I looked up into terrifying midnight eyes and screamed. I slammed against the shower wall hard, my naked body a mixture of pain and bruises with the ghost pain of seductive fingers that played upon my pussy.
“Did he fuck you?” came a snapped question and I trembled until my teeth chattered violently.
“It was a dream. Just a dream,” I whimpered as another orgasm threatened to consume me. This wasn’t happening, right? I buried my face in my hands as my body shook and my knees buckled. Hands grabbed me, catching me before I could fall, and then the orgasm ripped through me and I sobbed at what was happening to me. I was coming in Lucian’s arms from a nightmare in which he’d just played a starring role.
“I’m going to rip his fucking spine out through his mouth,” he growled as he held me carefully, as if I was some delicate flower that would wilt.
A sob ripped from my chest as he moved me back into the other room, touching my stomach as he pushed my legs apart, and then looked up at me with ice-cold, midnight eyes. I looked down, finding lacy red marks all over my legs, torso, and breasts, and then lifted my tear-filled eyes back to his with accusation written in them.
If it had just been a dream, why was my sex swollen and sore from it? Why had I just tossed my cookies and thrown up God-knows-what in the bathroom?
“Get dressed, now,” he gritted out as he stood and turned away from me as if I was some vile creature he couldn’t stand the sight of.
Chapter 6
I was seated on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, as Lucian recounted the delicate position he’d discovered me in to my mother and Alden. He told them that he’d stopped by the shop to pick up his order early since normally I was done before the requested time. He’d explained how he’d found the door unlocked and walked in to find me in my more-than-compromised situation.
Thankfully, he’d skipped some of the embarrassing details, such as how I’d been naked, which I still couldn’t understand, or that I’d been throwing up something…weird.
“And you’re sure it was a demon?” Alden asked, and Lucian nodded with a look that passed between them that worried me. “Dream demons are almost unheard of these days; humans are who they prefer to go after, since witches can normally ignore their presence in a dream state.”
“Normally, yes,” Lucian explained patiently. “But this one had to have had something she wanted, something to draw her to him.”
Or someone.
“They can’t do anything unless the person who is dreaming wants what they are offering them.” His tone turned condemning as he spoke.
“So what you’re saying is that I wanted to be…that I wanted to have sex with him?” I asked sharply, and glass shattered. I turned my head in the direction of the sound and found Lucian glaring at me with a look that could easily kill. I lowered my eyes to his hand which had blood oozing from where the glass had sliced through it.
“Oh, my,” my mother murmured as she jumped into action and grabbed a tea towel to wrap around his hand. “I can heal it,” she offered, and my eyes were drawn back to his angry black-blue glare.
“It’s fine, I have runes active. It will be healed shortly without aid.” He continued to glare at me. “Did you fuck it?” he snapped angrily, and my mother’s eyes darted nervously from me to Lucian.
“It was a dream,” I gritted out. I hated that I still felt that creature’s touch on my skin. I hated that I remembered every lurid detail of it. I hated that the man sitting in the armchair across from me looked just as the supposed demon did.
“Keep telling yourself that and you may end up believing it.”
“If it wasn’t a dream, it wasn’t my fault! Dreams aren’t supposed to be real, that’s why they are called dreams!” I argued.
“How do we protect her?” my mother interrupted, ending our argument.
“She has to fight him; but before she can fight him, she would have to not want to fuck it first.”
“I didn’t want to fuck him!” I growled as I stood up and glared at him. He moved stealthily like a panther, until he was towering over and glowering down at me.
“You had to have or he wouldn’t have been able to get to you!”
“I didn’t want him!”
“Then what could he possibly have done to convince you to fuck him?” he shouted, shaking the planters.
“He didn’t do anything. It was you,” I whispered coldly. “You were the demon, Lucian. I fucked you. I let you use me, touch me, and play with me. If it was a demon, I let him fuck me because I thought it was you.”
He swallowed and seemed to deflate a little as the fight left him. His eyes closed as he rubbed his hands over his face as if he was exhausted.
Lucian grabbed my hand and I shuddered, remembering him holding me through the violent orgasm that he hadn’t given me, yet he’d cradled me through it, holding me as I cried into his chest.
When I just continued to stare at his hand, he dropped it. He resumed his place across from me, and I quietly sat down as the room remained in deafening silence. I wanted to scream and cry, but mostly, I wanted to figure out why it had targeted me in the first place.
“Why me, why would it go after me?” I asked softly.
“You’re powerful, fertile, and unmated. You have yet to choose a partner to procreate with, so you make an easy target. Demons like him, they like to breed because then they have total control over the one who carries their unborn child and the child itself once it has been born.”
“So you’re saying that when he said seed, he meant he wanted to impregnate me?” I swallowed against my rolling stomach as the color drained from my face.
“Well, he couldn’t achieve that goal unless you agreed to it,” he snapped, and I grimaced at his damning words. “You need to tell me what happened, and start from the beginning.”
I stared at him and then looked at my mother and Alden. I blushed and moved my eyes back to Lucian. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Leave us,” he demanded, and my mother and Alden stood up, yet waited for my direction.
