"I'm not sure that's possible for ones such as us, but I wish you well, and hope to see you again soon." I offered him my hand.
He took it firmly, and we shook hands, meeting each other's eyes. I looked upon my son as an equal, and he looked back at me with something other than hatred and anger.
It was a start.
20
Hannah
I leaned against Lucifer as we sped along the highway in the limo. We were fresh off his plane and he’d practically whisked me into the car without letting me catch more than a glimpse of a clear blue sky. I hated that he wouldn't tell me where we were going, but he'd said he didn't want to ruin the surprise.
As I gazed out at the freeway we were driving down, my thoughts wandered to my sons, as it often did. I wondered what they were doing now. Belial had gone back to New Orleans to rebuild his bar and try to live a quiet life, Damien had returned to Faerie to spy on Oberon, and Kassiel had gone to upstate New York to teach a class at Hellspawn Academy, the university for demons where I supposed our daughter would go someday. Or would she go to Seraphim Academy, since she was part angel? Hmm.
Lucifer smoothed his hand over my shoulder. “Are you all right?”
I shrugged. “I just miss our sons. I only just found them again and now they're all gone."
Lucifer chuckled but he drew me tighter against him. “It’s only been a month since we saw them. A blink of an eye in an immortal lifetime."
“I know.” Some days I still felt so very human, even though that had all been a carefully constructed lie.
His hand drifted to my very round stomach. "Soon we'll have another child to look after for many years. We should try to enjoy our last few moments alone together while we can.”
"Is that so?" I asked, my voice growing husky. One benefit of being an Elder God—we never ran out of stamina. A good thing too, since these damn pregnancy hormones made me horny all the time.
He pressed a kiss to my neck, as his hands slid back up to palm my breasts. "I like the way you think, my love."
"Do we have time?" I asked, glancing out the window. We were heading toward a freeway exit now.
"Yes, if we make it quick." He raised his head and met my gaze, his wicked green eyes alight with desire. “I have so much I want to show you today.”
“I have so much I want to see. How proud are you feeling today, Lucifer?” I grinned at our old joke, but my words came out almost as a low purr.
"Around you, I can barely control my pride."
He pressed his mouth against mine, while I reached for the zipper on his pants, carefully cupping his hard bulge as I did. Sudden desperation for him spurred my movements. He'd said we should make it quick, after all. Lucifer got the hint and shoved my own pants off, but the stretchy maternity pants made it difficult to do anything with grace or speed.
“What do you desire, darling?” He moved his hand to the top of his pants, unfastened them the rest of the way. Then he freed his cock and palmed it, stroking the hard length.
“I want you, Lucifer.”
His rhythm increased as he continued to touch himself. “How do you want me?”
“Here. Now.” I was wet for him. So very wet. I watched his fingers moving over his skin, and I whimpered my need.
He gazed upon me with a perfect mix of lust and love. “You’ve always been my greatest temptation. Every face, every name, every time. Only you.”
“Always you, Lucifer.” I shoved panties off and moved to sit upon him, facing away, lowering myself onto him before either of us could say another word.
He inhaled sharply and his hands went to my hips, partly to steady me, but almost like he might impose a rhythm. I grabbed his hands and brought them to my breasts instead. He played his long fingers across them, stroking my nipples through the fabric before he started working at my buttons, releasing just enough of them that he could access my skin and dip down beneath my bra.
This wasn’t calm and gentle. This was shoving clothes out of the way and grinding on Lucifer to find my pleasure. He swept my hair aside and nibbled my neck, then bit down harder, although not enough to draw pain. Just enough to say he could mark me if he wanted. That I was his. I arched to give him more skin, and he pushed his hips upward, thrusting hard.
I rolled against him, rubbing against the spot that made me cry out. He held on, his hands over my breasts and his mouth at the side of my neck as I lifted up and sank back down. Slow at first, then faster and faster, until the only sounds in the back of the limo were my heavy breaths and the slap of our skin connecting.
