Page 94 of Gift for a Demon

A shaky breath later, Dove’s small hand was caressing his cheek. “I hate that you made me cry on my coronation day.”

Melchom chuckled. “I’ll remember to make up for it.”

“Good.” Dove tried to sound haughty while pushing the unshed tears away with one hand. “I love you, and I don’t think it’s just because I’m in a scary place and you’re the only safe thing I can hold on to.”

“You have Gaz.” Melchom forced himself to say. “You could say you don’t want anything to do with me again, and you’d still have her. You’d be safe.”

“I know.” Melchom wasn’t sure how, but there wasn’t a hint of hesitation in the human’s voice. Ever since he’d been trapped inside his own head, Dove sometimes had these bouts of absolute calm wash over him. “That’s the thing. If it was just about being safe in an unsafe place, I would’ve been thrilled when you weren’t feeding off me, when you were protecting me from yourself. But I don’t want that. I want to be safe, but I don’t want you to keep me safe. I wanna fight my own battles.”

“Of course you do.”

His Dove really wasn’t like any other human he’d ever met.

“I just wanna be rammed hard after I do, and I wanna challenge you knowing I’m one hundred percent going to lose. And I want you to fuck me up so badly I don’t know which way is up, because then I know I’m alive, and I have everything I’ve ever wanted.”

“A demon who needs your fear?”

Dove’s eyes glinted. “A demon who spoils me with the finest lingerie, and my dog even if he’s terrified of her. A demon who’s doing everything to build me the perfect home, who’s by my side. Unconditionally.”

Melchom cleared his throat. He was going to keep these mushy moments to a minimum. Starting tomorrow. “Is that it?”

His gift pretended to think about it. “And he’s really good with his cock. That matters, too.”

“Of course.” Melchom shook his head. “I hope you know I’d be filling you with that cock right now if you weren’t so insistent on having this ceremony.”

“I know.” Dove was way too cheerful about it, too. “But see? That’s another reason why I love you. Any other demon would completely disregard my wishes. Hell, lots of humans would, too.”

Melchom didn’t let his gift’s thoughts dwell on that impending darkness.

He brought one of Dove’s hands to the top of his hand. He felt electricity crackling as the human’s fingertips neared his horns. “Bond with me.”

Dove startled, but he let his fingers curl around the thin shell. He was tentative in his touch, almost scared of it. Melchom shivered. Even the barely there caress felt like too much after so long depriving himself of it.

“I will never hurt you. I swear it,” Dove whispered before he pressed his lips against Melchom’s.

Melchom breathed out into the kiss, giving up to his gift’s ministrations. He didn’t need to tell him what to do, with the human running on instinct. Melchom only moved so he was lying horizontal against the stone flooring and closed his eyes. Dove’s hands explored this new part of him he’d been given access to. He was gentle but thorough, the pads of his thumbs running up and down Melchom’s horns and cataloging every inch. It felt nothing like when the traitor had played with them, only focused on drawing an orgasm out of him.

His Dove wanted him to feel worshiped, to feel loved, to drown in pleasure. He knew it before the house of mirrors his thoughts lived in proved him right.

“You need to bleed for me,” he remembered to say, his nails digging into his palm where he clenched his fists. “Pierce the skin in the pointy ends of my horns. That’s how you bond to me.”

Dove gasped, but of course the idea of a drop of blood didn’t deter him.

Melchom felt it when it happened, but it was a new sensation, nothing like what he’d felt before. Back then, both he and his lover had been guarded, the bond something David had wanted to balance the scales but nothing else. His Dove would never shut himself off, though, even if Melchom taught him how. So Melchom didn’t either.

No one had told him the way it would feel when both channels were completely open. He watched as a bridge made of the sturdiest threads formed between them, energy crackling around it. It was mesmerizing; the most powerful show of magick he’d seen.

“Do we really have to go downstairs?”

“You share my strength now,” Melchom said, still dazzled over the beauty of the bridge. “Every demon alive needs to see it and be aware of your power.”

“So you want them to fear me?” Dove frowned.

Melchom saw the reluctance in every mirror and running thought.

“Yes.” He didn’t care about explaining why. His Dove would know now without a need for words.

Master.

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