His match.
Mine.
Lucifer’s tone sharpened with displeasure.“Neyuukhan.”The word seared with warning, and she jerked her attention to the fallen angel.
When Lucifer’s hand gripped her chin, Its tendons and ligaments strained.Saer’s stomach guttered, his claws tensing.
“You belong to me, are bound to protect me, obey me, honor me, and put no others before me.Do you understand?”Lucifer asked, a dangerous hiss limning the question.
Neyu nodded, just as Saer had moments prior.“Yes, Master,” she whispered.
If Lucifer’s voice had wrapped around Saer, Neyu’s voice spilled over him like molten honey, warming him from the inside out, muscles tightening in his core at the same time they yearned to succumb to…her.
Neyu.
“I gave you an order, Saerkhanum,” Lucifer growled, shoulders still facing him.
Alarm surged, raising fine hairs on the back of Saer’s neck, and he averted his gaze to restart his task.
Not fast enough.
The fallen angel closed the distance between them.One alabaster hand gripped his horn and used the leverage to slam Saer onto his back, knocking the wind out of his lungs.Lucifer thrust Its face forward until Its nose grazed his.“I created you.You are mine.”
Saer coughed and sputtered.“Yes, Master!”
The fallen angel’s eyes blazed as red as blood, the crystalline blue gone.“I created her.She is not yours.”
How did his maker know what he’d thought?The way he’d looked at her?The gaze they’d exchanged?
Or more disturbing yet, did Lucifer create her to be his match, only to withhold them from one another?
He could only nod, fighting the sudden and foolish urge to shove Lucifer away.“Yes!Yes, Master.”
The tension in Lucifer’s arm loosened, and Its head bowed to touch forehead-to-forehead with Saer.The fury from before siphoned away in a fluid rush, leaving a heart-wrenching tenderness.
“Know that I love you,” whispered Lucifer.“Know that I always will.”
Love.The word felt wrong, but Saer had nothing to compare it to.
When Saer didn’t reply, the fallen angel’s forehead pushed harder against his, almost painfully.“Do you love me, my Saerkhanum?”
Saer’s throat tightened, but his words escaped in a rush, “Yes, Master.”
Lucifer sighed, exhausted and euphoric all at once, then turned Its head to their witness.“Neyuukhan, my beautiful Second, do you love me?”
Saer stole a glance from the corner of his eye.
Dread crept into Saer’s belly when Neyu’s deep azure eyes calculated.Something urgent and innate in Saer’s gut pushed a soft growl past his throat as he tried to convey, without words, the importance of her acquiescence.
She blinked, and Saer knew she’d heard, even if she didn’t meet his gaze.
Neyu bowed her head.“I do, Master.”
When Lucifer released him, Saer exhaled and fought to calm the pounding of his heart.
Don’t look at her.
He swallowed and shifted to a crouch as Lucifer walked away, attention fixed on Lucifer’s back.
