Page 83 of Legendary

I leaned in towards her face. “Even I can admit that everyone has a small piece of darkness in them, this is no different.”

She tried to buck me off of her but to no avail. “This is true, but yours is attaching itself to you because you're letting it. The shadows don’t just secure themselves onto nothing, that’s no fun.”

“Dani, can you not just trust that I have this under control,” I placed my face into the crook of her neck and planted a kiss on her skin. Her body tensed when my lips touched that place on her neck that she loved. “You need to focus on not letting Lilith get insideyourhead, okay.” I kissed her collarbone that was exposed by the halter top she wore.

Her voice was a bit strained when she spoke. “I know that, you idiot. I just don’t want that darkness to burn you out.” She wanted me to speak my truth, but I didn’t know what exactly speaking my truth sounded like. And I really didn’t want to know what it looked like.

I raised my head and released one of her wrists, sliding my hand down her side. “It won’t burn out. I have to be your night light, remember?” I kissed her jaw as I guided my hand up her inner thigh, the fabric of her pants tight against her legs.

“Are you trying to seduce me into not talking about this anymore?”

I brought my hand up to the button of her pants and flicked it open, pulling the zipper down. “That depends, is it working?”

She arched her lower body up. “I thought you wanted us to go downstairs.”

I tucked my fingers into her pants and under her panties, feeling the heatof her. “Maybe in a few minutes.” She giggled for a moment, before she sucked in a breath when my fingers grazed her clit.

“Nick.” She moaned against me as I rubbed that sensitive part of her, dipping my hand a bit lower to feel how wet she was getting. My cock started to harden at the thought of being inside of her again, just forgetting about this whole conversation and getting back to something that made us both extremely happy.

I still had one of her wrists pinned but she used her free hand to start to try to pull down her pants, her eagerness almost laughable.

Knock. Knock.

We both stopped, looking over to the door. Our breathing started to match each other’s as I slowly took my hand out of her pants. Dani looked at me, pouting as I started to lift myself off of her, sitting back on my heels.

“If you two could finish fucking, so we can get this fucking day started already that would be fantastic. I won’t lose time because you’re too horny to function,” Elise said, giving the door two more good threatening knocks before walking away.

“I’m not afraid of her wrath, so we could still…” Dani wrapped her hand around my cock, sliding it back and forth, flicking her thumb over the tip. I grabbed her wrist and lightly pushed her off, shaking my head with a smirk. I got off the bed and started picking up my clothes from the floor, quickly putting on each piece as I found them.

“You might not be afraid, but I still am, slightly,” I admitted, which awarded me a laugh that showed all of her teeth.

She zipped up her pants and hopped off the bed. I tried to walk past her towards the door, but she placed her hand on my chest stopping me. As short as she was, her stare could be so intense it was like she was seven feet tall. “You are quite the distraction, but don’t think that neck kisses and skilled fingers can make me forget things, Nicholas. I didn’t want you to push me, so I won’t push you. You have to know though; you will have to open your fucking mouth sooner rather than later before you let whatever it is consume you.” I blinked down at her and nodded. I reached up and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, watching as she molded her cheek into my touch. “I’m willing to let you in, so let me in as well.”

“So, he has a meeting with Lilith tonight?” Reese asked, turning the dining room chair around and sitting down with his legs on either side of it.Dani had reiterated her entire interaction with Dimitri, save for the details about his flirtation with her. Dimitri was a social climber even though he was at what already seemed like a high enough tier. He wanted more and Lilith had offered him just that. It was the same with the Enchanters and how they decided to put their trust in her over everything they’d known. She made compelling arguments that hit the spot for whoever it was targeted at.

Dani nodded, having perched herself on top of the table. I’d sat down in the chair next to her, our fingers mindlessly intertwining as she swung her legs back and forth.

“You can’t be that stupid. Do you actually trust Dimitri?” Elise barked from across the table. She had already made her case that she had nothing to do with the plan to bombard Heaven’s Gate. Lilith had used Elise and Dimitri separately, the only thing they had in common was Dani. Beetee came around the corner carrying a tray of food, her strapless bright orange sundress swishing around her knees.

Dani looked over her shoulder. “I don’t. But he is a lot more amicable with her than we are right now.”

“Natalia had mentioned most of these obstacles are distractions, even Isabel is a distraction. She’s meant to get a rise out of us, watch us, and antagonize the fuck out of us…” I started.

Dani cut in. “She couldn’t fulfill one of her purposes which was to try to fix the voided demons, so since we’ve all come back, she’s doing whatever else she’s good for, while Lilith lets her experiments run free. She is still strong with all the powers she’s consumed so there isn’t a point in thinking she isn’t useful.”

Reese rubbed his fingers between his eyebrows. “And all these voided demons, the hellhounds, just everything has been one big joke?”

Elise hummed. “Not a joke but think like one big shitty present. But the present isn’t meant for any of us.” She narrowed her eyes at Dani, who didn’t look back at her.

“You said Dimitri also knew that Lilith was in your head. She seems to be in your head at every single fight,” Reese pointed out.

“I can handle it.”

Reese blew out a breath. “Oh yeah, you were handling it alright when you strung Yuri up to that tree, right?”

I flicked my eyes over to my best friend. “Do youhaveto bring up old shit? That doesn’t really help us right now.”

Reese rolled his eyes and leaned his chest into the back of his chair. “Ugh, fine. But I’m not wrong when I say that her connection with Lilith is only going to get worse. I’m not saying it to be an asshole, I’m sayingit because it’s the truth. It looks to me like she’s just going to sit back and watch you destroy everything around you.”

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