THIRTY EIGHT

Azeroth

I'm elated until we materialize in my cold, dark apartment, and I realize I still have a very large confession to make. All those days ago, I promised her the full thing, but we never got the chance.

I open my mouth, searching for the right words. She circles her arms around my waist and cuts me off by pressing her cheek to my chest and rubbing her nose against me in a highly distracting way. "You're OK! I was so worried."

My hand sneaks to the back of her head, and I'm ashamed to say I'm ready to hold her there if she tries to back away. I have missed the feel of her skin on mine. Her smell. The feel of her in my arms. "Sweet, there's no need to worry about me. I'm a demon, remember. Practically indestructible."

"That doesn't mean you can't suffer, though." When she tips up her chin to look at me, her brown eyes are wide and earnest, and so fucking adorable.

I lean down to kiss her forehead. "The worst part was being unable to see you. I think I'm a little bit addicted."

She does that thing with her nose again and I groan. I'm already looking for reasons to delay this conversation, and hell knows I've got no willpower.

"Make that a lot addicted, but there's something I owe you before I get carried away."

Her expression drops and she grows serious. "Is it very bad?"

I hate this. I already know I've let her down. It feels like doing it a second time having to explain it to her, but there's no way around it. I gave her my word.

"I'll leave you to be the judge of that." I lead her to the sofa and when she sits, I kneel at her feet, sinking my head into my hands and rubbing at the base of my horns.

"The thing is, I stole from you. I'm not proud of it, but if you'll hear me out, I can explain." I don't dare to look up, worried about what I'll see in her face.

"Azeroth, what do you mean you stole from me? Don't be ridiculous. You're a billionaire. You're magic!"

I look up to find her deep brown eyes searching my face.

"When you were sleeping. I snuck into your dreams and harvested your desires. More than once. Many times. That's where I've gotten all the magic from. To take you to Spain, to do all those things. I never meant to keep doing it, but you have to understand I couldn't help myself."

God, that makes it sound worse. I'm making it worse. But it's true. I am addicted to the way she makes me feel. To the way she looks at me like I might be worth something. Like I've done something good. Nothing in my life before ever made me feel like she does.

I scrub my hands over my face. "That sounds bad, doesn't it?"

"You were in my dreams?" A tiny line forms between her brows. I want so badly to smooth it away, but I resist.

"Yes."

"When?"

"From the first night you stayed at my apartment." My tail flicks against my leg. Fuck. After everything we've just been through, she's about to walk out on me, isn't she? I wouldn't blame her at all. "Please, Elodie. I swear I didn't mean any harm—"

"You saw that dream?" She colors.

Fuck. Where I'm kneeling, the scent of her pussy grows rich and deep as if in reaction to my confession. My claws tighten reflexively against my palms. "Yes."

"How many others?"

I try to calculate, but I dipped into her dreams every time I got a chance. "I don't know. Many. As many as I could."

My pulse thrums against my breastbone while I wait for her response. Her scent will change. Become acrid with disgust or spicy with anger.

Instead, the sweetness grows. My mouth waters. How is this possible?

A smile creeps onto the corners of her mouth. "What did it feel like?"

"I was in them. I could feel your desires."

"And you saw what I wanted?"

"Saw, harvested, fed on the things you wanted."

"Then you saw what I wanted most."

We stare at each other for a long moment. "Me."

My voice is broken, gravelly with need and emotion. She shouldn't be looking at me like this. She shouldn't smell like this. I dip my head and breathe in her scent right at the apex of her thighs. Her cunt. My heaven. Sweeter than any mythical paradise could be.

She shivers. "You. And what about now? Can you see now?"

"Not clearly. But I feel it. God, I feel it." A wave of need sweeps through me, and I don't know if it's hers or mine. It no longer matters. I've never felt more powerful. Not in all my years of running deals and swindling humans. Certainly not in the miserable years I spent scraping by when the taste of stolen soul grew bitter in my mouth.

Her hand tangles in my hair and I look up in surprise. She's not gentle. She tightens her hand into a fist and the pull on my scalp feels right.

"I want you more than ever. It's not stealing when I would have given it freely."

I blink. My vision is blurry. Something warm and wet touches my cheek. I lift my hand to brush it away and stare when my fingertips come away wet with tears.

Tears! I never cried before. I didn't know I could. I've never regretted anything. More than that... I've never been loved before. She shouldn't forgive me this easily. As if I did nothing.

"Azeroth?" Her fingers are tight in my scalp.

I can't find words.

"Azeroth, what is it?" She releases my hair and takes my face in her hands.

"I... I don't deserve it. I don't deserve you."

Her voice is soft, but firm. "Well, too bad. You get me, anyway."

A laugh escapes me. I wipe away the stray tear. "I didn't say I would give you up. I'm not an angel. Not like you."

The sunshine of her laughter breaks through the rest of my bleak mood. She wants this. Wants me. No matter what I did. Now I finally begin to understand what real love looks like. I just hope I can get there some day, and give that kind of love to her.

I loop my fingers through the belt buckle of her jeans and yank her forward. Her hands jump to my shoulders, but she doesn't shy away from the spikes there.

I stretch toward her, bringing our mouths together. I breathe her in this way, too, just like I breathed in the scent of her sweetness, and devoured the need she poured into me.

"There's one condition, though," she says teasingly, pulling away. "A punishment. Since you stole into my dreams and spied on my fantasies, I think you're obliged to help me fulfill them all." She hesitates. "If you want to."

Immediately, my cock hardens, reminding me I haven't come since the last time we were together. "That's impossibly unfair," I tell her, nipping at her lips. "That's no punishment at all. That's exactly what I'd like to do every moment you'll let me."

Refusing to wait a moment more, I tear her jeans, infusing my motions with a little magic to make sure the fabric rips clean off her. Then I bury my face against her juicy pussy. I don't even need to sneak a look into her desires.

I know that's what she needs.