4. “My sweet darling boy, you can doubt me every day for the rest of our lives.”

CHAPTER FOUR

"MY SWEET DARLING BOY, YOU CAN DOUBT ME EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES."

My windows swing open and Lucian flies through, looking just as dashing as ever.

The man loves his suits. Designer suits, no less. Apparently, his closet is full of them, courtesy of his bank account accruing interest over centuries. It's so unfair, but considering I'll be sharing eternal life with him soon, I can also take advantage of the benefits of immortality.

That is unless I get killed by one of the many people who have it out for me.

Could they at least do it now so Lucian doesn't also die?

"Darling boy." He marches right up to me and plants a kiss on the top of my head.

I narrow my eyes, and as he straightens, I grab him by the tie and pull him down to my lips.

Is this a sign of his lies? He didn't come straight for a mouth kiss. Is that a clue to the demoness's truth?

His smoky, sweet taste infiltrates every cell of my body. It's like I've been holding my breath all my life and his kiss gives me the oxygen I've been denied.

No.

I refuse to believe he'd lie to me.

I know Lucian. I may not have known him for long, but I know his soul. I know him in my bones.

I end our kiss and pull back with a deep breath.

"Someone…" I start and clear my throat before I continue. "Your wife paid me a visit."

He winces and cocks his head in confusion.

That's a good sign.

"My wi— Lilith was here?"

Dammit. Why does he know her name? That's not good. That's not good at all.

"So it's true?"

Lucian drops to his knees and grabs either side of my face, inspecting.

"Are you okay? Did she hurt you?"

I don't like his reaction at all. He still hasn't denied their relationship. Wouldn't that be the first thing he'd do if she's lying?

"She tried to, but she couldn't. I think she just wanted to warn me anyway."

Lucian growls and spits her name out.

"I'm gonna kill her."

I look down at the book I've been reading. Potion-making will have to wait. Although I'm tempted to return to my studies to avoid this conversation.

How did this happen?

How is it possible that my life was perfect only a couple of hours ago, and now it's about to fall apart like a house of cards?

I close the book and turn back to him. I'm no coward. I can take it.

"So it's true. She's your wife."

Lucian stares back at me with knotted eyebrows, his chin still wet from his spit, and grimaces.

"Ex-wife."

Relief floods my insides, but I'm too scared to let it out. I don't want Lucian to think I doubted him. I don't want him to think I made up a whole alternate reality where he's still married to the demoness and I'm the side-piece.

"Wait a minute. Did you believe her?"

Oh, goddess. Great job, Yu-jin .

"I'm sorry. I didn't…I just…for a split second. When you didn't deny she's your wife."

How do I explain it to him?

"All my life, I've trusted people, and they've turned out to be…less than savory. I didn't want to believe it about you, but when your first reaction wasn't correcting me, I thought… I'm an idiot. I'm sorry."

I drop my head and sigh. I've ruined everything. Haven't I?

"My darling. My love." Lucian grabs me by the hand and pulls me off the chair and into his arms. "You don't need to apologize. You don't ever need to apologize to me, understand?"

I look into his eyes. They're so dark and big and beautiful that I have no option but to believe him, though I don't know if I deserve it.

"But I doubted you. It was only for a second, but I still doubted?—"

He puts two fingers to my lips and shushes me.

"My sweet darling boy, you can doubt me every day for the rest of our lives and I wouldn't love you any less. You hear me?"

"H-how? How don't you hate me? You'd never doubt me."

He smiles and turns his hand, grabbing my chin and rubbing it with his thumb.

"You've been through hell, darling boy. First, the Taylors. Then those brats. You're right to distrust people. You're right to be precautious."

"But not with you."

"Yes. Even with me. If anything, I prefer you doubting me every once in a while over trusting me one hundred percent all the time. That way I can prove my love to you every day. So I can never forget. Not that I ever could."

"Now I feel even guiltier."

He tuts and hovers his lips in front of mine.

I close my eyes and wait for his kiss, but…but it never lands.

"What—" I open my eyes, and that's when he kisses me. That's when he claims my mouth, lips, tongue, and soul.

The distressed heat inside me turns to passion, and I move my hands up to his neck and hold him for a second, a minute, maybe an hour.

