by Auryn Hadley
I scoffed. "All of y'all are. It's kinda not fair. We humans spend all our lives trying to eat right, stay in shape, choose the right clothes, and everything else to impress the opposite sex, but you?" I let my eyes rake over him, trying not to show how much I enjoyed the view. "You eat anything you want and play video games all day."
He leaned back so I could get a better look. In his workout clothes, it wasn't hard to imagine each and every muscle on his body. Not even the baggy pants could hide the lean lines of his hips or the flatness of his waist. Reminding myself that he'd invented the idea of seduction, I blinked my eyes away.
"And burn it all weaving magic, fighting off angels, and flying." He grinned and mimicked me, letting his eyes roam down my body. "I mean, doesn't look like it's been hurting you any, either."
"Quit," I hissed.
He ducked his head a little to see my face. "Are you blushing?"
"Sam!" I pressed both hands to my cheeks and turned my back on him. "I said quit."
The problem was that my great evasion technique pointed me right at Beelzebub. He took one look at me, bobbed his head, and glanced over my shoulder at Sam. "She's blushing."
From the middle of the yard, Nick called over, "She doesn't like it when you point it out."
Evidently, they were done with whatever protections they'd put up because both Nick and Luke were making their way back to the porch. Naturally, that just made my face turn even warmer. Yep, the joys of being fair-skinned. It didn't take much and everyone could see my face light up.
"You done?" Bel asked.
Nick nodded. "It's not impenetrable, but there's a layer of aether netting about twenty feet up and all the way around. Should be enough to keep them from grabbing her."
"And low enough they won't look," Sam added, smiling like he approved. "So if one tries to slip in from above, he'll get a real nasty surprise."
"Exactly," Luke agreed. "Put a few confusion wards and distractions on it as well."
"Sia," Nick said, climbing the stairs to stand before me. "If the guys say to get inside, don't ask. Do it. Questions can always come later, do you understand?"
"Promise," I swore. "Inside, right to the study, then wait."
"That's my girl." He bent and kissed me. When he pulled back, he looked at Sam. "Don't let Bel hurt her. She won't complain, but she's still human. If one of you breaks her, even a little, I will tear your wings off myself."
Sam lifted his hands. "Can't promise she won't bruise, but nothing bad."
"No bruises," Nick insisted.
Sam thrust a hand toward me. "Redhead. Hello? I look at her wrong and she might."
"Bruises are fine," I insisted.
Nick sighed. "No hurting. I will not debate semantics before leaving you flightless."
"Understood," Sam mumbled.
Then Nick turned his attention to Beelzebub. "And you?"
"I understand, Satan."
"Good. Have fun, little dove."
I watched him head inside and close the door with my mouth hanging open. "He just threatened you two?"
"Uh, yeah." Sam gestured for me to head onto the grass. "Sia, he's kinda a big deal. I mean, he's a great guy and all, but there's a reason Nick calls the shots."
"He's the strongest of all the demons," Bel added, sounding awed. "Satan is the only one of us that has never been defeated by the angels."
"Never taken a nap," Sam clarified. "And it's Nick, Bel. Can't use the other name in this day and age. It fell out of favor."
"He hates Nick."
I shook my head. "He said he likes it."
"He used to hate it," the big guy insisted.
"Until she liked it," Sam pointed out. "Trust me, man. He'd prefer you called him Nick."
"I'll try. I'm just used to the other." Then Beelzebub gestured for me to come closer. "Why does he use an angel phrase to adore you, Muse?"
I stepped before him as directed. "Huh?"
He used his foot to kick mine apart, correcting my stance. "He calls you his dove. It's from the Song of Songs. The Bible. Why did he pick that?"
"I don't know," I admitted as Bel made his way around me. "Luke wanted me to look it up, but I refused to take his deal."
"Hips back and bend your knees slightly." Then he looked at Sam. "Why does he use it?"
"Do not hand over your dove to beasts. Do not forget the life of the afflicted," Sam quoted. "Not quite right, but Nick saw her and thought it fit. If the angels are the beasts and we're the afflicted? He's called her that since he first saw her because he didn't know her name."
