Chapter 50

Ican feel Damien’s eyes on me.

It seems as if he’s always watching me. No matter where I am in a room, no matter who I’m speaking to, his eyes caress my skin like a cold winter breeze.

After my encounter with Cain, the sex demon guided me to the private showers and tenderly washed the cum and sweat off my body. Each touch felt erotic, like he was leaving a piece of himself behind in the process.

“I need to go talk to Abe,” he’d said, kissing my forehead. “But I’ll be back. And then, we can do round two. And three. And four. And five.”

“Go!” I’d said, laughing. With another passionate kiss, Cain left, leaving me alone with Damien.

After I’d changed into my favorite white dress, Damien led me back into his secluded room at the end of the hall. Now, we sit.

“I don’t bite, you know,” I tease, patting his bed. “You can sit beside me.”

Damien grunts something noncommittally but doesn’t move any closer.

“Or is the big, dangerous mage scared?” I continue, giggling. I can practically envision his flabbergasted expression at my jests.

He huffs, finally sitting beside me on the surprisingly fluffy and comfortable bed. I’m almost jealous of it.

“I’m not scared,” he snarks.

“Are you scared of a teeny tiny little girl?” My voice is saccharine sweet, one I reserve for small animals.

He grunts in amusement, placing his arm behind my back. I immediately lean against it—better than any backrest I’ve ever used.

“Hey, why are you being so quiet?” I tentatively venture, climbing to my knees and turning towards him. I reach and touch his face, hesitantly running my thumb across his downward curved lips. My own lips lower instinctively. “What’s wrong?”

His hands settle on my lower back. “Just thinking, Angel.”

“About?” I press, placing one finger on either side of his lips and attempting to press them upwards. He grabs my wrists gently and brings them to his lap.

“You love Cain.”

It’s not a question, but something in his tone makes me think he wants to hear a confirmation. Deciding for honesty, I nod.

“I love a lot of people.” My cheeks burn at the confession, but I refuse to duck my head. Not with him. He always sees me, even when I try to hide.

“I’m sure you were told about all the horrendous things I did before I arrived here.” Damien’s voice lowers with disgust and self-loathing. I hate that—I hate that he sees his broken edges as something he should be ashamed of. I’ve always known he wasn’t made of sunshine. Surprisingly enough, it’s his darkness that intrigues me.

“What happened?” I turn his hand over—rough and calloused from years of work—and brush my thumb over the center of his palm. I feel his body shiver delicately beneath me. “At the guild, I mean. What happened?”

He takes a deep, fortifying breath, as if bracing himself against an incoming storm. I know he’ll be building walls and impenetrable fences around his heart, designed to keep me out. He thinks that his words will scare me away, anger me, terrify me. He doesn’t seem to realize that his monster is nothing compared to the monsters back at the Compound. He doesn’t seem to realize that I love him, demons and all.

“I never knew my dad. He was probably some asshole mage who knocked up my mother, then ran like a bitch when he discovered she was pregnant.” His voice holds a world of loathing and contempt for his absentee parent. I want to comfort him, but I have no idea how. “My mother turned to drugs. After only a few years of her addiction, she owed a shit ton of money to a pimp named Fangs. Fucking stupid name, if you ask me.” He pauses, bringing my hand to his lips to kiss the sensitive, tingling skin there.

“And then what happened?” I whisper breathlessly.

“She died. Overdosed. And I was found and taken in by Narian.” A spurt of anger accompanies that name, and I wonder who this Narian is to him and what he’s done. “Narian is the leader of the guild. He trained me, conformed me into the heartless man you see before you. I don’t believe I was a psychopath before I met him, but now?” He laughs humorlessly. “I love the kill. The hunt. The fight. It excites me more than anything else in this fucking world.”

“What was Narian like?” I query, interested in the man who raised a young, innocent Damien. A little boy who had witnessed more than he should’ve. Who’d fought battles best served for someone older and wiser.

Damien releases another self-deprecating laugh. “Narian was a fucking pervert with a penchant for scared little boys.”

