Her brows pulled together, her cheeks staining an even deeper hue of red. “That’s all?”
I smiled and brushed some of her hair back from her face so I could see all of her. “No. You’ve taught me the value of loyalty. You’ve taught me love. I didn’t really believe in the value of such things before you.”
More tears fell from her, this time sliding over her brow into her hairline. “Lucifer. When we kissed on River Styx, my beast resonated with yours. You’re my true mate. Not Abaddon. It’s you. You have to know that.”
I brushed my knuckles over her cheek. “I do know that, Kitten. Mine resonates as well, and the damn bastard never shuts up. I was too much of a coward to listen to him. I’ve been extraordinarily stupid.”
“So that’s it? You’ve been too scared to read my mind?”
“Yes, because I knew what I would find there. Further evidence that my father was wrong. That the Almighty isn’t so almighty when it comes to fatherhood, and that is a sad and terrifying prospect. Because if I can’t trust Him, who can I trust?”
“Yourself, Lucifer. You can trust yourself.”
“Yes, and I can trust my true mate.”
She smiled. “Please, for the love of all that is unholy, tell me you’re not talking about Eve.”
“No, Lilith. It’s you. It’s always been you.”
I pulled her lips to mine in a kiss I’d been dreaming about since the River Styx. A rattling growl rose from my chest just as it had that day my beast called to her. “Now, if it pleases you, My Queen, I’m going to cut you down, and I’m going to fuck you like I should have done a long time ago.”
Chapter Nineteen
Lucifer
Lust – Past
As I worked to free Lilith from the rope around her leg, my heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat. My fingers almost trembled as I broke the rope with my bare hands, thankful that I still possessed at least a portion of my celestial strength. It was not like I was nervous; I had basically invented the act of sex after all. At the very least, I was certainly a pioneer among perverts.
My hands were shaking because it was a battle keeping my beast contained. He was clawing at my insides, insistent on getting out and take our mate in the way— Well, in the way God didnotintend.
And that just excited me all the more.
You’ve waited this long; you can wait a few seconds more, I told him.
“Hurry,” Lilith panted, chewing her lip as she watched me bust through the rope with my bare hands like it was made of tissue.
I growled at her in response, not in warning but in promise. Heat flooded between her thighs, the most delicious feminine scent taunting me with every passing second. “Maybe I should just fuck you all tied up like this,” I grinned through the darkness. That’s when I halted in my task, considering my options.
She was currently strung upside down, the thick rope wrapped around her leg several times with the canvas tarp dangling over us, a small boon from the rain while placing Lilith in the most peculiar position. She was completely at my mercy. Her hair spilled from her messy ponytail, blood draining to her cheeks. Due to gravity, her breasts were on full display and once again, I was thankful for the celestial’s inherent ability to see through the dark.
I hooked a finger beneath the leather ties of her travel breeches and paused only for a moment when she said in a quivering voice, “Lucifer, don’t you dare.”
For the longest time, I’d tried my damnest to stay out of her head. Because I knew the things I’d find there. They were the same dirty, sweaty, depraved fantasies playing in my head. Before, I’d been too afraid to trust my beast when he told me that this was our mate because it went against everything Father had told me.
And that was a load of bullshit.
It wasn’t simply physical attraction that cemented Lilith and me together. It was nothing short of fate, and sometimes even Father had little control over that, especially down here.
It was time to accept that The Fates were on my side. Not my own father.
Lilith’s mind was a wonderfully filthy place, filled with images of us, tangled together in a messy, sticky heap of limps. She was picturing herself, strung up just like this, and I was tearing off her trousers and helping myself to a mouthful of her dripping cunt.
I ripped the soaking fabric from her body slowly, savoring the way the thin cotton split, revealing pale, milky flesh beneath. “Lucifer, my clothes…”
“We’re going to build the perfect paradise here, Lilith. A home to come back to when we get back from the surface. A palace worthy of you. You’ll be treated like the queen of the surface, dripping in jewels and fine clothing. But for now…you’ll wear me,” I growled through a wicked grin.
“Fucking Hell,” she gasped.
