“I want to feel you in me,” I said.
“Not yet,” he purred, and he swiped his tongue deep inside me.
I couldn’t hold back the moan as he worked his hands over my body. With each pass of his tongue, I was further lost in ecstasy. He slipped his arms around my thighs and pulled my hips up, licking and kissing his way between my legs. I ran my hands through his hair, tugging, needing him to stop and slide into me.
“Please, Lucifer…I need you.”
He kissed above my pelvic bone and worked his way back up my body. He wrapped his warm lips around my tight nipple. I arched my back, trying to rub myself against him.
“I want to see your eyes,” Lucifer whispered.
I opened my eyes as he slowly worked himself into me. With my legs around him, I pulled him closer. When he was fully pushed into me, he stopped and pressed his lips to mine. My body hummed.
“Move, Lucifer.”
He smiled down and started to move in and out. It wasn’t long before my body was near the edge. And Lucifer reached between us and pinched my nub. The mixture of pain and pleasure was enough to send me over the brink. I screamed his name in pure ecstasy.
“You’re so sexy when you come,” he whispered and kissed the side of my neck. “I want to stay like this forever.”
Lucifer rolled over, so I was on top. I continued to ride him up and down as he ran his hands over my body. I loved seeing him losing control when I was on him. When he was close, he pulled me down and smashed his lips to mine.
The kiss was intense and powerful. I knew he was trying to show how much he loved me, and I felt the same back. After a few seconds, I lay across his chest, breathing deeply.
He slowly turned me to the side and pulled me against him.
“I love you, Gemma.”
Tears formed in my eyes. It was the first time he had said the three words to me.
“Years ago, before the incident, I actually planned a big dinner and everything to tell you how I felt. I wanted you to move to hell officially to be with me.”
I rested my hand against his cheek. “I pretty much lived with you, Lucifer. Let’s promise to talk next time there is a life-altering decision.”
“I’m never going to let something like that happen again. My pride was hurt, and I let it get in the way of looking for you.”
I took a deep breath. “I love you too.”
A cocky grin formed across his face. “I already knew that.”
Playfully slapping his shoulder, I said, “Your ego is way too large.”
“It’s not the only thing that is large.” He pressed his member against me, and we spent the rest of the night making love.
11
Gemma
A deafening explosion sounded outside, followed by the room rattling. Shells on the dresser fell off, shattering on the ground. I reached across the bed and hit Lucifer in the chest.
He groaned and rolled over. “It’s too early.”
The man could sleep through anything, and that included an earthquake or a bombing—I wasn’t sure which this was. Then I heard the second explosion, and the room rattled again. The glass chandelier above us swayed, and I wasn’t a hundred percent sure it wouldn’t fall and take us both out as we lay in bed.
Bliss from multiple rounds of sex was no longer in the air. I jumped out of bed, shimmied back into the leather pants, and threw on my tank top. Lucifer rolled out of bed, and I couldn’t help but stop and admire his perfect ass, which flexed as he put on a pair of overly expensive pants. He sent me a wink as he buttoned up his shirt. I knew I wanted to be with him. I just wasn't ready to say yes yet—to life in hell and to being with the devil.
The next hit sent me flying across the room and into the wall. Lucifer was at my side in a second, kneeling next to me. My body was still weak, and the multiple rounds of sex the night before hadn’t done much to make it better. Instead, it had made me yearn more for Lucifer. The more I kept denying him, the worse I felt.
I pressed my lips to his and whispered, “I’m sorry.” I’d brought the fight to him. All those years ago, I should have questioned the Titans.
Lucifer tangled his fingers in my hair and pressed his lips harder against my mouth. When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine. “You have no reason to be sorry.”
Right there was one of the reasons I wanted to be with him. And he’d come for me this time. It was my own fault we were going into the fight and I was weak. But the night before, there had been multiple times I could have let Lucifer claim me, and instead, I’d chosen to be stubborn.
The palace shook again, reminding us that we needed to get a move on. It wasn’t fair to make Lucifer fight whoever was out there. They had come because of me.
Lucifer stood and held out his hand. “Ready to take down a rogue Titan so I can go lock you away in my palace for days?”
“You need to run hell.”
“I have enough people who owe me favors.”
I grabbed Lucifer’s hand and stood up. He tossed me two swords from off the wall. Then he pulled out his flaming sword, and we headed for the door. When we opened it, nobody was in the hall. I couldn’t hear any screams or people running for help.
The palace shook again. I held onto the wall so I wouldn’t fall over. It sounded like the explosion was coming from the main throne room.
Lucifer and I headed down the hall, looking in doors as we went. Nobody was there. When we’d gone to bed the night before, the hallways were buzzing with people living in the palace. Now there was nobody.
When we finally made it to the throne room, it was a different story. Prometheus stood in the center of the room, surrounded by trolls, demons, and even a few wolf shifters. Holding up a sword, he pointed at me. “Kill her.”
“Why me?” I asked. “I think I have the right to know, since you brought me out of the long sleep.”
“You were supposed to want to help me and be my queen.” Prometheus’s eyes blazed yellow, and he paced back and forth.
