Grave Mistakes (Hellgate Guardians Book 1)

by Ivy Asher

  “Don’t pretend to be disgusted at the thought of our mouths sharing a bottle,” he tells me, making my gaze draw back up. “We both know it’s only a matter of time before my mouth is all over you.”

  A shadow tattoo moves up his neck and strokes his ear lobe as he speaks. I stare at it, wondering if he can make it stroke other things. My stomach flips at the sudden image of me splayed on a bed while he looms over me, his shadows stroking up my body. Fuck. My hands grip the edge of the counter. “You’re sure of yourself,” I reply, trying to keep my tone cool and collected, despite the shaky arousal I’m feeling. “What if I prefer Crux?”

  Echo takes another swig, those black orbs of his locked on me. “Then I’d repeat my earlier response: Liar.”

  I snort out some laughter, but I don’t actually argue with him. I like Echo a lot, and I would love to have sex with him because I have a feeling he could make me feel real good. It would be nice to forget about all the craziness going on around me for a bit, too, but even though I’ve always liked sex and been free about taking pleasure when I wanted, I’m still wary of making things more complicated than they already are.

  I clear my throat and grab the beer from his hand for no other reason than being stupid and pushing the line I’ve tried to draw. I’ve always liked flirting with guys and feeling wanted. Mutual attraction is a powerful thing. Flirting with demons? It’s even more so. I can’t explain how compelling it is to have the rapt attention in Echo’s eyes and know that if I crossed the distance right now, he’d fuck me for all I was worth. It’s a heady feeling.

  His eyes grow hooded as my lips close over the mouth of the bottle and tip it back to drink, my throat bobbing up and down before I hand it back to him. “Thanks,” I say, our fingertips brushing as he takes it from my hand.

  “No need to thank me yet,” he says, his mouth twitching.

  My phone dings, and I look down as he reaches in his pocket and pulls it out. I sigh and hold out my hand. “Give me my phone back.”

  He ignores my outstretched palm and starts clicking again. “Food’s on the way,” he announces, his eyes on the screen.

  I frown. “How did you even unlock it?” I ask.

  “You worried?” Echo counters, still looking down at my phone.

  “About you being a thief? Yes. Now hand it over.”

  “Just a minute,” he says before pushing away from the fridge and heading into the living room where he makes himself at home on my couch. “Hmm, interesting,” he comments.

  I sit on the middle cushion and peer over him to see what he’s looking at.

  “Are these men booty calling you?” he asks as he scrolls through my old messages. He freezes when he comes to one from a dude I met at the bar. We hooked up a few times before he left for deployment with the Army. “Shit, you sent him nudes?”

  My cheeks immediately fill with color, and I try to snag the phone, but he’s too quick and lifts it out of my reach. “Give it back!”

  Of course he doesn’t. A grin overtakes his face as he continues scrolling. “Mmm, you’re very good at sexting.”

  I know I am. I’m fucking awesome at it. It’s one of the reasons that dude still texts me from time to time, even though he’s in another country. He’s good for some phone sex when the dam is dry.

  “That’s personal shit,” I say, trying to snatch it again.

  I crawl all over him in my efforts to snatch my phone back. I’m perfectly fine with the fact that I’m now straddling him and shoving my chest in his face as I reach up and quickly nab his wrist, trying to pull his arm down with all my might.

  I definitely notice my ass is grinding against his hardening length, and it does all kinds of things to me when he releases an appreciative groan. I use his momentary distraction to pry the phone from his fingers, and then I shove it down my shirt into my bra for safe keeping.

  “Not cool, Echo,” I say, though for some reason, I’m not mad. I...like that he saw that.

  “You’re right,” he says, one of his wrists still firmly in my grip. “It’s incredibly hot.”

  I swallow, tasting the heated craving of my own desire mingling with the wheat aftertaste of the beer. I shouldn’t be doing this. It fits my pattern of picking sexy distractions to help avoid dealing with real shit, but the demon thing isn’t going anywhere. This may feel good now, but it isn’t going to solve anything. I just wish it didn’t feel so good.

