Page 16 of Stolen By the Demon

“I remember,” I said right before another orgasm raged through me, sweeping me away like the largest storm wave. Taking me under and tumbling me around. I was barely aware that Devon had reached his climax as well, but when he shouted, “MINE!” I knew. Resulting in another shuddering orgasm claiming me. My walls clenched around his manhood, holding him tight to milk every last ounce of seed out of him.

Exhausted, he nearly collapsed on top of me, catching himself by his elbows to stare down at me while our foreheads and the tips of our noses touched.

“Blanche.” His voice was filled with wonderment. “You remember?”

“Some. It's all still very fuzzy, but I do remember how much I loved you and… how much I wanted to die when Father said you were dead.”

“I believed you dead as well, little flame.”

“What happened?”

His features darkened. “Treachery.”

I put my palms against his cheeks. “Tell me. Tell me everything.”

With a groan, he pulled out of me and rolled onto his back, dragging me with him so my head rested on his chest. A rattle moved through him as he took a deep breath. I listened for the familiar sound of his beating heart, but it sounded faint. I creased my brows in concentration and tried hard to remember how it had sounded before.

Stronger, I decided. Yes, we used to say our hearts beat in sync.

“Your heart… it sounds… different,” I observed, and the pain in my voice surprised even me.

“Father took it,” he explained tonelessly.

“Your heart?” My head shot off his chest, but he gently pressed it back down to rest against his pecs.

“He thought ripping my heart out was a just punishment for betraying him,” Devon’s voice was a rumble. “One thing demons and vampires have in common is that neither needs a beating heart or to breathe. Since I had given mine to you, father decided to rip it out.”

“Oh Devon.” I felt like crying, and my eyes burned, but nothing happened.

“But, I can hear it,” I stated, listening to the low thumb, thumb, a hitch in my voice made Devon lifted his head and leaned to the side to see my face.

“He did give it back to me, eventually. But it hasn’t beaten for a long time, not until I saw you again, today.”

I repeated, “Oh, Devon,” as my chest warmed, and I swore I felt a slight stirring where my heart used to be. Funny that even though my heart wasn’t beating any longer, I loved him more than anybody could with a beating heart. For a moment, we just lay there. Quietly relishing in the nearness of the other until I felt I was ready to hear more of our past. “Tell me,” I demanded quietly.

He turned so we lay on our sides, facing each other. Our wrists bent, and our heads resting on them. His free hand moved up and down my arm, while my fingers drew circles on his chest.

A sigh moved through him.

“You were promised to my father, Lucifer, to mate. Why, I don't know, but he was willing to pay a high price for you. My brother Adramalech…” At the mention of this name, a shudder moved through me. A fuzzy memory clung, wanting to break through, but Devon didn't notice, and when he continued, it was gone. “He was supposed to fetch you, but I decided to put a wrinkle in their plans and take you myself.”

“The cave,” I mumbled as images of the cave entered my mind.

Devon pacing it like a caged predator. Devon talking to me. Devon taking care of my sore wrists. Devon and I making love for the first time. Devon… always Devon.

“I'm not proud that I abducted you, but I'm not sorry either, especially now,” he said defiantly. Sighing, I grinned at him, smacking him on his chest. “The thing I'm sorry for is that I was going to take you to the Brocken.”

“But you didn't,” I pointed out.

“No, I didn't.” His hand pulled on a strand of my hair and let it flow through his fingers. “In all my thousands of years of existence, I had many prisoners. So many that I don't even recall most of their names. But I never had one say to me what you did.”

“I pray for you,” I said quietly.

“I pray for you.” His head tilted. “Nobody had ever said that to me. And that was after I told you what I was going to do. You didn't rant; you didn't rave; you didn't bargain or plead. You just looked at me with those huge green eyes of yours and said, I pray for you.”

That had been the beginning of my unraveling. Four little words poked a hole into my heart and made it bleed. I remember staring at her. My first impulse had been fury— how dare she? But she looked so innocent, sincere, and honest that I couldn’t bring myself to strike her. It felt like if I did, it would have been a sacrilege. Imagine the son of the Devil behaving sacrilegious… there were many debaucheries I had given myself over to, but for some reason, I knew, deep in my core, that if I hit her, I would be lost.

I had been attracted to her from the moment I saw her proudly riding her horse. The escort of six guards was no match for me, but when I finished with them, I found her gone. It took me all day to finally catch up with her. Incorrectly, I had assumed she would have fled back to the safety of her castle. I lost several hours searching the path to her father’s stronghold. Angered and trying to figure out another plan, I returned to the place where I had ambushed her.

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