Unfortunately, wanting something had never stopped the gods from doing as they chose with her life, and it certainly never hit the snooze button on her alarm — which picked that moment to ring.
Petra’s chest clenched.Here we go.
“Dawn service is too fuckin’ early.” Silas’s growl rumbled through the bed a moment before he scraped his teeth over the corner of her jaw, eliciting a sharp gasp. “But if I have to get up at the ass-crack of dawn, at least I get to watch you up there by the altar and imagine what it’ll be like fuckin’ you on it.”
I’ve changed my mind,she decided, pushing him away with a disgruntled huff.I actually hate this man.
“That’s not happening.”
“You didn’t have a problem with the idea yesterday,” he murmured, a hand sliding down her side to slip beneath her nightgown. Her body responded instantly to that proprietary touch and the gravelly purr that rattled his chest.
“I temporarily lost my mind yesterday. It won’t be happening again.” Not because she didn’t want to, but because there was no future in which she and Silas could pursue the electric chemistry between them. Whether she lived or died, their relationship would end the moment the Protector stepped foot on cathedral grounds.
A sharp blade of grief sliced her.Gods, I can’t believe I’m actually going to miss this man.
Silas’s shadows nudged her legs apart. She could have fought that slight pressure, but she didn’t want to. The thought that thiswas truly her last chance to experience pleasure made her soul shrivel and her body ache.
What’s one more orgasm before the end?
“Is that so?” Silas slowly slipped his fingers through the seam of her cunt, already slick and hot with arousal, and let out a dark chuckle. “Is that why you’re so wet already, baby? Or is it lying that gets you off?”
Neither.She hated lying and she didn’t love the idea of having sex in public places, let alone her cathedral. Not that Glory would care, of course. The only god who seemed to have a problem with sexuality in all its expressions was Loft, and that was only because their followers believed true worship could only be achieved in a lack of worldly attachments.
Petra canted her hips into his hand, slowly swiveling to match the rhythm of his slow, swirling touches. His shadows drifted across the sensitive skin of her inner thighs and up beneath her nightgown until her breasts were cradled by ethereal hands.
“Has it ever occurred to you,” she breathed, “that what gets me off might just be your touch, demon?”
Silas dragged the flat of his tongue over her jaw as he increased the pressure of his touches. A raw note in his voice sent a frisson of heat down her spine when he rasped, “Oh, I know you like it when I touch you. This cunt was made for me.” He turned her head, allowing him to lick and nip at her lips. “This perfect mouth was made for me, too. Your body is my pretty toy, isn’t it? Always ready for whatever I choose to give it. Because it’s mine.”
It really wasn’t fair that he tasted as good as he smelled, even in the morning. Petra rocked her hips and met his tongue in a slick tangle. Speaking in the gaps between luscious, filthy kisses, she challenged, “Demon, if you can make me come before my second alarm goes off, you can use me all you like.”
“Ah, my little goddess…” He startled a yelp out of her with a small, sharp slap to her core. “There’s no universe in which you aren’t mine to use, and there’s no alarm in this world that’d stop me from making sure you know it.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Petra had worriedthat the day would drag, each second prolonged by the torture of grim anticipation, but that wasn’t how it went. Instead, the hours seemed to flash by. They whirled past her in gusts of activity, last-minute preparations, nervous questions from her staff, and the uneasy feeling that losing sight of Silas gave her.
He’d watched her from the front row during her service, his lips curled in that arrogant, mocking smile as worshippers gave him a wide berth. Though he didn’t seem to care that no one wanted to sit close, the sight of empty spaces on either side of him sent a lightning bolt of irritation through her.
Who were they to think a demon didn’t belong in her cathedral? The sight made her wonder just how many other demons might have wanted to attend her services but felt unwelcome. San Francisco’s demon population was small, certainly, but it wasn’t zero. And yet she couldn’t recall ever seeing a demon in the pews before.
That pissed her off.
She didn’t have any time left to make a proper statement about who was welcome in her cathedral, but that didn’t mean she did nothing. Without thinking it through, she altered herprepared service and blessings about Glory’s gifts — a term she absolutely could never use again — to speak, with a touch more vehemence than normal, about how all were welcome in her divine light.
She’d staunchly refused to look at him then, but she couldfeelhis amusement from his seat in the pews.
Petra couldn’t decide if it was a boon or a bad omen when he simply disappeared after the service. On one hand, she appreciated the lack of fires. On the other, she got nervous when he wasn’t in her direct eyeline.
Not because she’d grown used to his steady, if vexing, presence, but because today was not the day for him to get up to shenanigans.
Unfortunately, there simply wasn’t the time for her to try and track him down. There was too much to do. On top of her regular duties, the staff was in a frenzy as they hurried to make the cathedral and themselves as presentable as possible.
They also wouldn’t leave her alone.
If she wasn’t answering questions or giving orders, she was constantly fielding anxious, even pitying looks. A few of the higher ranking priests and priestesses had been so bold as to assure her in the vaguest of ways that everything would be well and they hoped the visit would go smoothly for her.
Not them. Not the cathedral. Her.
