With another guttural growl of warning, he punched his pelvis tight against mine, knocking a whimper from me. “Careful. I might take a liking to you calling me that.”

Yup. I liked this game a lot.

I chewed on my bottom lip, fragmenting my laugh. “I don’t know. Whenever I go to Hell, maybe they’ll give you a special pass. We can show them the memory of you self-appointing yourself as the Bible’s editor.” I tried to shrug and failed with how he still had my arms pinned over my head. “Or we can show them this if we want to give them a real show.”

He released my wrists, my bruised tendons rejoicing. I dropped my hands to his shoulders, careful not to touch his wounds. Some were scars, but most of them were black and angry.

My palms wandered over his muscles, feeling him out. Holding him for what felt like an eternal moment. My magic thrummed all around me, and gradually, the open wounds fused shut, scarring over like the rest.

He closed his eyes at the contact. “Jesus Christ, Ruby. You are as wicked as you are pure. A curse as much as a blessing.”

“Julian…” His eyes opened at his birth name. “Please.”

He knew what I needed. What we both needed so goddamn bad that the ache was almost too much, our monsters within ready to maul one another.

So…we just let go.

Something snapped between us.

Passion exploded.

My prince’s mouth crashed over mine in a kiss that was more fangs than lips. My belly clenched when I felt his hand skim over my tummy, dropping to wrench his waistband down. I couldn’t see it, but bloody mother of all that was ever holy, I felt it. Throbbing and warm—warmer than any other part of him. A swarm of butterflies exploded in my belly when I felt him leaking pre-cum, the pearly liquid oozing down the interior of my thigh.

He brought the tip of himself against my center, and for a second, I thought he might make me beg.

He put that fear to rest when he gripped my hips and pushed inside with a savage thrust.

Just like he’d intended, I spasmed around him with a scream. His body filling mine was torture. It was raw.

It wasperfect.

Chapter twenty-three

The Devil's Claim

MybodyspasmedaroundSterling’s invasion, walls clamping around him in a desperate attempt to take every inch he offered. With a guttural sound, his brow screwed up as he lost himself to the sensation.

“Christ, Ruby—” The curve of his hand slid up the underside of my thigh and lifted my leg to curl around his waist, allowing himself deeper access to my center. But he didn’t thrust again. He waited for my body to adjust to his, licking at my lips and feasting on my mewls while my belly stirred with an instinctual need to be fucked and claimed.

My monster’s had a crush on Sterling from night one. While the other guys had to put some effort into getting off her shit list—especially Vin—she’d been ready to spread our legs for Sterling the moment she first laid eyes on him in the east tower, wearing nothing but a towel and a sinuous smile.

It made me wonder if that part of me had known all along what kind of creature lay below his surface.

This wasn’t the first time I’d taken the millennia-old vampire inside me. But nothing about this was like the other times, including the way he filled me. He felt bigger, harder. The weight of his hunger sat heavily inside me, like a missing piece finally snapping into place.

My magic weaved a whole new reality meant only for us, and every shred of it felt as visceral as the real world while simultaneously preserving the delicate nature of a dream. And like a dream, it could snap like gossamer at any moment if I didn’t fully entrench myself in the spell. This was all too perfect to have it be over quickly. So I threw my entire being into relishing every damn detail. The pound of each vein that twisted around his shaft, his tumbling breath caressing my lips, his scent of aged parchment and fresh ocean air lining my lungs, and the cold bite of the rainfall pummeling his steaming skin. I absorbed it all.

I drew on my primal senses, heightening them so they could take in everything. The drawback was that my monster was present in the moment, shredding my patience.

I held it back.

This wasn’t the time for psycho-horny Ruby. Sure, that worked like a charm with Vin—and frankly, he needed the ass kicking every once in a while. That wasn’t how I wanted this to go down with Sterling, though.

His monster needed to be set free. He knew it too, but the fact that he was buried balls deep inside me terrified my gentle prince.

I saw the battle waging within him, a war between wit and brawn.

Priest and devil.