by Meg Xuemei X
She turned halfway back. She wanted us, yet she wanted to hide from us.
I wouldn’t allow it.
Before I could lunge toward her, before all three of us lunged at her, Héctor threw us back with his death light and a warning look.
“Lamb, come to us,” he ordered her.
The fucker should not order her around. He should learn how to charm a woman.
He was going to scare her away.
“Rosebud.”
“Cookie!”
“Buttercup.”
We all called her at once, using our urgent, gentle voices to beckon her to us.
“I said I’d do the talking!” Héctor hissed at us, then softened his tone when he turned to her again. “Won’t you come to your mates, lamb?”
“But,” she said, her eyes darting between us, “I’m a demon princess. I told you that the last time. They call me Celeste here. I—I’m not exactly like those demons. I killed a lot of them today.”
That must’ve been another of Lucifer’s and Ares’s sick games. They must have dropped a demon horde on her like a hornets’ nest to make her fight for her life.
And we hadn’t been there to protect her.
“We know you’re the daughter of Lilith, the Queen of Hell,” Axel said. “It makes no difference to us, Cookie.” His voice choked with thick emotion. “I miss you.”
“You do?” she asked, surprise lighting her eyes and making them brilliant green.
“Of course, Buttercup,” I answered. “We all miss you terribly. You’re our mate. No matter what you are, baby, our love for you will never change.”
She swallowed, sighed in sadness and fury, then murmured to herself, “Only in my dreams do they not hate me. And Paxton would never call me baby.”
“That’s not true. I would—” I said.
“Don’t contradict my lamb,” Héctor warned before I could explain myself to my Buttercup.
Then we all started talking to her at once, and she stared at us with a half-amused and half-broken look. She glanced behind her as if pondering if she should stay or leave or possibly checking to see if she’d brought us danger.
If she left, we might not see her in the dreamscape again.
A spike of lightning flashed across the room, then Zak was at the door behind her to prevent her from escaping us.
“I said not to make a jerky fucking move,” Héctor growled at the sky demigod.
But then, like a flash, he was at the door, too. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her toward the bed as if she was priceless fragile china.
She trembled in his embrace, then her fingers traced along the contour of his cheek.
“I’m dirty, Héctor. I’m all blood and sweat,” she said.
“I don’t care how dirty you are,” Héctor said. “You’re my lamb, my world, my universe. I’ll never let you go.”
“Do you want to remove those bloodstained clothes, Rosebud?” Zak asked gently from behind them.
“Yes, Zak,” she said eagerly.
My sky demigod cousin looked drunk at her murmuring his name, but he wasn’t too drunk to wave a hand and strip her clothes off with his magic.
At the same time, all of us undressed. We needed to go skin-to-skin with our woman.
“I forgot that you have all these neat tricks,” she said, a smile forming on her parted lips.
My heart bled again at her injuries, yet my cock hardened and jerked at the mere sight of her.
“Feed our mate before we do anything else,” I said urgently, “before time runs out.”
She wiggled in Héctor’s arms to scan Axel and me in the bed. Her gaze roamed our naked torsos and fixed on our cocks, lust ablaze in her eyes.
Our mate had changed.
She was no longer the fun-loving, defiant, and annoyingly mouthy girl I’d first confronted. I’d watched how the Academy, the Great Merge, and all four of us had changed her. And now she wasn’t even that girl anymore. She’d gone through Hell, yet she wasn’t broken, just as she’d once promised.
She was darkly, unsettlingly beautiful, and every bit of her was carnal, seductive, and predatory. No matter what she became, she was still and would always be the brightest star in our dark universe.
We would feed her, pleasure her, and comfort her with all our capacity in this dreamscape. And then we’d come for her.
I stroked my cock to get her more worked up. Last time she’d liked that. Marigold licked her lips, her eyes darting between my face and my cock.
She reached out, and Héctor dropped her between us. She touched Axel first since he was closer to her, and he wrapped her tightly in his arms. Before I could pluck her from him, the fucker had her straddle him, and then he was inside her.
