by J. L. Weil
The pad of his thumb continued to roll over my bottom lip, thoroughly distracting me. “How did I know you were going to say that?”
“Probably because you’re in my head.”
“I don’t need to read your thoughts to know that you are up to something.” His eyes narrowed, watching with a different intensity. “What is it?”
“I am not,” I protested, attempting to keep my voice level and nonchalant. I failed.
“Lexi,” he rumbled.
I tried to wiggle off his lap and onto the bed, but he wasn’t having it. “Are you done being a righteous prick?”
Amusement glittered in his eyes. “God, how I’ve missed you.”
I swallowed. “You have?”
Genuine surprise brightened his alluring features. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”
I shrugged. He wasn’t always the easiest demon to read. Ashor might know what was going on inside my mind, but I was clueless. “You just seemed… tied up.”
That glorious mouth twitched. “Did I? Have you’ve been in my head?. So tell me, how much have you seen?”
I leveled him a serious glare. “Enough to know you’re going to get us all killed.”
Ashor tilted his head to the side as his fingers slid into the back pocket of my jeans. “Is that so? How did you break through my wards?”
I needed space or I was going to shove him back on the bed and attack with my mouth. This time I managed to untangle myself from him and sit beside him on the bed. I expected the small amount of distance to offer a reprieve from the humming of my body. Nope. “I didn’t break your wards, at least not consciously. I didn’t even know you had wards, but I was informed that you’ve been cloaking the truth from me, or trying to.”
“Hmm.” He pursed his lips, shifted his body so he was angled toward me. “It appears I’m going to have to be more careful. Our connection runs deeper than I thought.”
I sensed that he wanted to reach for me again, needed to touch me, and that same need rippled within me. “You can’t always protect me or shield me from what is happening. That’s not how this works.”
“Is that what you’re really worried about?”
“What else should I be worried about?” I countered, trying to play it cool.
“That I might die, perhaps?”
I pretended to ignore the sudden spike in my heart his question created. “Why is it wrong to want you to live?”
Arrogance lifted at his lips. “It isn’t wrong. I just wanted to hear you say it.”
“Asshole,” I muttered.
He chuckled again, tugging at the ends of my hair. “Tell me you missed me, luv.”
I grabbed his hand, the one playing with my hair, and pushed back the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the blood oath his mother had marked on him. With the tip of my nail, I traced over the lines. “Only if you promise to find a way to break your oath.”
His arrogance flickered, and I swore I saw a flash of regret. “You know that isn’t possible.”
I wasn’t taking his lame cop-out. “Anything is possible. Just look at us. I’m alive because of you.”
“Your faith in me is commendable, but I won’t have you part of this. You shouldn’t have come back.”
It would be a lie to say his words didn’t hurt. I wanted him to want me with him, but on the flip side, I understood his motives for wishing I had stayed put. Regardless, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”
“Because I won’t be able to let you go a second time,” he said in a soft voice, eyes directly on mine.
My lips shifted into a stupid grin. “Good. Because I’m not sure I want you to. Whether I like it or not, I’m a part of you and you’re part of me.” I curled my fingers into his shirt.
“How is it you have the ability to make me risk everything?” he breathed, and the shadows in the room gathered closer.
I fought the urge to flinch under his intense stare. He had a way of seeing past all my barriers and defensive walls. It was disconcerting to have someone see so much of me. There were parts of me I didn’t even like to look at. “I didn’t go looking for you.”
“Nor I for you, but here we are.”
“Here we are,” I echoed. Tonight hadn’t gone according to plan. My only consolation was we were together… for the moment. Who knew what the fuck Verena had planned for us. Frowning, I let my eyes roam over the sharp lines of his face and came to the realization that I could stare at the Prince of Darkness for hours and never grow bored. “I don’t want to waste time bickering.”
His dark chuckle brushed over my lips. “Impatient.”
I snorted. “We were apart for months. That’s all my patience can handle.”