“Did he just say you were going to be his queen?” Lucifer huffed.
“Do you really think now is the time to argue with him? He seems a little off-kilter.”
A troll charged at Lucifer and me. He was huge, angry, and green, and the closer he got, the stronger his body odor became. I tried to hold my breath as I charged back.
Lucifer didn’t move. He stayed back as I drove my sword through the heart of the giant creature and watched him drop to the ground. I turned, and Lucifer gave me a thumbs-up. I flipped him off. The smell of the troll's blood was worse than his body odor. It was like sour milk.
One of the wolves charged at Lucifer and leapt into the air. Lucifer spun his sword, taking down the beast before he could even get close. The wolf fell to the floor in a pool of blood.
The room was filled with Prometheus’s and Poseidon’s men. Another boom exploded outside, rocking the palace. Prometheus stood in the center, commanding his men. Nobody stopped fighting.
I worked myself back across the room so I was next to Lucifer. “You know, we are way outnumbered, and I might die.”
“I’m not going to let you die, and I can’t die unless that fucker found the immortal sword.”
“True.” I cut the head off a demon as it charged me. “But just in case, you know, I do like… like you.”
He pulled me into his arms and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I love you. Now, let’s go kill this Titan so we can make it out of here.”
I pulled back just in time to stab a small demon as he charged us. His body went up in smoke, and his soul went to the abyss. Adrenaline coursed through my body. It helped make the aches not hurt as much as they had. I fought my way through a crowd of demons, but it seemed like every time I killed one, ten more appeared. I had lost sight of Prometheus.
Lucifer battled on the other side of the room. We’d become separated. I fought through the crowd of demons. To my left were Poseidon’s men. Two of them, I recognized from the day before. Th
ey were the ones who had dragged me down to my dungeon so Poseidon could test a theory and pay Lucifer back.
I still felt a little angry at Hera for doing as her dad had asked. I should have known he would never lock his daughter in the dungeon—even if it was the nicest dungeon.
Claws scraped down my back. I turned around and sliced across the wolf with my sword. It dropped to the ground, but I could feel the wound on my back drip blood.
“Are you okay?” Lucifer stabbed the already dead wolf. “You’re losing a lot of blood.” He pressed his hand to my back. The wound healed itself and the blood stopped trickling.
Prometheus was heading for the door.
“Hey, we need to follow him and end this.”
Lucifer nodded and cleared a path as we headed out the main entrance to the palace. There was a fight going on outside.
“How did he get all of these demons?” I asked.
Lucifer frowned. “I don’t know.” He closed his eyes and chanted in the language of the underworld. I’d seen him do this before. Usually, the demons would drop to the ground and pledge allegiance to Lucifer.
“It’s not working,” I noted. “Your chant just made them angrier.”
The demons had grown at least a foot while Lucifer chanted. They also didn’t stop fighting against the people of Atlantis.
“That should have worked,” Lucifer growled before swiping his sword and taking out ten of the demons at once.
Poseidon stood above, shooting lightning bolts down at the sea of demons. Prometheus jumped into one of the pods and took off. Not wasting any time, I ran toward another one with Lucifer on my heels.
When we were both in the pod, I looked at Lucifer. “You know how to drive this?”
He grabbed the wheel and pushed down the gas pedal down. This pod didn’t have a seahorse attached. Lucifer struggled to catch up to Prometheus, who was heading back to the area between hell and Atlantis.
The pod shot out of the water like a cannon, and as we were flying through the air, I saw Prometheus heading down the shore toward an old cave. Then we skidded it to a stop in the middle of the forest. Lucifer pried open the top and jumped out, holding his hand for me to grab. I stepped out and followed him back down the trail the pod had created.
“Is it strange he came here?”
Lucifer’s jaw ticked. “No, and I know why he was able to control the demons and I wasn’t—he’s pulling the creatures from the abyss.”
“I didn’t think that was possible.”
Once someone was sent to the abyss, the soul went into waiting. Pure souls would be reborn.
I followed Lucifer as we walked into the dark cave. The fire from his sword acted as a light, making it so we could see. Unlike the central area of hell, the cave was cold and damp and smelled strongly of brimstone.
When we came to the center of the cave, I expected to see a hole down to the abyss. Instead, there was a giant platform, and Prometheus stood in the center of the room.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“Power,” Prometheus yelled. “The gods walk around, acting all mighty and deciding when someone should lose their powers and not accounting for anything. And you are supposed to be by my side.”
I shot a look at Lucifer. “But it seems you got your powers back,” I said to Prometheus.
“These powers aren’t mine. It took me years and a lot of money to get these powers, and once I have Lucifer’s, I will run hell.”
“You know you can’t just declare you’re taking over hell, right?” Lucifer lowered his sword.
“But I can change Fate,” Prometheus said.
That was when I recognized the area. This was where Prometheus had brought me in my dream—to this exact location. If he had Fate, he could change anything. He wouldn’t need me to take powers away—he could use Fate’s magic to set a different path.
“You know I’m not going to let you do that,” I said.
Prometheus shrugged. “I’m already in control of the abyss. It won’t be long before all of Fate’s powers have transferred to me and I can rule the universe.”
