Like the previous day, I felt amazing. Free from pain. Delightfully sated in a way I couldn't explain. But this time, I could remember everything. I scrambled out of bed, my nightshirt torn down the middle.Holy shit. I threw my messy hair to the side, seeing an angry red lovebite adorning my skin. My skin tingled as my fingers brushed the mark. Heat pooled between my legs. He marked me.It happened. Last night really happened.Every little detail of my dreams. The delicious stretch of Orion…or whatever his name actually was… filled me to the brim with his cock. The burn of the carpet against my back. The predatory gaze. His hunger and how mine mirrored his.I couldn't get enough of him. The taste of his lips. The buzzing adrenaline flooded with power. I never knew what power tasted like before I kissed him. Felt his tongue twist with mine in a sinful dance.His body was imprinted in my mind so I would see him every time I closed my eyes. His gorgeous strong features.
"Leave me alone," I whispered, pulling my face away from his inviting hands. I must look so pathetic. I didn't want anyone to see me like this. But the tears didn't subside. And neither did he.Orion tipped his head to the side, kneeling on the floor beside me. His mouth was set into a slight frown, but it wasn't directed at me. My eyes helplessly darted past him to the wall where I heard Nova's bed frame slam repeatedly against the wall earlier.He turned to where I was looking, then slowly back to me again. "Does that hurt you?""What the fuck do you think?" I snapped before I could stop myself. My fingers touched my lips in shock. "I-I'm…sorry. I—"He lifted his finger to his lips, the side of his mouth ticking upwards into a salacious dimpled smirk. My belly coiled. "Don't apologize, Adira. I like it when you spit fire. Perhaps there's something under all that self-pity." He glanced back at the wall. "If it makes you feel any better, it's not love.""How would you know
As I suspected, Orion was gone when I woke up. For a split second, I wondered if he had tricked me again. Fooled me through my dreams again…but then I smelled him.The scent of his cologne on my sheets. I had forgotten how good it smelled. How badly I wanted to bottle it up for myself. Musky and masculine. As sinful as he tasted. My mouth watered thinking about last night. His kiss. The way he fed from me. The sensation of his hand around my throat.We didn't have sex. He wouldn't even let me finish him off. I hummed in disappointment, getting lost in the fantasy of sinking to my knees in front of him. Watching the confusion wrinkle his forehead. For once it wouldn't be about my pleasure…it would be about his. I don't know if he ever indulged in sex for the simple primal enjoyment of it. I wanted him to want me, not for the necessity of feeding his hunger but for his own desire.But that begged the question…why would he come to me when he could have anyone he wanted? Why di
"I know Lust, pet…""King of Demons…Devil…Speculative titles.""Brothers."Our conversation looped over and over in my head, but those statements stuck. The sun peeked under the horizon, dipping beneath the vast ocean to my left. I was driving home, set to deal with my own personal demons, but I dreaded every second of it."This isn't what I really look like…"Then what did he really look like? A deep desire, a thirst for knowledge…power…his power…fell over me. Somehow I was brought back to Church, sitting in the pews, crosses, and stained glass coloring the memory.I never liked Church. A pastor dictating what I should or shouldn't do. What I should believe. I didn't like how they ostracized my mother. Calling her a jezebel, me a bastard. Judging us for something that wasn't her fault. People from her church would still cross the street to avoid walking on the same sidewalk as her. It crushed me because I was powerless to help her. I knew my mother loved me and did
A dead silence hung over us. Him staring down at me, dwarfing me as I now barely came up to his chest. His confusion was written all over his face. He didn't understand me. "What?" The question fell from his lips almost before he could stop it. Then his uniquely handsome face pinched together like he tasted something bitter and he reached down, gripping my face in his hands. Harder than he usually did. Forcing me to stare at him and notice how his teeth were extended into fangs. Every part of him was different. Sharper. Rougher. But I still found him alluring. My cheeks grasped in one of his massive mitts, but still gentler than I expected him to be. "Your form pleases me," I whispered, staring deeply into his glowing amber eyes. "I still want you.""You're lying," he hissed out between his teeth, his entire body rigid with seething rage. He didn't believe me. Not for a moment.I couldn't help but wonder how many times it had happened. Revealing his celestial form to someo
TW: Implied sexual assaultThree days. It's been three days since I've seen Asmodeus. I was irritable and in pain. The pesky aches and sore muscles were back. All my limbs felt like lead as I dragged them around behind me during my shift. But I powered through, hating every moment of my existence as I dealt with entitled patrons and Bill's shitty backhanded comments. I'd done my best to avoid him, but ever since I caught him coming onto Sarah, I felt like he's been watching me. No longer a fly on the wall, I had become an active pest buzzing around his ears.Maybe I was paranoid. Or maybe it was the lack of sleep. After I saw Asmodeus's new form, I expected him to visit me the next night to feed. Indulge me. Take my opportunity to understand him. Prove to him I wasn't going to let him go. But he never showed up.Instead, I propelled myself neck-deep into nightmares. The crash over and over again. The horrifying image of my mother dangling over me, her blood everywhere
Blood roared in my ears. My jaw clamped down on my tongue so hard I could taste blood. My chest pounded harder and harder with every step as I climbed the stairs. The elevator was out, like usual. My bag felt heavy, smacking against my side.My hair whipped behind me, a brewing storm raging in the sky above, but even the thunder seemed to pale in comparison to how I felt inside. Everything I had worked so hard for, disintegrating. Destroyed. Like nothing I did ever mattered. It was all temperamental. Nothing was forever. Except for time.You could never get time back.The time I wasted trying to figure out what I did wrong. How to fix what was never broken to begin with, just a shitty relationship.When I made it up to my apartment, the door was open, Nova signing something on the mover's tablet. "You got the new address?" she asked, handing the tablet back.She hadn't seen me yet, dripping and soaked to the bone. "All set, ma'am. We'll head there right away," the ma
Water cascaded over us. The moon was high in the sky, even if I could barely see it around the storm.With how close he was, I could see the dark circles under his eyes. How his cheekbones caved in, his normally handsome face gaunt and exhausted. His eyes blazed, fighting to stay furious with me.Relief settled into my essence. Sagging my shoulders. I'm sure he could feel it too. With the way his face softened ever so slightly. "You put eyes on yourself. More than mine, pet."Pet…my body roared to life. Desire coiling within my bones. One of his hands slid along my face, slick with the rain. "You're in my head, Asmoday," I whispered, barely audible above the crashing of rainfall. "I…I can't get you out."His jaw clenched, audibly grinding his teeth together. "Don't call me that." He paused, looking deep into my eyes. "I'm not your angel, Adira.""Were you ever?"Something different crossed over his expression. I couldn't identify it. This was something different. S