I turned. "Really?"
Bel groaned in frustration. "I almost had you ready. Back the way you were!"
"Sorry," I yelped, trying to return to how he'd been posing me. "Like this?"
"Bent knees!"
Sam just chuckled under his breath. "Really, Sia. Now focus, or Bel will send you back inside."
He chuckled. "I prefer spankings."
"Uh..."
Sam cleared his throat, but I could tell he was struggling not to laugh. "At her age, it's not typically used for punishment, you know."
Bel just grinned, white teeth hard to miss against his dark skin. "Yeah. I know."
Yep, that was a very good way to get me to pay attention. For the next half hour, I learned exactly how I was supposed to stand to defend myself properly. That was it, but it wasn't exactly easy. Bel insisted I pose the exact same way, then he pushed me off balance, growling when I stepped back to keep from staggering. Each time my foot moved, he told me I'd just been pulled into the corridor and was lost. Then he made me do it all over again.
I complained. Of course I did, but I didn't honestly mind. For the first time in almost two weeks, I was finally getting to do something besides pull out my life and push it around. My brain needed the break, my body needed the exercise, and my spirit needed the challenge. By the time we were done, I could feel it in every muscle I still had left.
Even better, Bel wanted to make this a regular thing.
Chapter 33
The next morning, I woke up late. Nick was still asleep beside me. For a moment, I laid there looking at him, trying to wrap my mind around the changes that had come so fast. The hot guy in Calculus was the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper was Satan. Satan was a mostly normal guy, all things considered. Even so, that meant my drug-induced hallucinations were actually real. Then there was the big one. Someone thought I was beautiful enough to spend the next million years with.
It was surreal.
Day to day, those things all seemed normal. When the next task needed to be done, there wasn't any spare time to think about the fantastical nature of all this, but here I was, lying in bed with the man of my dreams – and he was supposedly a nightmare. Talk about the ultimate bad boy. But while I knew that, I also knew better. This was Nick. Not once had I seen a cruel bone in his body. At least not toward me.
Yet with the sunlight illuminating his face, it was hard to believe this was real. It felt like any moment I'd wake up and realize I wasn't really special. That no one cared about my struggles. I was just the crazy orange-haired girl with a sordid past. The one people laughed at behind their hands. The confused child no one had wanted – except my demons.
That's when Nick opened his eyes, smiling when he caught me looking. "Hey, beautiful," he whispered.
"Morning."
"Mm." He snuggled closer. "Those look like deep thoughts. Wanna share?"
I ducked my head back into the pillow. "Was just trying to decide if I was lucky or insane."
"Yeah?" He pulled himself higher. The blankets slid down in the process, revealing the deep V along the inside of his hip. "So what's the verdict?"
"Lucky," I whispered as I reached for those hard ridges across his stomach. "Even if I'm insane, if this is the way my mind broke, then I'm one very lucky girl."
Chuckling, he rolled over me, pushing me onto my back. "And here I thought I was the lucky one." His mouth slid along the side of my neck,
leaving dampness from his kisses.
"Maybe it's a mutual lucky," I teased, pulling his hips closer.
The demon obeyed, sliding himself along the side of my leg so his mouth could reach mine. He kissed me quickly. "Nope. I'm the one who found not only a miracle, but also a woman he can't keep his hands off." Another quick kiss as his palm slid across my belly to clasp my waist, proving his point. "I think this was your devious plan all along. Get close enough that I'd be pulled in by your womanly magnetism."
"Well, then I hope you think magnets are sexy." I reached for his mouth, but Nick pulled back.
"A magnet..." he mumbled. A second later, his eyes snapped to mine. "That's it! You're brilliant. A brilliant, amazing, inescapable magnet!"
Before I knew what was happening, he rolled off me and kicked his legs over the side. Almost in a daze, he shoved himself out of bed, snagged a pair of pants from his dresser and headed to the door while he tried to find which way was up. Clearly, he was a man on a mission.
"Nick?"
"A magnet," he said, glancing back. "I know how to fix this."
