I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on steadying my breathing. It was like a switch had been flipped. One second I was thirsty, tired, and aggravated. Now I was horny, thirsty for a different kind of fluid, and still aggravated.
I couldn’t look at Lucifer. After all this silence, my beast had decided to come alive with hot, fervent need. I didn’t trust the hungry bitch for a second. And if I kept looking at Lucifer’s delicious body, it was going to be a losing battle. She was so reckless that she didn’t give a damn how much she was about to embarrass me in front of the new king. All she cared about was getting laid.
“What’snever happened before?” His voice penetrated through my failing meditation. It was husky with need and sharp with irritation, scraping over my every nerve. I opened my eyes to see him there, sitting at my side, absolutely dripping in sweat. He looked every bit the damned celestial he was.
My heart fluttered in my throat, and I tried to hold it back with a thick swallow. “The shifter females of this realm only go into heat when their true mates are near.”
His eyes, glazed with equal parts hunger and fury, flashed. “Heat? Like ananimal?”
I ground my teeth together, red hot anger making my blood boil in my veins. “Yeah, like an animal. Because I’m a damn demon, Lucifer. Don’t let my human form fool you. I’m not chaste and perfect like your celestial females. I have base instincts and urges that I am taught to embrace, not ignore.”
A vein twitched in his jaw. He dipped his head so that his gaze was affixed to the clenched fists in his lap, swathing his eyes in shadows and pieces of dark hair. “Well, make itstop.”
My chest tightened with anger. ”It’s not something I have any control over. It’s my beast that decides. The pheromones are to help the male track the female.”
He suddenly shoved to his feet, the sharp action rocking the boat dangerously. “Why can’t your beast wait until we’re on shore.” He jabbed a finger at the river’s blood-red currents, glaring down at me. “Your mate isn’t going to find you here unless it’s one of these souls.”
My mouth fell open, and I blinked at him, aghast. How could he be so stupid? Did he really not see what was going on here? That it was he who my beast had chosen? “Lucifer…”
The celestial gave a shake of his head, turning his back toward me. “I can’t be trapped here anymore. Not with you smelling likethat.”
The taut muscles of his sinewy back stretched his shirt, making my beast burn with need at the sight. She wanted him so bad; she was intent on driving us both to the brink of insanity unless she got her way. But Lucifer wasn’t having any of it. His denial cut me deeper than I could ever have anticipated. Not that I would have ever have guessed any of this. Especially not the part about my beast choosing a celestial. And a loudmouth, sarcastic, cocky, outcast of a celestial at that.
But I wasn’t like Lucifer, who seemed to be ignoring all the calls of his beast. While I often detested the spirit of the demon inside me, I didn’t ignore her. I acknowledged her wisdom and accepted the fate she and my nieces had determined for me. Lucifer was to be mine. As a celestial shifter, he’d come from a society that taught them to suppress the desires of their true nature.
I had until he reached Limbo to help him realize how fucked up that was.
If I failed, I would lose my mate. He would go to this human, and she would not make him truly happy. BecauseIwas his. Not her.
“It’s said that our true nature is the one that is in tune with the will of The Fates, that they are the ones who help guide our beasts in choosing.”
“That’s not true. No, no, no. That’s not true.”
“You don’t believe in true mates?”
“Of course I do,” he snapped. “But you’re insane if you think I’m going to believe for even a second that it’s your nieces steering your instincts in choosing your true mate. It’s God that determines that.”
“That’s not true, Lucifer. Especially not down here in the Underworld.”
“I have to get off this boat.”
My eyes went wide. “You can’t leave. The souls will drag you under the water. Their souls haven’t been parsed out to the different layers yet. They won’t recognize you as their king even with the crown.”
“Thenyouleave. You have wings, don’t you?”
Panic rushed through me, numbing my limbs. “No. No, I can’t shift.”
His lip curled as if what I had just said disgusted him. “A demon that can’t shift?”
I glared at him, my fists balling at my sides. “Of course, I can shift. I’m perfectly capable of it. I just won’t because I don’t want to.”
He scoffed. “So what’s with all the talk about listening to your true nature? You respect the demon spirit inside you but not enough to let her loose and play?”
He didn’t know what kind of wounds he was poking at. He was frustrated, confused, and by the raging erection straining against his pant leg, just as horny as I was.
“I don’t like shifting,” I said, hating how my voice shook. Flashes of ugly memories I thought I had buried tormented me, memories of Abaddon forcing me to shift while everyone watched him take me for the first time, threatening to snap my neck if I didn’t obey my king.
“Shift, Lilith. Fly away. Get yourself off this damn river. I don’t understand why you’re following me anyway.”
