Chapter 27

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Her friends were judging her. Varya knew that. She could feel their stares as she sat with Greed on the small sand dune that was far from the crowd. They were surprised she’d even brought him, let alone taken the time to make the lantern with him. But she’d wanted to, and he’d been so fascinated throughout the entire process.

The lanterns were the last part of the festival, and she’d always done this process with her friends. Their gazes had burned as they watched her teach him their ways, but how could she do anything else? Greed was trying more than she’d ever seen him try before, and it called out to something in her heart.

He wanted to make her smile. He wanted to make her laugh. By the gods, he’d walked into a crowd of people he did not know, who mostly disliked him, and he’d tried to dance with her!

It was unheard of. And beautiful. And so giving in a way that she hadn’t expected from a man literally named after greed. A man who had claimed to be a spirit of that emotion.

He’d made something in her heart twist and she didn’t know what to do with that. So she’d made the lantern with him, and then clambered up the dune where they had some distance from the others. Because maybe she wanted him to herself after sharing him for hours with everyone else.

“So, what do we do now?” Greed asked, his eyes on the lantern.

“We light the candle underneath and wait for everyone else. Then we let it go, and the desert takes her sacrifice.”

Others were already lighting their candles, so she reached for her flint only to see that he had snapped his fingers and a small spark danced on the tip of his claws. How? She had no idea. Magic was hard to understand like that. But she hadn’t realized he could do more than just change his form.

He flashed her a sheepish grin. “Let me light it.”

“Why didn’t do that while we were in the caves?”

“Well, I wasn’t really myself then, now was I?” He touched his fingers to the candle and then put out the flame on his fingertips. He held the lantern with her, staring into her eyes so deeply her heart raced. “Ready?”

“For what?”

He nodded over his shoulder and she saw everyone else had already released their lanterns. And all the lights that rose into the sky danced behind his head. Those warm eyes made her chest tighten again.

She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to keep riding this feeling of warmth and happiness and joy that came from her people’s love of everything that they did. But was it right to want that? He was a demon king and he would only want to take from her and...

“Varya?” he whispered, his voice low and quiet. “Should we let it go?”

She realized she should let a lot of things go. Nodding, a soft smile spread across her face. “Yes. I think so.”

They released the lantern together, letting it dance on the wind and rise to all the others that hung in the air, spinning and whirling on the eddies of wind that carried them to whatever desert goddess wanted them this time. All her hopes and dreams. All floating there, waiting for a god to catch wind of what she wanted.

Everyone stood, going back to their tents where they would all spend the night. Then they’d get up at the first sign of sunlight and start packing the entire camp up. They weren’t too far from her town, and traveling during the day was still possible.

Now, she didn’t know where to go. Was she supposed to head back to Greed’s castle? That wasn’t home. But the town wasn’t her home either. She’d have to sleep on Altan’s floor again, and that always made her neck ache in the morning.

A warm hand cupped her jaw, turning her to look at him. “Stay with me for the night,” Greed murmured.

“Where?”

He pointed behind them and she realized that someone had set up a tent for them. She hadn’t seen anyone arrive with him, yet Greed’s guards were likely just off in the distance. They were never far from him, even when he tried to slip away.

Chuckling, she nodded. She could give him one more night. Just one.

They stood together as though in a dream. He held her hand as he drew her toward the dark green tent, slipping inside to light a fire in the round brazier on the ground. He had a table and two chairs on one side of the tent, and thick rugs underneath her feet. The rugs all led up to a mass of sheepskins that served as a bed, soft and cushioned with blankets that would keep them warm during the night.

She hadn’t slept through the night with him since the cave. Since she’d curled her body around his big one trying to stay warm.

Sudden nerves clawed at her throat, but she beat them back. This man had tasted her. He’d kissed her within an inch of her life and now was her chance to take what she wanted. Him. She wanted to know what it was like. Just once.

Greed got the fire going and then sat down in the big chair. His legs spread wide, tail flicking at the sand. He had his hands on his thighs, but his eyes watched her with a desire that she knew was only just barely reined in. He wanted her, too. And he wanted her to make this choice.

