Chapter 4

CHAPTER4

My heart beat triple time as I dashed into the hallway that led deeper into Azazel’s huge fortress, the thrill of being chased fanning the flames of my lust. Another time I’d run from him came to mind, right after I’d first discovered his intimidating wing collection. Back then, I’d tried to escape from him in earnest, primitive fear erasing all thoughts.

This time, I wanted to be caught.

Maybe not in a hallway, though, which was why I sprinted like an Olympian. If Olympians huffed and puffed like an old steam engine. Months of combat training had only increased my stamina so much, because apparently my body thought doing the bare minimum in physical improvement was enough.

I skidded around a corner just as I felt it—the faint press of dark energy and the prickling at the back of my neck indicating a primal supernatural predator had just begun his pursuit. I yelped and sprinted faster.

My heart was a frantic rabbit trapped in my chest, my breaths came short, and the walls of the hallway whizzed past. Excitement rushed through my blood. The instinctive fear that came from being chased by something stronger than me overrode the knowledge that I wasn’t truly in danger of being eaten.

Well, at least not like that.

I snickered just as I ran up a flight of stairs. My legs burned something fierce, same as my lungs. I could sense his power coming closer, the pulse of his dark energy getting stronger. The fact that he hadn’t caught me yet told me he was playing with me. Probably letting me think I could alllllmost make it to our rooms before—

A hush of darkness extinguished the torches on the wall, plunging everything into pitch-black. I stumbled on the stairs, my heart skipping a beat, my arms windmilling to break my fall.

I never made contact with the cool stone.

Instead, my hands slapped against something soft, downy, yet strong and solid underneath. The next second two arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me back against a wall of heat. I squealed, both startled and giddy. The soft obstacle I’d smashed into lit up with tiny, iridescent flames that sizzled over my skin where I touched the feathers.

“Got you.” Azazel’s voice held a deep, dark satisfaction, his hot breath on my neck sending a shiver down my spine.

I squeal-giggled and tried to wiggle out of his hold, which of course only served to rub my body against his, making me feel his hard length pressing against my lower back.

His response was a terrifying growl. Not the kind that humans make to imitate a wolf or a tiger, no. This one was the real fucking deal, the rumbling, rattling sound of an apex predator, complete with the vibration that I felt in every part of my body that touched his.

The sheer, unadulterated ferocity of it liquefied my bones with innate terror—and made me clench my thighs against the renewed throb of lust in my core.

There was likely something very wrong with me for getting aroused by the kind of snarl that should have sent any being with half a brain running for its life. But all I wanted right now was for the demon at my back to strip the last bit of human pretense from me and take me in the most primal of ways…and then I wanted to know what that bone-melting growl felt like on the pulsing spot between my legs.

Zoe, Azazel said in my head, his mental voice barely above a snarl, too. Are you projecting on purpose, or do you need another lesson in shielding?

I stilled. I’m…not sure?

He slid one hand up my front, brushing over one breast and the tight peak of my nipple before grasping my throat in a light hold. I gasped, my mind filling with images of him taking me from behind while his large hand circled my neck, the grip possessive and primal and thrilling.

His fingers tightened their hold. Do you want me to lose control? A soft whisper in my mind, brimming with dark energy. Because that’s how you get me to lose control.

Another shiver danced over my skin, fresh arousal pooling between my legs. I bit my lip and very consciously thought, Yes.

His entire being vibrated, down to the minuscule sparks of his energy tapping against my skin. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he murmured—and then he incinerated my dress.

The fabric went up in flames all around me, and fire rolled over my skin, caressing me with licks of heat. I inhaled sharply, more from being startled than from being hurt. I was fire-proof, after all.

But the flames on my skin felt exquisite, like the most decadent caress, like his tongue laving over my intimate flesh, only intensified by a thousand. All the while, he held me in place with his hand on my throat, his wings still caging me in.