  Our eyes lock, and even though I pride myself on being an observant person, I’m only aware of two things right now—Echo’s dick beneath my ass, and my breasts against his chest. Based on how hard he feels, I think he’s aware of those things too.

  This moment hooks between us like cat claws into fabric, sharp awareness sinking beneath my skin. Echo’s eyes flick down to my mouth, and my lips part of their own volition, like my mouth is giving out invitations.

  Echo leans in an inch, so I lean in another. We share air, and I notice his shadows moving over his skin out of the corner of my eye. They trail up his neck and against his scruffy jaw, as if they want to get closer to me.

  “Are your shadows only nice to...just you?” I ask, my voice low and huskier than usual.

  Echo leans in more, his chin tucking into the curve of my neck right below my ear, but not quite touching. “No.”

  I blink at his answer, my mouth opening because I want to pant at the implications of that. “Oh.”

  He chuckles darkly and then moves his arm—the one I’m still holding hostage—and brings his hand closer. My eyes dart down in time to see more shadows trailing over his arm, and I gasp and release his wrist when I feel them beneath my fingertips. They move up the back of his hand like tendrils of smoke, and then they’re curling off his fingertips and sliding onto my collarbone.

  “Holy hell…” I breathe, my gray eyes widening as I look down and see the shadows skimming across my skin, tattoo marks delving down my shirt and into my cleavage.

  My hands fly up to grip Echo’s shoulders, my eyes locked onto his face as I feel them move against the tender skin of my breasts, tucking into the undersides before circling around, spiraling closer and closer toward my areolas.

  My nipples spike, hardening instantly, and when I feel the shadows flick over the sensitive peaks, a breath hisses out between my teeth. “Echo…”

  He gives me a lazy arrogant look, one that’s full of male pride that he’s affecting me without even physically touching me. “Yes, Delta?”

  Flick, flick. The shadows pluck and spin around my nipples, and it shoots an overload of pleasure through me that’s both strange and uncharted. My clit pulses with want, and I find my hips shifting forward so that I can grind against him.

  Echo makes another low noise in his throat, and it spurs me on. I boldly start grinding over him again, sliding myself forward and back, loving that he’s clearly just as affected as I am. His hands come up to grip my hips, his fingers digging in like he wants to hold me in place and not let me go.

  I could come just from this alone. Who knew dry humping could be so fucking sexy? There’s just something about his hard length scraping over my clit while his shadows continue to tease my nipples with dark abandon. It’s fulfilling and...wrong. It’s the perfect dose of naughty and feel good that makes me melt.

  And fuck, I could really use a little relief after all the stress I’ve had lately. Maybe I should give in, just a little. I want his mouth on mine, and I want his shadows to travel lower until they make it to the juncture of my thighs. I want—

  “Whatcha guys doing?”

  Crux’s heavy body is suddenly settling onto the couch cushion beside us, sending my body bouncing on top of Echo. My shadow demon groans, but I bolt up onto my feet in surprise. “Nothing!” I say, holding a hand over my racing heart. What I really want to do is hold it over my clit instead and finish getting myself off, because I’m pulsing all over.

  “Nothing, huh?” Crux says with a smirk as he crosses his tanned arms in front of him and looks over at Echo
. “Looked like a pretty fun nothing.”

  I open my mouth to reply, embarrassment at being caught slinking up my cheeks. As soon as my mouth opens though, I realize that Echo’s shadows are still on my breasts, and he starts inching them downward.

  My eyes grow as wide as saucers, and my breath trips in my throat.

  “Something wrong, Del?” Echo asks, the corner of his mouth tilting up.

  Oh, God. They’re getting lower. I don’t know whether to press my thighs closer together or open them wider. “Nope,” I lie before biting my lip as I feel the shadows spiral around my belly button.

  “Hmm,” he says noncommittally before I feel tendrils start to sink past my pelvic bone and reach down to caress the hair just above my pussy.

  I jerk forward when I feel the tiniest tap on the top of my clit, and my thighs clamp together. I don’t know whether to tell him to stop or beg him to keep going, but both demons are looking at me with heated abandon, and I know that Crux knows what Echo is doing to me.

