Pride, page 28
Sophia studied Bianca. “Oh, I can think of one reason.”
Bianca wasn’t going to touch that inference and turned their attention. “Listen.”
Silence.
The door creaked open, and Raphael poked his head out. “All clear.” He caught sight of Bianca and smiled. “Hey there.”
“Hey.” Bianca stood. She didn’t want to run into Lucifer. For her own good, she needed to stay far, far away from him.
Sophia stood and looked at her. “You coming?”
Shaking her head, Bianca walked away.
The only thing Lucifer could offer her was more hurt.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
Eddie stood beside Shade at the hell gate. The Paradise Theatre had been her entire life. Dee had raised her there, and when she’d thought about her future, it had been with the hazy idea that she would grow old there.
A few short months ago, everything had changed, and now it was all changing again. The theatre was shutting down for the foreseeable future. Eddie didn’t know what Dee had told the Paradise Players, but it had worked, and the building echoed with the memories of what had taken place over the years of its existence.
“Will you be okay?” She took Dee’s hands. Leaving her grandmother behind felt like ripping a part of herself out, but Dee had been adamant. She and Daniel were the hell gate guardians.
Dee scoffed. “Of course I’ll be fine. There’s nothing those fuckers want here anymore.”
“I’ll be with her.” Daniel smiled and slung an arm over Dee’s shoulders. “I’ll keep her out of trouble.”
Shade chuckled. “Good luck with that.”
“Hey!” Dee glared at the two of them. When she turned back to Eddie, her expression was tender. “Go, Eddie-girl, be where you need to be.” She glanced at Shade. “And with who you need to be with.”
Shade smiled at Eddie, but waited, not rushing her. “You’ll summon us if you need us?”
Dee patted a small spell jar Bianca had given her. “Without a moment’s hesitation.”
“I can also reach you through the guardians,” Daniel said. “Nobody here is going to be a hero.”
Dee sniffed. “Speak for yourself, kid. Some of us have hero running through the blood.”
That was what worried Eddie the most and she looked at Daniel.
He smiled at her. “I’ve got this.”
Dee nudged Shade. “Get her out of here and keep her safe.”
“With all that I am.” Shade gave Dee a formal, little bow. “This I vow to you.”
Eddie took his outstretched hand and stepped through the hell gate. She was numb inside as they traversed the nothing and arrived in Shade’s demesne.
Fragrant, humid air surrounded her, filled with the sounds of insects and birds flitting through the jungle.
Shade opened his arms. “Ready?”
“Flying?”
Shade’s gorgeous eyes lit from within. “My love deserves wings, if only for today.”
Despite sadness over leaving Dee, excitement stirred in Eddie. Flying was a definite benefit to having a hell prince in her life.
Shade tucked her back into his front and hugged her close. “In the unlikely event of a loss of hell prince altitude, pinch the hell prince.”
Eddie’s laugh caught in her throat as two mighty down sweeps of his wings had them airborne. Wind pushed her hair back as the jungle grew smaller below them. Air rushed past her ears, and Shade’s wings made a soft whooshing noise, but other than that, the silence was absolute.
Below them, the occasional demon looked up. Some waved and others bowed to their hell prince.
“Wrath has set my remaining horde on patrol.” Shade’s breath was warm against her ear. “They are sweeping my demesne for vestiges of the rebel horde.”
“It seems to be working.” No demon had tried to shoot them out of the sky. Eddie took that as a good sign.
From above the canopy, it was hard to see the jungle floor. Occasional clearings broke the verdant monotony, and the thick, green ribbon of the river meandered in lazy arcs.
Shade’s chest was warm against her back, his arms strong around her, and his honey and musk scent had her drawing deep breaths of him. At the heart of all her new adventures was Shade. She covered his hands around her midriff with hers. Despite the fear and uncertainty around them, she was happy. “How much longer?”
“Impatient?” He chuckled.
“Yes.” She pressed her cheek to his. “We’re finally alone.”