I always lose my sense of time when I'm with him, when he's kissing me. When he's looking into my eyes like there's no one else in the world.

"There." He takes a deep breath and rests his forehead on mine. "So you can have no doubt who I see when I kiss you."

He wraps me in his arms, and I nuzzle against his chest, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world.

"I should have told you about her. I'm sorry I didn't. It's my fault for never mentioning her."

I look up at him and lean against the table, holding both his hands.

"What happened between you two?"

Lucian purses his lips from left to right and huffs.

"We were young and in love. We thought we were made for each other. And then, merely a decade into our marriage, I found out she was sleeping with half the hell-demons in a ten thousand-mile radius."

I swallow a knot in my throat and wince.

"Jeez. How big is hell?" Then I remember myself and shake my head. "Sorry. That's not the point. I'm so sorry. That's awful."

"Thank you, my darling boy." He plants a kiss on my forehead before continuing, "I can't say our paths never crossed again, but even when they did, there were…no strings attached. I hated her for what she did to me, and I thought if I slept with her every time I met her, I'd get some revenge on her and whichever fool she was with at the time."

I grimace and cock my head.

"That makes no sense."

Lucian laughs.

"Tell me about it. It made sense in my head at the time. Our relationship has been very toxic. I guess it was how I justified being with her at the time."

"That's fair. So…how long since you were last…together."

I hope he understands what I mean when I say "together," and I don't have to explain it because I don't think I could utter the word. Not when it's got to do with him and someone else in his bed.

"Not for a hundred years."

Phew.

"Okay. So why does she think you still belong to her?"

"Because…she's unhinged."

I sigh and pull him into my arms for a hug.

"I can't say I blame her. I think I'd go wild if you ever left me."

"Not gonna happen, my love. Not ever."

His words reverberate inside me like an earthquake that shakes things back into place, if there's even such a thing.

"I have to go find her. I have…" He pulls away from me and his wings spread out, ready to fly back out the window. "I have to warn her to stay away."

I tug him back to me.

"Forget about her. She can't hurt me."

"I still can't stand the thought of her touching you." His voice turns into a growl, sending a warm flutter to my heart. It swells for him.

It's not the only thing that swells.

"Don't worry about her now." I guide him toward the bed that's been freshly changed and smells like a meadow and pull him down with me. "There's nothing she can do to us. We're getting married. We've got a location. And it's only a week until the big day. I'd rather ravish my fiancé in the meantime."

Lucian grins and bites his lip.

"Yeah?" he asks.

"Oh, hell yeah." I put my hand on the back of his neck and crush his lips against mine.

I'm already hard for him, and as soon as I push my tongue into his mouth, I can feel his hardness growing against mine. Is there a better feeling than being hard with your future husband?

I can think of a couple things, like being inside my future husband or the other way around.

I slide my hands up his arm, then down the middle of his back, and wrap my legs around his hips. We rub our erections together, but the fabric numbs the sensations.

"Too…many…layers," I mumble between kisses.

Lucian lifts himself up and yanks everything he's wearing off before stripping me too.

As fun as burning our clothes would be every time we get together, I don't think it's environmentally friendly. Plus, if we did that every time we had sex, the whole planet would run out of clothes before we could replace them.

When he lowers back down over me and kisses me, I welcome the warmth of his skin and grab our cocks with my hand, rubbing them together.

"I've missed you today," I say, even though we made love this morning before he went to work at the academy and I went to the library to study. We almost snuck in another love-making session on his break, but Ms. Ragthorne, the librarian, didn't look pleased when she caught us kissing, so we went our separate ways before we got kicked out.

"I missed you too, my darling boy."

A purr rumbles out of me, and I roll my eyes back as he throbs in my hand.

Goddess, I love it when he calls me that. I can never get enough of it. I have half a mind to record it and make it my ringtone so I can call my number every few seconds to hear it all the time.

"I'm sorry about earlier," I tell him, and he just dismisses it with a smile.

But it's not enough. I don't like that I doubted him, even for a second.

I pull back my left hand, and he watches me turn my ring.

"What are you doing?" he asks with a grin.

I shrug.

"I thought I'd check what kind of friendly creature would like to give us a hand tonight."