“Lucifer.” His name left my mouth over and over, like a chant, and it grew faster as I began to lose control. He moved with me, catching hold of my urgency. Finally, my body tightened around him and I sucked in a ragged breath. He pulled me against him and strained upward one last time with his own release. Our orgasms rocked through us, but luckily we'd gotten better at controlling our new powers, and we managed not to destroy the limo we were sitting inside.
“Hannah,” he murmured against my ear, before smoothing some of my hair back. He pressed a kiss to the back of my neck as our movements slowed, our lust sated. For now.
The limo stopped, and I glanced out the windows to see a glorious blue sea. I'd been so distracted by Lucifer I'd completely ignored the final part of our journey. Our driver got out of the car and waited patiently for us nearby, giving us time to get dressed. He'd probably heard far too much, even though the privacy screen had been in place. Oh well. We'd give him a big tip at the end of this.
Once dressed, I got out of the car slowly, letting the soft breeze soothe my too-warm cheeks, and inhaled the fresh sea air. "Where are we?"
"Southern California." Lucifer adjusted his suit as he stood beside me. "In fact, we're just a mile away from where Asmodeus and Brandy live now."
"Thank you, Lucifer.” I threw my arms around him, and he hugged me close.
“I thought it was time to move forward with our discussion about finding a new home. I wanted you to see this one.” He indicated a giant fence with a big gate.
I couldn’t help my laugh. “I never in a million years thought I could own a fence as big as that one.”
"You can, if you so desire."
The gate opened as if he’d willed it so, and a sweeping driveway lined by palm trees led to a large white house. The grounds of the estate stretched far and wide in every direction, with the sparkling blue ocean behind it.
I paused and looked around at the greens of the trees and the blue of the sea. “This is gorgeous."
"It gets better." Lucifer took my hand as we started along the driveway. The scent of the flowers hung heavy in the hot afternoon air, and I walked slowly to savor them. “You haven’t even seen the house yet."
“Forget the house. I think I’d be happy to live outside.” I laughed and swung our hands as we walked, freed from my worries by the hope of future happiness.
"Then let's explore the grounds first." Instead of leading me to the front door, we went around the side, where we discovered a large sparkling pool and spa, an outdoor kitchen with a seating area and a cabana, and lots and lots of land, all overlooking the ocean. "There's more than enough room for our horses to roam, and for you to create another garden here."
My mind was already swimming with ideas for what I could design for the space. We continued on, past a guest house that looked bigger than the house I'd lived in with Brandy, and a walkway that led down to a private beach. I stood at the top of it, soaking in the sunshine. Even though I was so much more than an angel now, I still loved it. "It's perfect."
“You like it?” he asked.
I let loose a breath, “I love it.”
Lucifer watched my face closely with a small smile. "Let's head inside."
We approached the two-story house, which had an incredible system of miniature waterways running around it between more palm trees. The house boasted wide glass windows and whole walls that seemed to simply fold out of the way
to allow the exterior and interior to merge into one luxurious space. My heart beat wildly as I coveted all that I saw. I almost didn’t need to see the inside. Lucifer knew me so well after all this time—if this was the house he'd selected to show me, there was no doubt it was the perfect one.
As we stepped through the entrance doorway, I squeezed Lucifer’s hand in mine. A big open concept living area flowed into a chef's kitchen and out through a wall of glass doors with access to the vibrant green lawn and turquoise pool, with the ocean glinting in the sun behind it. A glorious staircase led upstairs, while a hallway led off to other rooms to the side. The house was empty of all furniture, but I could already imagine how I would decorate it—lots of black and white, plus sea greens and ocean blues, with a splash of earthy sand tones.
As Lucifer led me further inside, he said, “There’s plenty of room for the boys to stay, it’s close enough to hop back to Vegas quickly, and it’s secluded enough to give us both privacy and safety."
