Page 5 of Payne's Envy

Joy

My room was dark. I couldn’t remember coming home. Or what I’d been doing. Maybe it was because I did too much. The never ending pile of disasters the end forced on the worlds kept Reapers busy. Was that it? Did I need to sleep?

The hair at the nape of my neck stood on end. The air changed. An inferno of uncontrolled desire pooled in my lower stomach. My back felt warm suddenly, like someone or thing was right behind me. My breath quickened. Instinct told me my body’s odd responses directly resulted from whatever was in the room with me. Turning slowly, I called forth my scythe. My weapon never materialized, though. I wasn’t afraid of what lurked in the darkness. Quite the opposite. My nipples pressed against my bra. My breasts felt so heavy they ached. The space between my thighs dampened.

It's been a long time since I slept with a man.

Decades. Over a century.The Devil would know. I stopped trying to fill the void. I must be ill-fated for men. The two men I slept with both wound up dead shortly after. They had only been a means to ignore the one man I couldn’t have. Or worse, I had childishly thought Payne would notice me if I let someone touch me. Neither experience had gone the way I wanted because he never reacted. Payne would never love me, so in my eternal life, I was doomed with a hollow ache. An emptiness that yearned for one man. And only him.

Until now.

All I saw were glowing lines, rippling with what looked like liquid flames. Magical tattoos or markings? They zigged and zagged all over the silhouette. A form that towered over me.Oh, Hades.I sucked in a breath. The strange patterns weren’t markings. As the man stepped closer, I realized it was hisveins.They were bright, angry looking, and movingbeneath his skin.Not human.I wasn’t sure what he was. Black irises and slitted amber pupils, expanding as they followed my movement. Oddly, it reminded me of a feline.

Some of his veins stretched forth. Closer to me, I saw his hand. Outstretched, waiting. I didn’t understand. I should kick him out. Demand answers, but no words come out. Instead, the heat in me swelled, growing and begging to latch onto him.

“You’re ready for me now.”

My eyes widened at the silky voice, layered with an unnatural huskiness that deepened it an octave.Not human,my brain thought again.Not a demon either…

I gasped, jerking awake. Using my powers, I flipped on the light switch, glancing around my old room at my parent’s castle. That dream again. I sat up slowly, pulling at my damp T-shirt.Ew.I didn’t know which was worse. Being drenched in sweat or having a strange dream about a man in the darkness.Not a man.A chill ran up my spine. Has one of Harvest’s witches hexed me?

Someone did something to me. The same reoccurring dream tried to give me a clue because I’d only ever conjured up one man in my fantasies. A man that’d been refusing me for over a century. At my depressing thought, even the dream seemed less important. I rubbed my chest as if that would make the heartache go away.

After so many years, I should be used to his rejection. His turning away from me every time I entered the room. How quickly he disappeared when I arrived. But the only thing that changed was my love. It wouldn’t stop growing. My heart belonged to someone that refused it.

Pulling the blanket off of me, my gaze found the green snake marking on my upper left thigh. Cursed like my siblings with one of the seven deadly sins, I was envy. Considering what’s been happening to my siblings and the mate ordeal, it was safe to assume I had another half out there, too. That wasn’t Payne. My stomach revolted at the idea. I refused to believe that. In reality, though, if Payne was my marked mate, I would have gotten my happy ending a long time ago.

Fat tears dropped onto my comforter.It’s silly.To cling to love when I was over a century old, especially when the world was ending. Despite being part of the family that opposed it, I witnessed everything the Grim Reaper safeguarded falling apart.

Plagues and unnatural weather patterns wreaked havoc on the human realm. Demons became bolder and more wicked because of Harvest.

And yet, I saw four of my siblings with lovers—their mates.

The green of envy started at the tips of my right hand and slithered up my arm like a disease. Grimacing, I looked away. If my thoughts didn’t stop, my entire body would turn green. It had every time Sebastian brought girls over when I was a teen, because Payne always hung out with my brothers.

Another wave of heat flushed through me. I panted, gripping my stomach as if that would make the intensity of it more tolerable.Hades.I thought the otherworldly man in my dreams did something to me. I’d never been so turned on in my life. The desire came in waves, but mostly at night, but it still got me during work hours, too.

Who was he? And why did he do that to me?

I wanted relief, but there was only one man I craved it from. I swallowed and materialized a bottle of water. Although I gulped it down, it didn’t help. My nightie rubbed my sensitive nipples every time I tossed or turned.

“Ugh.”

My mind drifted to the silhouette of the man in my dreams. My panties dampened so quickly I’d have to change them. Hades, I needed a cold shower. I shook the dream man’s odd appearance away, refusing to give into this affliction.

When I found the demon responsible for the dreams, I’d kill him.

Chapter Three

Payne

I volunteered to stay at Grim’s castle. Knowing that Harvest might be after one of Grim’s daughters, there was no way I’d leave the woods.

Still…

My skin tingled as a current of need coursed through me. I rubbed my face, trying my damnedest to ignore the scorching desire tearing me inside out.It’s back.The fucking heat. The things I never got answers for. I couldn’t afford to lose my sanity. Not when Joy was in danger. Not when her immortal soul depended upon the Reapers stopping the end.

Pacing the ballroom, I glimpsed up to the left of the ceiling. Upstairs and three rooms down was Joy. She was awake. I couldn’t see her, but I heard andsmelledher.My nostrils flared and for a second, I tried to push all of her scent out by blowing through my nose. Even after all those years, her fragrance never changed. She smelled like rain, or the crisp breeze by the waterfall in Grim’s woods. It was like she carried nature with her. But there was a sweetness to her that all other lives didn’t have. Not like chocolate or caramel. A little like a rich honey—strong enough to make my head spin with wicked thoughts in her presence even during the long years without the heat.

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