Fuck. What the fuck, oh… My brain exploded in fireworks. What was this?
He broke the kiss, and I looked at him dazed.
“A little daemon perk,” he said, breathless.
“Keon, please fuck me.”
His head dipped, and that clever tongue was on my neck then between my breasts. Something tugged at my top to free my boobs. I looked down to see his tail hooked on the fabric.
He grinned, wicked and sexy, and his gaze dropped to my breasts and his expression melted to desire. My head fell back as he explored me with his mouth, tongue rasping over my sensitized nipples, sucking and lapping at them until I was a squirming wet mess in need of attention further south.
The mattress dipped beneath me, and I had no clue how we’d made it here. All I knew was that these clothes needed to come off. I tore at them, breath shallow with excitement, eager to be free of the constraints. Keon pinned me with one hand on my chest.
“Let me.”
He drew a blade out of nowhere and I fell still, watching the glint of metal as it descended toward me. Oh, fucking yes please.
His eyes were dark with desire as he sliced my clothes from my body. The metal was cold, here and there against my skin, but it never cut me, not once, and then I was naked, exposed, wet, and swollen.
His tail slid over my abdomen, thick and heavy, pressing down on me.
“Keon…”
My pulse hitched as it travelled south. He slid his hand beneath the waistband of his pants and fisted himself. I could see the outline of his arousal as he pumped it. I wanted to see more, but the tail, fuck the tail was sliding over my pubic bone and then it was parting my folds and dipping into my wet heat. My moan was a ragged thing, thighs parting on instinct to give the invasion purchase and then it was sliding over my swollen clit and my hips began to move, rolling against it, desperate for that feeling to go on, for that wave to hit.
Keon peeled his pants down to expose his cock, pumping it as his tail drove me to the edge. His cock was glorious, glistening at the tip with precum. Fuck I wanted to taste him, but he was picking up tempo, his hand pumping faster as his tail drove me toward release. I was going to come… Oh fuck.
My back arched, hips coming up as his cock finally entered me. He pinned my arms to the bed above me as he thrust, his tail still on my clit massaging it as he fucked me. The orgasm hit, forcing my head back and tearing a feral cry from my throat, which he claimed with his mouth, drawing it into him like a hungry breath.
We remained locked, hips rolling, milking the high, riding the wave for long minutes. And then he began to lick me. Tingles spread all over my body, something in his saliva. Something. Oh… The sensation travelled down to the apex of my thighs where we were still joined. Every stoke of his tongue sent a fresh wave of sensation until the pressure, the need to come again, was almost painful, and then he reared back gripped my hips and began to thrust again. Long, hard, fast thrusts that opened me wide and tore sounds from me that I’d never made before.
My body locked as I came, cries trapped in my throat, back arched, hips jerking over and over as the orgasm ripped through me. Keon’s cry of release echoed around the room and then his hands were on me, soothing me, kneading me, as I came down.
He gathered me to him and rolled onto his side, still inside me, and my heart…my heart was finally complete.
Eve
The sky above is as clear as the day I imagined it. How much longer before my eyes close for good? I can’t move now. The eons of running from time are catching up, and my body is no longer my own.
I’m dying.
Which means Cain is dead.
Sorrow twists my insides, but not for the loss of my son. For the loss of what may have been, given more time.
Samael…
My Samael.
Something shifts in the fabric of my world, and my thready pulse accelerates, leaving me breathless.
“Eve?”
Oh god. I want to turn my head, to see his face, but I’m immobile.
And then, like a prayer, his glorious visage hovers above me. He lifts me gently into his arms and cradles me to his powerful chest. My eyes are void of tears, too dried up to cry.
My mouth moves but no words come.
“I know,” he says. “I know.”
I love him. Have always loved him, even though he wasn’t mine. I’ve waited for so long and he came. He came to me, and now I can go in peace.
“Sleep now,” he says. His hand sweeps across my forehead in a gentle caress as I devour him with my eyes. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you what you wanted. Maybe in another life…”
Another life…
I take my final breath.
Lilith
Mammon glares daggers of loathing at me from his cell—an emotion he’s kept hidden for too long. I’ve always suspected his hatred. I rejected him time and time again, after all.
I’ve never liked the fallen angel, only tolerated him. Mammon’s ambition is for himself and himself alone. He cares nothing for others, not even his kin, as he demonstrated when he slaughtered his daughter.
A life in a cell is too good a punishment for him.
There must be more, and I have just the thing in mind.
“Look at you,” he says. “Gray and haggard. Your beauty is gone.”
“Look at you,” I retort. “Locked up like a common thief. Did you honestly believe you could steal my kingdom?”
“I almost succeeded.” He frowns. “If not for unforeseen circumstances. Cain was not on my radar.” He sits on the narrow cot that serves as his bed. “It’s a shame he was unable to end Samael’s life. But I must say, seeing you like this—gray and wrinkled—is enough to keep me warm in this cold, dank pit.”
I allow my lips to curve in a smile. “Oh, Mammon, did you honestly think this would be the extent of your punishment?”
Doubt flickers across his face. “Samael passed his sentence.”
“I am queen here.” I step closer to the bars. “And I have yet to pass my sentence. Samael has no idea of the grief you’ve caused me or the extent of the torment you put me through. This punishment is not enough.”
He raises his chin. “I’m not afraid of you, Lilith. Look at you. You’re nothing.”
And my next actions will make me even less, but they will be worth it. I close my eyes and reach into the abyss, into the place called Taraffel—the afterlife for creatures like me. Like us.
Loke, I have a proposition.
Lilith, you honor me again. The gatekeeper’s voice is clear in my mind. What is it you desire?
I offer you a decade of what’s left of my life if you admit this soul into the maze.
A soul that is tethered is no use to me.
But all tethered souls must sleep.
A low chuckle. Ah, I see what you desire. A forever sleep, and a one-way trip into a forever nightmare.
Will you accept my offer? My spine cracks and curves, and my vision blurs.
“What’s happening to you?” Mammon looks horrified.
I can feel my body failing. I look at my hands to find paper thin skin speckled with age spots and stretched over bone. I can only imagine what my face looks like. But there’s joy in my heart, because this means Loke has accepted my offer. It means that—