When the last of the fabric fell off my body as ash, darkness once more claimed our surroundings, the only light the sparks flickering over his feathers. Not enough to illuminate the gloom for me. With a rustling sound, he moved his wings so they weren’t in front of me anymore, wrapping me even more in the hushed black velvet of the stairway.

He slid his hand from my throat to the back of my neck and pushed. “On your knees.”

Heart thumping in my chest, I slowly lowered myself until my knees met the stone step. His hand on my neck prodded me farther still, and I leaned forward and braced myself with my palms a few steps above the one I was kneeling on.

Desire was a pulse beneath my skin, every sense heightened in the darkness, through my position. I was acutely aware that I was naked and exposed on all fours on a flight of stairs, with a demon behind me who was about to have his wicked way with me. No sound but our breaths, charged with tension and promise, his power a beacon of heat behind me. Anticipation tightened my muscles.

His hand had moved to my hair, and now he tangled his fingers in the strands and pulled, just hard enough to sting deliciously. I followed the direction of his tug and tilted my head up and to the left, arching my spine. His energy brushed over me as he bent forward and claimed my mouth in a kiss that was a sensual assault.

Pleasure threaded through my blood, and my toes curled.

His heat caressing my back, he held me fast with an iron grip in my hair while he stole my breath with his kiss…and yet he didn’t touch me anywhere else. The lack of contact made me half feral, and I squirmed, trying to push back against him.

A wave of fire over my body, ending in licks of heat at my nipples and that aching spot between my legs.

I jerked and cried out. Too much. Not enough.

I needed more, needed him to touch me, to take me.

“Didn’t you,” I panted, “say something about losing control?”

His lips on my neck, the soft kiss a stark sensory counterpoint to the stinging grip he still had on my hair. “You’re not ready yet.”

“I am drenched,” I gritted out through my teeth as I wiggled my hips and thighs in a way that gave clear acoustic evidence of how wet I was.

A teasing touch of his energy over my intimate flesh. “Not there—here.” He kissed my temple.

Ughhh. “Oh, come on,” I whined.

His answer was a pinch of my nipples with his energy. The sting of it zinged straight down to my throbbing core, driving my arousal higher still. I felt like I was going to explode from unfulfilled need for touch, from this raw hunger for his brutal claiming.

More fire danced over my skin as he lowered his mouth to the curve where my neck met my shoulder. His breath a promise of more, he lingered for a moment without his lips touching me yet while his power followed in the wake of the flames, a thousand tiny taps over skin so sensitized, it made me gasp.

Then he bit me. His teeth grabbed my neck at the same time as he poured his energy like molten lava over my breasts, my inner thighs, my intimate folds longing for more touch. I sucked in a breath and shuddered, sinking further into the spiral of desire.

“When I say ready,” he said in a harsh whisper against my neck, “I mean that I want you crazed with lust, not just begging for my cock, but dying for it. I want you so helplessly writhing with need, every cell of your body craving my rough claim, that when I let loose, you’ll not just take it, you’ll worship every fucking second of it, no matter how hard. Because when I lose control, I’ll ravage you.”

A full-body shiver tightened my nipples impossibly further. “All right,” I said breathlessly. “That just did it. I’m already there.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” He straightened behind me and let his free hand glide down my spine, trailing sparks in its wake.

I shifted to follow his touch, chasing the press of his fingers that was far too light. A slap on my butt made me freeze.

“Stay still.”

Fiery heat feathered over the sting of his slap, simultaneously soothing and making it worse. I whimpered.

God, I was so ready.

A sharp tug on my hair. “Either you shield your mind,” he purred, “or you call out my name in your thoughts.”

“One of these days,” I shot back, “you should start seeing a therapist about this obsession of yours.”

“Mouthy, are we?”

My even mouthier comeback got lost in a yelp as he swatted my butt again, this time with a quick double slap on each cheek. Incredibly, the pain veered right into more arousal, making my core throb with need.