“A few months is nothing when you’ve lived as long as I have.” His finger traced down the column of my neck. “Besides, I enjoy our bickering.”
He would. “You never did tell me how old you are.”
“Didn’t I?” He blessed me with one of those fucking killer half grins that made him look dangerous.
My brain scattered for a second before my wits returned. “What happens if things don’t go according to your plan? What happens if your mother succeeds in taking her throne?”
Ashor brushed the hair off my neck and ran a finger along the demon marks claiming me as his. My breaths wavered, growing uneven. “We’ll deal with it.”
“That’s all you have to say? We’ll deal with it.”
“Why is every moment with you never dull?”
“Because I bathe in rainbow dust,” I replied dryly. “And ride bareback on unicorns.”
A chuckle rumbled in his chest. “I might actually believe you, Lexi luv. The truth of it is, you’ll always be in danger with me.” He seemed so calm, yet his eyes were too dark.
“I don’t believe that,” I whispered, closing the space between us. I buried my face into his neck and inhaled his scent. How had everything gone so wrong? My heart kicked in my chest. “Without you, I’m a mess.”
He continued to hold me, brushing his lips over my hair. “Behave.”
I pressed closer to him. “I’m trying to convince myself this is real and not another dream. It’s been forever, and I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again.” Or want to, but there was no questioning how deeply rooted the prince was into my life. I wanted him for as long as we could be together.
“Three months is hardly forever.”
My nose wrinkled as I lifted my head to look at him. “Is this what our relationship is going to be? You in the underworld. Me in the mortal world. And both of us counting down the days until the next hunt?”
“I haven’t figured out what to do about you yet, but knowing you were safe, away from the perils of the underworld, was enough. But now…”
That plan imploded the second I stepped back into Hell. I opened my mouth to tell him that it wasn’t enough for me, that even though I hadn’t made up my mind about just what it was I wanted from Ashor, I wanted the opportunity to be with him. I couldn’t very well do that if I only got to see him for a few hours each year. All of this was on the tip of my tongue.
Ashor knitted his brows, angling his head to the side as he pinned me with a look. “Lexi.” My name tumbled from his lips with an edge of hardness.
Whenever he said my name without the word luv attached to it, he meant business. I wasn’t the least bit intimidated. “You don’t scare me.”
His lips curled with a touch of cruelty, as if he was reminding me just who he was. “After everything you’ve seen, you should be. I don’t know what that says about you.”
I grinned smugly. “That I’m brilliant.”
“You are many things and will no doubt continue to surprise me in the most infuriating ways. Now tell me who was foolish enough to smuggle you inside?” he asked, switching topics.
I cringed, wanting to avoid this subject. “Why does it matter? I’m here.”
“You couldn’t have pulled this off on your own. You had someone on the inside,” he pressed on,
assuming that I had sought out a demon for help, which I had.
I ran an invisible zipper across my lips. “I’m sworn to secrecy. And stay out of my head. My mind is off-limits.”
He leaned in, his breath cool against my skin, and purred, “What about your body?”
I swallowed.
Shit.
When he said things like that, in that voice of dark silk, my toes curled and my core heated to molten lava.
Damn him.
I clamped my lips together, biting back a moan.
He didn’t kiss me as I wanted, but continued down the path of theorizing how I came to the underworld. “I can only think of one person stupid enough to jeopardize his soul and gamble against the queen’s wrath.”
My lips remained sealed, but in my head, I was rambling. Someone who has an eternity of guilt, remorse, pain, and horror to repent.
Ashor swore, raking a hand through his hair. “Do you know what you’ve done? What you and Cayden have both done?”
A scowl formed on my mouth. “I told you to stay out of my head.” I didn’t deny that his friend was the demon who helped orchestrate my entrance to Hell. “Besides, I came back for you. You’re welcome,” I snapped, feeling trickles of irritation in my blood.
