Nicolas pulled away with a sigh, casting Daniel a rueful smile. “Fair enough.”
When Nicolas returned to his side, Ashmedai folded an arm around him and led him to the dark storage closet, ushering him in and closing the door behind them to shut out the light.
“At one time, being led into the dark by a demonwould’ve been scary,” Nicolas said, sighing when Ashmedai folded around his back.
“Yes, very scary,” he agreed, nuzzling Nicolas’s neck. “Hold tight.”
Nicolas’s hands gripped his forearms tightly as the floor slipped away from them. The yawning chasm of darkness extended around them as Ashmedai pushed through the veil between worlds, using it to move from one physical location to the next. They came to a stop in Nicolas’s living room.
“Why can you only do that in the dark?” Nicolas asked. “I saw Talon teleport with Alex out of the brightly lit room earlier. He doesn’t have to abide by the same rules?”
“No.”
“Why not?” Nicolas took his hand, leading him into the bedroom and unceremoniously stripping his shirt off.
“He is a leviathan. I am a sin eater. I was born in a deeper circle of Hell.”
“So it’s like… you’re a different species of demon, so the rules are different for you.”
“Yes.”
“Well, that makes sense, I guess.” Nicolas shucked his trousers without an ounce of modesty, leaving him in a skimpy pair of black undershorts that left little to the imagination—not that Ashmedai needed his imagination. He knew every inch of Nicolas’s mouthwatering body. The divots of his hips. The wiry hairs that dusted his legs, his chest and stomach, and the thicker tuft between his legs. The silken taste of his length.
“Nic-las.”
His human stopped with one hand peeling the blankets back. “Yeah?”
Ashmedai hesitated, all his fears about revealing himselfrushing to the surface and clamoring for attention. Once he did this, there was no going back. He could never undo this moment. When Nicolas saw him, it was permanent. He just had to hope that their bond was strong enough, and that Nicolas meant it when he said he loved him. Ashmedai couldn’t hide forever, and he didn’t want to.
He was too afraid of removing the hood first, so he reached for the buttons of his shirt instead. Nicolas’s lips parted, and he abandoned the blanket in favor of turning fully to face him.
“I want you to see me,” Ashmedai rasped.
Chapter 19
Nicolas
There wereno lights on in the apartment, but early morning sunlight snuck around the curtains on either side of his bed, giving Nicolas just enough illumination to see as Ashmedai’s clever fingers slowly worked the buttons of his shirt open. Inch after inch of ink-black skin was revealed, and Nicolas longed to reach out and touch. But not yet. Ashmedai wanted to show himself, and Nicolas would let him go at the speed he wanted.
The boots went next, kicked off easily enough due to the elastic on the side. He wore no socks underneath, and Nicolas’s eyes caught on his toes. They were mostly human looking, with five on each foot, but the nails were black and pointed.
His chest was bare now, and Nicolas’s eyes greedily drank in the sight. He had no nipples or belly button. His stomach was covered in segmented, black ridges that reminded Nicolas of big scales in the shape of abdominal muscles. But there were more of them, going up his chest and expanding across his sides and ribs. When he pushed hisblack jeans down, he revealed more down the outside of his hips and thighs. They were smaller there, each segment about the size of a thumbprint. He wondered if they were tougher than his regular skin, like natural armor.
The seam between his legs was barely visible. Nicolas wanted to touch the velvety skin, see how quickly he could coax his length out. He swallowed hard and tore his gaze away. There would be time for that later.
He lifted his gaze and found Ashmedai watching him look his fill. His face was still hidden, and his chest rose and fell quickly, his fists clenching and loosening by his sides. He was nervous.
Nicolas inched closer, giving in to the urge to lay his hands on the dark expanse of Ashmedai’s smooth chest. He trailed his fingers across his abdominal segments, and yes, they felt as hard as they looked. Like blackened bone. He let his fingers wander down, stopping just shy of his seam and wandering back up, over his sides, and then up, into the dark recesses of his hood to cradle his face.
“Can I?” he asked, touching the hood.
Ashmedai inhaled slowly, and then tilted his head down. Nicolas reverently pushed the fabric back, gliding his fingers down Ashmedai’s neck to push the coat and shirt from his shoulders.
And then he was fully bare for the very first time.
Nicolas’s mouth was dry with nerves as glowing marigold eyes met his. Ashmedai’s thin black lips were slightly parted, revealing pale, pointed teeth. He had mostly no nose, just two little slits in the center of his face and two small ridges of cartilage above each, reminding him of a snake. His ears were small and pointed, and his eyes… They were extraordinary. The orange, circular irises were the only spots of color. Where a human had white sclera, Ashmedai’s was solid black, like his pupil. His cheeks were hollowed, his head bald.
His stomach turned at the vulnerability he saw there, and he was struck with such a powerful urge toprotectthat it took his breath away. He leaned in, cradling Ashmedai’s exposed face, and whispered, “My God, you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