  “I see you like Echo’s tricks,” Crux says, his tone gravelly. “But I have some of my own too.” Without prompting, he opens his mouth and then slips out his tongue.

  I stare wide-eyed, a flurry of possibilities flashing through my mind as my lips form a shocked O. “That’s your tongue?” I ask. Obviously, I can see that’s his tongue. It’s attached to his mouth, for fuck’s sake. There’s no missing it, but holy motherload.

  Even though Crux looks the most human out of all the guys, his tongue definitely does not. It’s like the hidden demon pearl in his human oyster. It’s deep purple in color, forked at the tip, and somehow, he seems to be able to...lengthen it. So naturally, now all I can think about is how long it can get and if he enjoys the taste of wet pussy? When I catch a glint of something, I lean in closer. “It’s pierced too?” I ask, nearly whimpering.

  He wiggles the forked tip, showing off the fact that he can move both sides ambidextrously, while also confirming that both sides of the fork are in fact pierced. It’s like his tongue was made for cunnilingus. I’ve never wanted oral so badly in my whole life. He pulls it back into his perfectly normal looking mouth, and I fight off the disappointment that surges through me.

  “That’s right, Jeter. I’m clearly the better option here if you’re looking to be pleasured.”

  Echo rolls his eyes and adjusts himself in his pants, and sadly, I feel his shadows disintegrate. I bite my lip in disappointment. “Oh, please. My fucking shadows are way better than your creepy tongue,” he tells Crux.

  Crux frowns over at him where they sit side-by-side on the couch. “No, they’re not.”

  I want to tell them that I better just try them both so that I can compare and contrast, but before I can offer that helpful suggestion, the doorbell rings, the noise jolting me out of my carnal distraction.

  “That’ll be the food,” I squeak out before clearing my throat a bit. “I’m going to go shower.”

  I spin on my heel and leave the room before I can get tempted to strip down and beg for all the orgasms. It’s not a good idea. At least, not until I get the demon ash off of me. Priorities, right?

  18

  I toss and turn, the sheets on my bed tangling around me, tightening against my fevered skin like snakes slowly trying to wring me dry. I’m achy everywhere in the worst kind of way. Why didn’t I let Echo finish the job? I should’ve ripped off my pants, pointed at my vagina, and challenged, “First demon to give me twenty orgasms, wins!”

  Stupid, Delta. Had to go and be all, “I don’t want to make things more complicated, so I’m just going to go to bed.”

  What was I thinking? I’m a demon, what’s more complicated than that? I should be riding that orgasm train into bliss-coma station, not jumping off and being all “It’s cool, I’ll walk from here.” I had a free ride to some serious pleasure, and I just walked away? As Napoleon Dynamite would say, “Idiot.”

  I rub at my clammy face and wish for the thousandth time tonight that I had batteries. My favorite toy is dead to the world, and I’m up horny creek without a dick paddle.

  Can demons be summoned? Can I say Echo or Crux in the mirror three times and one of them will appear and make me come until I scream? Or scream until I come? Scream while I come?

  I sigh at the possibilities as they swirl around my head like a flirty breeze, but then the curtains covering my window flutter slightly, like my teasing gentle wind is actually moving around the room and not just in my mind. I stare at the hanging panel of fabric for a moment as it settles and stops moving. My heart is suddenly pounding in my ears, and I strain to hear if the air conditioning kicked on and that’s what caused it.

  The curtain is half dipped in shadow, and I do my best to try and see into the darkness. Without warning, Echo steps out of that shadowy spot in the corner of my room, and I gasp and scramble back against the metal headboard of my bed before my brain can scream at me that we know the intruder who just walked out of the darkness.

  “What the fuck!” I screech at him, sagging in relief when I realize I’m not in danger.

  His pitch-black eyes rake over my bare legs, trace the hem of my underwear where it meets my thigh, and then move up to caress over the wife beater I’m wearing as a pajama top. My nipples harden as his gaze skims over my breasts the way his shadows did earlier, and my heart kicks off for all kinds of new reasons, none of them involving fear.

  “What are you doing in here?” I ask, my tone breathy and kissed with suggestion.

