“Gods above, Devil, you feel so fucking good,” I moaned, and responded by slipping his thumb back into my mouth, then pulling so I was forced to meet his gaze. I clamped my teeth down hard, but he barely even reacted.
“You are so fucking beautiful, and perfect,” he breathed, “and you’re mine…”
“Yours,” I affirmed, my voice fading into a high, breathy note as I let myself move faster. “I am yours.”
He leaned in, eyes glinting dangerously and fingers digging into the soft flesh of my hips as he slid my hair aside. His pointed teeth sank into the skin and muscle of my neck, just below my ear, and I let out a loud, gasping yelp. But something animalistic took over and I jerked on his hair too, pulling his head to the side.
“And you are mine,” I rasped before marking him in return and watching a few crimson drops of blood skate down his pale skin. The sight of it only pushed me further into whatever hedonistic fog we had both found ourselves in, and I rode him harder, letting my ragged cries drift up between the branches of the oak tree. I could no longer bring myself to care whose ears they might find. Devil threaded his fingers into my hair again and pulled, forcing my back to arch and sending anew surge of pleasure through me at the change in angle. My wings flared out and he matched my sounds with his own as we both lost control. The feeling of him inside me, the heat between our sweat-slick skin, the way he held my body against his—all of it pushed me over an edge I wasn’t sure existed before.
The voice I heard begging him not to stop hardly sounded like my own, and he replied in a whispered, commanding tone I couldn’t help but obey.
“Come for me, May.”
I only regained my presence of mind long enough to crush my lips against his before we both found release. The noises he made were just as blasphemous as his words—shuddering, whimpering moans, mixed with my name—but I breathed them in, unwilling to let even a single piece of him out into the world. He belonged to me now, as surely as the sun belonged to the sky, or the Fair Folk belonged to the Arden.
When his body collapsed beneath mine, he looked up with a wicked smile and teased, “I think they might have heard you clear over the mountains.”
I let out a harsh breath and dropped my head onto his shoulder. “Can you not ever just…be silent?”
“How can I be silent when my mandate is to constantly remind you how wonderful you are?” he asked, wrapping an arm around my waist and leaning forward suddenly. I threw my arms around his neck with a soft squeal, but he merely flipped us, so that I was on my back, wings spread out wide on the bed. I locked my ankles around his hips as he moved, thrusting slowly and gently, drowning me in ripples of shallow, residual delirium. Almost lazily, he moved his mouth over mine, tracing delicate kisses across my chin and jaw and throat.
“I love you,” he whispered when his mouth stopped below my ear. “I’ll love you until the stars take their leave of the night, and long after. When there is nothing left for me in this life, I will gladly follow you into the darkness.” I melted, pulling him down on top of me as our bodies relaxed together. Slowly, I brushed my fingers along the feathered edge of his wing, unable to say what I wanted because the feelings overwhelmed me before I could even form a thought.
“Sweet words easily do your bidding,” I said after a few steadying breaths, “but they do not do mine, so forgive me if I cannot give you poetry. But what I do have is yours: a hardened heart and a sharp tongue, still capable of softness when…handled gently.”
Devil lifted his head and brushed hair from my eyes. “A kind heart and a clever tongue, which have both been mistreated by an undeserving world. I would do anything to be worthy of them, and of you, May.”
He pulled me into another kiss that felt like it might last forever, and when he dropped his head back onto my chest, I just smiled and murmured, “You already are, my demon.”
Chapter forty-eight
Wanted & Needed
Icouldn’t be sureif it was the blood bond, or the lovemaking, or simply Devil’s constant presence beside me through the night, but none of my usual nightmares made an appearance. I opened my eyes when a few pale dawn rays peeked through the oak’s broken limbs, feeling steadier than I had in weeks. Devil slept at my back, one arm slung over my waist and the other generously volunteered as a pillow beneath my head. His hand was splayed out in front of my face, fingers twitching slightly. Before I could wonder what he was dreaming about, I shifted closer to him, and found the likely answer pressing into my buttocks. I smiled and threaded my fingers through his, causing him to wake up with a jerk.
He pressed his face into my hair and breathed deeply. “You smell…incredible.”
“Like sweat and impiety?” I laughed. He didn’t answer, just tightened his grip on my waist and held me against him. Although my first instinct was to play coy, the feeling of his lips on my neck, and how hard he already was, quickly erased everything else from my mind.
“I want you again.”
His answer came out still muddled by sleep. “Hmmm. Last night youneededme, but now I amwanted?”
I arched my back to grind against him and let out a weak giggle. “Are you complaining about my word choice?”
“Certainly not.” His fingers dug into the curve of my hip so hard it should have hurt, but only made me want him more. “I think…I might prefer beingwanted, having only ever been tolerated because I am needed. Say it again.”
“Iwantyou, Devil,andI need you…”
“Don’t forget your manners, Mayhem…” he taunted, sliding himself between my thighs, just beyond where I actually wanted him.
“Please!” I gasped. “Gods, please,Devil…”
“How can I refuse such a sweetly-worded request?” I tensed, ready for his touch, but instead he gripped the back of my knee and gently lifted it, then adjusted his position so I could reach down and guide him inside me. Overwhelmed by the sheer intoxication of the feeling, I let out a small whimper to match his. We both began to move, slowly and deliberately, in absolutely no hurry to leave the moment behind.
“May, you’ve fucking ruined me,” he moaned into my shoulder. “I never want to leave this bed again…”
“Pity,” I said breathlessly. “I was hoping to try this in the hot springs tonight.”