The Demigod of War always fought dirty, like his dad.
I didn’t fight him over this. I wanted my first time with my Buttercup to be epic. When I fucked her, I wanted the world to be just the two of us.
I’d claim her over and over for hours and bond her to my soul. She’d be so sore that—
Her breathless moans pulled me back with her, burning tendrils of lust throughout my veins.
Marigold arched her back, pleasure lighting her beauty and making her the most gorgeous goddess.
I leaned toward her and slanted my mouth over hers.
“I shouldn’t have brought you fuckers along,” Héctor complained. He got her breasts. His large hands cupped them and fondled them. “Feed our mate first.”
The fucker kept thinking he was the leader of the group.
Axel bucked his hips up, fucking Marigold hard, and she plunged toward him, fucking him back in desperate need as if this would be her last time with us.
I tore my lips from her, and she protested by grabbing a handful of my hair to pull me back toward her.
I chuckled, loving her aggressiveness and possessiveness toward me, loving her raw need for me. I pulled away again, only to say a few things before we got all tangled up and forgot every fucking thing.
Héctor had once scolded us that we’d been so blinded by our lust that we hadn’t seen the danger lurking so close to our mate, so she’d been taken right from under our noses.
“You’re everything to us, Buttercup,” I said while Zak got behind her, kissing her neck, and she arched it for him.
“This isn’t just a dream, lamb,” Héctor said, peeking into her eyes. “This is as real as the dream we once shared. I’ve brought all of them to you now. Soon, we’ll all come to Hell for you. Hang in there for your mates, who love you more than anything. Now feed, lamb.”
Fucker had stolen my thunder again.
I reclaimed her mouth to taste her, taking in as much of her as possible. I remembered her scent of night blossoms that had no names, but this time, she also carried the flavors of Hell—sinful, darkly spicy, and formidably seductive.
I never thought I’d love Hell’s taste.
And she sensed our unconditional acceptance of her hybrid heritage. A mist of tears formed in her brilliant green eyes.
My tongue invaded her mouth, and she was more than eager to reciprocate. Her tongue moved with me, dancing with mine in dark seduction.
Her sinful pleasure swayed back to me.
It took everything I had not to lift her off Axel and let her ride my cock instead. She’d enjoy it more. But I wouldn’t pick a fight with my cousins right now. It was a gift to see her and touch her in the dreamscape, and I wouldn’t ruin it.
My cousins and I were infamously territorial and possessive. We were all alphas to the core, yet we were learning to share the one woman we treasured beyond measure.
“Promise me you won’t storm Hell for me!” she cried as we pulled apart for a gasp of air. “Hell is too dangerous. If you come, you’ll die, and I’ll never forgive you if that happens. I’ll find a way to make it back to you, now that I know you still want me.”
“We want you with our hearts, souls, bodies, and everything in us,” Zak said. “You should have known
that, Rosebud.”
“Now isn’t the time for a fucking lecture,” Héctor growled. “Let our mate feed and enjoy.”
“Sorry,” Zak apologized, kissing her thigh vehemently.
“Fuck me good and hard, babe,” Axel howled. “Feed now. Take all you need.”
Buttercup rode hard on Axel’s length with punishing force, making him hiss with pleasure. Axel was the youngest among us, close to her age, and the most selfish male, in my humble opinion. He was always quick to get his claws on her as if he were entitled to have most of her, just because he’d spotted her first. And that was always his immature argument.
“Which part of Hell do they lock you in, lamb?” Héctor asked carefully, trying to sound calm.
“I don’t know,” she said between her moans of pleasure. “But they’re going to toss me into Hell’s Academy. I killed hundreds of them.” She paused and said coldly. “I won the trial.”
Though I was proud that my girl was a fierce warrior in every way, my fear for her clenched my heart like an iron fist. She should never fight alone.