He laced his fingers with mine and stared down at our joined hands. “I never said I wasn’t grateful you are here, only that there will be consequences. You’ve walked right into the middle of a brewing war, luv.”
I had known the probability of Kali’s retaliation was high, but it was a risk I’d been willing to take. He wasn’t telling me anything I hadn’t already weighed and considered. “I’ve learned everything in Hell comes with strings attached.”
A breath later, I found myself flat on the bed with Ashor hovering over me, eyes bright—his demon eyes. “You’ve put a target on your back.”
Lightning zipped through my veins, equal parts anger and desire. I longed to see that other side of him, those impressive wings. The eyes alone weren’t enough. Could I push him over the edge? Did I want to? I narrowed my gaze, staring straight into his glowing eyes. “I’ve had a target on my back my entire life.”
His focus shifted to my lips, and the gold in his eyes burned fiercer. “Something else we have in common. How is it I find you so attractive when you’re spitting mad? You are more beautiful than I remember, even with the visions.”
I gave him a snarky little smirk. “Flattery and sweet words won’t work on me.”
His lips twitched as if calling me a liar. “Now that you have me, what is it you plan to do with me?”
I shook my head. “Not what you’re thinking.” At least not right this second. My attraction to the demon prince had only intensified during our absence, and seeing him now, the months of wanting slammed into me. “But I am starting to think this wasn’t such a great idea.” Me. The Prince of Darkness. Alone.
What could possibly happen?
Too much.
And the thought suddenly both excited and terrified me.
His fingers brushed against my thigh. “It’s too late to turn back. And now that I’ve seen you, I don’t know that I have the strength to leave you a second time.”
I placed a hand over his back, feeling the corded muscles bunch under his shirt. Electric energy sparked between us, and it would only take a single touch to ignite a fire potent enough to burn the world. At least, that was how I felt on the inside, a cold fire of darkness flickered in my veins. “I wouldn’t leave,” I said with set determination. “Not without you.”
Specks of violet flickered into the center of his demon eyes. “We must be careful. Like all royals, Verena has spies everywhere. She doesn’t trust me.”
My fingers traced down his spine. “And rightly so.”
A grin of pure wickedness flashed over the prince’s face. “I think that might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said about me.”
I tugged playfully on a cluster of dark hair curling along his nape. “Whatever.”
“You might be of Queen Verena’s court, but you are not safe within these walls,” he warned, some of the demon receding from his eyes.
“I kind of figured that out.”
His hard body sank deeper onto mine. “Don’t trust her. She is remarkable at deception.”
I raised a brow. “Better than you?”
Again, he gave me one his half smiles that made my heart skip. “Now you insult me.”
“Since you seem to be interested in uncovering truths, are you going to tell me what you’re planning? And don’t feed me your it’s-better-if-you-don’t-know bullshit. We’d already been down the road before.”
“And it worked, if I recall.”
“You aren’t really going to let your mother…?” I made a slashing motion across my throat.
I had more or less been joking, but the seriousness that dropped over his features was all too real. “There are no lengths I won’t go to if it means keeping you safe.”
Uneasiness coiled in the pit of my stomach at the thought of Ashor and his mother going toe to toe. Darkness fighting darkness. “That’s not the answer I was looking for.”
“I can’t give you the one you want,” he murmured, rubbing his nose against mine. “But I can promise that I will protect you at all costs. You are mine.”
“So possessive,” I teased to lighten those hard lines over his brows, but I took comfort in his vow as well as in his arms… at least for the night.
15
Sleeping with Ashor shouldn’t be a decision I took lightly. It was complicated. Giving myself to him would solidify our bond on a deeper level. To link our bodies would bring on a whole new level of closeness I wasn’t sure I was ready for.
But there was nothing I could do to stop myself from reaching for him.
