only borrowing it.
He promised her that would come in time, and it would. Until then, she acted as if she were royalty for their sake, and that would be enough.
The feast that had been prepared in the courtyard to honor her and feed the guests was enormous. Sparrow sat by Chloe’s side and ate heartily, thrilled when she offered him a piece of orange from her fingers, like the orange he’d first peeled for her when she was on her way home from the motel. It seemed they’d come full circle.
Chloe had healed quickly from her battle with Norman, her skin perfectly whole and healthy by the time she’d cried herself out in Sparrow’s arms. She’d accepted her destiny, embraced it, and now their lives together could begin.
Sparrow looked forward to a lifetime of making her happy. To think he’d only joined the palace guard to get revenge against a father he rarely ever spared a thought for these days. Such nonsense.
But it had led him to her side. That was all that mattered now.
Chloe’s hand found his where it rested on top of his thigh beneath the long table. She squeezed and leaned toward him to whisper in his ear. “I think my power needs…recharge.”
Sparrow bit back his laugh. “Do you now,” he said noncommittally. “Perhaps you need more fruit?” He cocked his eyebrow and tried not to smile.
“I need you to fuck me,” Chloe breathed in his ear, then leaned back with a smirk.
She knew that took this from light teasing to total seriousness for Sparrow. He couldn’t hear his lover say such a thing without needing to be alone with her instantly.
“Excuse us,” Chloe said to the guests seated closest to them. “We have some business to discuss.”
In an instant, with the slight whoosh of displaced air, they stood next to t
he bed in their royal chambers. Chloe’s hands slid around his waist, down to squeeze his ass and pull him against her. Sparrow was already hard, his insides already trembling in need for his goddess.
“That was quite an exit,” he said. “Had you taken much longer, a dozen guests might have been gossiping about your consort’s erection tomorrow.”
“They might still be,” she said with a laugh as she nipped at the side of his throat. “You are quite impressive, after all.”
Sparrow’s face heated as both of them pushed her robes up and over her head. He cradled her full, heavy breasts in his hands and leaned down to suck one pointed nipple into his mouth. She arched against him, and he felt her hand push cloth down over his hips until he was bare. Her fist wrapped around his cock.
“Tell me again, Sparrow. Tell me what can happen.”
God, how he ached for her. Chloe’s enthusiasm only made her more desirable. And since he’d told her that they couldn’t have children—not what she thought of as children, at least—but that she was fertile and that they could create once she took to her throne, her excitement at the idea had kept him on the constant edge of arousal. Her delight was contagious, and Sparrow found himself eager to test the theories, too.
“Your pleasure, my fertile goddess, can birth flowers, trees, planets, stars…even an entire universe.”
She groaned as he sucked her other nipple hard as if seeking nourishment from her lush body. His tunic was pushed up and tossed aside, and Chloe jumped to wrap her legs around his hips, the heat of her sex pressed against the underside of his cock, drawing him in.
“So wanton,” he said with a chuckle. As much as he wanted to drive himself up and into her, Sparrow stepped forward and lay her onto her back on the bed, falling down with her and laying between her spread legs.
“My goddess,” he breathed as he kissed her, twinning his tongue with hers, and putting every ounce of love and devotion he felt for her into it. “I love you, Chloe. My Gaia. For as long as I live.”
Every part of Sparrow agreed. His heart, his soul, the demon inside him, and the fox. They rolled in lightning and happiness as he slipped his fingers into her rich heat and devoured her mouth.
*
Chloe cried out into the hungry kiss as Sparrow’s fingers plunged deep inside her as if making way for his cock. She took hold of it again to feel how it pulsed in her hand, alive and vibrant. And, according the things he’d told her, fertile.
It had saddened her that she could never have a child. The one she lost was the only one who would ever grow, even for a short time, in her womb. From the moment of her coronation when she’d been recognized as the reincarnated Gaia and she and Sparrow had been joined together, Chloe had felt something different inside her. She felt…full. Not as if she’d eaten too much, but full of energy. Of life.
And she wanted Sparrow desperately, to feel his cock swell inside her, to feel him lose himself as he came.
She needed that.
His fingers inside her were amazing, but not enough. His thumb swiped circles over her clit, making her cry out as her pleasure built and he sucked her nipple. It was all too much, but not nearly enough.
Before she could tell him she needed him inside her, Sparrow shifted to look down at her with his piercing green eyes. He moved forward and pushed into her, his cock sliding deep with one thrust.
Chloe sighed in relief and tossed her head back, squeezing around him as if she might never let him withdraw. He growled in pleasure as she clung to him while he shifted his hips, stroking him with her inner walls. Then he plunged deep again, drawing another cry from her.
She dug her fingers into his back, pulling him down, pulling him deeper. “Yes, take me, Sparrow. I love you. Need you. Need you so much.”
