His tail curled. “I find it nauseating how willing you are to make yourself uncomfortable at every turn. And for what? No matter how much you pretend, I won’t let you free. I wonder… Did you tell your family what you’ve let me do to you since you’ve been here?”
I sauntered closer, refusing to let the barbs he flung stick. “You say all of that like you don’t ache to touch me.”
I believed Luke intentionally made himself cruel. If he truly were despicable, he would have harmed me long ago. He could have done terrible things to me in the name of getting back at my father.
His tail stiffened. “Yes, I ache for something I can’t even feel, which is why you should know your trickery is pointless.”
Trickery?
He was still going on about that. Maybe the fact that he thought my desire was an act should be a reprieve. For now, only I knew it existed for real. And thatlustfulyearninghad me wanting to crawl into his lap. He was so big, imposing, and looked so incredibly comfy. I wanted to pop that comfort like it was a balloon. Wanted him to crave me to the point of madness and watch that massive body shake. Cry for the opportunity to touch, taste me.
I freaking wanted him to yearn for me more than…
The human world.
But he was a devil.TheDevil. Honestly, even that couldn’t deter me from staking a claim to what was mine, the same way he tried to do with the human world.
“Oh, so sad.” I strode toward him. “The Devil wants what he can’t have.”
His eyes were like fire pressing against me. The hellhounds scattered out of my path, but not before I gave one a head rub. Like he knew what I wanted, his arm lifted instinctively. I sighed deeply as I sank into his heated flesh. I curled against his chest, settling like I belonged there—which, apparently, I did now.
I studied the book in his hand.When I heard screams, my eyes narrowed, and I gripped the edge of the book. “What is this?”
Luke tried to pull the object away, but I pried the pages open, and a horror scene appeared before my eyes. Literally, two female humans drifted above the pages like foggy shadows. They were clutching each other tightly. It was hard to tell, but they appeared to be in a small space… hiding? I heard a growl.
My heart sank as I repeated the question.
Luke’s jaw ticked. “You know exactly what this is.”
The page shifted slightly in the firelight, casting long shadows across the two girls huddled in fear. One whimpered. The other rocked her gently. And just beyond the blurry edges of the image—eyes gleamed.
“So, they’re real?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Luke didn’t look at the page. He looked at me.
My stomach dropped.
His silence was all the answer I needed.
As a Reaper, I only had to look into myself to see the horror spilling out into the human world. I had to block that part of brain out lately because my Reaper senses would be nonstop if I didn’t. There were too many occurrences. We couldn’t save them, and yet…
“And you’re justwatching?”
His expression shifted—only a fraction. But I saw it. A crack in the mask. Pain. Regret. Or maybe it was an illusion my mind wished to see.
“What do you think I do down here?” came Luke’s dull response. “These things had to happen.”
And just like that, as much as I yearned for my mate, I was reminded of who and what he was.
“Is that happening right now?” I asked, turning in his lap to face him.
He scratched the bottom of one of his horns. “It’s not your responsibility to save anyone anymore. Humans are entering a new world. They’ll adapt. They always do.”
“How can you see those women or any living creature for that matter in fear and think that’s okay?” I muttered.
Luke’s claws dug into the flesh at my hip, almost possessively. “I think I finally have what’s mine, and I would have ripped open more worlds to get it.”
“Is being the king of a destroyed world that important to you?”