Shade groaned. “Fuck this.”
Everything blurred and when it came back into focus, they were hovering above Shade’s palace.
Eddie gasped. “What did you do?”
“A little trick we keep on the down low.” Shade back-winged into the courtyard and they touched down softly. “I believe it’s time I showed you all my tricks.”
Warmth curled through Eddie. “All of them?”
He took her hand and led her up the stairs.
A beautiful demon opened the door and bowed. “My lord. You have been missed.”
“Apassionata.” Shade drew Eddie to his side. “This is Edme, my mate. She is to be treated accordingly.”
Apassionata smiled, and it nearly took her breath away with its sensuality. “It will be our privilege to welcome our lord’s cherished mate.”
Hand in hand, she and Shade walked through the soaring atrium with its serene pond in the center. Silk drapery fluttered in a warm breeze and twined around the columns.
A wave of lust hit her, and Eddie had to stop and catch her breath. “Wow! I need to have a look at that seal.”
Shade frowned. “Eddie—”
“No, Shade.” She stopped him before he could buckle into his super protective armor. “I’m stronger now, and Sophia has been teaching me how to control my power. If there is still only one seal not destroyed, we have a chance of holding back the end of days.”
Shade’s full, sensual mouth tightened, but he led her out of the atrium to a breezeway draped with ivory silk between the columns. “We’ll talk about it.”
Yes, they would, because she loved him, and he deserved to know her reasons. After that, she’d do another patch on Wrath’s seal and then Shade’s. They didn’t have the option of keeping her swaddled and safe. If Indolex had his way, none of them would be safe for long anyway.
The breezeway ended in a set of onyx doors that opened as they approached.
Shade’s bedroom was filled with light. Ceilings arched overhead with scenes of blatant sexuality painted on them. Eddie got momentarily lost in studying them. She hadn’t even known some of that stuff was possible.
Glass walls made the room feel like it was part of the surrounding jungle. A large wooden deck jutted from a set of sliding doors into the trees. Wisps of steam rose from a gently swirling pool in its center.
The lust seal sent another—and totally unnecessary—reminder that she was alone with Shade in his bedroom.
“Eddie.” Shade enfolded her in his arms from behind. “It’s difficult to believe you’re finally here.” He pressed his cheek to hers. “That we’re finally here.”
Eddie melted into his gentle embrace. “I love you, Shade.”
He caught his breath, and his arms tightened around her. “And I love you, my Eddie. Always.”
She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Now that you have me here, what are you planning to do with me?”
His eyes heated, and his voice grew low and raspy. “So many things.”
Eddie couldn’t resist teasing him. “Even though you’ve never done this before?”
“I’m a fast learner.” He grinned.
“Yeah?” She smiled up at him. “What did you have in mind?”
“Hmm.” Shade looked thoughtful. His voice vibrated from his chest through hers. “I thought I might start with a bit of this.” He dipped his head and nuzzled her neck. His hand dropped to the small of her back and pressed her tighter against him. His lips gently teased her skin. “What do you think?”
“That’s a good start.” Eddie’s breath caught as his kisses turned to small nips. “I see we’re progressing fast.”
His breath huffed in her ear. “Considering how long I’ve been waiting for this, fast may be the only way this can go.”
She laughed, free and joyful that it was him.
“But first.” He sucked her lobe and bit, hard enough to get her attention but stopping shy of painful. “A brief study of your erogenous zones.”
“Erogenous zones are good.” A bolt of desire shot from her ear to between her legs.
Sliding his hands beneath her shirt, he spread his large, calloused fingers over her back. “How about here?”
“That works.” She wanted to stretch and purr under his stroking hands. It was getting hard to catch a decent breath. The skin of her back became sensitized to each brush of his hands, but there were other parts of her crying out for attention, and she wriggled. “Try somewhere else.”
He slid his hands to her sides and ran them torturously slowly up to stop beside her breasts. “Research indicates this to be another erogenous zone.”
