Page 25 of In the Devil's Shadow

Everyone fell into different conversations while half watching the last few performers that came on stage. We drained bottle after bottle of champagne, and most of us were having a good time. Even though he had dialed back his anger, I could feel Bash’s foul mood from where I sat. Once the last performer picked up her giant feathers and clothes from the stage, cages were lowered from the ceiling, filled with barely dressed dancers and props that would make a sex shop owner blush. Thumping dance music bounced off the walls.Now this seems more like a vampire kind of party.They were renowned for throwing days-long ragers that usually ended in blood orgies. I’d gone to a few in New York, and they were intense enough to wipe an immortal out.

Vampires and supernaturals poured in through the doors, filling the room almost to capacity. Ares, Diana, Azazel, and Charlie flocked to the floor, while the rest of us stayed behind with Judas. This was my chance to ask him about his business and get some pointers, but all I could focus on was watching Diana as she ground her body between Ares and Azazel to a tech remix of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.” They both ran their hands up and down her back, her ass, and her arms. Ares’ hand skimmed the bottom of her dress, delving under the fabric and pressing against her pussy to push her ass into his groin. Azazel tipped her chin up, kissing her as if she was the only source of air he could breathe. Watching them share her made my heart and my cock ache for her.

Just as I was about to stop torturing myself and focus on their conversation, she broke away from them, heading to the restrooms toward the back. Neither of them followed her, opting to head to the bar and talk. The guys at the table were too engrossed in planning the details around our new arrangement to even notice that she left, so I excused myself to follow her. Even though she wasn’t wearing a bracelet, I still wanted to keep an eye on her. Sheshouldbe safe, but it made me feel better to know she wasn’t alone.

I kept my distance and planned to wait outside the ladies’ room, until a stranger reached out and grabbed Diana’s hand, pulling her toward his chest. She tried to reason with him and push him away, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer. I closed the distance between us. Before she could say anything, I pulled the guy off her and slammed him into the wall outside the restrooms, shifting my face so he could see my fur, glowing red eyes, and horns. He sneered his lips, baring his fangs to me, but he may as well have brought a knife to a gun fight. He was a young vampire whose potent fear filled my power reserves to the brim.

“It doesn’t seem like she wants to talk to you,” I growled. My voice took on a deep tenor as I wrapped a hand around his throat. “She was clearly pushing you away. Learn that no means no.”

I used my telekinesis to swiftly move his blood to his head, causing him to turn red from the neck up. He gasped for breath, and just as I was about to give him an aneurysm, Diana put her hand on my arm.

“Mal, I think he learned his lesson. Let him go,” she calmly ordered.

I released him, watching him run away before I turned to see the furious look on her face.

“He was–” I started, before she interrupted me.

“Why can’t any of you treat me like a capable person instead of making decisions for me and walking all over me? I had that handled,” she seethed.

“From my perspective, it seemed like he was ignoring what you were trying to tell him. I didn’t want to see you get hurt, so I stepped in,” I explained.

“Like you care if I get hurt–you tried to strangle me. You literallymurderedme before we even knew I was immortal. You hate me, so why are you even following me?!” she snapped as she pushed me against the wall, bringing us nose to nose. Her eyes were ablaze with anger, and I mentally slapped myself for fucking up with her again.

“No one else noticed you were gone, and I couldn’t stand the idea of you being unprotected in a room filled with vampires who can smell howintoxicatingly powerfulyou are.” I used Judas’ phrasing on purpose. “And I didn’t hurt you of my own volition–I was possessed. You made me feel things I never wanted to feel again, and I wrote you off out of grief and jealousy. I could never hate you. Why would I protect you if I hated you?”

I was rambling at this point, but who knew when I would get her attention again? Her glare was the sun. When it shone on me, it emboldened me and gave me the clarity I needed to tell her everything. The fire in her eyes smoldered, leaving a smokey, lustful gaze behind that confused me.

“You don’t hate me, huh?” she asked, cupping my jaw and running her hand down my neck to my chest. She stopped over my heart.

“No, but I hate myself for what I did to you,” I admitted, putting my hand over hers. My heart raced so fast I could feel it beat. I wanted to say so much more, but I couldn’t. My lips locked as I waited for her to say something.

She didn’t say anything right away, leveling a calculated stare at me as if she was taking my measure and trying to find out if I was bullshitting her or not. She pulled me into one of the single restrooms and locked the door behind us.

“Prove it. Prove that you don’t hate me. Actions speak louder than words.” Her husky voice raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

I took her face in my hands, kissing her with a ferocity that surprised both of us. She squeaked into my mouth, her tongue caressing mine as I ran my hands to her waist. I backed her into the wall while kissing my way down her neck to the divot above her collarbone. I nipped at her neck, sucking the mark and laving it with my tongue. A breathy moan escaped her lips when she pulled my hair, bringing me back up to her lips. I lost myself in her, not caring that no one knew where we were or that we were fucking each other’s mouths in a public restroom. I wanted her so badly, and it was finally happening. She broke our kiss and held onto my shirt so that our noses were almost touching.

“Get on your knees,” she commanded, her voice firm despite the smirk on her face.

Without even thinking about it, I lifted her, setting her on the vanity. She pushed her stockings down, taking them off one foot so she could spread her legs wide. I dropped to my knees and saw there was nothing between me and her pussy. Hiking up her dress, I nuzzled my face into her wet heat. She smelled like roses and a feminine musk that drove me insane. I slid two fingers through her wet folds softly, teasing her until she started canting her hips toward me.

“I want to feel you inside me,” she said as she leaned back onto her forearms so she could watch me pleasure her.

I slowly eased my fingers inside of her, massaging her inner walls as I pumped my fingers. “I wanna taste you, please?”

“Not until you make me come.” Her heels clacked against the vanity as she rolled her hips to meet my thrusts.

I picked up my pace and found a spot that made her body taut like a bow. Adding a third finger, I felt her stretch around me as her moans echoed through the small room. The light behind her head glowed like a halo, highlighting the beads of sweat rolling down her face. I’d never seen a woman look so angelic yet so devious at the same time.

“That’s right, Mal, keep going. Don’t stop,” she groaned.

When her thighs started to shake, I pressed my thumb against her clit as I switched to deeper, harder movements. She drenched my fingers with her release, and I wasted no time spreading her thighs further apart and slurping up her juices. I devoured her like a starving madman, licking and sucking on her clit until she was practically screaming.

“Mal! Oh my…fuck!” she groaned as she smashed my head closer to her, gripping my top bun so hard I could feel the sting radiate through my scalp.

The pain only made me crazier for her. I nipped at her clit until her thighs clamped around my head. I ate her through her second orgasm, until she slumped against the mirror. Her hand untangled from my hair, and she rubbed my cheek. I swiped two fingers through her release, bringing them to her mouth and waiting for her permission. Ineededher to taste the proof of how much I pleased her. She nodded and licked my fingers clean.

A loud banging on the door startled her, breaking whatever spell was between us. She bolted upright before I had the chance to ask her about what happened between us.

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