Page 22 of Malice
“Save the puffins.”
His eyes latched onto mine. Fierce and clear. “No. Save the world.”
I shot up in my bed, eyes wide, gasping for breath as I looked around my bedroom. What the fuck had that been about? Puffins? A handsome weirdo on a cliff? I could still hear the echoes of the waves and the odd sounds those birds made.
Strange as it was, I should have been thankful that it had been just a normal run-of-the-mill dream and not a dreamwalk. Small mercies, I supposed.
Not that the dream could erase what had happened leading up to it. My cheeks burned with embarrassment. I hadn’t lost control like that in a long time. Actually, I’d never lost myself so completely I’d ended up in a full-on fuck fest with a bunch of hotties. The last time I’d lost control, my succubus decided to start a sex riot so she could feed. Stupidly, I’d thought that I finally had a handle on her, but boy did she prove me wrong.
Gluttony, thy name is Merri.
Standing, I stretched my pleasantly sore muscles and gasped at the sensation of warm wetness running down my thighs.
“Ugh.” I grimaced.
I didn’t have an issue being marked by their cum, but there was nothing fun about the sticky aftermath.
“Right. A shower is a must. Then we face the music,” I muttered to myself as I awkwardly shuffled to the bathroom.
No one talked about the effect of gravity after sex without a condom. Add three extra dicks to the recipe, and the mess required more than a simple wipe-down.
I started the water and took stock of myself in the mirror as it heated up, muttering as I did, “Fellas, we’re gonna have a little chat about aftercare.”
I wasn’t upset that they’d left me to sleep it off, but a warm washcloth went a long way.
A moan slipped out as I stepped under the hot spray of the shower, memories of last night surfacing in flashes every time I closed my eyes. My succubus had been in control, forcing the issue of my hunger and giving me what I needed, but I’d still been a willing participant. I mean, sure, I’d been attempting to keep my distance from the horsemen because of the whole manipulating them into wanting me due to a totally accidental bond. But it was never like I didn’twantto sleep with them, so I could hardly complain about getting to enjoy the ride.
The problem was, I hadn’t truly understood my hunger or seen it as a living, breathing thing. I’d gone so long doing the absolute bare minimum to keep myself going, but now that I was actually feeding myself properly, I’d gotten a little addicted to the power that came with feeling truly full. Camming had stopped being enough pretty much the second I’d joined up with the horsemen. What used to last me a couple days was barely sustaining me for an hour. I needed it regularly.
Oh, fuck. Would it eventually reach the point where I had to feed three times a day to stay healthy?
But how could that be the case? Lilith didn’t live on her back in a bed with people fucking her multiple times a day. Did she?
Iniquityis a sex club, dummy.
Lilith may not be actively fucking twenty-four-seven, but she was certainly surrounded by sexual energy all day, every day. And then there were Lilith’s demon marks. Any deal done with Lilith was in exchange for them bearing her mark and allowing her to siphon lust magic from them when she chose. Which meant that Lilith was feeding nearly constantly.
I paused mid-soap-up as realization dawned. I couldn’t keep acting like things were business as usual. My life was seriously going to have to change if I didn’t want more episodes like last night springing up on me.
Assuming, of course, the world didn’t end first.
A shiver that had nothing to do with apprehension raced across my skin when I ran the loofah over my breasts. Grim’s shadow hands cupping them as he moved inside me took the spotlight in my thoughts. God, I could almost feel him even now.
What a revelation that had been. I didn’t even know I could do that. Manifest a whole-ass shadow person, I mean. Was that something I could do to anybody? Or was it unique to Grim’s deathiness?
It was probably a question for Sin. Or maybe Malice. The first knew the most about being a sex demon, and the other was an expert in the mental side of my power. Surely one of them could tell me what the hell I’d done.
I shampooed my hair with deliberate slowness, taking the time to make sure every inch of my scalp was clean. The slight ache at the base of my skull reminded me of Chaos’s firm grip on my hair as he drove into me. Then I recalled the sensation of him and Malice both working in tandem.
I licked my lips at the memory of Malice’s taste on my tongue. As far as first times went, ours was certainly memorable, but not perhaps the way I’d have chosen for us if necessity hadn’t won out over all else.
His voice whispered through my mind.“Allow me, hellcat.”
Fuck. My whole body clenched in response, and I licked my lips again.
My heart gave a pained throb for what he and I could have experienced without the cloud of my hunger over us. Honestly, I wondered if all of us would have more than lust.
Immediately, I remembered Sin’s anger when I’d tried to convince him sex was all that existed between us. When he’d all but asked me to be his girlfriend. I smiled to myself as I thought about him asking if I’d deleted my apps or wanted to wear his ID bracelet. Those weren’t the words of a guy who just wanted to get in my pants.
