Chapter 21

21

BONES

I f I wasn't so fucking turned on, I'd laugh at Sloan's shocked and almost offended expression at my denial. Before my little hellion of a mate can make another command, one I won't be able to resist, I roll us over. She squeaks and it's one of the most adorable sounds I've ever heard.

Fuckity fuck. You know you're fucking pussy whipped when you think she sounds adorable during sex.

I wouldn't have it any other way. Except I know this might be the last time I have her like this. When she knows the truth about me. . . I bury that voice six feet under. Right now, all I want to think about is how hot and tight her pussy is squeezing the tip of my cock as I brace her above me.

Sloan's hunger mirrors mine and I gave up trying to get my jeans down past my knees before I rolled us over. My fingers dig into her hips, holding her poised over my cock, the tip notched against her entrance, torturing us both. Her legs are splayed apart over my hips, her tiny hands bracing herself on my stomach as her blonde tresses fly wild around her.

"You're so fucking perfect," I bite out, unable to soften the words. Not when it's taking everything I have to keep from rearing up and filling her up. "Ride me, baby. Take what you want."

I guide her down, drinking her in as she takes me inside her. She's so fucking tight around my cock. Even in my human form, I'm much bigger than the average man. Sloan takes me like the goddess she is though.

"That's it, baby," I encourage, staring at where her slick folds are stretched wide around the steel of my shaft. "So fucking gorgeous on my cock."

Sloan's pupils are blown wide with desire, those gorgeous blue-green eyes of hers glazed as she settles deeper onto my cock. I groan, moving my hands to grip her ass tight.

"Bones."

My name is a siren's song on her lips, one that I'll gladly follow to my death.

"Take what you want, Sloan."

I'm barely coherent, my fingers flexing into the round flesh of her ass as I force myself not to take control. Not until she's ready for me.

"I want all of you," she whispers, her head falling back and her hair tumbling down her back. "Everything, Bones."

I don't know what the fuck to do with that, with the knowledge that this woman is mine.

I've had women. Lots of them.

None have ever come close to touching me, not the way she does.

My mate is a warrior, a woman who was willing to sacrifice herself rather than let one of her own suffer.

I won't let her go, not ever.

Not even when the secrets of my past finally catch up to me. She'll have to command me away, and even then I'll only retreat to her shadow.

I press a hand to her lower stomach and find her needy clit with my thumb. I grin savagely as her pussy's walls flutter around my cock. "You feel so good, baby. So wet and hot, and you're squeezing my cock like a vise."

Her eyes widen, a pretty pink blush stealing over her cheeks.

"So dirty," she gasps.

I can't help but grin. "Fuck yeah, baby girl. Can't help it when you're such a good girl for me."

"You're incorrigible."

"You love it."

"I do."

The sincerity in Sloan's tone undoes me, the knowledge that even after the things I've told her about me, the things I've done, the woman who's always been meant to be mine is still here with me.

"Mine," I growl, rearing up. "Mine." I suck one of her nipples into my mouth, delighting in the ragged shout it pulls from her.

"Bones, yes." Her hands come up to grip both sides of my head and I. Fucking. Love. It.

She rides me, my thumb never leaving her clit as I suck and bite at her nipple. Then I give the other the same treatment; the whole time encouraging her up and down my cock with my grip on her ass.

A devilish grin twists my lips as I brush my fingers down the crack of her ass, until I find her tight back entrance. She jolts against me and I release her nipple with a lewd pop. I meet her wide eyes.

"You ever had this tight little ass fucked, baby?" I circle the puckered entrance, watching her through half-lidded eyes. "Because I promise, you'll be taking my cock here too."

"N-no," Sloan stutters out, sending feral satisfaction through me. I might not be the first to claim her pussy, but I'll be the only cock that claims her ass as mine. Every single inch of her is mine to claim.

On her next down stroke, I push my thick finger against that bud until she takes me. She gasps at the new intrusion and my balls tighten at the sound.

"I'll fuck your ass first with my fingers. Then my tongue. And finally, this fat cock of mine. I'll fuck you slow and easy until you're begging for more. Then, once I've fucked that virgin ass and got it nice and sloppy with my cum, I'll give you more."

"Oh my God."

Sloan's entire body starts to shake.

"No God, here baby." I punctuate the reminder with a thrust of my hips. "Just your demon." I fit a second finger in her back hole, bearing my teeth as I hold back my orgasm when her pussy clamps hard around my cock. "You like this, don't you? Like me in your ass, making you take it."

Her head drops forward, her mouth hanging open as she pants. I lay back on the bed again, meeting her thrusts as her rhythm jerks erratically as she gets close. Her blunt little finger nails dig into my skin, marking me. I want to howl with satisfaction, want to carry her mark on me forever. Electricity builds at the base of my spine, my balls getting tighter. Faster, I torture her clit in circles while I force her up and down my cock even faster.

"Get there, Sloan," I grit out. "Be my good girl and let me feel you cum on my cock with my fingers in your ass."

That's all it takes for her to fly over the edge, her head flying back, her blonde hair wild around her.

"Fu-fucking Hell, Sloan," I grit, her pussy's spasms triggering my own. My fingers are going to leave bruises on her hips from my grip, but I don't let go, keeping her in place as I fuck up into her like a beast. I keep my eyes glued to where I fill her, my thrusts punishing as I chase down my orgasm while her pussy drips and squeezes me. My mate's scream cuts off, pleasure wracking her body as I never stop circling her clit. I'll never have enough of her pleasure.

