Greed (The Damning Book 1)

by Katie May

  must come down, and that was what we did.

  “Zara,” he said, shocked. He was wearing his customary business suit

  today completed with a purple tie that heightened the violet of his eyes.

  All of my anger over the dress melted away. In a span of seconds, I was a

  sixteen-year-old lovestruck girl whose heart had just been shattered.

  “Why did you leave?” I whispered.

  How could you leave? I wanted to add. He had been my world, and I

  never could’ve left him. Leaving him would’ve been the equivalent of losing

  my soul. My other half. My best friend.

  He swallowed, his normally impassive eyes pained.

  “Come inside.” He stepped aside to allow me entrance, and I entered his

  sparsely furnished room. There was a bed against the wall, neatly made, with

  a nightstand adjacent to it. On it, was a framed photo and a stack of books.

  Aside from a black, leather couch and a television screen, the room was

  devoid of anything else.

  It was the nightstand I walked to first. You could tell a lot about a person

  by the books they read. Tentatively trailing my fingers down the spines, I

  read the titles.

  Nightmare and Human Relations.

  The Mate Bond.

  Politics of a Genie.

  “I want to be a just and fair leader,” Devlin said from behind me,

  allowing me to continue my perusal of his belongings. I glanced at him over

  my shoulder.

  “You have always been a good liar. That skill would make you an even

  better politician.”

  My searching fingers touched the gold-rimmed edge of the frame. I

  wondered who Devlin cared about enough to keep a picture beside his bed.

  Himself, probably.

  But the person staring back at me wasn’t him, though it was someone I

  recognized. My hair had been shorter then, just past my shoulders, and had

  hung in loose blond curls. Chocolate ice cream was smeared across my face

  as I laughed into the camera, my young, innocent eyes unaware of the

  torment we would inevitably face. I remembered when this picture was taken.

  Devlin had snuck me an ice cream cone from a Nightmare only store. It was

  unlike anything I had ever tasted before, and a moan had unintentionally

  escaped my lips. Devlin had begun kissing me, but I had swatted him away

  with a laugh. In retaliation, he shoved his own cone of ice cream into my face

  and then had insisted that we take a picture to show our future kids.

  It was one of my favorite memories.

  “Lin…” I whispered, stunned. Garnering courage, I finally turned to meet

  his eyes. In them, I saw a vast loneliness and helplessness. I also saw an

  overwhelming amount of love. “Devlin.”

  “I left because my father discovered who you were to me. I left because

  he threatened to hurt you if I didn’t leave. I left because I would’ve rather

  been away from you than see you dead or even hurt. I left even though it

  broke my heart to do so. I didn’t leave because I stopped loving you. I have

  never stopped loving you, and I never will stop.”

  He paused, staring at something over my shoulder. I wondered where his

  mind had gone. There was so much despondency in his normally apathetic

  expression; the mask he wore so easily had been ripped into two.

  “Have I ever told you about the first time I learned how to be a Genie?

  The time I shadowed my dad at work?” He didn’t wait for me to respond.

  “The rules are simple: the person who finds the Genie’s lamp gets three

  wishes. They can ask for anything besides unlimited wishes. The first one I

  witnessed was of a young man. He was hopelessly in love with a girl, but he

  was shy and awkward. He wished first to be beautiful. Second, to be talented,

  and third, to have the girl’s heart.

  “I watched the sly smile morph my father’s face into something that was

  unrecognizable. And then he granted the man’s wish. The man did become

  beautiful and talented. My father didn’t fuck with him on those wishes. But

  the girl’s heart? I watched my dad carve the heart physically out of her body

  and deliver it to him. The young man killed himself shortly after. Don’t you

  see? We’re evil. He would’ve hurt you, my father, and I would’ve been

  helpless to save you. I had to make a choice between our happiness and your

  life, but it was no contest. I would always choose you, even if you hate me

  because of it.”

  Too much. Too soon.

  Stop.

  Keep talking.

  “Lin…”

  “Those years we were apart were the worst of my life. Sure, I was able to

  survive, but I wasn’t living. I was a machine going through the motions.”

  He jerkily took a step forward, arms extended, and I allowed him to place

  his hands on my shoulders. For years, I had wanted him to say exactly that.

  For years, I had dreamt of this moment.

  “You can’t love me,” I whispered, my vision blurring. “You don’t know

  me anymore.”

  “But I do,” he said sadly. His finger captured one of my tears. “I never

  left you, baby girl. I watched over you. Always.” He swallowed yet again, his

  Adam’s apple bobbing. “I watched you fall in love again.”

  “And then he died.” There was no inflection in my voice. I was merely

  stating a fact.

  Devlin’s eyes turned haunted.

  “I was called away for a conference in Vampire,” he said, referring to the

  country that was, obviously, ruled by the Vampires. “When I got back...I am

  so sorry Zara.”

  Squeezing my eyelids shut to will the tears away, I gripped the belt loops

  of his dress pants. I didn’t want to talk about S. I didn’t want to talk about

  feelings or emotions. And I most definitely didn’t want to hear him

  apologize.

