Page 156 of Married to the Devil

If I were kinder, I wouldn’t make him confess anything. But I’m not kind. I’m greedy.

“I think you know,” he says with the jut of his chin.

“Of course I know, but I want to hear it. Just like you want to hear that I love you.”

He blinks in surprise. “You do?”

“I do,” I confirm becoming serious, my thumb stroking the broken skin of my bitemark on his neck. “I wouldn’t have claimed you if I didn’t.”

“I love you too—” he breaks off when I kiss him. He groans in relief, and I may not be able to scent his emotions, but I can feel some fuzzy sensation in my chest that is him. The way it eases as his worries melt under my touch.

I keep the kiss simple and rest my forehead against his afterward. His body is a temptation that I will not give into tonight.

“I’m sorry I left,” he says.

I shrug. “You were overwhelmed and upset with me. It’s understandable. You’re not leaving again.”

“I don’t know where I fit here.” The confession is raw.

“With us,” I say. The answer is too simple for this detail-oriented demon, so I elaborate. “We will carve you the place you wish to have.”

Ben pulls away and a pained expression passes over his face. “I hear you claimed the child as your heir.”

My lips twitch. So much for avoiding news about us. “You’re still also the father. Now that you’re a part of our clan, we are legally both the father. That’s how it works for gargoyles.”

“I’m a part of your clan?”

“As of sometime this week. Silas should have filed the paperwork while I was sleeping.” Sleeping sounds like too benign a term, but it’s one that doesn’t leave his eyes looking haunted.

Ben frowns. “How is that possible without me signing anything?”

Illegally of course. I shrug. “Are you complaining?”

My eyes threaten to narrow when he doesn’t answer immediately and my hand draws down his arm, talon playing with the clasp of the scent blocking charm.

I do not want him to fight this, but maybe that’s what he needs?

“No,” Ben finally answers. “I want a place in your clan.”

I sigh in relief and toy with the clasp more. “No more hiding.”

He swallows. “No more hiding.”

Satisfaction blooms in my chest and I flick the clasp open.

The bracelet drops to the shower floor, and Ben’s expression is mournful for a moment before I pick it up and place it on the vanity.

“We’ll see if Stella can remove the magic from it,” I say. I wouldn’t want to forfeit a gift from our firefly either.

“I’d like that,” he says.

I turn off the water and can’t hold back the kiss I give him before leading him out.

“Come to bed, songbird. You roost with us now.”

53

STELLA

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