Page 103 of Devil's Deal

I smile, and even though my cramps get worse as the beneficial effects of the night I spent in his shadow’s embrace wear off, I’m having fun.

“So, this claiming. You once said you’d kill my husband if I got married. So is this similar? To a marriage?”

He takes a deep breath, finally stepping away. I turn around and take him in, his yellow eyes blazing with heat, his tail raised and twitching. Thorns bristle around the base of his cock.

“In a way,” he answers. “When I claim you, you will belong to me. Only to me. You will be faithful.”

I tilt my head to the side, watching as his fists tighten, his nostrils flare. Then I nod, suppressing a ridiculous urge to laugh.

“And you will be faithful, too, I presume?”

His mouth twists in distaste. “It’s me claiming you, poppy girl. Not the other way round. Besides, you’re mortal. Even with the support from my blood, you can’t take everything I like to do to a lover. But I’ll keep you satisfied, that I can promise. You won’t ever look for another.”

That’s the point when I break. I burst out laughing, my abdomen tensing too hard, my cramps get worse, but I can’t stop. I bend over, clutching my stomach as tears run down my cheeks, and I laugh and laugh until I run out of air, and then I laugh some more.

Woland growls and stomps closer, and I raise my hand to hold him up, wheezing. “Just… a… minute… Oh, dear gods!”

I burst into another bout of giggles until blood runs down my legs, soaking right through my absorptive belt. And still, I can’t stop. It’s just so absurd. He is absurd. And even though I know he has enough power and wickedness to slaughter everyone in my village and then some, I can’t find it in me to be afraid.

“You’ll… keep me… satisfied!” I gasp through my tears, the laughter burgeoning until my entire body shakes and the pain grows unbearable. And still, I laugh. “And you want… me faithful… while you…”

I release a few final snorts of laughter and look up, wiping my tears. With a wide, incredulous grin I finish, “…fuck around.”

For a moment, I think he’ll strike me. His shadows gather around him like a dark, menacing mantle, his eyes burning with rage, teeth bared. But when he lunges for me, it’s not to hit me. He grabs my throat, pressing me to the wall, and lifts me until my feet leave the floor. I choke, my breath taken away while he crushes his mouth to mine, his teeth instantly sinking into my bottom lip.

He kisses me, sucking my blood, and I kiss him back. That seems to make him even angrier, and his kiss grows ravaging until all I can do is hold on to consciousness while his long, demonic tongue conquers my mouth.

When darkness spreads to the edges of my vision, he lowers me and loosens his hold. I gulp a deep breath of air.

“You belong to me,” he snarls. “I’ll show you right now how it will be.”

I’m still panting when I stare up into his face, taunting him with my grin. “Oh, yes, please. Show me how well you’ll satisfy me.”

His hand tightens on my throat again, his shadows restraining my wrists. I laugh soundlessly, looking at his face with reckless challenge.

“I will, and you won’t enjoy it,” he hisses. “I’ll make you mine, poppy girl, whether you like it or not.”

When he lets me take a breath, I speak hoarsely. “But I will enjoy it, devil boy,” I taunt him. “So do your worst. I think we’ll both have fun. Just know I will never give you my soul. If you get to fuck around, so do I.”

Oh, the look in his eyes. He’s absolutely consumed by wrath, and I think if he were a dragon, he would spit fire. It crosses my mind he might kill me, but all I do is laugh as if I’m drunk, as loudly as my hurting throat allows.

I’d ask if anyone ever made him so enraged before if I thought he would answer.

Woland doesn’t kill or hurt me in any way. Instead, he closes his eyes, his nostrils flaring with each controlled breath, the air shivering between us with his exhales. Slowly, finger by finger, he removes his hand from my throat and takes a small, graceful step back. His hoof barely makes a sound when it touches the floor.

His features are tight with that control, eyes narrowed to slits.

“You can’t risk killing me, can you?” I ask, looking up into his face, forced into a neutral expression.

I get the impression it physically hurts him to have such a tight leash on his anger. And yet, he does it. Because he can’t let me die.

“Oh, believe me,” he says, his voice low, words carefully spoken like he has his tongue on a leash, too. “If killing you was an option, you’d be dead a hundred times over.”

I grin, though it costs me. My insides feel like they are tearing apart, and if I didn’t know this was normal for me, I’d be very worried.

Woland cocks his head to the side, folding his arms on his chest. Only the flaring of his nostrils betrays how furious he still is.

“Look at that,” he mocks me in a cold, cruel voice. “You’d never have to suffer another day of this pain if you were mine. I’d take care of you.”

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