At first, I feel horror. That horror abates quickly to be transformed into anger—a blistering hot rage that makes me see red stars. The intensity of my emotions takes me off guard. I’ve felt like this only once before, when I discovered what Lionel Green did to the twins. I don’t remember ever being this mad at the Compound. Heck, I wasn’t even this furious when Raphael Turner was revealed to be Man.

“Hey.” Damien rubs his hands up and down my arms soothingly. “Where did you go just then?”

“I hate him,” I whisper venomously. “I hate a man I’ve never even met because he hurt you. Does that make me messed up?”

“No, Angel.” He lifts his hands to cup my neck, gently applying pressure. “It means that you care.” He sounds breathless, disbelief evident in his voice. “Do you, Nina? Care about me?” There’s a vulnerability in that question. I have to wonder if anyone has ever cared about Damien before. He has always been on the outskirts looking in, never participating. The inmates here fear him, and those who don’t fear him, hate him. Those walls he erects around himself aren’t a choice, but a necessity. A way to protect his fragile heart.

All he has ever wanted was to be loved. I don’t know how I know that, only that I do.

“I care about you, Damien.” I brush my hand through his slicked-back hair. “I think I even love you.”

His breath hitches, and the next thing I know, I’m on my back with his lips on mine. There’s nothing cold or calculating about this kiss—it’s pure fire. Flames burst behind my closed eyelids like a firework explosion.

“Are you already wet for me, Angel?” Damien whispers, trailing kisses to my ear. “Is your pussy slick and ready for my cock?”

I whimper at his dirty words. Out of all my men, I didn’t expect Damien to be into this kind of thing. Heck, I didn’t even know I was into this kind of thing. When Haley had discussed it during dinner a few weeks earlier, I had blushed and giggled awkwardly.

Now, I can see and understand the appeal. Each word Damien says sends heat straight to my throbbing core.

Damien yanks me to him, our tongues dancing. It’s a war for control, for dominance, but I don’t hesitate to give it over. I’m at his complete mercy. Whatever he wants from me is his. I’ll give him everything.

He stops kissing me, only to take off his shirt and throw it somewhere in the room. I have no idea where, and frankly, I don’t care. I trail my hands across his chest, pinching both nipples, and then down his taut abs. He flexes, muscles clenching, but allows me to repeat the rotation twice.

“I need to see you,” he declares, removing my hands from his chest. He pulls my dress over my head, leaving me in my matching bra and panties. I don’t know which of the guys gave them to me, but I’m suddenly grateful. I do know that they look good on me, accentuating my curves and the muscles I’m beginning to form. “Fuck, you’re even more beautiful than I imagined.”

“And how often is that, Bitch Mage?” I tease.

In retaliation, he pinches my nipple through the fabric of my bra, and I hiss, moaning for more.

“Do you want me to punish you?” he asks coldly, deftly unclasping my bra and sliding it off my shoulders. He holds my breasts in both hands, pushing them together. His lips move from one nipple to the other, nipping and sucking until I swear I’m going to explode.

“Damien,” I beg, my panties soaked through.

“You’ll be patient,” he snaps, biting down on my nipple. “And you’ll take what I give you.”

“Give me everything,” I beg.

Abruptly, he releases my breasts and places a hand in the center of my chest. Applying a bit of pressure, he guides me onto my back.

“Today, I’ll give you everything,” he agrees. There’s a rustle of fabric as he methodically removes his remaining clothing. A moment later, he returns to me, breath warm on my thighs. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”

Without waiting for my response, he slides my undies off and places my legs on his broad shoulders. He begins to plant tantalizingly soft kisses to the inside of my thighs.

“What are you…?”

“Shhh, Angel. I want to remember this moment. Today, I’m going to taste you. I’m going to make you writhe against my tongue as you come. But be patient with me. I haven’t done this before.”

