Page 106 of Prince of Demons
“What sort of formalities? I get to choose. You’re the good guys—and frankly, even if you weren’t, I am one thousand percent done being a political pawn. I’m not marrying anyone but Kesh. I’ve made my choice.”
Soft heat flooded through his chest, easing some of the rage. He looked down at the woman in his arms, lids half-lowering with affection. Even if she still hadn’t quite understood that demonic mating was something far deeper, far more lasting than the human concept of marriage, the steely determination in her voice that she belonged to him was unquestionable. “I like you like this. Demanding,” he murmured, nuzzling at her ear with his nose. “You’re even more lovely with that titanium spine fully polished. I’ll make sure it never dulls again, I promise you that.”
“Ugh, Kesh, knock it off. Now is not the time!” She squirmed against his affections, blush returning—undoubtedly at the knowledge that Kain and Selma were still present.
“Actually, little Breeder… I’m afraid now is the time,” Kain said, his voice deliberately gentle. “Once you’re claimed, in the eyes of our most sacred laws, no one can intervene. But if we land back in America and you are not, not even I will be able to stop challenges to your right to choose your own mate. It was difficult enough to get the lords to accept the original courting ceremony. After your kidnapping and the chaos in Rome, it will be impossible to control the situation. Kesh will be challenged, repeatedly. Violently. Immediately. And with no chance to fully recover his strength.
“Which is why it will be safer for you, for him, and for our rule, that he claims you now. Once you carry his mark, there will still be disgruntled males. Perhaps even some factions that oppose us on this basis, but nothing and no one will be able to pull you apart. So if you are certain my brother is your choice, Georgia, we will perform the claiming ceremony now.”
“Oh… I… Well, yes. Of course I’m certain.” She looked from Kain back up at Kesh, a shy smile on her lush lips. “A wedding in the sky, huh? That’s… sort of romantic.”
Selma let out a loud snort. “Oh, sweet summer child…” she pushed off Kain’s lap, slapping at his hand when he was too slow to release his grip on her. “You hold on to that thought of romance for as long as you can. I’m gonna go tag in the co-pilot, so someone not in the family can bear witness. And I can… not.”
Georgia looked after her as she headed for the door to the cockpit, a small, confused frown marring her brow. Kesh pulled her attention back to himself with a finger under her chin. His entire body thrummed with anticipation. This… this was what his entire life had been leading to. This moment. This woman. “I will make sure you spend the rest of your life never regretting your choice,” he rasped, gently brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear.
The frown smoothed from her brow, and her eyes crinkled at the corners with her responding smile. “I’ll hold you to that.”
“Good.” Unable to wait any longer, he tangled a hand at the back of her hair and drew her in for a deep kiss. Her breath hitched sweetly as their lips bruised together, then mingled with his when he flicked his tongue between hers to tease her open.
“Stars, even these lips taste like life,” he groaned into her mouth. “
She slapped his chest in admonishment and tried to pull back. He didn’t let her. Rising to his feet, he hiked her up and made her spread her thighs for his hips before he put her down on her back on the carpeted airplane floor.
“M-pph!” Georgia protested, body going rigid under his.
“Shh, my love.” He pulled back, pulse hard in his throat at the sight of her kiss-swollen lips and wide eyes. “Let me worship you like you were meant to be worshipped.”
“Not now, you absolute savage! There are people here, and we’re supposed to be getting marri... oh. Oh, no. Oh, you can’t be serious!” He saw the moment the truth finally hit her, and her dreams of at least a semi-human ceremony aboard his brother’s jet turned to vapor.
The startled, outraged look crossing her pretty features made him chuckle and press another kiss to her lips. “You’re so fucking adorable. Don’t worry, my heart. Once we have completed the ceremony, there will be no doubt in your mind that we are bound in soul and flesh for the rest of eternity. You may call me your husband once it’s done, if you so prefer, but what we will be to each other is far more than a marriage could hope to encapsulate.”
“Why is it always about sex with you demons—ah!” Her growl broke on a soft gasp when his hand slid up underneath her shirt, her breath shuddering when he closed his fingers around her breast. She shoved at his shoulders and peeked over his back at Kain and the co-pilot, who’d taken Selma’s spot by the king’s side. “Seriously, can we at least not do this in front of your brother and whoever this guy is?”
“You are a Pure Breeder, Georgia. Witness must be borne,” Kain rumbled, his voice soft and respectful. It still made Kesh snarl and jerk his head to the side, the sound of another male addressing his female making primitive instincts flare. “Do not speak to her!”
Kain raised both hands in surrender and bowed his head before leaning back in his seat. His brother was more than familiar with possessive mating urges.
Mollified that there would be no further attempts to distract her, Kesh returned his full attention to Georgia, gaze molten. “Normally, I would claim you in front of the rivals I defeated for the right to you. They would have to watch and bear witness as I took what they coveted. But nothing with you is ever simple, is it?” He flicked a thumb over her nipple and smirked when her front teeth dug into her lower lip in response. “So I will claim you here, now, with the king and Greg as our witnesses. And once I’m done, you will be mine in every way.”
“Greg? Really? Oh!” Her protest died on a gasp when he pushed her shirt up over her head and clean off her body, baring her.
She instinctively clasped her hands to cover herself—one between her legs, the other across her breasts—her startled eyes darting back to Kain and the pilot, cheeks pink with embarrassment.
Kesh knelt back up, letting his eyes roam over her curves. The pink scars from the places her shackles had burned her glowed against her pale skin, fresh reminders of the abuse she’d endured at the hands of the Europeans. Her strength, too, yes—but he would never forget the sight of her on that platform, naked and scared and on display for the monsters planning to break her.
“I will never hurt you. I will never humiliate you. Everything we do together—even this—I swear on everything in this world and beyond, I will make sure you want it. All of it.” His voice came out in a rasp, his throat tightening with the weight of responsibility. This woman, this gentle creature who’d trusted when she had little reason to, had offered him kindness when he’d deserved nothing but hatred… she was his to protect, body and soul. He’d die a thousand times over before he’d do anything that might turn her into a hollow shell, like so many women before her. Like his mother.
Georgia’s eyes flicked back to his at the sound of his plea. The tension in them softened at the raw promise in his.
“I love you,” she whispered, and it wasn’t just the words themselves that struck through him like lightning—it was everything they represented: forgiveness, hope, trust. Kesh groaned like a wounded beast and flung himself down on top of her again, mouth seeking hers with a desperation he could do nothing to rein in. Hard, desperate kisses fell on her lips, her chin, her cheeks, her eyelids, then lips again. His tongue flicked against the seam, begging for entrance. He groaned again, deep and needy, and when it was granted and wet, soft heat enveloped him.
She mewled underneath him, sweet, feminine surrender, and clung to his shoulders, all thoughts of hiding her naked body from the onlookers forgotten as she embraced the firestorm of his love. She would never have to shield herself again. He would always be there to protect her. Always.
“I will burn the world for you,” he rasped, fist tightening in her hair. A tug and she bared her throat for his mouth with a soft whine. “And I will build it back up again, so you are surrounded by nothing but beauty and adoration. Mine. Always mine.” His rumbling devotions came between heated kisses to her jaw, her throat, her collarbone, his brain fogging over with every brush of her skin against his lips. “Georgia.”
She was his apocalypse. His everything.
Slim fingers tugged at his hair. He pulled his mouth from her collarbone with effort and groaned softly at the heat in her gaze as it met his.