Her back bows as hot liquid gushes out around my cock and my eyes roll to the back of my head at how fucking tight her body becomes. Both holes clamp down, threatening to break me in two. My climax threatens to peak and I yank her down on my cock, grinding up against her while the instant stretches to infinity. A roar rips from my throat as reality snaps around me.

My cum jets from me, lashing her pulsating pussy, filling her even as I start fucking into her again, desperate for more.

"Bones." My mate's cry is the only sound in the world.

"Mine," I roar, claiming her mouth, biting her lower lip until the metallic tang of blood fills my mouth.

She kisses me back, just as hard, just as rough, and the possessiveness in it sets off something inside me.

We kiss each other desperately, as if we'll never have another chance, our tongues fighting for dominance.

My thrusts slow, turn languid until I finally stop. I keep most of my weight braced on my forearms on either side of Sloan, but she's as greedy as I am. She keeps herself wrapped round me, her hands clutching the middle of my back and her feet hooked behind my knees. I rest my forehead on hers, breathing her in. I'm tempted to beg her for her freely offered soul; to bind her to me for eternity. My soul might be in tatters but her presence fills those empty spaces--making me feel whole for the first time in centuries.

Sloan's fingers stroke my back, whispering over my scars with such gentleness that I shudder over her. She's stroking the evidence of my sins, like she would erase them if she could.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Her smokey voice is huskier than normal and I can't help my masculine pride at knowing I'm the reason she sounds well-fucked.

I dip my face, sipping at her lips in quiet kisses before sliding out of her. I roll to my back beside her, curling my arm around her and tucking her against my side. Sloan comes without hesitation, affection and quiet concern echoing down our mating bond, as she pillows her head on my chest and tosses one leg over mine. Like this, it's a reminder of how much smaller she is than me even in this human form. How fragile her body is and how easily it would be to hurt her.

I bury my face against her wild blonde hair, fortifying myself against the truth I'm about the reveal. Fuck, I'd rather be facing down Prince Tol'vazir. Being executed at his feet would be more merciful if Sloan rejects me.

Do I start with an apology? Do I swear to her that I'm not the male I was then? How do you tell the woman you've come to love more than life itself that you have more in common with her abusers than she realizes?

"I'm one thousand eight hundred and forty years old, roughly," I begin before clearing my throat. Sloan says nothing, but I know I have her complete attention. I focus on the steady metronome of her heart beat. "In my old world, a demon doesn't have many options. Your life and role are determined by what circle you're born into. From the moment I was born, I was destined to be a soldier in a prince's army. I joined Prince Tol'vazir's army when I was fifty years old as was expected of me."

Memories of those years aren't awful. I was grateful for the position; no longer would I have to struggle for the next meal, question where I was to sleep that night, or worry about being set upon by one of the many creatures that prowled the wilds of Hell. Sloan doesn't need the boring recounting of those years. Telling her about those years would be nothing but delaying the inevitable.

I stare up at the ceiling as I begin to bare my heart to my mate, bracing myself for the moment she plunges a blade into the organ.

"I worked my way up the ranks as my abilities developed and strengthened. I control bones, living or dead. I can't bring the dead back to life like this world's expectation of necromancy. Necromancy is the best way to explain my abilities." I grit my teeth and force myself to keep speaking. "I don't know how the prince heard of my abilities, but after a few hundred years I found myself in his favor. He... he showered those he liked with every indulgence you could think of. For someone who came from nothing, to suddenly have the love of one of the princes of hell? There was nothing I wouldn't do for him. There was nothing I didn't do."

I squeeze my eyes shut, like I could find refuge in the dark behind my lids. Except I know better.

Sloan's fingers begin to rub small circles on my chest, a gentle encouragement I don't deserve. Irrational anger heats my blood.

"When Tol'vazir asked for my help interrogating his enemies, I wasn't just willing. I was excited." She stiffens under me. From my words or the building anger in them, I don't know. I slam a barrier between us; too cowardly to experience her growing horror through it. "If he wanted someone broken, I'd break them. I'd use my powers to pull their bones apart, slide them from their flesh; make them contort or break in horrifying ways. The more I did it, the more he rewarded me. Until I didn't care about the rewards. I began to enjoy it. To fucking love watching a creature break under my power. I'd draw it out, for no other reason than I didn't want it over too soon."

Nausea roils my stomach, my guts twisting into double knots.

"Then, when they would no longer be of use, I'd eat their souls. Each one added to my power even as my own soul was being cracked away under their weight."

Even now, I feel the souls pressing down on my shoulders. Their anger and thirst for revenge is putrid in my mind, a constant reminder that no matter how much good I do, I will never atone enough.

Emotionally, I fall to my knees before Sloan. My eyes burn, my throat so tight I struggle to breathe.

"I am no better than Xavius. I'm a monster, worse than him in my crimes. I've spent centuries enjoying causing the torment and death of others. Breaking those Tol'vazir wanted to use as weapons."

My words choke off, my throat too tight from shame to say any more. What is there to say? I know there's nothing I can say to convince her to stay with me, to keep loving me, to forgive me. I can't even forgive myself.

I can only wait, the echoes of a death knell haunting the silence between heart beats, for her to put me out of my misery.