And it only got worse when he slid a finger over my slick folds, his touch just enough to make me moan with pleasure, but not nearly enough to quench my thirst.

“Azazel, please.” I closed my eyes, my nails scraping over the stone.

“Begging is a good start.” He circled my clit, eliciting a strangled groan from me. “I always do like it when you plead so sweetly.”

The next second, his mouth was on me, his tongue delving deep. I cried out, overwhelmed by the acute pleasure and the onslaught of his intimate touch. But what truly sent me over the edge was the growl.

Dark, bone-rattling, and feral, its vibration reverberated through my most sensitive flesh, all the way up to the top of my head, making me shake and tremble. The orgasm crashed through me with the force of a tidal wave. My thighs quivered, ready to give out.

He held my hips up with a tight grip as he worked me through the last tremors of my climax, his tongue and lips and teeth wreaking havoc on my nether regions.

My body felt wrung out and yet primed at the same time. As earth-shattering as that orgasm had been, it hadn’t fully sated me. My inner muscles clenched around an aching nothing, and I uttered a sound of pure need, craving to be filled.

And I knew the fastest way to get him to oblige. “Please,” I said, my voice husky and sex-drenched. “I need you.”

He hummed as he kissed my lower back, his fingers languidly spreading my wetness over my folds, around my entrance, and I shuddered with want. “What, exactly?”

Always making me spell it out. And for him, I would. For him, I’d crawl.

Like I’d done once before.

“Your cock,” I whispered. “I need you to fuck me. Hard.”

His power darkened with pleasure. “Then hold on.”

Easier said than done—there was nothing to grab for me on these damn smooth steps. And I had an inkling this ride was going to be the I need a sturdy headboard for this type.

A soft whoosh, and then I blinked at the dark shape of a large cushion that had materialized on the step between my hands.

“Bite into that,” Azazel said. “You’ll need it.”

I’d have smacked him for his presumptuous arrogance if I didn’t know he was likely right.

I had just grabbed the cushion when he thrust into me in one hard push. Crying out, I buried my face in the damn pillow and bit down on it. Delicious pleasure-pain sizzled out from where he stretched me, lighting up my nerve endings all throughout my body.

His fingers digging into my hips, he pumped into me in quick, ferocious movements, deep and hard. My eyes crossed at the sensation, my entire being zeroing in on the feel of his near-bruising thrusts.

Yes, please, was my last coherent thought before his relentless, aggressive pace left me no room to string any words together in my mind.

He fucked me with raw, savage force, his control truly shattered. With one hand, he grabbed my neck as he pounded into me, holding me in place with a possessive, primal grip, just like I’d fantasized he would. And, just like I’d envisioned, the sheer erotic demand of it, the unapologetically primitive claim of his grasp as he held me right there for his pleasure, thrilled me down to my soul.

With him, I could sink into the kind of sweet surrender of complete submission like I’d never dared with anyone else.

Because with him, I was safe.

It was a truth I felt deep in my bones, in every breath I drew, a profound awareness of the fact that I could show him my most vulnerable side, and he’d shelter and care for it, always.

He moved his hand from my hip to my thigh and shoved it forward so my knee came to rest on the next step, opening me further to his thrusts. The new angle let him push deeper, and my moans filled the air as he took full advantage of that and hammered into me with such force that I felt my insides liquefy.

I’d dared him to loosen himself from his leash, and he did. And I loved every fucking second of it.

I bit into the pillow so hard that my jaw ached, my fingers trying and failing to find purchase on the stairs. He kept pounding into me with merciless, almost violent thrusts, and his own sounds of pleasure kicked my arousal even higher. I loved hearing him like this. Raw. Untethered. Helpless to his own lust.

He was always so impeccably in control of himself, so careful to curate his image. He kept an iron grip on what parts of himself he showed the world.

But here, with me, he let me see everything.