I chewed my bottom lip and nodded at their unasked question. I was going to tell Lucian everything. Every time the coven had an issue, he was the one they went to anyway. If what he said was true, I’d given myself to a demon that had looked and sounded exactly like Lucian did, which meant the demon knew him. It had taken his form to get me to succumb to it, which said a lot, since no one knew I had a huge thing for this man.
Once the room was cleared, Lucian stood, moving to the sideboard, and picked up a bottle of scotch before twisting off the cap. He poured the amber liquid into the glass and returned to me, quietly offering one of the crystal tumbler glasses. As I took it, he sat on the sofa, way too close for comfort.
“What did he look like?” he asked, his penetrating glare seeming to drill a hole into my head as he stared at me while I gazed at the doorway my mother and Alden had just disappeared through.
“You,” I replied softly. “The first thing I can remember about the dream… It began with me walking through a club, one I assumed was yours. I was trying to leave, but someone grabbed me, and when I looked at the stage, you were there. It was like I had no will of my own and was just going with the flow. The man who grabbed me…I let him take off my clothes. I let him do it because I thought you were watching me, and I wanted that to happen, I guess. I let him take me to you, and then you showed me to everyone, and I let you. I’m such an idiot.” My voice hitched unevenly. “The one who grabbed me…I let him…I let it, it do things to me. I let it because you wanted me to.” My voice trailed off in a whisper as I covered my face with my hands, hating myself as I told every lurid detail, right down to what I felt coming undone for the creature.
Once the story was out, I waited for a few moments for him to say something. When a few more moments passed without any of his devastatingly hurtful comments, I turne
d my eyes to Lucian and found him studying me silently. He looked angry, hurt, and violent, a weird combination considering everything that had happened and everything I knew about him.
He stood up and moved away from me, as if I was some dirty little thing he couldn’t get away from fast enough. “You shouldn’t have let him touch you,” he snapped.
I turned in my seat and looked at him incredulously. “I didn’t know it wasn’t you touching me,” I argued.
“You should have been able to see through it. What type of music was playing in your dream?” he growled.
“Marilyn Manson, Sweet Dreams are Made of This.”
He stared at me, nodding. “The beat, it called to you?”
“It was like it went through me, taking away the part of me that wanted to run. Any time I got scared, the music got louder or the beat got faster. Once it had, he would touch me, and I would refocus on him. I wanted him, though—no matter what was playing, I wanted him to have me.”
“Him, or me?” There was a pain in his eyes that I didn’t understand.
“You, Lucian,” I admitted, albeit hesitantly. “I wanted you for some crazy reason.”
“Because you lust after me, and he’s a creature who feeds off sin. Lust is a big one for demons.”
“You know who he is, don’t you?” My eyes narrowed as I carefully observed every nuance about him.
“Yes,” he spat out as though he tasted something nasty, and I swallowed hard.
“Who was it?” My voice wavered and sounded breathy. He regarded me for a few moments as he considered his words, and when they came, it was as if he had leveled a wrecking ball right at my body.
“Lucifer.” His voice was so clear, there was no way I could mistake what he just said. I shook as tears filled my eyes and burned as they slowly slid down my cheeks. “You fucked the devil, Kendra.”
“He didn’t finish, and I didn’t agree to carry his seed, or whatever the hell it was,” I replied as nausea burned my insides.
“You took him in your mouth; you let him enter your body. You all but signed your soul over to him; it doesn’t matter if you agreed or not at this point. He’s marked you now, which means I have to undo it.”
“How?”
“That’s what I have to figure out. Until I do, you do nothing alone. You definitely do not sleep alone. Lucifer got to you once, he will do it again. You’re fertile, which is just an additional inducement for him to try for you again. Your child would be powerful, but a child from you and him…” He paused, staring at me as the tick in his jaw hammered angrily. “That would be a child more powerful than you could ever imagine.”
I shivered as a sob sounded from the doorway to the kitchen. I turned in that direction, and saw my mother covering her mouth as tears streamed down her face. Alden held her as he stared at me.
I’d had sex with the devil; because shit around here wasn’t crazy enough, why not screw Lucifer?
“How do we prevent him from finding me?” I turned away from the horror I’d just seen in my mother’s eyes. “Is there a spell, or some sort of devil’s trap? Is there any way to prevent him from getting to me?”
“Me, you use me. He won’t chance having to wait the nine months to know if the child you breed is his or mine.”
“Excuse me?” I blinked, wondering if I hadn’t heard him correctly.
Chapter 7
I stared at my reflection in the mirror as I prepared for bed. I’d showered and scrubbed myself until every part of my body was red and sore. No matter how hard I scrubbed, those phantom fingers still touched me in sinful ways. I glared at the weak girl in the mirror, wondering why she would have done something so stupid, considering she hated Lucian. I picked up the vase that sat on the counter and threw it at the mirror, closing my eyes as the glass shattered.
