Page 26 of Demon Loved
“The pizza I ordered?” Zolroth grumbles.
Before Van can respond, Jason barrels from around the corner, taking me to the ground. His tongue begins assaulting my cheeks and forehead as his butt wags.
“Human! My human! Brains…no brains! Bad, Jason! Bad. Human! Licking human!” Jason narrates before jumping off of me and taking a giggling Adam to the ground. I’m lucky Adam’s still young enough to not understand what’s happening. I can already hear the parent-teacher conferences now…
“So your brother was saying that a classmate of yours likes to eat brains? And that said classmate will sometimes tackle him to the ground and lick him?!?!”
I don’t think I’ll be winning any parenting awards anytime soon.
Van helps Adam up, dusting the dirt from his clothes. I walk closer to the edge of the pit and peer over it.
The rest of the guys are sprawled on the numerous red leather couches, but they all jump to their feet when they catch sight of us.
“Katrina,” Raz breathes, and my cheeks heat when I remember—for the one hundredth millionth time—what we got up to last night. And whatgot up, if you know what I mean.
And I’m talking about a penis. I’m awkward enough to feel the need to spell it out for you.
You’re here,Kastros signs, staring up at me as if I’m a ghost coming to haunt his demon ass. Before I can respond, his leathery wings unfurl from his back and he jumps in the air, his wings flapping manically, leaving the pit, before landing on his feet directly before me.
He’s so much larger than me that my head barely reaches the bottom of his chest, but I don’t feel intimidated in the slightest. There’s so much tender anxiety in his face and something near pleading in his golden-flecked eyes. I feel innately comforted, like those strong arms of his will hold me through any storm.
And then his lips are on mine, his hands are cupping my ass, and I can feel his erection rubbing against my stomach. Way too soon—and I’m talking waaaay too soon; my horny, hussy ass could have lasted a few more hours in his arms—he pulls away from me and rests his forehead against my own. Those hypnotic eyes of his ensnare me, trapping me as efficiently as a snare in the woods would capture an unsuspecting rabbit, and I’m lost. In him, in his scent, in his presence.
Behind me, I can hear Adam giggling and whispering to Van, “He touched her butt. Butt. Butt.”
I ignore that. There’ll be time for dealing with my brother later. I need to reunite with my guys. I need to make certain that we are absolutely okay and that I’m forgiven. I sign to Kastros,Forgive me?
It’s you who needs to forgive me, he replies, before smashing me into a second hug.
“You wanker! Release her!” Zolroth snaps, shoving Kastros away so he can hug me himself. I doubt Zolroth would be able to move Kastros if Kastros didn’t want to be moved, but the giant man silently steps to the side, surrendering me to my posh materialism demon.
Zolroth’s hug is different from Kastros’, from Van’s, from Raz’s, from Akor’s. He holds me in his arms as if I’m something immeasurably precious. As if I’m a prize he won and now he’s determined to keep at all costs. It’s not bad or anything. It’s just…different.
And it causes my heart to leapfrog all the same.
“I need to talk to you guys,” I admit, before stepping out of Zolroth’s embrace and turning towards Adam. Fortunately, he’s already preoccupied with Jason on the other side of the entryway near the hall. My little brother tosses what looks like a bone, and the zombie-dog-man chases after it on his hands and feet, butt in the air. I really, really hope that’s an abnormally large turkey leg or something, or else my demons and I are gonna have a huge problem.
Turning away from the two of them, I focus once more on the murder who have irrevocably stolen my heart. I don’t know when it happened, exactly. Before my date with William Washington? During? After? All I remember is a metaphorical lightbulb clicking on inside of my head as I realized that I didn’t want to be out with William. I wanted to be withthem.
The crazy, eccentric, deranged (is that enough synonyms for “fucking insane”?) demon murder who captured my heart and then refused to return it.
“So, I know that I ran from you—again—and I’m sorry.” I shift uncomfortably, two parts inside of me warring. One of them loves being the center of their undivided attention, but the other part is intimidated by it. Five sexy as sin guys staring at you as if you’re the only person in the world? It kinda makes you want to curl into a ball.
“Princess, you don’t need to explain,” Raz says gruffly, folding his arms across his chest and leveling me with an indecipherable look. And though he tries to keep his face impassive, I see a flicker of heat that instantly dampens my panties and conjures up wickedly naughty images of the two of us…
“You’re not going to leave us again, are you?” Van demands, and like with Raz, he attempts to keep his voice nonchalant. But I hear his breath hitch on the last two words.
And it breaks my fucking heart that I’m the one who caused them pain.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, dropping my gaze to the ground. “I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was protecting you. I would die if anything happened to the five of you. I lov—care about you all.” I stumble over that L-word. I know I admitted it to them when I first left in a moment of desperation, but right now, in the midst of the sexiest huddle known to mankind, I can’t find the courage to say it.
Mainly because I fear not all of them will say it back.
Raz did…but only when he was Ziel.
And Akor did before he pushed me out of an airplane.
And Van did in his office.