"Damn it, Nick!" I sat up, holding the covers to my chest. "I don't care what is going on in your head, or if you happen to think that a four hundred year dry spell is no big deal, but if you walk out of this room right now, I'm going to be pissed."
He paused with his hand on the door and chuckled. "Saying you want something?" When he looked back, his smile was devilish.
"I thought I was being pretty clear about that, yeah."
He tossed his pants onto the floor and turned to me. "And what would that be, little dove?"
I gestured in the vicinity of his quickly rising interest. "Dick. Right here. Right now. Whatever devious plot you're about to concoct can wait long enough for you to wake me up the right way."
Two steps brought him back to the foot of the bed, and from the gleam in his eye, I knew we were back on the same page. Without a word, Nick grabbed my leg and flipped me onto my stomach. The same time his weight dented the mattress, his other arm pushed under my belly, pulling me to my knees. Then I felt the fist in my hair.
"Grab the headboard, Sia," he whispered into my ear. "And hold on."
Oh, I obeyed. As my hand closed around the ornate wood frame, he tugged my head to the side and kissed my neck, hard. I was completely at his mercy and loving every second of it. Before now, Nick had always been so gentle and careful, but I wouldn't break. Over and over, I'd done my best to prove it to him. It seemed he finally believed me.
The tip of his tongue traced the edge of my earlobe. His breath was heavy against my skin, but it was the other hand, the one pressed a lot lower that had my complete attention. Thick and strong, it slid down the center of my body until it met dampness. Then he pressed against the knot of nerves, sending sparks straight through my body. I gasped but couldn't writhe, pinned perfectly between his hands and his hard body.
"I like it when you moan," he growled in my ear. "I like it more when you buck."
So he pressed again. I couldn't have stopped it if I wanted to. My pelvis pressed into the wonderful pressure, seeking more. He gave it. Shifting his hand, he thrust two fingers into me, leaving his thumb to tease my clit. The whole time, his mouth worshiped the back of my neck, moving slowly down to my shoulder. When I tried to look at him, to press my lips to his, that fist in my hair stopped me, holding me prisoner. This time, Death would have things his way.
"Nick," I begged.
"Mm." He stroked my core again, making a deep, pleased noise when I sighed. "Moan, dove. Tell me what you want, or show me, but you don't get to start this and expect me to do all the work."
I couldn't bring myself to beg. Even thinking about saying what I wanted was just too much. A million thoughts flashed through my mind while his hand continued to tease me higher, but none of them sounded sexy, and the idea of saying it was terrifying. Nope, that was a line I couldn't quite cross, but he'd given me options. Pressing my hips back, I made his arm follow until my ass felt something long, thick, and so very solid. Then I tilted my pelvis, sliding along his length. If that wasn't showing, I sure as hell didn't know what was.
"Is that what you want?" he breathed against my shoulder. "Tell me, Sia. Do you want me to fuck you like this?"
"Yes."
He chuckled. "No, my sweet little dove. That's not good enough. You don't get to demand my attention and then turn shy. Pick a side. Are you a bad girl who wants the demon, or are you a quiet, well-mannered little lady? You can't have it both ways."
I pulled against my hair to see his face. "You know what I want."
"Mhm. You're so wet in my hand. The problem is that I'm not sure you know how to tell me." Sliding his fingers out, he found that knot again and swirled his fingertips around it. I moaned, making him press just a little harder. "That's my girl. I can make you happy just like this. Wake you up just fine, exactly like you told me. Is that what you want?"
"I want you to fuck me," I snapped.
That damp hand withdrew to grab my hip and, before I knew what was happening, I felt him pressing at my opening. "Now that I can do."
Then he thrust. There was no gentle tease, no slowly filling me. Nick slammed his hard dick deep into my body, and I gasped in pleasure, arching my back to take him. When his balls rested against my flesh, he paused, letting my body adjust, then he slowly withdrew. I moaned, trying to follow, to keep him with me.
"Hold the headboard," he reminded me, using that fistful of hair to push me closer. "Both hands, Sia, and don't you dare move them."