“Gaia…my goddess,” he breathed against her lips as he drove into her. He took her harder, faster, until she was arching against him with every thrust, her breath punched out of her each time with a soft whimper. His hand slipped between them, his fingers slipping over her throbbing clit in time with the movement of his hips.
“Come for me,” he ground out with the strain of holding back. “Come with me.”
His mouth pressed against hers as his fingers tapped over her clit, and when he thrust deep into her, Chloe’s body tensed. She arched and came, his kiss swallowing her shout of pleasure as the orgasm shot through her lightning-like, spreading outward from her core, down her limbs. She cried out into the kiss again as he came, spilling deep inside her with a shout of his own.
And when she thought the pleasure was starting to fade, they both tensed again, heat coiling and releasing in quick bursts as they clung to each other. As they rode it out, they became aware of a white hot glow too far away to hear or feel. With searing brightness they both sensed but couldn’t see, somewhere, a star exploded into being.
Chloe cupped Sparrow’s face in her hands to kiss him slowly, a promise of things to come and a thanks for things that had already happened. They rolled together, sighing and laughing. Chloe had never had a true lover, she’d never gotten to be a mother, and now she had it all thanks to this one man. This fox demon.
The happiness she felt then with Sparrow more than made up for all the pain she’d had to endure in her life to be there.
Gaia was on her throne, with her devoted consort. All would be right with the world because she knew in her heart they would always be together.
End
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Lizzie Lynn Lee is a gutter-minded hopeless romantic who doesn’t live in this world most of the time. In her perfect utopia, her heroes never take their women for granted, love at first sight exists and soul mates always find a way to be together. She invites you to visit her world, where she spins her tales because the men are sizzling hot, master the art of sex and they are really into their ladies—be that a slim girl, or curvy, interracial, interspecies, sassy or shy—their adventures redefine erotica. Are you ready to be thrilled?
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Lizzie Lynn Lee Bibliography
Shunga Chronicles: Lady of the Snow
Love in the Elevator
Shunga Chronicles: Prince and the Assassin
Payback
Shunga Chronicles: Flight of the Heron
Wicked Game
Eve Aizawa: Eve of Seduction
Busted
Eve Aizawa: Deus Eve Machina
Sexopalooza
Switched
Cyber Lover
Jumping Bones
The Wolf She Married
Savannah’s Menage
Charly’s Chocolate Factory with Celia Kyle
Original Sin
Lycan Wars 1: Instinct
Claimed
Hot-Blooded
Fierce Heat with Celia Kyle
Orient Fevre
Gilded Cage
Corporate Plaything
Spirit World: Maison Plaisir
To Bed A Goddess
The Last Siren
The Donor
The Alien King and I
Dangerous Curves: Wet
Lions of the Serengeti: Jennifer’s Lion
Lions of the Serengeti: Sarah’s Lion
Bound to Me: Fever Lust
Private Sessions
Lions of the Serengeti: Caly’s Lion
Faerykin
Werebeasties
Dragon Hunts
Night of the Lions
Chain of Lust
Taken By a Nymph
Maiden and the Lion
Dominate Me with Noelle Ashford
To Blackmail
a Billionaire with Noelle Ashford
Her Dragon Billionaire
Kidnapped and Claimed
Her Tiger Billionaire
Raven’s Bride
Her Lion Billionaire
Bad Dick
Naughty Librarian
Lions of the Serengeti: Yazmina’s Lion
Naughty Boys
Scorched
Tamed
The Man with the Dragon Wings
Tiger In Her Bed
Hot Like Fire, Cold As Ice
Animalistic
My Boss is a Lion
Fairy Godlover
Wicked As He Comes
Tiger Speed Dating
Romance Warfare
Spotilicious
Tiger Mate
Lone Tiger and Cub
The Duke is a Lion
Special Preview from The Duke Is a Lion:
Prologue
Blood was still crusted to Braxton Grantham’s cheek when he set foot once more on his home soil. The victory of battle was fresh and invigorating, etched in his memory and as intoxicating as potent liquor. The triumph of winning the war often did that to a man, and then, there were few things that made a man feel more alive than the understanding that he, however momentarily, had evaded death. After four long years spent on Dane territory, destroying the forces that threatened Saxon and all she means, death should have been a certainty. No one escapes a battle forever.
No one but him.
From the wild landscapes of the Orient countryside to the incivility of the nations across the strait, there was no place he had not wandered, no land he had learned to fear. Men near and far feared the name Braxton Grantham. His reputation was his most beloved weapon—it never failed to leave its mark. Returning to Saxon after so long abroad had not dulled its edges.
His reputation was his greatest source of pride. So, too, was it his downfall.
“There will surely be a celebration,” Percival, his right-hand man, declared as they approached Londër herself. “After such a torturous labor, bringing victory home for the crown is a great honor. I do imagine there will be a holiday declared. How do you like the sound of Braxton Day?”
Firefox: a Fox Demon's Claim Page 8