Page 27 of Her Darkest Devils (The Seven Sinners of Hell's Kingdom 3)

Chapter 8

RAVEN

Soul to Dream

ANDRE SITS IN front of me, his long legs stretching all the way across the summoning circle. Dante brought me home, only to leave again, entrusting me with Andre. Instead of offering to take me to his kingdom, he asked to watch the day break with me like he knew this was what I needed. Just the comfort of his presence and the safety of his protection while the other devils are “handling Lucian,” according to Dante. Whatever that might mean.

Andre reaches out and takes my hands, wrapping his big fingers around mine. “Little Hellion, you’re quiet. I wish there was something I could do. If you don’t want to visit with me, I understand. I know what happened between us—”

I cut off Andre’s words with a kiss, silencing him before he starts filling the air around the summoning circle with assumptions. “I’m sorry, Andre. It’s not you. I just have a lot on my mind. Our time together was incredible. Promise.”

“You know you can tell me anything, Raven. I’m here for you and not going anywhere...quite literally. Andre chuckles with his comment and tugs my hands a little harder until I crawl closer and sit in his lap.

His huge wings enclose around us, shielding me from the world like he wants complete privacy in the yard. Not like we’d get many disruptions. Tamia doesn’t know where I live, and Kase promised she’d get home safely when they called a car service. I just hope Lucian doesn’t continue to fuck with me. Ugh.

I shove the thought away. I want to think about anything else but tonight.

Except now that I try to clear my thoughts, Elias falls front and center.

“I just wish I knew if Elias was okay,” I murmur, blinking the burning tears from my eyes. “I fucked up tonight, and instead of threatening Lucian over returning Elias to me, I fought with him over my cousin. Now he might do something to her. I just wish...I wish you were here all the time instead of him.”

Andre groans and hugs me, his arms feeling like what I’d expect from Heaven and not from one of Hell’s rulers. He strokes his fingers up and down the length of my back and just snuggles with me without getting carried away. “Have the others not told you Elias is hanging in there? I can feel his soul through yours. He’s not in any abnormal pain.”

“So Dante wasn’t only trying to make me feel better?” I ask, lifting my gaze to his coffee-dark depths.

The caramel flecks glow with his hellfire, but he still reminds me of what he had been as an angel. His boner for me and all. I don’t mention it. I’m sure it’s on his mind as much as mine, especially now that I feel the daunting extent of it. And because he ignores it, focusing on me and my need for more than a physical connection, I know things between us will level out. We are capable of more than being locked in his kingdom of Lust.

“I’m nearly certain Dante has other ways to make you feel better than lying to you about your soulmate’s condition,” Andre says, the corner of his mouth curling up with his smirk. “So much so that I question why his power derives from envy instead of lust.”

“Maybe the universe just assumed that he’d become all-powerful if he was. A lifetime of orgasms for all. The masses would idolize him as a false god and worship him.” I can’t stop the smile from crossing my face. “I also think he’d be incapable of properly punishing those souls in your kingdom. I mean, orgy tornadoes? That’s fucking freaky. Poor Zade could barely stand it.”

I wince, wishing I hadn’t brought up Zade.

Andre surprises me by laughing at my comment, easing away to fill me with the sudden warmth buzzing between our bodies. “Good. Serves him right for thinking he had the right to use you as his guide into Hell.”

I scrunch my nose. “I might be overstepping here, and feel free to have Dante spank me later if I am, but Zade...I don’t know how to explain it. He cares about you, even still. He didn’t go into Hell because of me, Andre. He was there because of you.”

Andre sighs and shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. I can hardly stand looking at him in all his divine glory. What’s done is done.”

“And if I make him jump from grace?” I ask, my desire to know more about what is on Andre’s mind to distract me from my own racing thoughts turning all consuming. “What then? Will it change things?”

Andre doesn’t respond immediately, falling silent as he thinks about my question. Finally, after another quiet moment, he says, “I’m not sure what you’re asking, little hellion. Change things between us or me and him?”

“I guess both. I know he loves you. You were his companion for...forever.” I graze my fingers along his cheeks, exploring his handsome features.

“I think you misinterpret that emotion with an angel. It’s not the same as with mortals.” Andre tilts his head back and stares at the sky. I don’t think he does it to watch the stars fade with the coming morning. I think he might be remembering his life on Heaven’s path. It would still be fresh in his mind. “I’m not sure how to explain it really. But, one thing I know for certain is that you’re mine and I’m yours and no one will ever steal me from you. I’ve bound myself to Hell for you, Raven. Everything I’ve done in my existence is what has led me to you, and nothing will change that.”

Damn. I don’t know what to say, so I kiss him, showing him the affection that matches my feelings for him. He hums and shifts my body, his cock pressing even harder between my legs, threatening the fabric separating our bodies. I wouldn’t put it past the king of Lust to be capable of ripping through clothes to get to me. His hungry desire lights his eyes, and I brace for what’s to come—surely me, a lot, especially knowing it’s my desire and sexual relief that gives him power.

“Raven, I must stop. If I don’t, I will take you back to my kingdom and I’m not sure I’ll let you go,” Andre murmurs, groaning and shifting me again, lessening the pressure of his hard-on. “Denying myself such pleasure will help desensitize me to my need for you.”

I pant a breath, my body and mind all out of whack. His coconut scent wafts around me, sending goosebumps over my skin. I’m horny as fuck now. I understand his desire to get better control of himself, but damn. My whole body throbs with an ache that can only be cured by him.

I inhale and exhale slowly, shifting off of him before I start dry humping him and grinding my body to his to prove my theory about his cock’s capability to explode through clothing right. “Such torture.”

“Perhaps it’ll help if you let me cuddle you to sleep. That’s where anything can happen.” Andre brushes his lips to mine again.

“Anything?” The word comes softly from my mouth, my body cooling as an idea suppresses the urge to have Hell pounded into me.

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