Page 47 of The River of Fire

His mouth opens in a snarl and my willpower snaps, along with the tether that was winding up my pleasure. I press my mouth against his and cry out at the pleasure exploding from my core. He growls, takes my mouth in the same possessive manner that he took everything else from me, and kisses me through my orgasm, now fucking me with something close to violence.

“Fuck,” he breathes as his mouth releases mine. His eyes are closed, brows furrowed with what seems like anguish. He then snaps his head back, tendons straining on his neck, and shouts, “Lana!” before lowering his mouth back to my shoulder, biting down, and shuddering against me. My pussy clenches hard against his pulsing cock and it feels so good that I don’t know if I’m still in the throes of my first orgasm or if this is a new one.

His mouth returns to mine again, like that first kiss shattered some barrier where both of us held back from the intimacy, and now he can’t get enough. He’s still moving his cock inside me, gently, slowly, making me moan into his mouth.This feelsdifferent, every cell in my body is whispering to me. Gone is his sardonic humor, the lazy indulgent way he handles my body. This feels like something I don’t want to name.

Whatever it is stops as he moves back and sighs, gently lifting me off his body. He takes a step back and looks me over in a perfunctory way before disappearing again. I slide down into the water, now hot again – his parting gift. I expect to feel insecure over his abrupt departure, but I don’t. I don’t, because the caring he shouldn’t be able to feel is always obvious, going beyond the bare necessities required to keep me useful, for him to feed.

I’m also preoccupied with the fact that I care too, more than I should. Over the last few days he went from a gorgeous face and devastating body, to a person with interesting thoughts, incredible experiences, a unique sense of humor… and perhaps even wants and feelings that go beyond the selfish.

Seeing an archdemon as a person, being attracted to his personality – that’s going to be more dangerous for me than whatever he could do to my body.

Chapter 34 – Ashtaroth

Idrag a hand through my steam-damp hair, then take a seat at the head of the table, Sariel and Armaros’ eyes tracking me.

“So hard up you had to leave mid-meeting?” Sariel smirks, hands clasped in front of him on the tabletop. He then freezes, nose wrinkling as he takes in my scent. “Is she alive?” he asks, eyes wide.

“That’s not blood from a wound, dumbass.” Armaros rolls his eyes at my son. They’re hardly ever apart, yet they take pleasure in disagreeing with each other at every turn.

Sariel whistles and wags his eyebrows. “Sailing the Red Sea, eh?” Once he takes my mood in, however, he frowns. I must be showing some of the agitation I feel.Like remorse, fear is something I have not experienced… until her. I never had any reason to. I never put a value on something so delicate. “Why don’t you look like a dude who just nutted?” Sariel asks, confusion clear in his voice, on his expressive face.

I click my tongue and glare at him. “Your mastery over vocabulary never ceases to astound me, son.” He just snickers, but there is wariness in his expression. He enjoys pushing me with his jokes, taking the punishments in stride, but he is loyal to a fault.

After a second of pondering, he leans forward, now serious. “You know we’ll protect anything that’s yours, right? Keep it safe?” He doesn’t like to show it, but my son is incredibly astute. After centuries together, he anticipates my needs without requiring much input from me.

When exactly did Lana become mine to care for and protect? When has she started to influence me? It should have been impossible. But her presence makes me see the world, my world, in a new light. Pride feels keener, lust feels sharper. My ennui has lessened, the present becoming clearer. I feel millennia younger, but equipped with the knowledge that this is not common. I want her to bask in all that my power can give her. I want her to not only crave my flesh in return, but also to find my entire being as vital to her existence as air.

Armaros must catch on and rests his palms on the tabletop, nodding with a grave expression. I hold both of their gazes for a moment. “Yes,” I acknowledge, ending the discussion to move on to the matter at hand. Or at least I thought I did.

“So, it’s perfectly okay that you’re catching feels.” That Cheshire grin is back on Sariel’s face. “For a girl young enough to be your great, great, great, great, great, great, grea–” I cut him off with a thrown goblet, which he sadly dodges with ease, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

“Do not make me throw you in the dungeon; I need you to go to Purgatory.” My order sobers him up marginally.

“What do you need from us?” Armaros asks, elbowing my son in the ribs.

“Inquire with the Fallen about this Simone, and perhaps any other female offspring they misplaced over the years.”

“Like the one recovering in your bed?” Sariel quips.

“She’s not missing, numbnuts, they know perfectly well where she is.” Armaros sneers at him.

“Find out what you can about her family,” I continue as if the interlude never happened. “We will see if what Belial claimed is true.”

Sariel shakes his head. “I still don’t like that he had information we didn’t. Probably sucked every cock on the Council for it.”

“Neither do I,” I agree. I should pay more attention to Council matters. Something does not feel right; a puzzle piece jammed in the wrong spot. And why did we never find the rift claimed to be open in my brother’s domain? “Leave now,” I command, dismissing them with a wave of my hand.

As they rise wordlessly, I catch the eye of a servant lurking in the corner. “Prepare a tray of food.” The servant bows so deeply that their horned head nearly kisses the ground. I decide to walk back to my quarters to clear my head of the last vestiges of my unease.

I pluck Puck off a candelabra right before his weight can unbalance it and send him off as my niece rounds the corner, a leash attached to the Cambion boy loosely held in her hand. While the boy looked simply resigned to his fate at first, once he sees they are no longer alone and that it is, in fact, me who is seeing him like this, he flushes a red as deep as Puck’s preferred treat.

Stepping over the threshold to Elysium would be easier than not showing my enjoyment over the blow to the male’s pride, so I do not bother to hide my grin. “What are you doing with that child, Naamah?” I ask with a drawl that visibly infuriates the boy.

She stops, places her free hand to rest on her curved hip, and cocks her head with a sultry smile. “Walking my human, obviously.”

“I see that.” I smirk but ponder the situation. I walked my human a lot today in those caves. Does she need more? She is used to regular physical activity. I decide to spar with her – I will undoubtedly teach her more than those young Fallen. I shake my head. Naamah is waiting patiently, but my thousand-yard stare clearly confused the youth, his brows now drawn. “Is the leash necessary?” I ask, returning to the present.

My niece clucks her tongue and bats her hand dismissively. “Necessary? No.” Her smile spreads to the point where it unveils her true nature. “But it’s so much fun. For me, at least,” she croons.

---