"You don't need to give me a sales pitch," I said with a laugh. "I'm already sold."
Lucifer smirked. “You haven’t seen the best part yet.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “The bedrooms?”
He shook his head, mock disappointment on his face. “Really? No, love. The library.”
I perked up at that. "It has a library?"
A wicked grin lifted his lips. "Of course it does."
We stepped inside, and my mouth fell open. Row after row of white bookshelves lined the big space, which had a view of the ocean behind a spot that looked like the perfect reading nook. It was even bigger than Lucifer's library in Vegas, and I could already imagine all the glorious hours it would take to organize our books in here. Plus, we'd need new ones to fill all these shelves. Naturally. In fact, I was pretty sure I'd need an entire wall to shelve all my favorite romance novels.
There were two guest bedrooms on the first floor, along with an office and a yoga studio we would turn into a sparring room. After we checked them out, we finally headed upstairs. The second floor opened up so you could see the living room below, before leading off into the other bedrooms. The primary bedroom was huge, with an attached room that would be perfect for when the baby was young. The bathroom was just as impressive, all newly remodeled with intriguing 3D tiles that looked like waves, that I just had to run my hand over. The other bedrooms upstairs were also a good size for our daughter to grow up in or for guests when they visited.
"I've seen enough," I said, as I leaned on the handrail on the landing overlooking the first floor. Everything about this home felt right. I could see us raising our daughter here, our horses would have plenty of space, and Brandy was close by. Plus the estate would be easier to defend and more secure than a penthouse in a big city. "Let's make an offer today. I want this house."
"It's yours." Lucifer wrapped his arms around me from behind. "I already bought it."
I spun around in his arms. "You did?"
"The second it came on the market, I made the previous owners an offer they couldn't refuse. I hope you'll forgive me for making the decision on my own, but I wanted to surprise you, and I acted quickly to make sure we didn't lose the property to someone else. It was too perfect to pass up. "
"I love it, and I love you for knowing how much I would love it."
"Good." He bent to kiss me, then took my hand and led me into our future bedroom with a naughty smile playing across his lips. "I think we should celebrate our new home."
"Now?" I asked with a laugh. "We don't even have any furniture yet!"
"I don't need furniture to give you an orgasm." He took me further inside, to the bathroom, and gently set me on the counter. "Besides, if we're going to have sex in every room of this house, we'd better get started."
I shook my head with a rueful smile as he dragged off my pants again, but then his head was between my thighs and his tongue was on my pussy and all I could do was lean back and let him pleasure me. A deep feeling of rightness settled over me, as if destiny had finally led me to this moment after thousands of years of suffering, and now I would have my chance to relax and enjoy my happiness.
I just had to ignore the little voice inside me asking me if it could really last.
21
Hannah
I wrapped my arms around my beach ball-sized belly and tried to breathe through the contraction tightening through it. It was a week before my due date, and we'd finally managed to move many of our things into our new house in California and bought enough furniture to make it livable. Now all we needed was to set up the nursery. I'd thought we would have another week or longer—all my sons had been born late, but this morning I'd started having contractions. I was sure they were false ones, but it motivated me to get the crib set up immediately—just in case.
"Screwdriver.” I held my hand out toward Lucifer as I lifted the headboard of the crib.
“Darling, what exactly are you doing?” He managed to sound both curious and horrified at the same time.
I narrowed my eyes. “This nursery furniture isn’t going to put itself together.”
"There's an actual man in the room willing to do this for you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, actual man. But I think you might need to remember I’m a god now and can do pretty much anything. Even while pregnant."
He took the crib piece off me and set it down before tugging me into his arms and dropping a tender kiss on my lips. “Oh, believe me, I never forget that.”
I pressed my palms against his chest. “No distractions. This crib needs to be built right away. We have no idea when this little lady is going to arrive. It could be today, for all we know.”
