Page 54 of Hell Gate

My heart beats harder, a band tightening around my chest. I don’t talk about this. He squeezes my hand and I think of his own scars. If he can turn out so strong and bear those scars, maybe I’ll grow strong, too. Gulping, I tell him the truth.

“She’s dead. She died in the fire I started.” I close my stinging eyes as he brushes the pads of his thumbs across my marred skin. “It’s only her memory that hurts. I was a monster all along, just like she always believed.”

He makes a fierce noise refuting my words. “You are not a monster. I’ve known many monsters and you aren’t one of them.” He doesn’t stop me from touching the red marks that crisscross his forearms. “My father. I descend from a line of demon warriors with a long-standing reputation. He wanted to uphold it. Forced me through harsh training, not understanding the importance of control.”

My throat closes in sympathy and the cord in my chest draws me closer to him. I want to shield him from the pain of his past. Without a second thought, I lift his hand and press a kiss to his knuckles.

“You’re nothing like that.”

Our eyes meet and something snaps taut within me, tethering me to him. I can’t fight the pull anymore. There’s no way to resist what every part of me wants—him.

“Ald—” I begin to murmur his name urgently, but he captures my lips in a searing kiss.

It’s over far too soon when he breaks it off. His harsh exhales fan over my skin in the small space that separates our mouths while his hands roam. He traces the shape of my jaw, down my neck, his inescapable gaze reverent.

My breath hitches when he traces the collar of the shirt I wore to bed, tugging on it. Neither of us acknowledge that it’s his shirt, his scent wrapped around me that I slept in rather than the other clothes in my bag.

His hand trails lower, brushing my pebbled nipples through my shirt, mapping the softness of my stomach, my hips. At the edge of the shirt draping over my thigh, he keeps blurring the line. He takes a meandering path along my thigh, skimming higher. I can’t help squirming, silently urging him on, too afraid to speak and break this spell.

He stops short of where I’m aching, not going any further. Lowering his head, he mutters against my temple. “I should let you sleep.”

The simmering heat in my body is unbearable and the pull in my chest won’t be silenced.

“No,” I whimper. “Please. Please touch me. I need you—”

I don’t finish before he releases a rough noise and destroys the line drawn between us. The first stroke of his fingers against me makes me quiver and bite back a moan. He rubs my clit more firmly, with more purpose than Matthias’ teasing. I like it just as much, writhing in his arms. It’s exactly what I need right now.

“More,” I demand.

He wrenches my underwear aside and sinks two thick fingers inside me. My back bows and he holds me steady. His fingers alone fill me, stretching my body to accommodate him.

“Matthias got to have you first, but I will be the first to taste you here.” His fingers curl inside me. “The first to feel you come on my tongue.”

“Wait.” It bursts from me. He goes rigid, then begins to pull away. I put a hand on his chest, pressing closer as my pelvis rolls to grind on his hand to chase the pleasure he’s giving me. “Ngh. No, not—I don’t want to stop. Please. I want to taste you, too.”

His hypnotic green eyes gleam, cutting through the darkness to capture me. “Have you ever done that?”

I shake my head. The corner of his mouth lifts, the curve of it belonging to the same predator that once promised to chase me until he caught me. My heart stutters and my thighs clamp around his forearm, enjoying that look on him, a spark of pride racing through me because I put it there. The muscles flex as he plunges his fingers deeper inside me.

“Lay back,” he says.

I watch while he peels my underwear down and discards them off the side of the bed. He wastes no time stripping out of his clothes, kneeling before me naked and unashamed, every inch of his muscular body on display. I stare at his huge cock, eager anticipation spiraling through me as liquid heat spills into my core. His hungry gaze tracks my tongue as I lick my lips.

Like Matthias, his cock is lined with two rows of ridged bumps, the tip leaking a copious amount of fluid that he spreads down his endless length while he works himself. If possible, his dick thickens more while he leers at me. Jesus. There’s no chance of fitting even half of it in my mouth, let alone inside me. Still, a sensual thrill runs through me at the thought of trying and an answering thrum pulses in my chest to encourage me.

When I reach for the hem of my shirt, he catches my wrists. “Leave it. I want you to come wearing it.”

I bite my lip. He’s going to make me come while I wear his shirt.

Alder lays on his side next to me, his body turned the opposite way. His thick, long cock strains toward me. He hooks a hand under my knee to draw my thigh closer, nibbling a path up my sensitive flesh. Again he stops before he gets to where I want him so badly. A whimper escapes me.

“Open your mouth.”

Bracing on an elbow, he cradles my head, threading his fingers into my hair. When I part my lips, he rumbles, attention fixated on my mouth as he guides the tip of his cock inside. Closing around it, I give a tentative suck. The velvety skin is hotter than the rest of his body, the tip smooth against my tongue when I press against it. I like the weight of it and the shape of the ridges, angling my head to take more in my mouth.

“Fuck. The sight of you with my cock in your perfect mouth will be permanently seared into my mind.” His smoky scent grows muskier. Tightening his grip on my hair, his hips give a little jerk when I tongue the underside of his head. “I’m going to fucking devour you.”

He lowers his face between my thighs, covering me with his mouth. The first swipe of his forked tongue makes me release a garbled cry. He pins my hips, sucking on my throbbing clit. I try to focus on sucking his cock, but what he’s doing is too much, too good. Before I know it, I fly off the edge while he laps at my pussy, my core clenching as the ripples erupt from deep within me.

---