Ciprian doesn’t stop there. I’m not sure he realizes what he’s saying, but I can’t get enough. Each punishing stroke is punctuated with dirty praise or the sweetest declaration I’ve ever heard. It’s raw and honest, and I love it.
There’s only one problem: Ineedto scream. Moans and whimpers are already pouring out of me, but if I scream, I won’t be able to hear Ciprian’s stream of consciousness while he fucks me.
“Talk louder,” I wail. “Please. Loud. Louder than me.”
He goes silent instead. I sob in frustration.
“No, I’ll do it, I’m sorry,” he shouts. “Your skin is impossibly soft. I love the way my hands fit around your hips. I want to leave my fingerprints all over you. Don’t get me started on your pussy. You take my cock so well. I wish I had a mirror so you could see too.”
His hand cracks against my ass—the side closest to the fire—and the sudden sting on the heated skin sets me off.
I scream as I come, my cheek pressed against the blanket.
Ciprian hammers into me, chanting “I love you” with every thrust. When he stiffens and comes inside me, I grind against him, wringing every drop of pleasure from both of us.
He curls against me and strokes the dip of my waist. “Why the fuck would I ever walk away from this?”
I yawn and snuggle into his chest, then wince as cum tricklesdown my thighs. “Remind me to demand a shower after the next fight,” I say.
Ciprian chuckles. “I was thinking the same thing. See? We’re super compatible, hot wings.”
I level him with the most serious expression I can manage. “What if I told you mustard was my favorite condiment?”
He shudders dramatically. “Relationships are about compromise.”
I smile and let my eyes drift closed.
Tomorrow, I fight again. Not only with my fists, but with my heart too. Because that’s exactly what I’ll lose if I fail. No more hiding how I feel. With Ciprian wrapped around me like a vine, there’s no room for doubt.
TWELVE
Monster Realm Survival Tip #4:
There’s no surviving the monster realm.
RIVEN
I should never have taken this job.
I’m making a fortune, but S’lach’s daughter is a complication I didn’t expect.
Break her, then kill her—those were my instructions. Simple. Easy. And open to my interpretation. Why is nothing going the way I planned?
I stand outside her cabin and listen to the demon fuck her. When the eclipse rolls over the realm, I switch skins, selecting one better suited to withstand the extreme cold. Even as I listen at the door, my mind presents me with pictures I don’t want or need.
I slide my fist into my mouth and bite down on my knuckles.
There’s not a compliant bone in the angel’s body, yet she begs for demon cock as if she’ll die without it. And the things he says to her in response... I shudder as he gives her his dignity, freely handing over every weapon she could need to destroy him.
He’s a fool, and I am too.
“Torment her,” S’lach told me. “Destroy everything she’s built, then erase her for good.”
It should be easy.Why isn’t it easy?
Her lovers refuse to leave her, even to save themselves. That doesn’t make sense, either. Everyone chooses to save their own skin in the end; it’s a near-universal truth—the drive to survive is the most powerful force in all the realms.
I could kill them and tell her they left her behind. I picture the crushed look in her brown eyes and reject that idea. It’s too cheap. Too quick. And I promised a show in the arena.
