Constantine’s heart clenched; his mind bounced from one worry to another. How would they stop the Scourge? Were the others okay? How would they warn Lucifer about this? Were the symbols for something else? Are Gabriel and Uriel okay? Had Uriel been able to heal enough to back away from death’s door yet?
Knowing Gabe, he’d never leave Uriel’s side. At least not until Uri could stand and walk on his own. Then Gabriel would probably start some type of secret recruitment to see who would fight with him to take Michael down. But first they would need to know exactly what Michael has done in the short amount of time they’d been gone. That motherfucker could have already started the next apocalypse.
He’s evil, Constantine thought. Michael may be an Angel graced by divinity, but he was also the embodiment of something so much darker than the magically scorched sigils on the floor beneath Con right now. Michael did bad things thinking he was doing good.
That had to be the most dangerous concept in existence.
Con twisted and tried to free himself from the chains. But at the rate his energy was draining, he barely had enough strength to draw in breath.
Once he’d followed Michael down here, the fucker blasted him with something so incapacitating, Constantine only saw a flash of light and the next thing he knew, his vision cleared and he was hanging like a prized fish. Markings were drawn all over his naked body and he knew exactly what they were. They were channels opened so that his powers could be directed to another.
Were they going to Michael or someone else?
Con stared at the sigils on the floor again. Someone else, he thought. Fuuuuuck. He felt a constant tug on each of the four marks on his body - he felt like he was being quartered, his energy pulling in four different ways.
And yet he was only dangling there. Helpless. Useless. Worthless. On the outside, he was bound so tight he could barely move. On the inside, he was thrashing, screaming, destroying and burning.
He bit back a snarl and looked around the room. Maybe there was something he could use to cut himself loose.
The door opened with a bang and Michael came in carrying an unconscious Gabriel over his shoulders. He glared at Con for a fraction of a second and smiled. “You’re lucky you’re one of my favorites.”
Constantine swallowed his growl and kept still.
“Once again, Constantine, I’m taking it easy on you. So here,” Michael started drawing the same symbols on Gabriel as he had on Con. “You two can share the honor. I know how much that will please you both – considering you two do everything together anyway.”
The honor? What was he talking about?
Con’s eyes burned, “What… are you doing… to us?” Every word felt like razor blades shredding his throat. Holy Merciful Light, what had Michael done to him? His mouth filled with blood and he spat it out on the ground. It splattered between the marks drawn on the floor.
Con watched Michael closely. If he could see what magics were being used on Gabriel, perhaps he could undo it once Michael left.
Gabriel, still out cold, lay on his back with his wings fanned out, and his arms and legs spread wide like a star. His flaccid dick hung to the left and his abs were flexed like he was suspended in some kind of agony. All of him was rigid, and then…
Gabe’s cock started to harden.
Con’s eyes widened. And when Michael stepped back and cursed under his breath, Constantine saw Michael’s pants were tented too.
“The fuck is this?” Michael hissed. His repeat came in a roar and his voice bounced off the stone walls. “The fuck is this?”
Constantine had a feeling he knew, but kept his mouth shut and prayed the sudden distraction of their dicks growing hard as steel would be enough to scare Michael out of the room to investigate.
“Lucifer,” Michael growled.
Storming out of the room and slamming the door shut, Michael finally gave the two warriors an opportunity to escape.
“Gabriel,” Con rasped. “Gabe, wake… the fuck up.” Blood welled in his mouth and he spat it out. Sadly, he hit Gabriel square in the face with it. Damnit.
Gabriel groaned and his eyes fluttered open.
“Wakey, wakey…” Con drew in another labored breath, “Now help me down…so we can get the fuck… outta here.”
Chapter 34
Lucifer’s entire body was on fire. Pressing his mouth to Eve’s, he loved how her nails dug into his skin. He wanted her to scratch him harder, leave a mark. With a moan, he licked the seam of her mouth and she opened for him, allowing him to deepen the kiss.