His power vibrated over my skin, building to a crescendo of a sensual symphony. Targeted, hot licks of fire over my clit—and combined with the delicious ruthlessness of his unrelenting thrusts, it sent me careening over the edge.

I screamed into the cushion as pleasure exploded in me. He kept fucking me hard, impossibly more unfettered still as he went all in to chase his own climax. The unrestrained punch of power of his movements, the feel of him inside me, the way he just took…it all served to hurtle me into another orgasm even as the previous one hadn’t subsided yet.

He came with a deep, throaty groan, and my inner muscles clenched hard around him as he emptied himself in me. A few more slowing thrusts, drawing out the pleasure for us both, and then he stilled, bent over me, one hand next to mine on the stone step. I could feel his quickened breathing where his chest touched my back, and it was incredibly satisfying in itself to know he’d exerted himself so much with me that he actually breathed faster. That was rarely the case.

His heat and power engulfed me like the most luxurious blanket as I half sprawled over the stairs, basically only held up by his one arm clamped around my hips. My panting echoed loudly in the dark.

Even had I wanted to say anything, I simply wasn’t able to. Beyond my lungs still working hard to draw in enough air, my thoughts were scrambled, my mind floating somewhere in blissful, sub-space-like nirvana.

So I only uttered a helpless sound as he withdrew and gathered me up in his arms. My head lolled against his shoulder, and I closed my eyes, the motion of his walking lulling me deeper into my afterglow trance.

I only came to again when he placed me down on our bed, infinitely gentle. When I opened my eyes, it was to the sight of his dark form hovering over me, his eyes glowing unearthly in the gloom. Lightning from outside the window intermittently illuminated the room, casting him in a blue-violet relief against shadows.

He was so fucking beautiful.

And he was all mine.

One side of his sinful mouth quirked up. “So possessive,” he murmured.

“Yes,” I whispered, basking in the knowledge that my claim was justified. “Yes, I am.”

His eyes glimmered as he half settled his large body over mine, pressing down on me just enough to let me feel his weight—like he knew I loved. My legs went around his hips automatically, making room for him right where I wanted to feel him.

But he didn’t enter me again just yet, simply stayed there with his still—again?—hard cock wedged against my mound. Given how overstimulated my clit was, the steady pressure instead of more movement actually felt great.

Propping himself up on his elbows on either side of me, he regarded me with the kind of focus that stripped all layers of myself away, bared me to him in a way that felt more raw and vulnerable than any kind of physical intimacy. I’d once shied away from this connection, when I’d just met him, when I didn’t yet know him. He’d been little less than my enemy, and the last thing I’d wanted to do was let this aggravating demon peel away my protections with the intensity of a gaze that rattled me down to my foundations.

Funny how much things could change. Now, when he gazed at me like this, I fell headfirst into that connection—because now, it was a two-way street. I saw him, too, all his layers and the very many parts of him he kept tightly locked up for anyone else.

And what I glimpsed there made me tremble. The depth of his devotion, the way he saw me as the greatest gift, infinitely precious. I’d never had anyone look at me like I hung the moon and the stars and powered the sun.

My heart flipped over, my chest aching. “Azazel,” I whispered, my throat thick.

His black lashes lowered as his gaze dropped to my mouth, lightning in his eyes.

I swallowed, grasping for some levity to break the moment. It was too deep, too raw, threatening to shatter me. “I figured it out,” I said.

“What?” His thumb stroked over my lower lip.

“Your kink. It’s sex on stairs and ladders.”

His eyes shot up to mine again, crinkling at the corners. “I didn’t hear you complain.”

I pressed my lips together. “Far be it from me to deny you your deviant pleasures.”

“Hm.” He leaned down and nibbled at my ear, causing a shiver of delight to roll down my body. “Lucky me.”

I was still trembling from the sinful thing he was doing with my earlobe when he asked, “Who insulted you tonight?”