“I can’t fuck the truth out of you. And you’re hiding your fear so well from me by pretending to desire me,” he rasped, inhaling. “You want honesty? I want to breathe you in. Roll in your scent. Know your touch so maddeningly well it drives meinsane. Taste you. Drink you down if that’s the only way to keep you. I want to consume you, Kara, completely.”
My lungs felt like they were breathing in smoke. I was so heated. I panted, closed my eyes, and felt his breath meet mine. Desire and need clashed inside me. I wanted those things too—so he could see the truth and finally stop denying me.
I gripped the back of his head, brushing my lips across his jaw, then said, “Luke, you said I couldn’t hide my fear from you. If you can’t find it…doesn’t that mean it’s no longer there?”
I felt his big body shudder and reveled in it. Although the Devil wasn’t supposed to feel, he trembled for me.
A felt the hot, heavyweight slither up my leg. Luke was testing me with his tail, stretching it to my other leg, coiling the large appendage between them, then over each knee, climbing higher. My breath stilled, and a shocking amount of need burst through me.
It was a test I’d surely pass.
A sudden squawking sound caused me to jump slightly. I was so wrapped up in my need that the noise startled me. The flapping of wings came next. I looked up just in time to see a skeletal bird fly overhead.
“You have evil birds on hand down here?” I asked.
Luke’s brows pinched together. “Not that kind. Mine are much bigger.”
“I’ve never seen those before,” I said in awe as a few more flew by. A couple swooped near us, but none of them attacked. I giggled and held my hand out for one. It nipped at my fingers playfully, then darted away. “They look similar to my dad and brothers’ skeletal forms.”
“Lots of things are without flesh. Not everything is a replica of your father,” Luke muttered. He took my hand and dragged me forward.
“I miss him, Luke, and I’ll talk about him all I want.”
He stilled a moment, not turning. His broad back rose and fell several times before he said, “You’ve distracted me enough. I want to see what else is new.”
I gave him a funny look, though he couldn’t see it. “You truly have never seen those before?”
“No.”
“You know nothing of what’s happened to Hell?”
He sighed. “We’re all at the whim of what’s happening. We’re all weakened. I can’t know everything, Kitten. I don’t care about anything beyond the outcome. That I know with certainty.”
The Devil was so sure he’d get what he wanted in the end that he didn’t care to admit that he’d weakened.
My heart twisted painfully as I followed behind him.
I was positive, too—that I could end him when he became mortal.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Kara
“So…” My eyes widened as streaks of green caught my attention in the distance.
Was that grass?
As I got closer and looked down, it was. The broken ground seemed to come to life with greenery at every step I took. Grass burst from the cracks. Skinny trees peeked out next, rapidly growing around me. Somehow, the darkened sky seemed to change—I couldn’t explain how. It just looked lighter, even through the gloom. There was no way I would’ve seen the rapid changes otherwise.
“Are you doing this?” I asked.
When he whipped his tail quickly and grunted without turning around, I threw up my hands. “I’ll take that as a no. So, what? You can’t control what Hell looks like anymore?”
He stopped, and I nearly bumped into his back as he gestured behind me. The splintered ground, once covered in broken stones, had transformed into polished wood. The Devil’s room came to life right before my eyes—exactly as it had before, as if it had never been destroyed. The fireplace was there, the bed, his desk, table, and chair…and yet—
In the other direction, the greenery spread. Beneath the spot where we stood, it stretched outward, stealing the darkness away. As it moved, the miles of shadows became more of a dim light, like the sun was setting. Only, there was no such thing down in Hell, so I had no clue what was creating the brightness.
Hades, the air felt warmer in that direction too.
