Page 110 of The Female

Charlie scoffs as I force her to her feet, but I don’t care. I’m not going to let her sit here and hurt herself in the name of spite.

“Charlotte! Stop!” I order as she fights against my hold.

She freezes, her eyes turning venomous as she stills. I wince as her lip curls upward, knowing she’s unhappy with what I’ve done. She looks me up and down in what I’m sure is supposed to be a menacing gesture before spitting the demon word for erection and stomping away.

I sink my teeth into my bottom lip as I try to hold back a laugh. I’m sure she was trying to call me a dick or give some insult involving my manhood, but she, unfortunately, missed the mark.

I let out a huff as if my feelings are hurt.

“That’s not very nice,” I say.

She ignores me as she stomps through the house, and I avoid voicing any praise about how she’s finally moving at a reasonable pace. I know she’s embarrassed about having been caught watching Aziel and is even more so over the fact that I had to practically wrestle her away.

I don’t mind, though, and I just wish she hadn’t been looking in on something that hurt her feelings. I would’ve rather she peeked in and saw him jerking off or wandering around with a hard-on. He does the latter a lot, his forced chastity and ‘too cool to masturbate’ attitude often leading to tented pants.

Charlie sniffles, the noise hard to hear.

Silas loves to watch and lurk, too. It’s nothing new in our home, but I know she still feels embarrassed.

I follow closely behind as she storms upstairs and into my bedroom. I’m happy she’s still choosing to sleep with me, and I can’t help but grin as she enters my closet to grab a shirt to sleep in. She does that a lot, and I fucking love it.

It makes her smell of me, and seeing her frame swallowed by my clothing is a huge turn-on. I like seeing her in my things more than the slinky pajamas I’ve bought her.

“Can I shower with you?” I ask.

She glances at me over her shoulder before giving a curt nod. Good. I’d have been offended if she’d saidno. I don’t bother grabbing clothing for myself as I head into the bathroom and turn on the water. I can feel her eyes on me as I strip, but I find myself too annoyed with Aziel to tease her about it.

Why was he kissing Shay like that?

I don’t understand why he’s fighting so hard to keep Charlie at a distance. I know we never anticipated taking a human as our bonded, but times are changing and he needs to get with it. His people will be annoyed, but they’ll get over it.

Demon genes are dominant, so it’s not like we have to worry about any children coming out human. They’ll be just as strong as a full demon.

Aziel’s always been weird about keeping his emotions under lock and key. He learned from a young age that when he expresses them, they get exploited, but that was hundreds of years ago and it’s time for him to get over it. Silas and I aren’t his father, and we have no intentions of hurting him.

The Wrath has only shown me true softness when I’m in his head, and I know that’s only because he believes he’s safe as long as things stay in his mind.

He’s a fucking idiot.

Charlie grabs my shoulder and uses it for stability as she steps into the shower.

I force my body still so she can comfortably use me to adjust. She never would’ve voluntarily touched me when I first bought her, let alone trust me enough to use me as an anchor. Despite how small the action is, my heart warms whenever she expresses her silent affections.

She trusts me.

We don’t speak as we clean ourselves, both of us too lost in thought to joke around as we usually do. I still take this opportunity to admire her naked body, the incubus in me desperate to see her, but I don’t try to touch her.

I’m going to crawl into Aziel’s bedroom tonight and strangle him. Charlie’s trying hard to pretend what’s happening isn’t affecting her, but I know she’s upset. She wants us all for herself, and I’m desperate to give that to her.

I hand her a towel as we step out of the shower, and we dry ourselves off before crawling into bed. Her hair is wet, and I push it out of the way before wrapping my arm around her waist and holding her against me.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you,” she says.

I hum and shower her back with kisses.

“You don’t need to apologize,” I whisper. “You’ve been through so much these past few months, and I admire your strength. I’ve done much worse when I’m feeling hurt.”

Charlie relaxes, and I stroke my hand down her arm and whisper truthful praises into her ear until she sags and falls asleep. I can’t keep lying to her.

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