  “Get on the bed,” I said. When Devlin stared down at me in confusion, I

  made my voice strident. “I said, get on the bed.”

  Eyes-wide, he immediately clambered onto the bed, wrinkling the

  blankets in the process.

  “Zara-”

  “Don’t talk.” I moved to straddle him, one knee on each side of his waist.

  His chest heaved beneath me, and his eyes flickered from my face to my

  chest and then back as if he didn’t know where he was supposed to look.

  Thankfully, he kept his mouth shut.

  Keeping my gaze locked on his, I removed his tie.

  “You like this, don’t you?” I whispered, leaning down to graze my teeth

  across his neck. He lifted his chin obediently, and I alternated between little

  nips and kisses. His hands grabbed at my waist, pulling me even closer.

  “Bad Devlin,” I cooed, biting down on his neck. He let out a grunt of pain

  that quickly turned into a moan of pleasure. “You know the rules. You can

  only touch me when I give you permission.”

  I moved his hands until they were against the headboard, and then used

  his tie to keep them in place. He struggled half-heartedly against the bondage,

  but I knew he could easily break free if he actually wanted to. Devlin had

  always been a kinky little shit.

  Skimming my nose down his neck, I slowly undid the buttons on his shirt,

  one after another. Each swath of skin revealed would r
eceive a kiss or a lick.

  I rolled my tongue over his nipple, and he bucked his hips against me. I could

  feel his erection straining against his pants, begging to be set free.

  After a moment, I did just that, smiling victoriously when his glorious

  cock appeared in my hand. I used my fingers to spread his pre-cum across his

  throbbing length, and he groaned appreciatively. I wondered if he still tasted

  the same.

  Cupping his balls, I licked up the length of his shaft. Salty.

  Yes. He most definitely tasted the same.

  “Tell me, Lin,” I said, wrapping my hand around the base of his cock.

  Using his cum for lubrication, I worked him in a steady rhythm. He was a

  withering mess beneath my hands. “Have you been with another girl since

  me? Has another girl touched your cock?”

  I jerked on his shaft, and he twisted sideways, his bare ass now on

  display. The position was probably dreadfully uncomfortable with his hands

  still tied, but he didn’t complain.

  “You have permission to answer,” I said.

  “No,” he gasped. “No one.”

  The greedy bitch in me smiled in satisfaction.

  “Good. Because this,” I tightened my grip on him. “And this,” Using, my

  freehand, I slapped his ass cheek. He hissed, but I soothingly rubbed out the

  pain. “Belongs to me. Got that?”

  “Always.”

  Smiling contently, I jerked him once again onto his back and released his

  shaft. He immediately groaned in disappointment, but one glare from me shut

  him up. Pulling off my top - I hadn’t worn a bra - I watched his face light up

  as he took in my bare upper body. My nipples were practically beaded

  diamonds at this point. Lifting my hips, I shimmied out of my pants and

  panties until I was utterly naked before him. I didn’t feel embarrassed or even

  vulnerable. I felt empowered as his eyes ravaged me. His arms feebly pulled

  at the restraints, but I gave him a disapproving frown.

  He could look, but he couldn’t touch. Not today.

  My pussy clenched with need as I lined his shaft up with my wet folds

  and sank down. Having him inside of me again...it was like two becoming

  one. It was as if a part of me I hadn’t known I needed was returning to me.

  It was a tight fit, but it only took me a moment to get adjusted to his

  impressive length. I placed my hands on his chest to keep myself steady, and

  then I slowly began to rock my hips. The pleasure was instantaneous, a finale

  to my denied sexual encounter with Killian. What started as soft and slow

  turned into a rough, passionate frenzy. Setting the pace, I rocked against him,

  my ass slapping against his thighs. My breasts bounced in his face, just out of

  his reach. At one point, he took one of my throbbing nipples into his mouth,

  and I allowed him to. It only amplified my pleasure.

  The pleasure was coming faster now, endless waves cresting against the

  shoreline. I didn’t know how much longer I was going to last. Tiny gasps

  escaped my lips, and I came with a scream. I couldn’t recall ever feeling such

  bliss before, as if every nerve in my body had come to life. Devlin released

  my aching nipple as he came with a cry of his own, his seed releasing inside

  of me.

  For a moment, we remained connected, panting. I finally detangled

  myself from him, using the edge of his blanket to clean myself off.

  Once I was sure all traces of our activity were gone, I grabbed my clothes

  off the floor and began to slowly redress.

  “Where are you going?” Devlin asked huskily.

  “Away.”

  His brow furrowed in confusion.

  Patting his knee, I said, “See you at dinner tonight.”

  It was only as I was leaving did I hear his hoarse voice.

  “God, I fucking love you, woman.”

  “I know.”

  TWENTY-THREE

  DEVLIN

  F or the first time in years, I felt satiated. Tiny licks of fire hummed

  through my veins, an after effect of my time with Susan.