His eyes widened as he glanced down at my belly. “We’re not ready yet. Keep her in.”
“I'll ask, but I have a feeling she has a mind of her own already.” I handed him the screwdriver and sauntered over to the nursing chair. “Now screw like the wind.”
He grinned. "Usually when you say that we're both naked."
I chuckled softly and was relieved to be able to sit down for a while. I closed my eyes and rocked myself back and forth on the chair Zel had given me as I rode out another contraction. Shit, they were getting closer, weren't they?
“Where’d Zel get to?” I asked. She’d moved into the guest house as soon as we'd mentioned the new place. No waiting to be invited, no waiting for permission, she just packed a bag to come along with us, then set herself up as head of security for the estate, running it all from the guest house and overseeing a small battalion of guards. I loved Zel, but she could definitely be...intense sometimes. It had only gotten worse after we asked her to be the baby's godmother. Still, if I was going to have this baby today, I wanted her nearby.
“I don't know, but I should order her to help me with this crib. She's a lot more handy than I am.” Lucifer looked to the door like he might actually run down to the guesthouse and fetch her.
Despite Lucifer's complaints, he continued to get the crib set up, while I rested and gazed across the nursery. Over the last few days I'd decorated it like a secret garden, with little floral touches everywhere. The room made me happy and calm, and I hoped our daughter liked it too.
“Knock knock," Samael said, and I looked up at the unexpected voice at the doorway.
“So much for increased security,” Lucifer grumbled. “Looks like Zel’s letting in any old riff-raff these days.”
I beckoned Samael in with a smile. "Perfect timing. You can help Lucifer look like he knows what he’s doing with that crib.”
Lucifer shook the screwdriver at me. "I beg your pardon, but I've finished the crib, thank you very much. Although now I need to mount this changing table to the wall. Can't have it tipping over in an earthquake."
I shook my head. "How humbling that even though we are gods we still have to worry about things like earthquakes."
“Have you come with an update?” Lucifer asked Samael, as he began attaching the mounting straps to the wall. Samael had be
en running things from Vegas ever since we moved out here, allowing us to step back from demon matters so we could focus on the new house and the baby.
“I have.” Samael gave a small bow, but I noticed he didn't step forward to help Lucifer with his task. “The imps have been leaderless ever since Hannah killed Nemesis. They haven’t chosen a new Archdemon yet and are fighting amongst themselves for control.”
Lucifer grinned. "Why am I not surprised? At least that should keep them out of our hair for a while."
"Indeed."
“And the shifters?” I asked my question as I rode out another contraction in my rocking chair. This one was stronger, and I had to grip the armrests through it. "Have we found Fenrir?"
Samael cast an inquisitive look at me, as though he'd noticed I wasn't well, but was too polite to say anything. "No, I'm sorry to say he hasn't been seen. We believe he and the other shifters loyal to him are in hiding for the time being, no doubt plotting their next moves."
"I'm sure they're trying to figure out a way to release Death even now," Lucifer said.
"Would they really be that foolish?" I asked. "Surely they can see there's no way they can win at this point."
Lucifer leaned against the wall as he took a break from his work. "Fenrir is stubborn, and long ago an Erelim angel had all these prophecies about Ragnarok that he believed. He probably thinks releasing Death will set that off."
I thought back to everything I knew about Norse mythology. "Isn't he meant to die in Ragnarok though?"
Samael sniffed. "In the ancient days, every Erelim angel had their own prophecy about the apocalypse, and most of them contradicted each other. Some of these prophecies we've already stopped from coming true over the years. Like that 2012 Mayan Apocalypse."
Lucifer groaned. "Don't remind me. What a pain that was."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"A portal to Void was meant to open on the day the Mayan calendar ended in Tikal in Guatemala," Samael explained. "It could have released dozens of Elder Gods, but we managed to shut it down before anything happened."
Infernal God (Claimed By Lucifer Book 3) Page 11
