Page 52 of Princess Claimed

And yet my heart is bursting with love for Phil.

“I need you, Ana.” His words come out on a groan. “And I don’t fucking need anyone. I don’t give a shit about anyone but my brothers, and yet I’m desperate to make you happy. Longing to give you pleasure. Fuck, Ana. I care about your life more than my own.” He pulls me tighter.

I press a kiss against the base of his hand, where his pulse beats hard at the top of his wrist, and I can barely breathe, never mind talk. His words have stolen all of mine.

“What I’m feeling… Is this love?” His voice sounds strangled. “Do I fucking love you, Ana? Is this how love feels?”

“I…I don’t know.” My words come out slowly. “I’ve never been in love.”

Phil and I can’t be in love. I can’t allow it. The idea is too painful because there are too many obstacles to keep us apart.

I’ve let myself care too much about all four of these men, but my time with them has to end, and soon. If I give any one of them another inch of myself, my heart will be irreparably damaged.

“You know something?” I fight to make my tone lighter. “I’ve heard that the emotions most often confused with each other are love and hate.”

He makes that chuckle-grunt sound, the one that I love. “That’s got to be the answer, then.”

“Yeah, I say. That’s got to be it.”

“Because I definitely hate you.” His lips press against the top of my head, and his hand strokes my belly, shifting lower.

I sigh in contentment. “That’s perfect, because I hate you too.”

“Think we should seal our mutual hatred with a fuck?” His voice is a growl in my ear as his fingers play at the junction between my legs.

“Yessss.” I can barely breathe now, but for reasons beyond our conversation. My body is drenched and greedy for more Phil.

“One thing first?” He pulls back slightly.

“What?” Squirming, I barely get the word out.

“Let’s keep our hatred a secret, okay? No need for my brothers to know.”

I sigh with joy, because it’s clear which emotion we’re really wanting to hide from the others. Hide possibly even from ourselves.

One of his fingers slips over my clit and my insides pulse with desperate need.

I gasp. “Yes. Sure. We’ll keep it secret. If that’s what you want.”

“What I want, is to fuck you.” His hips move, and his thick stiffness slides between my thighs.

And then I discover how it feels to have Phil deep inside me as we lie on our sides, his leg over mine like a heavy blanket as he slides deeply inside me.

Chapter

Twenty-Three

Blade

Horrible theories race through my mind as I travel with Flame and Crusher through the tunnels toward Freetown. In the DEFTA archives, I scoured every text on demonic possessions I could find and talked to several researchers. But instead of setting my mind at ease, my investigation added terrifying pieces to the demonic puzzle forming in my mind. One that remains far from solved.

I haven’t shared my worst thoughts with my brothers. Once I have a solid theory, Ana deserves to be the first to hear, and I don’t want to raise false alarms before I’m certain.

Right now, instead of the terrifying unknowns, I need to focus on the positives: First, Rasputin is dead; second, even if the demon didn’t die along with its host, it would have had to find another; and third, there’s little chance that new host is someone who’s been obsessed with Ana for over a hundred years.

When we got to DEFTA last night, Crusher bore the brunt of Diederik’s ire for not bringing Ana with us. We assured the DEFTA security head that Ana is safe, but the asshole wouldn’t even tell Crusher why it was so urgent he see her. Confidential meetings, royal business, vampiric council business. Lots of vague but important-sounding reasons were muttered.

My pride for Ana swells. She’s clearly very important to the vampiric world, increasing the pressure on us to keep her safe. It’s so much more than personal.

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