  “We have unfinished business,” he answers, his voice more like a stroke against my body than just a mere sound. I swallow hard.

  Echo steps toward the foot of my bed, and every nerve ending in my body feels like it’s a go for launch. He reaches down, fisting the sheet and blanket in his hand and then slowly pulls them toward him. The covers slip down my body, languidly exposing me inch by painfully slow and sensual inch. It’s hot as hell.

  His eyes never leave mine as the blankets stroke down my legs. I don’t miss that it feels exactly like his shadows did against my skin earlier. If there was any question about Echo’s skills, they’ve evaporated like steam into the air, because this demon is seducing the shit out of me right now, and he’s barely even doing anything.

  “Mmm, that’s better,” he observes when the sheet and blanket are pooled around the end of the bed, leaving me exposed.

  We just stare for a moment at each other, and nerves start to gather in my stomach, but then, suddenly Echo is shirtless. The sight of him and what it does to me is like a battering ram to my insecurities.

  I trace the lines of shadows on his body, his fluid tattoos tracing over his muscles and accentuating all that he’s got going on. It’s a lot. Like a lot a lot. I can’t wait to trace the planes of his body with my mouth and taste this demon’s shadows for myself.

  I pull off my shirt without a second’s hesitation, and I love the way his eyes take me in. Like we’re keeping this fair, he unbuttons his jeans and pushes them down his body, kicking them off.

  Well, fuck me.

  His shadows V down his abdomen and spiral down to his shaft, moving like a wave toward the tip of his cock and then back down to the base as if he’s stroking himself with them. I lick my lips and then crawl forward on my hands and knees, transfixed by the sight. I want to taste him.

  I look up at him as I move off the bed and fall to my knees on the floor in front of him. He doesn’t say anything, but I can see the want simmering in his dark eyes. I palm him in my hand and stroke him once, surprised when the shadows move away and grant me access. It’s like he doesn’t want to feel anything but me, and that’s incredibly emboldening.

  I lean forward and suck the head of his cock into my mouth, moaning slightly at the feel of him. I take him deeper, and the feel of his shaft stroking against my tongue is making me wetter by the second.

  He’s too long for me to take all the way in, so I stroke his base with my hand while I pull back and then dip forward again. I feel cool
caresses against my face, through my hair, and down my neck, until both my nipples are being pinched in a firm grasp, even though Echo still has both his hands at his sides. A thrill shoots through me, knowing his shadows have come out to play, and I work to take him deeper into my mouth.

  He groans and lets his head fall back like he’s lost to the pleasure, and I moan as his shadows tweak my nipples and start working them in time with my bobbing head. Precum coats my tongue, and I’m surprised by the sweetness in it. Do demons have dessert cum? I mean, I’ve had a fella or two tell me they love the way I taste, but I always figured that was something they had to say.

  I shrug internally and go to town on Echo’s cock, enjoying the way he’s panting and twitching, but the next thing I know, he’s flipping the script on me. I was all ready for dessert cum, but apparently, he has other ideas, because his shadows pull my mouth off him. Like phantom hands, they pinch around my neck and pull me away, and I gasp at the firm, cool hold around my throat. It turns me the fuck on, and I look up at him with hooded, excited eyes.

  His shadows yank me up, and then I’m pushed onto the bed, my back hitting the mattress. The shadows shift, slipping down my spine to the top of my ass. Slowly, the blackness twists around the fabric of my underwear and then pulls them down my body, all while Echo watches, looming over me with glittering black eyes. I swallow hard as my underwear slips over my ankles and falls to the floor, and then the shadows race upward to my knees and upper thighs, shoving my legs apart and making me gasp.

  Well, alrighty then.

  Echo has a lascivious grin on his face. That look alone makes me feel like the sexiest fucking woman in the world. Just when I’m all aflutter with thoughts of what he and his shadows are about to do to me, Crux suddenly walks out of a dark corner and leans against the wall, watching me. My heart skips a fucking beat as a thrill shoots through me.

  Crux drinks his fill of me spread wide open, wet, and ready on the bed. I look over at Echo like, you see him too right? But his grin only widens, his teeth flashing in the dark.