“Research?” She wanted his hands on her breasts with a fierce ache. The flesh swelled, and her nipples stood erect and begging.
“Of the purely theoretical kind.” That tormenting mouth of his nibbled along her jaw and up to the corner of her mouth. He flicked his tongue over her bottom lip. “Care to conduct a field test?”
With whatever part of her brain was still functioning, she said, “Uh-huh.”
“Give me the words, Eddie.” His voice was hoarse. The thick hard column of his cock pressed against her. “Do you want me to touch your breasts?”
“Yes.” More than her next breath. “Yes, please.”
“Like this?” He cupped the heavy, aching swells.
“Yes.” She moaned as pleasure tightened her nipples and flooded her core. “More.”
He ran the pads of his thumbs over her nipples. “What about here?”
“Yes, fuck yes.”
He squeezed her nipple. The pressure was perfect, and Eddie grabbed fistfuls of his hair and fastened her mouth over his. Her tongue surged into his mouth, desperate for the taste of him.
Shade groaned, squeezing her breasts, toying with her nipples.
Eddie deepened the kiss, pushing her grinding hips against his perfect cock.
Shade lowered his head and sucked her nipple through her shirt and bra.
Warm and wet, his mouth made her gasp with pleasure. He lavished attention on her breasts until she wanted to scream.
Then he grabbed the hem of her shirt and tugged it over her head.
Walking her backwards, he unclipped her bra with one deft hand.
He laid Eddie on her back and stepped away. His gray eyes touched her with palpable heat as he studied her. “You’re exquisite, my Eddie. I would have waited another thousand years to see you like this.”
Eddie was pathetically grateful he hadn’t. “Come here.”
“No.” He shook his head with a wicked grin. Grabbing one foot and then the other, he tugged off her shoes and socks. He kissed her foot arches. “Such pretty feet.”
“Never mind my feet.” Eddie writhed on the bed, desperate for more of him. The lust seal sent another pulse of fuel to the fire, and Eddie was ready to combust.
Shade pressed a hand between her breasts and drew it slowly down her stomach to the button on her pants. “Shall I take these off?”
“Do it.”
He popped the button. “Say please.”
“Fuck you.”
Laughing, he drew the zipper down. “That’s the general idea here.”
One swift, hard tug, and she was lying in front of him in nothing but a pair of pale pink panties.
“So chaste,” he whispered, playing with the tiny satin bow. “Almost makes me feel guilty about doing this.”
He cupped her and pressed his palm against where she ached most.
Eddie reared up as sensation flooded her.
Her chaste pink panties were soaked, and he could feel it.
One long finger snaked through the leg hole and brushed her wetness. Gaze locked on her, he raised that finger and sucked. Closing his eyes, he groaned. “So sweet.”
He yanked off his shirt. Sunlight burnished the hard places of his chest and his rippling abdominals. Through his jeans, his cock strained. He palmed his erection and stroked. “Look what you do to me, Eddie.”
Eddie would rather touch, and she reached for him.
He knocked her hands aside and drew her panties off. Then he stripped off what remained of his clothes.
“Open for me, Eddie,” he rasped. “Let me see you.”
Amazed that she wasn’t the least self-conscious, Eddie parted her thighs.
Shade’s eyes grew heavy-lidded as he studied her. “Brace your feet,” he whispered as he stroked the thick, hard flesh of his cock.
Eddie put her heels to the sides of the bed, opening herself fully to his hot, needy stare.
A wave of lust, from her or the seal she didn’t know, made Eddie cry out.
Shade brushed the head of his cock through her soaked folds. “I can’t wait any longer.”
“Then don’t.”
With one hard thrust, he joined them. Cock deep inside her, he stilled. “I love you, Eddie, and you will always be mine.”
He grabbed her thighs and held them around his hips as he pounded into her.
Flesh slapped against flesh. Inarticulate grunts and moans provided the soundtrack to the steady thrust of him inside her. His abs flexed with each powerful plunge of his cock.
