Page 36 of Devil Bound
The woman walking toward me had an aura I hardly needed mage sight to pick out.Her skin was umber, with golden undertones, and the black hair parted in the center and coiled into an intricate updo only emphasized the symmetry of her face.Her green eyes were mesmerizing, and when she looked at me, I found myself unable to look away, even though her gaze burned with magic.
“You are a strong one,” Tiamat said, taking my hands in hers.She opened her mouth, almost as if she wanted to say more, but instead, she pulled me into a hug.
Tiamat, an immortal with more rumors and myths than factual knowledge attached to her, washuggingme, and the Devil had just given my tonsils a thorough exam with his much too skilled tongue.I started wiggling in Tiamat’s arms, not quite sure what to do about the situation or the lingering arousal.
“Erm,” I said.“I should go.”
Lucifer, his other hand still on the small of my back, chuckled.“You just got home, Nelly.I’m not letting you head back out to work so soon, not without getting at least a few hours of sleep.”
“Yes, he does look tired, doesn’t he?”Tiamat said.“Let’s not keep the poor mortal standing in the hallway.”She walked ahead, clearly expecting to be followed.
The Devil made a dark humming noise.“Yes.Come inside.”
“I am not staying, Lucy,” I said.“I just came to give you Soul back.”
Lucifer smiled down at me, and I noticed how his fingers curled against my back in a subtly possessive gesture.I pressed my lips firmly closed so he wouldn’t get any more ideas about subduing my resolve with another kiss.
“You’re staying, Nelly.”
“I can’t stay here,” I said again.“I have things to do.”
“You are my boyfriend, and what you have to do is spend some time getting to know Tiamat, the Dragon Mother.”Lucifer’s voice was still light and pleasant, like a salesman’s right before telling you the price of their snake oil.
“I’m not your boyfriend,” I told him, though I thought I’d made that clear before.“And I’m leaving.”
I tried to step away from him, but all of a sudden his power radiated.It came on like a wave that overtook all my senses.I smelled his spice and woodsmoke scent, but much stronger than ever before, as if someone had dumped a bottle of it straight into my nostrils.I saw nothing for a moment, then just bright red, and with a ringing in my ears came the sensation of heat and heaviness that washed all over me.My mouth went completely dry as my magical senses overloaded too.
I’d had something similar happen once or twice at the Collegium, during training when I’d watched magic users pool all their power together to make one big spell.At those times, my mage sight had switched on automatically, or I’d gotten that creepy-crawling sense of touching something magic.Lucifer’s power did all of that and more.
I’d read accounts of mages encountering primordial monsters and being momentarily stunned or blacking out at the sight.I’d never really understood that, not until this moment in the Devil’s hallway.Whatever he’d done, he was totally casual about it.
Oh, was I ever fucked.I sagged against him, my head leaning against his chest; I felt that much through the roaring heat and the ringing in my ears.He’d never done this before, never flooded my senses with the true extent of his strength.No immortal ever had, and the sensation left me disoriented and wobbly on my feet, all strength gone from my limbs.
He made a dark sound, as mysterious and alluring as his voice had been.
“Nelly.You’re so responsive.Look at you.”
Lucifer walked me farther into his house, but I only realized when my eyes resumed operation and focused on a massive painting hung over a no less massive fireplace carved from white marble.
The painting was mostly reds and blacks, and it showed a horned figure holding a pomegranate to a woman’s mouth while his other hand was between her legs, unsubtly getting her off.The pomegranate seeds dropped onto her pink tongue as she moaned.That was not an interpretation of the Hades and Persephone myth I’d ever seen before.
Tiamat was lounging on a floor cushion and picking her way through a large plate stacked with canapés and sliced fruit.My stomach gave an involuntary growl at the sight of food, and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything all day.
“He looks starved,” Tiamat said, then popped a grape into her mouth.
“We’re doing a juice cleanse, so that is to be expected,” Lucifer said as he led me to the couch.
I wanted to pull away—yes, even from his firm yet comfortable chest—but his power had hit me like a punch to the solar plexus.I needed to get my head straight, and then I’d make an exit as soon as I could.Staying here for a bit and appearing compliant was going to be fine though.It wasn’t like being this close to the Devil had any effect on me at all.It wasn’t like smelling him did anything to me, and the memory of him kissing me definitely wasn’t still ghosting over my lips, no.Everything was fine, and I was a well-chilled cucumber.
Fucking immortals.I should have kept my distance from Lucifer, the Devil his own damn self.He was currently putting his arm around me and…yeah, he was nuzzling my hair.Damn the way that made shivers run down my spine.Damn my cock for twitching at his warm breath running over my hair.
Tiamat tilted her head.“I heard the words coming out of your mouth, Lucy, but I still don’t understand the point of a juice cleanse.Mortals need food, magic users especially so, and this one looks under-nourished to begin with.”
Metatron seemed to have been waiting for that cue, because she walked in from another room and shoved a large glass of suspiciously dark green juice into my face.
“Dinner,” she announced.
Lucifer was tracing circles on my shoulder with his index finger, and I felt the heat radiating from his body.Tiamat was looking at me with her all-seeing eyes.I wanted to bolt but couldn’t, so I took the juice and carefully drank a sip.Damn.I wasn’t sure what had given it that color, but it actually tasted nice—creamy, with a lemony flavor.
