Chapter Five

Cari

Being alone and being lonely are not the same. I felt alone plenty of times with my sisters still here at the cottage. With them gone, the loneliness has felt different...it was a deeper, wider chasm I was not sure I would ever be able to cross.

Lying in bed with my Demon, I do not feel alone at all.

"You're beautiful," I tell him again as I stroke his dark hair, his wicked tail rubbing playfully between my thighs.

Last night, he came to me, and I have never felt such a connection, such an understanding of someone, before in my life. He says he came from hell, that he did something awful to send him there. He told me he has spent a dozen lifetimes down there. Now he is here, with me, for me, because he heard that same melodic voice that told me I no longer had to be alone.

"You praise me too much," he hums, his deep, dark voice making my pulse skip.

How am I not afraid of him? How is there no doubt in my head, no question about why he exists? Well, I have a lot of questions. They can wait. Last night, he came to me because I told him I needed him. I sensed him, felt him. I was so alone, so desperate, and he came just as I commanded.

"Is it odd that I do not fear you? That I was not shocked once you showed yourself to me?"

"With anyone else, it might be," he admits, warm fingers brushing down my side, over my backside. He enjoys touch just as I do, it turns out. My hands on his chest or fussing with his horns. He has horns ! His big, warm hands all over my body. "My little flame is unlike anyone else. You have magic in you, you said it yourself. Just as your sisters do. Your magic when the three of you together is powerful."

Turning on my side, I press closer to him, awed by the way he talks, the way his dark eyes light whenever he calls me his little flame. It sends a current of pleasure through me. Because I know it is not just words. Not just a Demon being cute.

I am his and I think I always was his.

"Is that why I heard that voice? The voice you heard too?"

"I am not sure of that. Never heard a divine voice before. Glad I listened and came to you when you needed me. Having heard the voice, you knew I spoke the truth. That I am yours forever, even if you could never want me, I would be in the shadows, watching over you."

"I do not want you in the shadows," I whisper, rubbing against his hard body. It's so warm, the skin velvety soft despite the scars that mar the gray flesh. I snuggle closer, sliding my thigh between his and moaning when his tail rubs at my sex.

"Do you want me in the sunlight, little flame?" he asks, his tongue licking a path up my throat before he sinks his teeth into my shoulder. Pleasure vibrates through me as I nod.

"Yes," I pant, clawing at his massive shoulders. "Yes, I want you in the sunlight. In the moonlight. I will want you always. It feels as if I can breathe for the first time with you close. I need you now, you cannot leave me. Promise me. Swear to me, Mayhem," I beg him as he moves to pull me astride him.

"I will never leave your side, Cari. Not in this life or the next. I crossed worlds to get to you. I do not deserve you, but I will take you whether I deserve it or not. No one has ever wanted me before," he groans as I rock on his lap, my body afire with need, with hunger, his cock thick and hard between us.

"Did you want someone else? Is that how...."

"Yes," he admits gently. His words sting more than I expect. "I was a selfish man once. I believed I loved someone. They did not want me. Their love was for someone else. It drove me mad so...I took a life out of jealousy. I committed a sin and was sent to Hades for it. I do not deserve you wanting or needing me."

"But I do," I whisper against his mouth, rocking slower, circling my hips against him. "I want you. I need you."

Whoever I was before he came to me last night no longer exists. The sweet artist who loves her sisters and puts them before everything, she is not here now. I am all need and desire from the moment he first touched me. Whatever magic brought us together is strong. Now the breeze is softer, the air sweeter, and the earth sounds beautiful outside.

Since he brought me to bed last night, we've sat in the darkness talking. Not about my life or his. About our life. How it will be now that we found one another. He held me and kissed me, made me come a dozen times with his mouth and his tail. It rubs between my thighs now, but I want more.

He said he belongs to me, so I want him to prove it.

"You have me," he repeats the words he has whispered all night. His mouth works down my throat, across my shoulder, to my breast. I gasp as his tongue flicks at my nipple, circling it with the rough, forked flesh. "You want me to prove it. To give myself to you. I am here, my love. Here for the taking."

Sitting astride him, the sunshine pouring in on us, I wonder if I have gone mad. A huge, hulking monster lies in my bed, waiting for me to tame him as mine. Just last night I feared I would be alone forever. My sisters found their mates, even if they were...cut of a different cloth so to speak. Is it any wonder my own mate is a monster, a Demon, a creature of the night?

"What magic is inside of me? Do you know?"

"Yes, my love," he hums, his hands moving over my thighs, up my back, drawing me closer. I bend, kissing him softly, loving the feel of his hot, forked tongue licking my own. "My sweet, little Nymph. You are one with the mountains, the grottoes of Moon Haven. It is why you love the earth, why you paint it and create it the way you do. It is part of your soul."

Hearing him put a word to it, to this magical, ethereal feeling that has been inside of me so long, it is as if finding a missing part of myself. Both my sisters have their own magic that they did not believe in before. Me, I always knew there was something inside of me that was different, special.

"It is why you knew I was here. Felt me coming before I left Hades. You knew your sisters found their mates before they did. Nymphs have powerful divination abilities. That voice might have been the magic siren inside you calling to me, your mate."

"Mates...we're mates? Even if you loved another before? I thought..." I gasp as I am thrown backwards as he flips us over, pinning me beneath him.

"I was wrong, little flame. Gods, I was wrong. I lusted over another woman in another time, as another man. I was selfish. I knew nothing about love or pure desire. Not until I saw you. I was so wrong, so I deserve my time in Hades. To ever think I loved another was a sin. I could not. Not if you did not exist."

"Mayhem," I whimper against his mouth before he kisses me, sweet, soft, showing me he can be gentle. I do not want gentle. I want him and I want him now . I have waited for him all my life; I just had no idea he would come to me as a Demon.

"I will love you for eternity, Cari. Longer than a lifetime. I am your mate as you are mine. There will be no one else for either of us, little flame. Tell me you understand."

"I do. I am your mate," I whisper, brushing my lips over his. "You are mine. Will we...can we...Mayhem, I want to.... oh!"

Mayhem chuckles as his tail wiggles between my legs, the rough tip delicious against my clit. His mouth devours mine, his tongue hot on mine, his big body pinning me down. My hips twist, seeking the thick tail he teases me with. I want more . I want him inside of me, I want him to claim me.

"I will, my love," he hums, kissing my face, my temple, my forehead. "I am a sinner who does not deserve to have you, but I will claim you because I want you. Tell me you want it."

"I do. I want it," I pant, rubbing against him. "Take me. Fuck me. Claim me. Please, Mayhem. I need you."

"Yes, and I need you. Now I will have you."

It is mad, it is unlike anything I ever dreamt of, but it is what I want—I want my Demon to make love to me.