“Get down here.”
Her sharp tone made him glance at her, surprise evident on his harsh features. The demon Lord was undoubtedly not used to getting ordered around like this.
“Get down here, now.” She sat up on the bed and pointed to the crumpled up sheets in front of her.
Slowly he obeyed, likely more from sheer surprise at her change in mood than any feelings of actual intimidation.
When he was perched in front of her, eyebrows raised in silent question, Selma reached out and grabbed his strong jaw in one hand. Her fingers closed around his warm, soft skin covered in the reddish-black scales, and the difference to her own pale color momentarily paused the slew of words from spilling from her lips. He was beautiful, even like this.
Selma let her eyes roam over his face, taking in the pain in his fully black eyes, the strength in his brow, the sharpness of his features, and the coiled elegance of his black horns. Further down, his body stretched and dipped over hard muscle in just the right way. He was all male, and so incredibly beautiful.
“Selma—”
His exasperated tone and the dismissive look on his face made her anger return full-force.
“No, you listen to me—I’m done with being told I don’t know my own thoughts and feelings. Done. Yeah, we had sex, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know the difference between a hormone high and what my heart is telling me.
“I love you. Through all the horrors and all the confusion, you’re the only one who’s been truly there for me since this all started. Stop trying to take that away from me because you have issues.
“And this strange new power that’s popped up to make everything even more complicated? It’s because you loved me enough to let me go—you showed me what true love really means, and I…
“Don’t ask me to pretend like that doesn’t matter. I have been afraid to be taken and forced and used all my life. With you, I am finally free. You see me for who I truly am, what I truly am. How could I not love you?”
Her chest heaved and her cheeks burned with the remnants of her frustration, and she felt more like she’d been in a battle than declared her love.
Kain looked as if she’d struck him, his lips slightly parted. He didn’t say anything—just stared at her with something that looked a whole lot like fear painted over his strong features.
Fear. He was afraid of her.
She understood. His mother, the woman who was supposed to love him more than anything else in this world, had shunned him, and in the black depths of his eyes she saw his soul-deep terror to let himself believe in her words—because if he did and she left him like his mother had, it would destroy him.
Selma moved even before she felt her heart clench with agonizing sympathy. She wrapped her arms around Kain’s brutish body and buried her face in his neck, pressing her naked form against his in an attempt to give the comfort every ounce of her was aching to provide him.
“I love you,” she said again. Though her voice was muffled against his skin, the soft groan he let out in response made it clear he’d heard her. “And I’m never going to leave. You’re mine as much as I am yours. Please don’t let your fear shut me out. I need you, Kain, more than I ever thought I could need anyone or anything.”
Slowly he closed his strong arms around her, as if he was hesitant, yet powerless to accept her comfort. He buried his face in her hair, breathing in her scent with a shaky gasp.
They sat in silence for a long while, the only sounds Kain’s soft panting against her hair along with the gentle brush of her lips against his skin as she placed kisses along his shoulder and neck.
When he finally seemed to calm, she lifted her head from the crook of his neck, though her arms remained locked around his powerful body.
“You know, this is where you’re meant to say something back,” she noted.
Kain let out a shaky laugh and finally lifted his head to look at her. “You sure are a bossy little thing.”
“I was thinking something slightly more romantic, maybe.” It was impossible not to return the wry smile playing across his decadent mouth, and warm tingles danced across her skin and up her spine at the unwavering affection in his dark gaze.
Kain lifted a hand from her waist and gently cradled her cheek, letting the thumb ghost across her lips. “There are no words I could say to you that would ever…”
He bit his lip and looked away for a moment. When he looked back up, the unadulterated love and worship in his eyes took her breath away.
“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, my love. My mate.”
She gasped into his mouth when he pressed his lips to hers, only to melt against him when he gently coaxed her lips apart. As his tongue slowly delved into the cavern of her mouth to stroke alongside hers, she groaned in defeat and clutched at his body to avoid collapsing from the overwhelming burst of sensation.
Kissing Kain was quickly becoming her second-favorite thing to do, eclipsed only by the raw pleasure of sex with him.
He pulled back some time later, separating with gentle pecks to her now swollen lips, and smiled at her undoubtedly drugged expression as she sagged in his strong embrace.