“You haven’t?—”

My question is cut off by his tongue on my clit. I throw my head back and close my eyes as sensations rush through me. The stubble on Damien’s cheek against my swollen pussy lips. His hands on my thighs, holding me steady. His own moans of pleasure as he devours me like a decadent treat. Each lick, kiss, and bite send me closer to careening over the edge.

He may have claimed he’s never done this before, but his mouth is magic.

I explode in an intense stream of whimpers and praises. Tears form in my eyes at the sheer power of it. The orgasm rocks through me like a tidal wave.

“You taste delicious,” Damien deadpans, and I almost laugh at his nonchalant voice. Almost. I’m too lost in the post-orgasmic bliss to care.

“Damien.” I pull his face towards mine and kiss his chin, cheeks, and finally, his lips. I taste myself on him, and it only serves to heighten my arousal. These men are making me a sex fiend, and I find that I don’t even care. “I want you.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, the head of his cock poking at my aching entrance. His tongue parts my lips, breathing life back into me.

“I’m positive.”

He doesn’t need to be told twice. With a grunt, he enters me. He’s not gentle or delicate like the others. No, not my mage. His fingernails dig into my hips as sheathes himself completely in my wet heat. I cradle him against my body, wrapping my legs around his waist.

“I need you to move,” I beg, wincing at the pain. The fullness.

He rocks inside me slowly, circling his hips, but I don’t want gentle. I want him the way he entered me: possessive and claiming, surrendering his soul to me completely.

“Harder, faster,” I plead, pushing my hips up to meet each thrust. My words release something in Damien, a beast he had kept in a cage.

He pounds into me ruthlessly and viciously, his balls slapping against my skin with each punishing thrust. He captures my lips in a fierce, claiming kiss. There’s no denying that I’m his, completely and unconditionally.

I arch my back as pleasure dances in front of my eyes. “I’m so close,” I whimper, panting. “So close.”

“Wait,” he growls, continuing to move relentlessly over me.

“Damien!”

“I said wait!” His tongue invades my mouth, sweeping across my teeth, before he trails kisses down my neck. He begins to suck on my skin, no doubt leaving marks. “Come for me, Angel. Come around my cock.”

I fall into bliss. Complete, ethereal bliss. Screaming Damien’s name, I hold on to his shoulders and wait for the aftershocks of pleasure to leave me.

After a few quick thrusts, Damien comes inside of me as well, his cum sliding down my thighs.

He collapses on top of me, and I hold him to me, unwilling to part. He chuckles darkly against my neck before planting a single kiss to the skin there. We lay there together in silence, savoring the moment, until Damien teasingly bites down on my earlobe.

“We should go find the others,” he says lightly. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Damien sound more carefree than right now. The power of sex, I suppose.

I hug him tighter. “I’m comfy, and you’re warm. Like a human blanket.”

He chuckles again, slowly untangling his limbs from mine, despite my protests. My body feels empty when he’s gone, like a piece of me has been ripped away.

“Let’s get you cleaned up and dressed,” Damien says.

I don’t move from my sprawled position on his bed. I’m not even sure I’m capable of it. My limbs feel like Jell-O.

I don’t know what Damien uses to clean me up, but soon, I’m dressed once more in my white gown. His hands linger on me even after I’m dressed. Now that we’ve started, we can’t seem to stop touching each other. His hand in mine, his pulse beneath my lips, his arm around my waist. I know that the second we leave the security of his room, the touching will end, but I’m desperate to soak up his affection while I can.

“Hey, Damien?” I whisper, suddenly shy. I shouldn’t be after what we just did, what our bodies just did, but I still feel a blush rising to my cheeks. “I love?—”

Pain flares behind my eyes, and I gasp, dropping to the ground. Damien releases a pained roar before he becomes silent. Too silent.

A familiar voice penetrates the incandescent pain radiating through my body.

“You really are strong,” the prison mage muses. “Most people can’t stay conscious for more than a second or two.” He sighs suddenly, as if my inability to fall unconscious is a personal slight against him. “But, anyway, time to get up. You have a visitor.”