“Do you like her?”
“Like her?” He chuckled, but the amusement fizzled in his eyes when his attention centered on my frown.
“I’m being serious. What do you think of Reckless?”
“I think it’s cute you’ve named her.”
“Don’t you have a name for yours?”
His brows knitted together through the dark. “Why would I when we’re essentially the same being? If I still had my wings, allowing him to shift to his form, it’s still mostly me. I’m still in control, with my thoughts being the most dominant.”
“Sometimes, she feels like a whole different person. She argues with me.”
“She’s the spirit of Lilith’s demon inside you. Your body may be Jessica Sims, but you are connected to Lilith through the same spirit you both housed. It’s normal to argue with your beast. She’s your demonic instincts warring with your humanity. And to answer your question, I love her very much. She’s the mate to my beast, and she’s the part of you that connects you to Lilith.”
“So...she’syour mate then, and I’m just here because you guys need my vagina?”
It was halfway meant as a joke but hearing how the words stung as they left me, I realized they carried more weight than that. “Sorry. I might have been feeling a little bitter like I was the third wheel here.”
Lucifer propped himself on his elbow, his eyes blazing through the cover of night. “No. You aren’t the third wheel, Jessica. As I said, I believe my beast and I are the same entity, and that goes for you and yours. I love you as I love her because to me, you are one and the same. Don’t you feel one with her?”
I worried my lip, turning my attention to stare up at the canopy suspended overhead. “I acknowledge who I was before. That’s a huge freaking step in such a short amount of time. You gotta understand that I literally woke up two days ago not even believing in the devil. And the most significant romantic connection I’d even had with a man was one time where a one-night stand turned into a two-night stand. And that was just because the guy had a margarita machine and the DVD collection set of the extended edition ofThe Lord of the Rings. Now here I am, Queen of the Underworld, with a several thousand-year relationship under my belt and a rapey ex who I murdered. Withmagic. I’m making leaps and bounds here.”
His eyes glittered as they assessed me through the dark. “I hope you don’t feel like I’m trying to rush you. Admittedly, I was moving fast with our little tour down memory lane. But that was just because our deal was I had only the weekend to convince you of your identity. Now that we’ve crossed that bridge, you can take all the time you need.”
“I’m not feeling rushed. I’m just... I’m still missing a few memories.”
“What’s missing?”
“When you fell from Paradise.”
“You don’t remember any of it?” There was an odd pitch in his tone, his words clotted with emotion.
“Only bits and pieces. Most of what I do remember is from Clotho’s vision that day she was born. Not from the actual memory.”
“Close your eyes then, and I’ll show you the most important day of my life,” he whispered. I did as he asked, and the next moment I felt his hand caress my cheek, making the contact needed for his ability to share his memories. “The day I metyou.”
14
The Garden of Eden – Past
My head was angled toward the heavens. I couldn’t help but wonder if Father could see me from up there, watching me as the first human woman He ever created sucked me off.
My hand went to her soft, brown hair. At the touch, she angled her head to look up at me through the fringe of her eyelashes. Her lips smiled around the cock jammed in her mouth.
Eve wasn’t very good at it, but hey, this was literally the first time anyone was ever doing this, so it’s not like there was an instruction manual or anything. We were literally making things up as we went.
“Suction your lips around it, my sweet ward. Yes, like that. Less teeth if you would.” I sucked in a hiss as she followed my instructions. “Good girl, just like that,” I crooned through a salacious smile.
My gaze skated down the naked form of the woman I had been charged with protecting. Her form was beautiful, her feminine curves like nothing I’d ever seen before. Of course, there were the celestial women in The Silver City, but they weren’t the same as this. They were beautiful, yes. But they had been created long ago to be machines, the upholders of law and order. That made them hard and boring. This human, on the other hand, was soft and naïve. Putty in my hands. This whole new world my father created offered so much. It was more than a pretty garden filled with strange new creatures. It was the perfect playground for the bored Son of God.
I’m not really sure why Father decided to create these human creatures. Maybe it was to test the true limits of His powers. Maybe He, too, had grown bored. With the creation of the human race, He had invented a new role for us celestials. Guardians. Angel shifters with this role would have a human deemed special enough put in their charge. I had been given this gorgeous creature to protect. With my new responsibilities, all my attention was supposed to be on her, to keep her safe.
That was all well and fine. Easy enough when she offered so many new and interesting ways to keep us preoccupied. But what Father hadn’t intended was us keeping each other busy like this. Then again, He didn’t approve of anything fun. But what else were we supposed to do? Sure, the flowers of Eden were pretty enough, but one could only stare at Father’s forbidden apple orchids so long before one became bored out of their mind. I was much more interested in a different kind of fruit the garden offered. Eve’s cherry, to be exact.
And she’d be happy to entertain my lusty notion, seeing as the mate Father had created for her seemed to think his time was better suited spent buried balls deep in the sheep rather than his own woman.
Pfft.Mortals.