Lucian chuckles, and I fold my ring finger, stabbing myself with the edge of my knife-shaped engagement ring. The heat inside me comes to a boil, and I take a deep breath as a new eldritch creature possesses my body and stretches its limbs inside me.

Master .

Its voice—or images, as is the case with eldritch creatures—feels foreign and distinct. Which tells me I've never been possessed by it before.

Welcome , I say in my head, and the creature vibrates with pleasure.

One thing I've learned about the eldritch monsters is that they're as insatiable as I am. Anything I want to do, they want to do. Whether that's to kill someone or fuck Lucian, they're game. They're primal creatures driven purely by instinct.

Who is this hunk of a demon?

My fiancé , I answer. Care to join us ?

Oh yes, Master. I'm happy to assist.

The hairs on my body tense as the creature ripples through me and replaces my human skin with dark-blue scales and inhuman ridges.

Lucian pauses and looks at me. I follow his gaze as he navigates my body with his intense eyes and slides down to take hold of my cock. My cock is now blue, scaly, and twice the size, with two bulbous knots along my length.

He smirks and looks up at me as he takes me into his mouth. Shivers run down my spine at the mere touch of his tongue.

Mmm, wet and tasty , the creature says, and I close my eyes for a moment only to realize that yes, indeed, Lucian can taste me, and I can taste him back.

I don't know how, but I stopped wondering half a dozen monsters ago, so I just welcome the new sensation and thrust into his mouth.

Lucian does his best to accommodate me, but the poor guy can only take me up to the first knot before he chokes.

"I love itssss." A long, thin tongue comes out of my mouth and makes me hiss as I speak.

It's red and split, a fact Lucian notices immediately.

"You're so yummy tonight," he says and pushes himself back up to me.

I open my mouth to receive him, and he slides his tongue in. I start a wet tangle of a dance. The split ends feel strange. Different.

"I…I want your tongue in my ass. Now, darling boy." Lucian turns and sits on my face but wastes no time taking my throbbing cock into his mouth.

" Naughty demon ," says the creature through me, and I have to agree.

Lucian knows how to make me want him more and more every day, with every touch, every gasp. Every moan.

I flick my tongue between his cheeks, and it slaps against his tight pink hole, leaving behind a trail of slick that makes him shiver.

I do it again, and the third time, I push into him. His muscle tightens around my tongue, and I flick the ends inside him. His sweet juices taste like the nectar of the gods.

Lucian tightens his lips around the first knot on my cock and groans. I feel it echo through his body. I feel it tremble on my tongue. I feel it inside me and know it won't take more to come undone. I'm so close. I don't know how to hold on.

Oh, I know…

I feel my cock grow in length again, and the sensations numb a touch.

"Fuck!" Lucian groans. "How did you do that?"

He turns to me, but I can only shrug.

"I need you inside me. Can you grow bigger? I want you to grow as big as you can inside me. Can you do that?"

" Sure I canssss ," the creature says through me, and Lucian adjusts his body so he can sit on me.

I watch as my scaly cock disappears between Lucian's cheeks. When he gets to the first knot, he takes a deep breath and pushes down.

We groan in unison. I can still taste his sweet juices through my cock, and I can barely remember how to breathe.

He pushes through another knot before dropping down on my face and kissing me with fervor. I can only hold him by the neck as he pushes past another knot and exhales into my mouth.

"Grow in me, baby boy. Do it. Do it now."

I don't even have to do anything. The creature takes over and grows several more inches inside Lucian. I fuck into him until we're both sweating from head to toe. When I come, I taste my own cum on my tongue.

Lucian beats off his cock, and when he turns breathless, the creature shrinks my cock into a small, thin rope, and I slip out of Lucian with ease. He pushes his cockhead into my mouth and fills me with his hot load, adding to the flavors swimming inside me.

My whole body feels spent beyond recognition. I don't think I can take any more. I don't think we've ever fucked better.

But I'm wrong because he dips and shoves his tongue inside my mouth, again adding to the mix of flavors. There's only so much I can take before my eyes feel so heavy I can barely control them.

Call me again for more naughty times, Master.

The creature withdraws to its dimension, and I only have time to hear an "I love you" whispered in my ear before sleep takes me in its embrace.