Eddie’s orgasm built on the rising waves of lust from the seal. It crashed into her like a storm, and she hung suspended in the most intense pleasure of her life.
Shade shoved even deeper inside her and shouted as he came. He stroked into her through a series of aftershocks until he collapsed on her. His weight drove her deep into the bed, and his sweat-slicked skin clung to hers.
The moment was so intense Eddie wanted to say something profound. But her brain was fried, and her body so sated she might never move again. So, she just said, “Wow.”
Chapter
Forty
Belle gritted her teeth as forceful, tenacious tentacles of power grasped for hers. She shrunk her hell powers into a tiny kernel, but still they sensed her and ravenously attempted to take her power.
A half-moon gleamed down over the arid landscape from a cloudless night sky. The southern hemisphere stars littered the firmament like sequins on a velvet ballgown. War would materialize in a matter of hours, and instead of tracking them down like she had Pestilence, Belle hoped to deal with them here. Unlike Pestilence, War wouldn’t need to come into contact with humans to spread their poison. If the human news was any indication, already War’s effect was being felt throughout the world.
Countries armed on their neighbor’s borders. Within cities and towns, unrest broke into running, bloody battles with authorities. War would plunge humanity into unprecedented bloodshed, which considering the violent history of the species, was a terrifying notion.
The hair on her nape rose, warning her she wasn’t alone, and Belle swung around to face the threat.
A dark-haired demon with finely chiseled features, whose skin the moonlight turned to silver, studied her. For a moment, he robbed her of thought. She had never seen anything so compelling or beautiful. His horns, curling from his ears to the back of his head, brought to mind a magnificent pagan being of power. She wanted to draw closer to him. Natural caution kept her back.
With his dark clothing, the demon blended seamlessly into the night. “Greetings, Lord Belphegor.” He bowed. When he rose to face her again, a disarmingly crooked smile softened his handsome features. “Or may I call you Belle?”
“Who are you?” His aura tasted of power and something unknown. His power signature was off the charts for even the higher order demon he was.
He pressed one hand to his chest. “I am Ashe of Lucifer’s court.”
That name she knew well, and she stiffened. The betrayal almost felt personal. She had wanted— it hardly mattered now that she knew who he was. “Shouldn’t that be formerly of Lucifer’s court?”
“Ah.” His regret looked genuine. “I see my reputation has preceded me.”
Ashe had controlled Wrath and Eddie through some sort of amulet that drained their powers. His hands were empty and resting by his sides. “You risk much by confronting me.”
She dared not reach for her power with the horsemen so near, but that didn’t make her unable to defend herself. She dropped a hand to her hip, close to the onyx dagger strapped beneath her shirt.
“We are guessing we have you to thank for Pestilence going silent.” Ashe shoved his hands in his pockets.
Belle watched those hands. He could be reaching for an amulet. There was no good answer for his question, so she reverted to what she did best—watch and wait.
“Yes.” Ashe raised one hand and ran his thumb over his bottom lip. “We were anticipating a far more noticeable affect to Pestilence rising.” He grinned. “We were unaware you were able to go this power dark. Impressive. I couldn’t sense you.”
“Then how did you find me?”
“Ah.” He cocked his head. “Torpidius. Remember him?”
A lazy, sly, malcontent demon she had nearly ended every time he’d come near her. She hadn’t regretted his defection to the rebellion. She had regretted not being able to recover his ability to track her before he’d snuck away. “Yes.”
“I was able to help myself to that nifty little trick of his.” He grimaced. “Unfortunately for Torpidius, he no longer has need of it.”
So, he’d ended Torpidius. No demon should have that power.
Belle palmed her dagger. That Ashe was dangerous she had no doubt, but he was a male presenting demon, and they always underestimated her. “You found me.” She shrugged. “What now?”
“Now,” he said in a cool, reasonable tone that put her even more on her guard. “I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”
His audacity almost made her laugh. “No.”
