Page 13 of Her Darkest Devils (The Seven Sinners of Hell's Kingdom 3)

I unfurl my wings, wrapping them around the two of us protectively, ensuring that if some monstrous demon wants to ruin this strange and exciting moment of getting completely lost in Raven’s emotions, then all trauma will fall on me. She has been through enough. She has faced too much in her life, and suddenly, I have the urge to...

I yank my head back and groan, my whole body rippling with an emotion I’ve never felt before. The sensitivity pulsing from my groin tests my ability to continue to carry Raven when I have the urge to touch myself. It’s mystifying. We were both fine only a moment ago.

“Fuck. What the fuck,” Raven says, wiggling in my arms. “Oh, God. Are we...?”

I shake off the all-consuming need of what I realize is desire coursing through my body and look around. “We are in Lust’s Kingdom,” I murmur, my eyes widening at the sight before me.

A gust of hot wind nearly knocks me over, and I stand firm on the road, bracing myself. Raven tightens her arms around me like if I blow away, she wants to go with me. Together, we stare at the crowded landscape before us. Souls twist and tangle in an endless expanse of bodies. Desire and need rage inside me the longer I clutch onto Raven and peer around. The punishment lies in the passion of every soul, so close yet frozen, only moving with the gusts of hot wind.

And then there are the demons risen from the crowd in grotesque forms not quite like mortal bodies but enough to distinguish them apart as they march along the naked souls, bare and exposed, begging and pleading for...relief. Their passion pains them, and they beg for intimacy. They’re hungry for it. Starved.

“Um, Zade?” Raven asks, wiggling in my arms. “We need to keep moving before they notice our arrival...not to mention, I’m weirded out by how fucking horny I feel.”

“It’s the winds. They’re laced with some sort of aphrodisiac.” I flare my nostrils and inhale a deep breath. “Andre was quite clever in the construction of his kingdom and its punishment. It probably reflects his own desperate needs. The devils get their strength from their sins.”

Raven grimaces. Her sudden worry over Andre consumes me and blends with my own. My words trigger fear inside her, but I don’t exactly know what about. She surely knows that the devils design their kingdoms, so I don’t think it’s that.

“You don’t think he’d fuck others here, do you?” Raven asks, her voice a whisper on the wind. “Like, if that’s how he gets power...”

“I don’t know my companion as a devil.” Forcing my legs to work, I stroll along the path again. This kingdom seems endless, but I know once I get a sense of Andre, things will shift for us. Like Heaven, Hell doesn’t apply to the same laws as the Mortal Realm. Things just are and they adjust for individual souls. What I see might not be the same as what the souls do.

Raven tightens her jaw. “He’s not much different, Zade. He still feels the same to me in my dreams. Maybe a little naughtier, but it isn’t bad. I just—I don’t know.”

“You don’t want him with anyone else,” I say, meeting her gaze. “Intimately.”

“If this is how he survives...it’s unfair of me to assume, right? Fuck. I never thought much about this and now that I am—”

A gust of hot, smoky wind cuts off Raven’s comment, and I stumble, trying to move with it instead of fighting against it. Just when I find my balance, a cross wind knocks into my back. Raven’s midnight hair whips in my face, and the world trembles around us. I can’t do anything as the winds pick up so fiercely that I can no longer stay on the ground. I automatically stretch my arms wide, bracing myself against the fiery tornado that whips dozens of bodies into the air.

Raven gets caught in the whirlwind, and she screams, flying into the air and away from me. I yell her name, the horror of seeing her amid the masses of naked bodies shocks me to the core. I had promised to keep her safe and failed her.

Bending my knees, I launch into the air, praying that the Higher Power gives me the strength and endurance to conquer these hellish winds to save her. Her shrieks pierce the air, echoing through the world and striking me in the chest.

A bloated naked man flies from another tornado and crashes into my chest, sending the both of us to the road. Hot, dry lips caress my cheek at the same time a hand slides down my chest and over my stomach on a mission to touch me in a regrettable, unwanted way. I swing my hand and punch the soul, knocking him off me. I cannot believe his bold, demented attempt to satisfy his starving lust.

I catapult to my feet, jumping out of the way of his plump fingers, his tongue licking his lips as if I’m some sort of delicious dinner for the taking. Another soul falls from the sky and thuds on the ground next to him, and I back away, averting my eyes at the sight unfolding in front of me. I had never thought an anus could be used like that, the knowledge of mortal sexual endeavors never my priority.

“Help!” Raven’s call whips my attention to her high above the world as the wind settles, releasing every soul to freefall back to the ground.

Her voice snaps off, her breath stolen from her. I can feel her terror of splattering among the naked souls as if it were my own. Dozens of bodies smash into the ground around me, the sky too crowded for me to launch into the air fast enough.

My heart slams against my ribcage, and I cover my mouth with my hand. Tears blur my eyes. I’ve never felt so helpless.

And then Andre appears.

His expansive black wings, free of feathers and now made of something that reminds me of leather, spread out wider than before. He soars so gracefully through the falling bodies like they just automatically part for him as he dives toward Raven. She flails her body, getting closer and closer to the ground. I suck in a breath and hold it, praying to the Higher Power that Andre catches her. I can’t bear to see what happens if he doesn’t.

This is my fault.

Andre nosedives, zooming so quickly that he surpasses the falling bodies and locks his fingers around Raven’s wrist. He throws her into the air in front of him, engulfing her in his muscular arms.

I release my breath and watch as their lips meet as he blindly navigates the sky and skids to a stop a few dozen feet away from me. My body awakens, and I grab myself, feeling the hardening pulse of my erection through my pants. Desire seeps into my essence, ignited by the sight of the most beautiful light radiating from Raven and the new shadows slithering from Andre’s essence, wrapping around her. Even as a devil, he’s still handsome.

My feet get a mind of their own, and I shuffle closer, hypnotized by watching Andre’s tongue slip into Raven’s mouth—a mouth I had just kissed and experienced. One I want to experience again. And then there is Andre in all his hellish glory.

What am I thinking? Why am I thinking this?

Lust’s Kingdom is getting to me.

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