Yes, he thought. Give yourself to me.
Annnnd then he froze. Where did that thought come from?
“What’s wrong?” Eve’s voice was breathy.
It made Lucifer feel powerful. His body turned rigid when he looked down between them and saw his cock jutting out, desperate to be touched. His breath hitched when Eve gripped his shaft. Her hand could barely wrap around the top third of it.
“Pleasure,” she whispered while squeezing his length.
Lucifer’s eyes rolled to the back of his head. A low rumble vibrated in his throat when he tilted his head back. He was kicking off some serious body heat. “Stroke it,” he begged.
Her fingers trailed down his shaft and she gripped the base, issuing another low growl from him. Lucifer’s balls felt full and heavy between his thighs. Instinctively, he wrapped his wings around her and cocooned the two of them behind his black feathers.
“I don’t know if we should be doing this,” Eve’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Stop if you want,” but fuck, he hoped she didn’t. Her hands on him felt incredible.
“This feels like it should be forbidden.”
“This feels like it should be done all day,” he quipped. To reciprocate, he traced a finger around the side of her breast. They were supple under his touch, and when he added some of his heat to it, her nipples hardened. He liked that reaction enough to smile proudly. He swept his knuckles across the underside of her breast with the lightest of touches. “Tell me to stop and I will.”
“No, I don't want this to stop.” Eve’s hand moved faster over his shaft. “I don't want this to ever stop between us."
Yeah, neither did he. This felt incredible.
“I can't explain the feelings I have. Nothing makes sense to me anymore. But I..." she spread her legs, letting him get closer, "I feel like too much and not enough is happening all at once. The world is both spinning and frozen."
Lucifer cupped the side of her cheek. "Tell me how to help you and I will."
"There is no helping this, Lucy. I don't even know what to pray for. I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but everything feels unsettled and scary. Except," her cheeks turned an even deeper red, "when I'm with you."
Well, if ever he felt a surge of pure pride, it was now. His chest puffed out and his wings unfurled from around them. "I'm glad you don't fear me. I'm glad I'm a safe space for you." He hoped she would always feel that way about him.
Like the universe wanted to remind him of what he was, the darkness on his right arm receded. They both saw it happen.
"I'm not perfect," he admitted.
"I don't know anyone who is," Eve quipped.
His gaze latched onto hers. "Why haven't you feared me? I'm an animal. Whether I look like you or not, doesn't change the fact that my instincts are unnatural." He looked down at his hard cock with her hand still wrapped around it and frowned. "This can't be normal."
"Says who?" Eve let him go, stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Says," he paused and frowned.
"Michael?" Eve rolled her eyes. "Let me tell you something Lucy," she poked him in the chest, "Michael might be one of the oldest of our kind. He might even be one of the strongest and smartest, but he's not perfect. No Angel is. If so, the entire universe would be perfect since it's an extension of us." She spread her arms out wide, "I've been all over the place and do you know where I’ve seen perfection?"
He swallowed the lump in his throat. Seeing her get so angry, talk so strongly, it did things to him... wonderful, awful, feel good things to him. "Where?" damn, his voice was deep right now.
"Here," she motioned between the two of them. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but you being more animal than Angel is a wonderful thing. Animals don't judge the way Angels always do." She traced the dark threads spiraling up to his elbow. “Whatever this is, it’s not an imperfection.”
“It makes me ugly,” he pulled away from her. The darkness made him feel dirty and hateful. Jealous and vile. “I’m tainted. And if you keep touching me the way I want you to, I might taint you too.”
“We’re all tainted, Lucy,” Eve fanned her grey feathers out as proof. “Birds of a feather flock together.” She closed the gap between them. “And we are all animals, Lucifer. Never think otherwise. Whether you walk on two legs, fly, swim, or crawl on all fours, we are all animals. Of that, I am most certain.”