“We’ll turn Hell over for you, Buttercup,” I said. “You have my word.”
I leaned toward her to kiss her, needing to comfort her, needing to taste her again, only to bump into Héctor’s head.
He slanted his greedy mouth over her lovely lips, which should belong to me in this dream. It was already bad enough that Axel was inside her, enjoying the hell out of it as he groaned like a fucking beast, soaking in the pleasure our mate gave him.
Her bouncing, perky breasts were unoccupied for now. I bent down, pulled her nipple into my mouth, and suckled hard. I had done that in my fantasies a thousand times, and her tit tasted more delicious than in those fantasies.
“We need to give our mate blood now,” Zak said firmly. “Her energy level is low. Our blood will strengthen her. Everyone fuck off.”
As soon as Héctor pulled his mouth from hers, I took the spot and placed my neck over her lips.
“Drink, Buttercup,” I demanded.
Hunger darkened her green eyes. At the moment, she was every bit the Queen of the Succubi that I’d once teased her about. I wasn’t disgusted, though, by the potent demon blood in her. Instead, I was oddly turned on. Whatever she was, she was my fatal weakness and my addition.
“I need you more than you know, Paxton,” she said, my name rolling off her tongue like a dark lover’s caress, and my heart ached.
Her fangs elongated. Marigold hissed in hunger and bit into me.
Pain pierced me, then pleasure washed over it, then more pain burned me, and then pleasure filled me, making my cock so hard.
By sheer will, I commanded my fists to stay by my sides so I wouldn’t attack Axel, who pounded his pleasure and demigod energy into my Buttercup. I wanted to fuck her more than anything.
A violent, black wind swept by, and Marigold turned her head to look for the threat, her face feral and demonic. She snarled.
Héctor bellowed, and his wings emerged, shoving us away to wrap around her, to shield her.
Marigold vanished.
An empty ache throbbed on my neck where her fangs had punctured my skin.
“We must get to our mate before our sworn enemies break her,” Zak thundered.
We’d seen the changes in her.
If we didn’t reach her in time, we’d lose her for good.
CHAPTER 11
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Large, gorgeous, possessive, and dominant—that was how my mates were.
They’d told me it wasn’t a dream. They’d vowed they would come for me.
But at the moment, my mind couldn’t register anything but the haze of lust pounding in my bloodstream.
Their primal hunger for me hadn’t lessened or faded while I was away.
I unleashed my rage, ice, storm, and unquenchable thirst on them, and my demigods poured their grief, passion, regrets, and devotion into me. They fed me, demanding I take their precious, powerful energy and lifeblood.
I rode the Demigod of War wildly, relishing how his massive cock filled my every inch, stretching me. He thrust into me with abandon, lust, and love, seeking the depths of my flesh and my soul. My other demigods’ hands, lips, and teeth roved all over me, pleasuring me like heavenly rain and divine flame.
I arched my back and moaned in bliss.
I was a woman again. I was complete again. I was wanted and cherished.
Yet I felt the changes in them as their force poured into me, mating with mine. Where there had been light, now darkness dwelled in them. Though I wasn’t afraid of darkness since I had plenty of it inside me, I worried what it would do to my mates.
I was halfway to orgasm, my pussy milking Axel’s hard shaft, unmaking him and marking him. I stared down at his lust-distorted, gorgeous face, silently promising myself that I’d have one orgasm after another with my dream lovers until I lost count.
I wanted my mates to shatter me again and again with their shower of white-hot passion.
A black wind slammed into me, puncturing me like hundreds of needles, tearing me from my mates. Their outraged roars and curses rang in my ears, and their intoxicating tastes lingered on my tongue when I flashed open my eyes.
Rage and frustration surging through me, I threw a heavy punch at Loki’s face, which was hovering over me.
His hand caught my wrist, so I swung another arm at him, and he caught that as well.
“Why are you so prickly, Celeste?” he asked, darkness swirling in his eyes.
“Why the fuck did you have to wake me up now?” I cursed him.
