Page 61 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Underworld

He smiled, and my heart tried to beat, giving a straining sensation in my chest. The demon rose back to his full height, and my eyes trailed down the fur of his thick thighs, the muscles there rock hard and impressive.

Jax hadn’t been much in that department. He was always more flab than muscles, which I’d always liked, but it was a nice surprise to see someone so chiseled and full of power. Such a difference from what I was used to.

“Are there more like you?” I asked, biting my lip.

“Many,” he said. “But I’m yours.”

It felt as if he was staring right inside me, drinking in my feelings and thoughts.

“So what, you’ve just been hanging around down here on the off-chance I was murdered?”

He grinned and shook his head.

“No, babe,” he took a step closer, and it made something in my body stand to attention.

A want was growing.

A need.

“I’ve been here for an eternity and will remain here long after you’ve left. But your mark will remain on me and mine on you.”

He reached out and stroked a sharp claw along my forearm, making me shudder.

“Your kind is so simple. You never appreciate how much is lying undiscovered on the other side of the veil.”

His eyes glistened with a warm, welcoming presence that made me calm.

“Have you ever helped anyone else?” I asked.

The demon slowly shook his head.

“I’m yours,” he said. “Always waiting here, on the cusp of the afterlife… ready to help you if the need should arise.”

“And what about when I die for real?” I asked. “That will happen at some point. Will I see you then?”

He smirked, and his claw nicked the skin on my arm.

“I suppose that would depend on how well we connect right now…” his grin made my core pulse, and his hand wrapped around my forearm, pulling me closer to his chest.

He towered over me, his size so big and foreboding it made me nervous.

“This is all so… so… mad,” I said.

“I guess that all rests on how you look at it,” he mused. “For me, it’s the moment I’ve been waiting for since the second I began to exist. I’ve known nothing else apart from my purpose. I’ve grown here in the dark, laying dormant, dreaming of you. And now you’re here, I need to take what’s mine.”

I swallowed.

He had a very poetic way with words, and they were working their way into my soul. He pulled me against him, against the tautness of his muscles, and it made my knees go weak. He exhaled deeply through his nose, his nostrils flaring, and the warmth hit my face. I craned my head back to peer into his eyes, and the sharpness of the horns on either side of his head glinted with darkness.

“You’re more than I ever could have hoped for,” he growled. “A little woman to play with. To touch, to make wet, to taste…” his forked tongue flickered out from between his lips with a hiss, and it made my heart beat again.

Thump.

“I hear it,” he said wickedly. “The beat of your heart as it strains to come back. To keep you living.”

The sensation of the knife in my ribs made me gasp, and I buckled, almost folding over. The demon caught me, taking holdof my stomach and rolling me onto my back to lie in his arms before rising to his full height.

“I liked what you imagined,” he said. “I couldn’t have thought of a better way to start myself.”

---