“Why,” he cleared his throat, “Why is it you like animals so much?” Was that why she liked him, because he was a beast and she preferred beasts over all others?
“Animals are easy to understand. You know where you stand. I’ve told you this already.”
“And what of wolves? Packs?”
Her smile nearly made his knees buckle.
“I love packs,” she beamed, “because they work together. And the more the merrier, right?”
He almost didn’t ask, but couldn’t resist, “Are we a pack?”
“I’m not sure yet,” her brow furrowed. “But it would be nice. Maybe.”
“Because you like us all the same?”
“Because if that’s what it would take to keep you, I’d have a pack.”
Lucifer rolled back on his heels. “Keep me?”
“I know you wish to fight with the brotherhood, with Gabe and the others. But I want you to stay with me too. If I have to fight the brotherhood to keep you. I will.”
Again with the word keep. He didn’t know if he liked that or not. He didn’t want to be kept. “I’m not a pet,” he grumbled.
“No, you’re not. And I never said you were,” she placed her hands on his chest and rubbed her thumbs across his taut skin. “And this goes back to what I said before, Lucy. You’re my safe space.”
He fought to swallow now.
“I think I’ve bonded with you,” she confessed.
I think I’ve bonded to you too, he thought. It made him feel more like a wolf and less like a male Angel. He didn’t want to be like that. And at the same time, he couldn’t deny that he was attached to Eve. The fact that she said he was her safe space made him feel worthy of his wings and his powers - He could use all of them to keep her safe.
Keep. There was that word again. Maybe keeping someone wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Part of me wants to join the brotherhood if Gabriel runs it,” he said. “Another part of me wants to keep traveling and get as far away from here as possible.” I feel out of place everywhere I go.
Eve saying the world was spinning and frozen at the same time was a lot like how Lucifer felt too, he just hadn’t found a way to say it. And so far, no place felt like home to him. Nowhere was safe.
“We have time to decide, Lucy.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Until then, we need to practice all we can so we’re ready for what’s to come.”
He leaned in and felt her breath on his lips. “Practice what?” he purred against her mouth.
If she said fighting, Luce didn’t know if he would agree with her or get frustrated.
Holding onto each other, they breathed the same air. Lucifer could smell her heady scent again, and his cock pressed against her soft belly. “Tell me, Eve,” he nuzzled her neck and brushed his mouth softly to her cheek, “what are we to practice?”
“Practice… living whatever life we have… together.”
Yeah, not the answer he thought she’d give, but it sounded damn good to him.
“Like this?” he nipped her bottom lip with his teeth. If she liked animals so much, maybe he could be himself with her and not hold back. The thought both scared and thrilled him.
“Mmmm” she licked her lips. “Don’t hold back on me, Lucy. I know there’s so much more to you than what you show everyone else.”
She’d been stuck in a cage with him for long enough to see his cycles. To see him go from massive Angel to snarling beast. To see his skin color morph and dance, twist and fade. She watched him drip with black fire, howl at the moon, and crawl on hands and feet. Never once had Eve looked at him in any way other than how she was right now. Before, he didn’t have a word for it. Now, he did.
Desire.
Powerful heat burst out of him in a boom. He encircled the two of them in black flames. If she was going to give him permission to let loose, then he was going to unleash himself. There was no one other than Lazarus in this realm and that Angel knew everything – so he knew what Lucifer was already, even if Lucifer was still trying to figure that out for himself.
“You want this,” he growled, pressing his body up against Eve – hard and unforgiving, wild and hungry.
“Yes,” she groaned. “I want all you have to offer, Lucifer.”
Here’s hoping she could handle it.
Lucifer bent down and cupped her cheek with his hand again. He stared at her mouth for the longest time. “I want,” he confessed.
“Birds of a feather,” Eve grabbed his cock again and ran her thumb over the tip of it the same time he ran his thumb over her bottom lip.
He needed to err on the side of caution. Lucifer’s mind was going down paths no other had tread before. “If I’m too much. Tell me to stop and I will.”
