Page 18 of Hell Gate

“Are you going to come for him?” Valerian asks.

“Please.” I crave what comes next, needing more. I don’t want this to stop.

A wild thought crosses my mind that sends another wave of heat spiraling through me—both of them touching me. Matthias taking me against the brick wall, but instead of watching, Valerian’s mouth claiming mine in a heady, heart-stopping kiss while Matthias fills my pussy.

The cry that bursts from me is out before I can stop it. There’s no fighting what I’m feeling, nothing to stop this crazy pull winding tighter. Matthias’ touch is like a drug and with Valerian watching intently, I’m close to shaking apart, the tightly-wound coil of need about to snap and tip me over the edge into oblivion.

My heavy-lidded gaze drops to Valerian’s lips. He emits a rough, dominant rumble, hovering his mouth over mine. Another rock of Matthias’ hips makes my breath hitch. I’m so close.

“Christ, I can smell how wet you are. How much you need it, pretty girl. Doesn’t she smell incredible, Vale?”

“These need to come off.” Valerian tugs at the waistband of my shorts.

I gasp at how sharp Matthias’ fingers feel against me beneath my hoodie, his fingertips becoming points that tease my bra. The same sharpness traces my hip. Dropping my attention to Valerian’s hand, I freeze. His fingers shift before my eyes, lengthening into coal colored talons. When Matthias pulls away from my neck to grin at me, I gape at the pointed teeth in his smug, hungry smile.

Fangs. Glowing eyes. Absurd strength. Moving tattoos.Claws.

My heart beats hard, awareness slicing through some of the thick haziness keeping logic at bay.

“What the fuck?” I whisper.

There’s no way to fool myself to explain what I’m seeing. These aren’t magic tricks. I just watched them transform, changing from human to—to—monsters. I was about to fuck a legit monster.

If monsters are real, that means the legend is true. All those things I didn’t want to believe I saw actually happened.

No gods here, darling. Only demons. Oh god. An unpleasant tingle spreads across my body. Demons. That’s what they are.

“Matthias.” The curt urgency in Valerian’s tone erases the last of my daze.

“Damn it,” Matthias grumbles. “Now? It was just getting good.”

My head pounds as the aftereffects of whatever hypnotic shit he did to me ebbs away. I screw my eyes shut to block out everything I don’t want to handle right now. One of them—Matthias, I think—murmurs goodbye and caresses my cheek.

When I open them, I’m alone—again. They let me go, vanishing into the night.

This time, I don’t know if I hope to never see them again, or if I wish they’d finished what they started. They didn’t kill me. Doesn’t mean they won’t try again.

My jaded, scarred heart gives a painful throb. It’s not like anyone would miss me if they succeeded. The world will be glad to be rid of troubled, difficult Lily Sloane. Maybe I’ll get a cool do-over in a different kind of world like in my favorite isekai manga.

I sag against the wall to remain upright. The comedown from whatever Matthias did to me with his glowing gold eyes is a bitch, leaving me dizzy and thirsty. My mind is still twisted up in how into it I was, how I was moments from letting them do anything they wanted with me. Why do weird as fuck things have to follow me everywhere I’m bounced around?

A scuffle against the concrete makes me jump. I whip my head to the other end of the alley. A shopkeeper with a grizzly beard dumps trash at the back end of the alley and peers around. Spotting me in the shadows, he takes a step in my direction.

“Alright, miss?” he asks.

“Yup.” Nope.

He takes another step. “Why don’t you come inside?”

Are his eyes a little too bright, or am I still reeling from the adrenaline rush from an encounter with demons?

“No thanks. I’ve got to go.”

Gathering all my strength, I push off the wall and hurry back to the main road. My heartbeat doesn’t slow down, my thoughts a racing mess I can’t make sense of.

I never should have gone to the graveyard and done the dare.

CHAPTERSEVEN

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