  Zara.

  Z.

  She didn’t think I was aware of her real name, but you couldn’t stalk a

  girl for years and not discover it. Z the assassin.

  Z...my mate.

  Eyes still heavy with lust, I stared at the door where she had disappeared

  through. I wasn’t naive enough to believe she would stay after everything I

  had put her through, but the tiny, wistful voice inside my head had hoped.

  Did it make me a pussy that I wanted to cuddle with her? That I wanted to

  feel her in my arms, warm and real, her presence as vibrant as a fire?

  Her absence from my life had been like wandering the desert. I wasn’t

  quite dead, but my body ached dreadfully as it struggled to quench its thirst.

  She was the rain pelting my face.

  She would never be the light - her darkness was too consuming - but she

  would always be a necessity. She was the air I breathed, the water I drank,

  my home in the storm.

  But the idiot was repeatedly putting her life on the line to achieve a

  warped sense of justice. I couldn’t fault her on that. Losing her other mate,

  her human mate, would make any sane person go a little crazy. It was a

  wonder she could still behave coherently at all. If I were to ever find the

  person who had killed S…

  I took a deep, calming breath. He was supposed to be my brother, this

  man, and his life had been snuffed out too soon leaving my girl alone.

  But Z…

  I closed my eyes, watching her face behind my closed eyelids as she rode

  me. I would never get tired of seeing the heat in her eyes, the lust in her sultry

  grin. Her large breasts had been on display, the pink nipple so enticing. The

  feel of her around me. Her golden hair cascading around her shoulders in

  soft, yet wild, curls. She was the only female I knew that could roll out of bed

  looking as perfect as those who spent hours in front of a mirror. It was an

  effortless beauty that was almost ethereal. And it was mine.

  She was mine.

  “Devlin! We need to talk - and why the hell am I staring at another

  dick?” The voice was familiar, though I had never heard such horror in it

  before. It suddenly occurred to me that I was still tied to the bed, naked, with

  my cock once again rock-hard at the mere thought of my perfect mate. At the

  thought of her tits bouncing in my face, her warm pussy clenching around my

  length, her wild eyes-

  Killian stepped further into the room, mouth agape.

  “Wait? Another dick? How many dicks have you been seeing?” Lupe

  asked. The big man had silently moved into my room, his footsteps

  shockingly light. He leaned against my eggshell colored wall, meaty arms

  crossed over his broad chest.

  Killian’s face turned green at the memory.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Bash pushed Killian aside, wheeling Dair in as well. Apparently, it was a

  fucking party in my bedroom. I quite literally wanted to kill them all right

  then and there, consequences be damned.

  “It’s not gay if you don’t look,” my Mage brother pointed out to Killian.

  Lupe rubbed at his temples.

  “We came for an actual reason,” the mountain of a Shifter assure
d me,

  flashing a glare in Bash’s direction. Bash glared right back, eyes narrowing

  into thin slits. He seemed to be in an especially bad mood, though that wasn’t

  necessarily a surprise. Bash always seemed to be in a mood.

  “Can you put some clothes on?” Dair asked kindly. He was the only one

  that didn’t seem at all perpetrated by my nudity. Mermaids and Shifters were

  similar in that aspect. When they changed from one form to the next, they

  lost all of their clothes. Dair, through his mandatory twelve-hour stint as a

  human, was almost as fluid as Jax when it came to nudity. Lupe, on the other

  hand, was extremely self-conscious when it came to his body. I was his best

  friend, and I had yet to ever see him with his shirt off. Rumor was, last time

  he had sex, he turned off all the lights and kept half of his clothes on.

  Lupe was a strange man.

  I couldn’t help but think that Z would like him, despite him being a

  Shifter. She would like all of my brothers. The thought sent a giddy smile

  across my face.

  Was there anything better than your girl getting along with your family?

  “Oh my god. It twitched. Why is it twitching?” Killian whispered,

  horrified. Cussing, I quickly broke free of my constraints tying me to the bed

  and pulled on my boxers. Ways to kill a mood? Have your brother talk about

  your twitching cock.

  Crisis averted, I sat on the bed and leveled a glare at all four of them. I

  didn’t have to be a genius to know that Ryland was lurking in one of the

  many shadows in my room. And Jax?

  It was comical to even believe he would be sane enough to be here and

  partake in the conversation. He was probably running down the hallways

  naked. Again.

  “Why are you guys here?” I asked snidely, jumping to my feet. I ran a

  hand through my brown hair in agitation. Damn them. If they would’ve came

  one minute earlier, when Z had been riding me, I might’ve killed them. The

  mere thought of them seeing her like that…

  My hands clenched and unclenched by my sides.

  Deep breaths. Rein it in, Devlin. Rein it in.

  I felt my power swell before diminishing behind a blockade of my own

  making. It always took considerable effort to tame the beast that was my

  Genie. I was still filled with an almost elemental fury when I thought of my

  girl with that one Mage, Diego. I knew for a fact that he wasn’t her mate. If I