Over the week I’d spent in Lucifer’s room, I had watched a thing called a television to get a grasp on how things were in this century. One of the everyday things in movies was a villain who wanted to rule the universe. Maybe Prometheus had spent too many years watching movies.
“Why did you need me?” I asked.
“Fate was supposed to make you want to be with me. We could’ve ruled the world together, since you owe me.”
“For doing my job?”
Lucifer’s and my path had been put in motion a long time before. Fate wouldn’t be able to change what had already happened.
Prometheus growled and started chanting in a language similar to the one Lucifer had used. Demons rose from the ground until we were surrounded. I hoped help was coming, because we wouldn’t be able to fight off this army alone.
12
Lucifer
Any other day, I would have been excited to take down some rogue demons and a Titan. But I worried that Gemma wouldn’t last through the fight. I looked over at the woman by my side. She was breathtaking as she held the daggers in her hands.
Demons came to life around us. Like the ones we’d fought before, they weren’t red but purple. Messing with the abyss was going to cause a mountain of paperwork. The fucking paperwork never went anywhere, but the auditor for the gods required it—something about trying to keep track of every soul.
Priapus appeared next to Prometheus. Gemma gasped. Priapus glared at me. His anger was well earned. I’d told Gemma that Priapus had chosen an orgy over her years before. It was partly true. When I found out Gemma wanted to date the old god, I’d paid him a visit with some wine and women. It wasn’t my fault he couldn’t handle his liquor.
Priapus turned to Prometheus and stabbed him through the heart. When I saw Prometheus's soul escape his body, I knew we might be in a little trouble.
“Well, that’s a new trick. When did you learn how to kill a Titan?” I asked. If he had the immortal sword, this fight might be a little harder than I’d originally planned.
“When Gemma took his powers, it made him weak. I only gave him a little bit back—mostly black magic. You would be surprised what people do when you offer them a chance for revenge.”
“Then you turn around and backstab them after they did all the work,” Gemma yelled.
I couldn’t help but groan. “Can you try not to piss the dude off? I really want to know what he’s after before I kill him.”
Priapus thrust back his shoulders in pride and offered a huge smile. One thing about gods—no matter how evil they were, they were always good-looking. But I was the sexiest of all the gods.
Priapus took a step forward. “Lucifer would know all about stabbing someone in the back. He stole the one person I cared about.”
“You had a chance, and you decided to get your whistle wet,” I replied. “You waited a long time to try to get the girl. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just try to steal her years ago?” I would’ve won the fight that day like I plan to win today.
But it might be close if backup didn’t arrive soon. The demons around us were multiplying by the second. I had to guess there were close to a thousand. The blood running down their mouths was not the best look on them.
“Using Mnemosyne to help wield the memory was easy after what you did to her son. His escaping when the rip happened was not my choice, but it helped. Too bad he didn’t take you down.”
I made a mental note to use the security-camera footage of hell and turn it into a movie. In the future, I could sell the rights to Hollywood. The fight about to go down was so much better than what I’d seen on TV lately. “Let me get this straight. Instead of fighting me like a man, you put Gemma to sleep for years, and—what? You expected her to thank you?” This dude took playing the long game to an extreme.
When one of the demons came close to Gemma, I sliced my sword downward
, and he went up in a pit of ashes. “Can we hurry this along? I have plans,” I yelled as I took out another demon.
Gemma elbowed me in the side. “Priapus, we barely knew each other. Why would you do all this?”
Priapus jumped off the platform and took a few steps toward us. “I thought you would wake and see what he’d done and immediately take his powers. He barely waited for the ink on the note to dry before he bedded another woman. And I’ve waited for you.”
“Dude, that is a long time not to have sex,” I said. Gemma groaned next to me, and I realized it wasn’t the right thing to say. “But Gemma is the only one who had my heart.”
“Take his powers, Gemma, and use them,” Priapus said. “I know you locked all the powers away, but you don’t need to. They're yours. Together, we can rule the world.”
“You’re missing the evil laugh,” I said. Someone had to point it out.
Priapus raised his arms, and a wave of demons charged us.
“You can’t keep your mouth shut,” Gemma growled as she took the head off one of the demons.
The one beautiful thing about demons from the abyss was that they turned to dust. We didn’t have to fight over a bunch of bodies as they crumbled to the ground. Waves and waves came at us. Gemma was fighting ten at a time.
I closed my eyes and sent a blast of magic through the area. The demons dropped, and the souls exited. I couldn’t help but groan. All those souls would go back in line and need to be sorted. That meant more paperwork. Hopefully, Pandora would take care of it before I got back.
“Why didn’t you do that in the beginning?” Gemma grumbled.
“I figured since you hadn’t fought in a while, you could use some training.”
She flipped me off and turned to fight a new wave of attacking demons. This wasn’t going to stop unless I took out Priapus. I ran toward the god and swiped my sword at him. He turned quickly to the side, and I missed him by a hair. I wouldn’t be able to kill him without the immortal sword, but I could bind him if I could weaken him first.
Fated Mates of the Underworld, Books 1-3 Page 35