“Come here,” he said, his voice a low grumble.

And who was she to deny him?

Varya walked toward him as if in a dream. Her feet slid along the sands and she refused to let any more nerves get in her way. She gathered up the bottom of her shirt, pulling it over her head. The sharp hiss of his breath made her feel powerful. Just the sight of her made his lungs wheeze, and that was something she’d never done to another man. Not even when she’d indulged herself for the evening.

She stood in front of him, waiting to see what he would do next.

Greed placed his massive hands on either side of her ribcage, feeling her breathing stretch them. Inhale, exhale, as his eyes trailed down from her lips, her neck, to her breasts, like a physical touch.

“You are so beautiful,” he murmured, leaning forward to lick at her already stiffened nipple. “Lovely, lovely, lovely.”

He wrapped his lips around one, drawing it into his mouth with a slow, sensual pull. She tilted her head back and tried to quiet her moan. Someone might hear them. They would know she wasn’t just bringing Greed to their festival, but she was fucking him.

Oh gods, she might be loving him and that was dangerous. That was so dangerous.

Claws gently scraped her skin, and she felt her breath stutter as goosebumps rose down her back. His hands slid down, those big palms dipping into her pants and pushing them down her legs.

“Step out of them,” he muttered, then returned his attention to placing open-mouthed kisses along her skin.

She did what she was told. For once.

One of his hands moved, leaving a cold wind in its wake. Varya blinked her eyes open, wondering what he was doing, only to look down and realize he’d freed himself from his pants. That ridiculously large cock, jutting up between his legs and already leaking pre-cum down the veiny side, pointed right at her.

And oh, it was so tempting to just sink down upon him and to finally know what it felt like to have a demon inside her.

But then he cupped her breasts in each hand, thumbing over her nipples as he watched with rapt attention. At the same time, his tail slid up between her legs, gently stroking her folds as he groaned. “You’re so fucking wet for me,” he rasped. “So perfect.”

The sound of his voice saying that did things to her that she didn’t know if she liked. A rush of wetness flooded between her legs and her stomach clenched, trying to catch the desire running away from her. She wanted. She needed.

“I think the gods made you for me,” he murmured, tugging her forward as if he knew what was in her mind. He palmed her ass, his fingers digging hard into her skin as he urged her to spread her legs wide around him. He held onto her weight as though she were a feather. “They taunt me with the sound of your gasps and memory of your taste.”

He held her above him, spread wide above that cock he fisted. Slowly, he drew his hand up and down the velvety hardness that she wanted inside her until she whimpered. Varya watched him, incapable of taking her eyes off that movement.

“I’m going to fuck you,” he breathed, his lips pressing against her neck, right over the flutter of her pulse. “I’ll be nice this time, because you were such a good girl sucking my cock on the ballroom floor. But this is the only time I’ll be so nice, Varya. I told you, I want your pleasure and your pain. And you will give it to me.”

Oh, gods, she wanted that, though. She wanted to give him both at the same time. She wanted that knife’s edge of pain to make this that much more pleasurable.

As he lowered her, forcing her to spread herself wide around that massive cock, she realized it didn’t matter. Her legs trembled as he stroked the head of himself against her entrance. Back, forward, circling her clit, and then just passing over where she wanted him most desperately.

“Tell me,” he said, that filthy mouth never stopping. “Tell me what you want, treasure.”

“You,” she gasped.

His hips bucked. The tip of his cock wedged into her entrance, impossibly large and oh so right. He sank inside, stretching her, filling her, as he pulled her lower and lower on his cock.

Varya arched her back, a moan echoing out of her mouth that didn’t sound like her at all. That was a woman possessed. As he pulled her down again, she wondered if he had already consumed her.

His thumb circled over her clit, slow little movements until she sank all the way down. Hips flushed with his, devouring him whole.

Greed moved his hand from her ribs, trailing up her side, between her breasts, until his hand wrapped around her throat. Not enough to be painful, but just enough so she couldn’t get all the air she wanted.

He dragged her forward, the open-mouthed kiss he gave her utterly divine. “Move, Varya. Take what you want from me.”