Why the fuck were people always jerking me awake two seconds before I had my orgasm? It was beyond frustrating.
I’d finally seen all of my mates in the dreamland, and I didn’t even get to kiss them goodbye because Hell’s prince had rudely disrupted us.
“There’s a change of plan,” Loki said. “I can no longer shield you. My father and Ares have just nullified the contract I made with them. They now insist on supervising your ‘education’ in person in Hell’s Academy.”
Ice coursed through my blood. I could work with Loki, but never the devil and the god. Those two fuckers would make my every waking second worse than a nightmare.
“You performed too well in the pit, cousin,” Loki sighed. “You openly challenged the King of Hell. What did you expect after that—roses and chocolates?” There was no scolding in his tone, just calculation. “Get ready. We’re leaving now.”
“I’m in no condition to attend Satan’s fucking school at the moment,” I said. “You know that your father wounded me, trying to melt my bones with his foul fire. You should have fought harder for my case or at least delay the journey to his fucking horror house of Academy.”
He gave me a long look, his face unreadable.
I’d lied to him about my current condition.
Electric energy moved through me, humming with the demigods’ powers. They’d fed me through the dream. I would be radiating power right now if I’d had my orgasm and gotten the full dose of energy from them.
Another thought slammed into me. If I could connect to my mates through the Dreaming, I might be able to activate the Living Flame by mating with Paxton there. Why hadn’t I thought of that? I should have gone for the Demigod of Sea first, fucking him hard instead of Axel. But I’d been so stunned to see all four of them together, sprawling on the bed of black satin like four sexy gods.
I’d been overjoyed, and then lust had drowned me so thoroughly that I could no longer think clearly, except for wanting to fuck all of them.
Make them beg. Make them scream. Make them desire and love me all over again. Those had been the only thoughts throbbing in my skull when I saw my mates in bed.
Loki sniffed. “You smell like—” He stopped.
And I knew he knew what had transpired before he’d woken me up. He smelled the demigods on me. I bet he even smelled my fading arousal.
My heart pounded. If he told Lucifer his suspi
cion or discovery, the devil would find a way to stop me from reaching my mates through our dreams.
“That was why you were so prickly,” he said, a mocking but intrigued smile ghosting his lips but not touching his eyes. “You have many talents, cousin.”
The old Marigold would have blushed, but I didn’t. I just stared back at him.
He also noticed that I was no longer wounded.
After Lucifer had burned me with his hellfire and left the scene, Loki and his dukes had immediately teleported me to his castle. He’d called the healers, but no healers could help me.
“I’ll have to regenerate by myself, just as I regenerated over and over after they cut me and put me back into the iron coffin,” I’d told him and refused to take his blood.
The last thing I wanted was to become a junkie to the demon prince’s blood.
Then I passed out. And my luck had turned because of that. I’d dreamt, and in the Dreaming, I’d seen all of my demigods. If being wounded badly was the price to pay to see them, I’d take it any second of the day.
“Lucifer and Ares won’t give you a break,” Loki said. “They’ll push you to your limits daily in Hell’s Academy. They believe I am too soft with you after they saw how I protected you in the pit.”
“You got me out,” I said softly.
“Only to let you fall further,” he said harshly.
CHAPTER 12
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Loki and I rode in his chariot across Hell’s twilit sky, a dark version of Earth’s with many shades of purple painted lavishly across the horizon.
Picasso, the black stallion, had adopted a slow speed, unlike the last time when he’d zoomed across the air’s highway.
I kept my silence. I didn’t even bother to ask about Hell’s academy and the school rules or whatever. I already knew I’d be on my own and would have to fight to survive every day.
Which was fine with me.
As I’d said, a dead demon was the only good demon. One less demon, one less problem for Earth, my demigods, and my friends.
My hand rested on the hilt of my sword, and the confidence it brought me relaxed my shoulders. Give me a weapon, and I was golden. I now recognized and accepted that I was a born killer.