I picked up one of the jagged shards and then dropped it as I stared down into the fractured reflection that stared up at me. I was a mess, and now that my mother and Alden had left me alone with Lucian, I felt lost. They’d most likely done it so they could run and tell the coven what I’d allowed to happen, and to hopefully prevent it from happening to others. I was a defensive mess who wanted to be anywhere else but here right now.
Getting the broom and dust pan to clean the wreckage that seemed to symbolize my life allowed me a chance to get my head in a better space. I slowly cleaned the glittering shards, only to have the illusion shattered moments later as I made my way down the hall from the bathroom. I paused as I noticed Lucian leaning against the doorframe of my bedroom, watching me with amusement dancing in his eyes.
I crossed my arms and considered changing yet again. I was wearing a black nightgown, one that offered little to the imagination, but in retrospect, I never shopped with the thought of someone sleeping with me. It had little bows sewn into the hemline and matching ones on the spaghetti strap top. All of my normal pajamas were filthy since I spent so little time here, and most of my time was wrapped up in training or working in the shop.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly as I neared the doorway of my room.
“I’m fine,” I snapped, unable to stop the self-loathing that consumed my mind.
He straightened, eyeing me as if I’d said my hair was on fire, instead of being fine.
I pushed past him, moving to the bed we’d be sharing tonight. It was midnight, still too many hours until dawn, and my mother had suggested he sleep in my room, to protect me from being seduced by the devil. As if he wasn’t just another version of the devil, except this rendition in the flesh?
“Stay on your side of the bed,” I warned. The moment I said it, I eyed the twin bed and scowled at him. “This isn’t going to work.”
“It will work.” His tone carried more confidence than I felt. He pulled off his shirt and my mouth went dry. His muscles rippled in the dimly lit room, and I ran my tongue over my lips as I turned away from him. “We’ll just have to get up close and personal, which is fine since I have to touch you to keep the monsters at bay. He can’t get to you if you’re grounded.”
“Grounded?” I asked hesitantly as I turned around just in time to watch him slipping into a pair of sweats that did little to hide the fact that he wore nothing beneath them.
“If someone is holding on to you, he can’t pull you to him. It’s one of the basic laws of physics, so as long as I am holding you, he can’t have you.”
“So all I have to do is find someone to sleep with me every night and I won’t need you?” I raised one brow in question.
His mouth jerked into an angry smirk. “If they’re strong enough to fight the devil himself to keep you, sure,” he mused with a cocky grin.
“You’re so sure that that is who I was with?”
“Get in bed, you’re wasting my time,” he replied thickly as I kicked off my slippers and stared at him. I looked up as I started to roll my eyes, only to find a huge red devil’s trap that had been marked on the ceiling above my bed. It took the fight out of me; reality was such a bitch.
I did as he asked, slipping beneath the covers and then shivering as he did the same, our bodies connecting as he pulled me close and cradled my head on his arm. We fit perfectly, like two puzzle pieces that had once been lost, and were now being reconnected.
I inhaled his earthy masculine scent and closed my eyes, knowing sleep wouldn’t come easily, not after the last dream I’d had.
“You’d fight the devil for me?” I murmured as I opened my eyes and turned to face him, which was a huge mistake. Our lips were mere inches away, his breath fanned mine, and I licked my lips as I stared into his eyes, endless zeniths that answered my question.
He smirked. “Some people scare the devil,” he whispered as his eyes lowered to my lips. The tick in his jaw came back, as if he was considering right where my lips had been earlier. “Other’s become his playthings. Don’t be that one. Be the one
he fears. Now go to sleep before I show you the difference between him and me.”
I turned back away and then jumped as his arm wrapped around my waist, just under my breasts. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, feel it beating wildly inside my chest, which meant he could too. His nose was in my hair, smelling it, and I could feel the heat pouring from his body.
“This isn’t going to work,” I grumbled as I sat up and rubbed my temples. I could feel his eyes on my back as I sat there, hating the idea of sleeping next to a man I hadn’t even realized I wanted until I’d kidnapped him. Then, as if I was being punished for lusting after him, I allowed Lucifer to pretend to be him—which, hey, turned out hadn’t been a dream.
“Look at me,” he growled, and I chewed my bottom lip before I turned and looked at him. “You’re not the first to get tricked by him, and you won’t be the last. You can’t stay up forever, so lay your ass down before I hold you down until you sleep.”
“Just fucking try it,” I snorted. I was picked up and slammed down, flat on the mattress. His heavy body pinned mine to the bed and a sexy smile played across his lips as I stared up at him in shock.
“I don’t try anything, little girl. If I say I will do something, plan on me doing it. Don’t challenge me, because I like to win,” he murmured as he lowered his mouth to mine, as if he was testing what I might do.
I lifted my lips to his, not kissing him, but needing to know the difference. Maybe he understood what I was doing, maybe he didn’t. I inhaled deeply of him as I opened my eyes to find him watching me with an intensity that made me shiver.
I wasn’t convinced it hadn’t been him in my dream. He’d felt so real. I’d noticed similarities, but there’d also been subtle differences. I licked his lips, needing him to open to me, but he didn’t. Instead, a guttural growl escaped from deep in his chest and he rolled off of me.
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