And that sounded delicious.

She lifted her hips, lifting until he almost fell out of her and then sinking back down onto him. She had to stand on her tiptoes just to get that far, but the slow glide of him made both of them groan.

He was too big. Too much. And it was perfect in every way.

Greed dragged her closer, forcing her to arch her back as he caught one of her nipples in his mouth again. He angled her hips so every movement of hers dragged his cock even deeper while his mouth did utterly sinful things to her body.

His hands glided up and down her back, touching everything all at the same time as she chased her pleasure. And it felt like she was using him. But he was right here with her at the same time. His hips rolling against hers, his mouth moving from hers to her breast and back again.

She ground down against him, seeking that almost painful point of pleasure. Wanting to know what it felt like to shatter all around him.

“You want more?” he asked, his lips against hers.

She nodded, incapable of anything else as she tried to force him deeper inside her, but she couldn’t quite...

“Ach, greedy little thing. You want to be fucked by a demon?” His cheeks had reddened with desire.

Varya wanted nothing more.

She gave him a small nod, a meek little movement, but she wanted him to show her what he could do. What they could do together.

She didn’t expect him to palm her ass and then stand. Still inside her, moving even as he strode toward the bed. And there it was. The faintest bite of pain as he slammed into her once, twice, while standing before he lowered them both to the sheepskins.

He pulled out of her, the movement jarring and harsh even as she felt the loss of him. He spun her around onto all fours, forcing her into the position before she’d even realized what had happened.

Then he grabbed onto her hair, gently wrapping it around his fist before he pulled back. Hard.

His breath trailed down her shoulder and back. “You’re going to be a good little thief now, yes? You’re mine, Varya. Say it.”

“I’m yours,” she sobbed out, because she was. Fuck, she was his, and she hadn’t expected it to happen, but it had.

He consumed her body and soul and now she wanted him. By the gods, she wanted him.

Greed slammed into her from behind, so hard she could hear his balls slap against her ass as he moved. But there it was. The friction she’d been searching for. The need for him to move faster than she could, so hard that she felt the burn. He tugged harder on her hair, forcing her to arch her back and her neck even further.

She felt like she was going to explode. She could feel that orgasm just out of her reach, so large and consuming that she feared it might break her. Yet she wanted it. Oh, she wanted to chase it for the rest of her life.

“Good girl,” he snarled, leaning over and somehow speeding up even more. He drew back and slapped her ass so hard she knew there would be a handprint, then soothed it with his massive palm.

But then he ducked down again, grinding himself against her as his hand wrapped around her throat. Her hair tumbled down her back and his lips pressed against her shoulder. “I’m yours too,” he snarled. “You’ve taken every bit of me I have to give.”

Her entire body clenched around him. She stiffened and threw her head back, her mouth falling open as he bit down on the side of her neck and every part of her shattered. She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t think of anything but the orgasm ripping through her and the stilted pattern of his thrusts as he plunged harder and harder, then groaned into her ear.

“Fuck,” she whispered, barely breathing even as he lowered them to the furs. “What the fuck was that?”

He slowly pulled out of her, but remained on his knees between her legs. She looked back over her shoulder to see him intensely watching his cum leak out of her, his eyes hot and his cheeks still bright red. With his thumb, he gently pushed it back inside her, slowly rimming her entrance before pressing down hard over her clit.

The sudden spike of pleasure that rocked through her was shocking. She couldn’t. Not again. Not so soon.

But his eyes locked on hers and he continued to press firmly, and she couldn’t stop it. She came again, the second one rolling through her body as her pussy desperately clenched around nothing.

The feral grin on his face was animalistic. Then he crawled over her, rubbing his cock between her cheeks before he slid back inside her. She was too sensitive, too needy, too everything.

But he growled in her ear, “You will take me again, treasure. And again. I will hear you scream until your voice goes hoarse. Only then will I let you sleep.”

And by the gods, he was right. He worked her until she was boneless and every muscle in her body ached.

By the time she slumped across his chest, coated in sweat and cum, she barely knew her own name. But she was happy. Oh, she was happier than she’d ever been.