Page 25 of Nightmares and Numerology

He seized me by the nape of the neck in reply, planting a maddeningly soft kiss right on my mouth.

Chapter Eleven

Angelo

Lydia’s knees buckled the instant our lips touched.

It wasn’t an uncommon reaction to an incubus’s power, but I’d never felt it like this before. It usually drew an amused chuckle from me. Stimulus, response. Easy. Humans were what I’d been born to hunt, and it had always been easy to get what I needed from them. But Lydia was more than human, infused with the energy of other creatures due to Indigo’s interference. The Kaloth demon was the most present, grafted onto Indigo and now Lydia’s magic through less savory means. It left an overwhelmingly spicy aftertaste to her naturally tangy mock orange. The jasmine notes had to be from Indigo’s meddling. They were almost gone now, with Indigo’s consciousness repressed. It felt incredible to have Lydia to myself—mostly.

My hands found the small of her back in a dance as old as time, drawing her in tightly. I should have waited. Should have marched out of the shop and been honorable. But she didn’t want honorable. She wanted to be ravished. I could feel it in the quiver of her lips under mine. The need billowed off her like a strong perfume. She hadn’t felt satisfaction in so long. And I could give it to her. I wanted to give it to her. I wanted to swallow her whole.

Lydia’s chest heaved, breasts straining against the white lace of her bra. I liked it. It contrasted nicely with her skin—the snowy color even paler than her ivory complexion. That complexion was flushed with desire now, the heat spreading through her in a slow, inexorable wave. She let out a breathless gasp when I tore the remaining blouse open, sending buttons flying to the corners of the room.

I needed this now, with Lydia, or I was going to go insane.

Her heart thrummed like a hummingbird’s wings. Anothergift from foreign magic. The kelpie was a faerie, which meant a higher metabolism. It meant that in times of excitement, Lydia’s heart really raced. I wanted to hold that fascinating beat between my hands and feel it flutter like a butterfly against my skin. I could practically taste her excitement. I’d barely eased myself into her metaphorically, and I could already feel her drawing taut like a bowstring, a lifetime of being underappreciated bubbling to the surface.

I took it in one long draught. Took the doubt, the anxiety, the self-recrimination and drank it down alongside the trust she offered me so freely. It was bittersweet, an odd aftertaste that I nonetheless enjoyed. Lydia’s mouth tore free of mine, her breathless scream muffled. The hoarse sound of pleasure built and echoed beautifully like music. A smaller, almost adorable, sound escaped her throat when my teeth found purchase where her neck met her shoulder.

Lydia writhed, pressing every enticing inch of herself against me as she struggled. She was strong—stronger than most human women I’d met, thanks to her unique circumstances. But I was still stronger, and I reminded her of as much, caging her in so that even riding out the aftershocks required my permission. Her hands were trapped between our bodies, effectively shackling her.

“That’s cheating,” she said breathlessly, her lips curling in a tiny pout. I had the visceral urge to sink my true teeth into that shiny pink pout. I wanted to taste her more than I wanted air.

Still, I managed to step back when the words left her lips. Her eyes widened in shock as cool air flowed over her. I’d managed to get most of her blouse off before she had her first orgasm. That blouse now fluttered fitfully in the breeze from the AC unit. Her eyes looked huge and luminous in the low light of the shop. Her lips were swollen. Despite the intensity of my kiss, enough to bruise a mortal woman, it still wasn’t enough. Iwanted to pull her close and live in her warmth. I’d never felt something this all-consuming before—something that dwarfed even my hunger for flesh.

“What are you doing?” she asked quietly, her expression almost eloquent with surprise.

“Stopping,” I answered, panting and in shock that I was doing exactly that. “I agreed not to cheat.”

Lydia’s eyes flashed with sudden fire—literal fire. I saw embers flicker in her pupil once before the demon magic within her settled enough to allow the flames to retreat. I didn’t know enough about the Koloth species to guess if that was a positive reaction or not. The only thing I did know was that Lydia wasn’t meant to have that ability. Nothing like this had ever happened before. There was no telling what Lydia’s natural magic would do when combined with a Koloth’s power. I didn’t have enough information to know what Indigo was doing to Lydia, and it bothered me—a lot.

“It was just an expression, silly,” she said, giving me a light shove. “Which of us is supposed to be the sex demon here? I’m playing hard to get. Keep up.”

A thrumming began somewhere behind my breastbone. It took me a second to realize the nearly subsonic sound filling the room was coming from my chest. Lydia shrank back—not in fear exactly, but in the way prey usually did. She was captivated by me and frightened by the power I could and would use to blind her to anything but me. For the first time in my life, I wanted more than just a night. More than a weekend, more than a fling. I wanted Lydia flushed and at my mercy for years—maybe even longer. Forever?

The realization should have made me run screaming from the room. Whatever commitment delusion had seized Fifi had finally caught up to me. Perhaps it was a familial plague or shared madness—folie à deuxat its finest. And I simply... didn’tcare at the moment. Not while she stood only a few feet away, half-dressed. The clothes were simply too much to bear.

“Strip,” I ordered, a little surprised to hear some of my demon’s voice in the mix. I usually had better control than this. “Now.”

Lydia’s chin lifted defiantly, and more fire sparked just behind her eyes. The incubus within me trembled with anticipation for the meal to come. It would taste even better if I chased the tender little thing down.

“Or what?”

“Or I’m going to shred every article of clothing on your body, lift you onto the cash wrap, and take you on camera. I’ll keep the security footage of the...” I considered, “next few hours as a souvenir. If you want to do this in your bed, you should probably run. When I catch you, I’m going to have you then and there.”

Lydia’s defiance faded. She paled at the threat, seemingly torn between horror and arousal.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“I would. And I’ll enjoy it even more knowing there’s a recording I can rewatch later. I’ll give you a head start. Ten seconds.”

What little color remained in her face fled. She seemed to realize how deadly serious I was. I didn’t care where I took her, just that it happened soon. But I knew her well enough that I knew she’d have to work up to a little voyeurism.

I laughed when she bolted, leaving a small, frightened squeak in her wake.

“Ten...” I began in a victorious sing-song. “Nine...”

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