“Same for you,” she grabbed his twin sacks and pulled them.
Lucifer sucked in air and his gaze darkened. “Fuck, do that again.”
She tugged him harder a second time and used her other hand to stroke him. “You like that?” she teased.
“Yes,” he gritted out. “I want you to keep doing it.” Squeezing his eyes shut, he wanted so badly to chase the release she was trying to give him. But not yet.
Not when there was still so much to explore and enjoy.
How many wants could there be? One, ten, a thousand? With the carnal images racing through his mind, Lucifer figured the answer was countless. Countless wants and he was going to discover each one of them with Eve.
He wanted her mouth on his. He wanted her hands on him. He wanted to lick a line from the joining of her thighs to the throbbing vein at her throat. He wanted to explode in unimaginable ways – in her body, down her throat, and all over her skin.
Knocking her hands off him, he dropped down on his knees. “Spread your legs,” he growled. He’d rather stretch this out. Prolong the inevitable end as long as possible.
Eve leaned against a tree and did as she was told.
Lucifer discovered he enjoyed her obedience. “Put your foot on my shoulder.”
When she obeyed again, he inhaled her scent and got a good look at what was between her thighs. With a steady hand, he traced her slit and found it wet and slippery. Bringing his finger to his lips, he licked the cream off and savored what “want” tasted like.
Eve wanted things too.
A feral, possessive growl slid up Lucifer’s throat. “Did you touch yourself here?” he asked, teasing her again with his finger.
Eve’s thighs started to quiver. “Y-y-yes.”
“And did you like it?”
“Too… too much,” she stuttered.
Lucifer looked up to see her eyes were heavy-lidded with desire. “Did you see the light?” he asked.
When he exploded after stroking himself, his vision blasted into a white light. If she hadn’t seen the light, she hadn’t gone far enough.
“No,” Eve gulped. “I was afraid to continue.”
“Are you afraid now?” He tested her slit in a variety of ways. Up, down, circles, slow, fast. An
d then he realized there was an entrance. A deep, hot, wet—
Lucifer slid his forefinger inside her and smiled when Eve gasped. “Are you afraid, Eve?”
Her eyes squeezed shut and body stiffened. “No,” she said breathlessly.
Keeping a careful watch on her body language, Lucifer started pumping his finger in and out of her, slowly at first and then his pace quickened with her breathing. He watched her entire body blush. Eve reached over her head and gripped the tree trunk to brace herself. Her thighs quivered and she started panting heavily. “Don’t stop. Don’t stop!”
He had no intentions of stopping. Ever.
Her scent thickened even more. It coated his lungs as thickly as it coated his finger. Later, he would learn this was arousal. For now, he only knew it was addictive.
Lucifer slipped a second finger inside her and she let out a yip. “Too much?”
“Not… not enough.” Eve opened up more for him.
Her body was his for the taking. The instinct to lick, suck, and penetrate roared in his veins and forced Lucifer to bow his head and give into the temptation so beautifully spread before him. He captured one of her breasts with his mouth and sucked hard, flicking her nipple with his tongue. Eve clutched him so fiercely, the sting of her nails in his skin derailed his sensibilities and he bit down hard enough to feel her body tense and liquid to gush around his fingers. Her body tightened in a wonderfully shameless way.
It melted with the same ferocity.
Her responses drove Lucifer wild.
Suckling on her breast, he continued to pump his fingers in an out of her, circling with his tongue as he circled down lower with his finger.
“Oh sweet mercy,” Eve’s body coiled tighter now.
“Give in. Be down here with me.” Lucifer watched her hand sail down and Eve began rubbing herself in small, tight circles above her opening. Her scent got stronger, sweeter.
More addictive.
“Luce,” she groaned.
Faster, faster, faster, they both worked in perfect harmony together on her body. Her back arched. Her wings snapped stiffly. Her mouth opened in a gaping, soundless scream.
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