While our gazes locked, my mind went through all the reasons this was wrong, and Ashor just waited, watching me with those smoldering eyes, letting me make the decision. He would never press me on the matter—a notion I found empowering, to be the one who decided our fate. I almost wished he would take the power out of my hands and choose for me.
His answer was so blatantly displayed in his features. Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes. His voice was a soft caress in my head, stroking my soul with a gentleness that undid me.
“Prick,” I murmured right before our lips met.
The entire world went still at the touch of his commanding mouth on mine. Like everything between us, the kiss was impatient, stuffed with months of wondering and imagining. I raked my fingers into his hair and moaned at the ache that began building inside me.
My rashness didn’t stop with a kiss. Pushing at his shoulders, I climbed on top of him, my legs straddling his hips as I deepened the kiss, slipping my tongue inside him. At the first caressing taste of him, something snapped inside of me—an insatiable hunger for this man. My nails ran up and down his chest, muscles rippling and jumping under my fingers.
He was hard underneath me, the fullness of him pressing against the softness between my legs. “Lexi,” he breathed. “If you keep doing that with your mouth, your body is going to be mine before the fun begins.”
Heat rushed over my skin, regardless of Ashor's cooler body temperature. “Promise?” I murmured, marveling at how naturally my body responded to his. A small touch at my hips, the sweep of his tongue, the whisper of his breath along my skin all enticed something within me.
Deft hands slipped up my back, fumbling with the clasp of the bra. And now the only things separating us were his boxers and my barely there thong. Hungry lips cruised down the column of my throat, igniting little flames at each point he kissed. Some areas received more attention than others did as Ashor explored my body, discovering what made me purr, what made me moan, and what drove me wild.
I gasped when his lips found my nipple, my back arching. Need became a song in my blood. I’d craved this night with every pore in my body. What was the point in denying that this demon was my mate in every sense of the word?
I couldn’t. Not any longer. Not when the demon inside me was screaming to claim him. Mine. My mate. Mine.
I didn’t want to think about him being taken away from me, not when I’d just got him back. Perhaps that was why I was rushing into this, desperate to deepen our connection for fear of losing him—a man I had only begun to acknowledge I cared for.
But not loved.
No. I refused to let myself fall in love with him. He could have my soul, my body, but not my heart. The heart was off-limits. Never again would I allow myself to be so vulnerable to such gut-wrenching pain. Never.
It was bad enough that I desired him, shared parts of myself that were outside of my control. This bond between us was forged by magic that went beyond both the mortal world and the underworld.
As dawn was breaking, all barriers between us were shed. My fingers ran down his neck, his skin like midnight silk, and our bodies molded together in a perfect match. Eyes locked on mine, he slipped inside of me with a single powerful stroke that threw any thoughts of love out of my mind. There was only feeling, and Ashor joining our bodies invoked a level of feeling I wasn’t prepared for.
It shouldn’t have surprised me when the words tumbled out of my mouth, but it was the sheer possessiveness in them that took me aback. “You are mine,” I vowed, running my teeth over the throbbing vein just under his ear. Mine, the demon within me echoed. His body shuddered underneath me, and my lips curved in female delight against his skin. I flicked my tongue over the vein, tasting him.
“Just wait,” he rasped, his breathing heavy, sweat glistening over his arms and chest as he fought for control, but I didn’t want his control. My hips rolled. “Goddammit, Lexi. I said wait,” he swore through clenched teeth, his fingers digging deeper into my hips.
The demon inside me was laughing. I took his ear into my mouth as I withdrew my hips, stopping just at the tip of him. “Let go, princeling.”
“Lexi,” he groaned.
“I want all of you. Do you understand? Man and demon.” And then I sank back onto him with one quick thrust.
A growl tore from his lips as his back bowed off the bed. The violet hue of his eyes was consumed by gold, bright and flaming with the power of a demon prince. He lifted us both up into a sitting position, our bodies still connected, and I watched in utter awe as his wings sprang from his back, fluttering around us like a feathery shield of darkness.