The moment I returned my grip to the wood, he released my hair, but I didn't get the chance to think about it. His hips moved. Sometimes slowly, sometimes fast, always just right. And his hands? They roamed across my skin, teasing my lower back, pressing me deeper onto him, or caressing my belly. I couldn't think, only feel, and I didn't want anything else.
My breasts swayed with the pounding, my core pulsed from the friction. Beneath us, the bed protested in soft squeaks, but I didn't care. Let the guys hear. Hell, let the world hear for all I cared. My sweet, gentle man had just become something so much more, and I liked it. Oh, I liked this side of him a lot. It was as if he'd finally started to believe that I wasn't scared of him. Now, I just had to prove I could take it.
He gave me more than any man ever had before. It wasn't just the size or the tempo of our lovemaking, but the attention. Every moan told him what I liked. Every thrust explored my body. He brought me so close, then backed off, only to show me something better. His hips slapped against my rump, the sound of our human flesh too normal for the sensations he was creating, but I loved it. I loved that all I had to do was just hold on and take what he had to give.
"Nick," I panted, feeling the tension in my body growing. "I'm gonna..."
"Say it," he growled.
"I'm gonna cum."
"Yes," he promised, tilting his hips to hit something even more sweet. "Oh, yes, you are."
Then his hand returned to my clit and I couldn't stop myself. I tensed. I bucked. And, yeah, I came with a grunt that was anything but sexy, but I was too far gone to worry about that. All I could do was hang onto the headboard as my body spasmed in response to his touch, and Nick rode me through it, teasing the waves of pleasure as he swelled and tensed inside me. His groan a moment later proved I wasn't the only one who'd found release.
Then his lips kissed my spine, right between my shoulder blades. "Sia?"
"My knees are rubber."
He chuckled. "And that's a good thing?"
"Mhm." I leaned forward, removing him from my body, then dropped back onto the mattress. "Please tell me I have aethersmithing lessons and not Bel's defensive training?"
"Aetherweaving," he corrected. "Angels weave instead of smith, but yes. I'll tell Sam you need a little break."
I grabbed a pillow and flung it at him. "There's easier ways to brag, Satan."
He caught it and flopped down beside me. "Say it again?"
"W
hat?"
"My name. With a laugh."
"Satan," I teased, rolling into his amazing chest. "With a laugh."
"Imp!" He shoved his fingers into my ribs and wiggled them, sending me into squeals of laughter.
I rolled, trying to get away from the tickling, but it was in vain. When a man twice my size wanted to hang on, there wasn't much I could do but squeal. Not even tickling him back worked. It was like he was impervious.
"Say it now!" he demanded, grinning like a little boy.
"Satan!"
And he stopped. "That's my girl." With a contented sigh, he pulled me against his chest. "We should start the day like this more often."
"Oh yeah. I'm down for that."
"Yeah?"
I nodded against his skin. "Slow and gentle, fast and hard. Yep, either one works." Then I looked up at his face. "And you were on a mission about a magnet."
His brow furrowed then shot up. "Right! I think I know how to block the veils from showing where you are." He kissed the top of my head. "Get dressed and meet Luke in the study whenever you're ready. I'll be locked in the gold room. I think I know how to get you out of the house, dove."
That made me smile. It wasn't that I minded being with him or any of the rest of the guys. Mostly it was just being told I couldn't go out that bothered me. Knowing it was off-limits made me unable to think of anything else and brought the walls of this monstrosity of a home that much closer. I knew it was all mental, but I still wanted to be free, not trapped until I completely mastered my strange abilities.
"I need a shower first," I decided. "Get a little demon off me."
Nick paused with one leg in his pants. "Not quite that easy to get rid of me. I'll just keep coming back."
"So long as you're coming, right?" Giggling at my own bad joke, I headed into the bathroom.
By the time I got out, he was gone. I went to the dresser I'd claimed as mine, found a clean set of yoga pants and matching shirt, then headed downstairs. I didn't even need to worry about coffee. That was one thing that seemed to always be going in this house. So were the roommates.
Beelzebub sat at the table when I walked past, nibbling on a doughnut. Yes, nibbling. He had a tablet sitting before him, one finger hovering as he read through what I could only guess was news. The moment I entered the room, his dark eyes flicked up.
