Page 88 of Claimed
I look from him to Tanner and finally to Ruin. “You all feel that way?”
They nod.
“Lilah is my consort. My queen. My better half,” Ruin says, crossing his arms. “She is my conscience. The reason I get up every day.”
“Nisha is mine,” Tanner says softly. “She has made me work through so much shit just to be better for her. To be stronger.”
“Amoret loves me as I am,” Gage adds. “But I will strive until my last breath to be worthy of that love.”
My arms tighten reflexively around Onyx.
It should be odd, being nude in the bed with her as they all stand vigil. But it’s not odd. It feels right. Like family.
Like brothers.
I close my eyes. “She is my Armandour.” The word rolls from my tongue and the silence is vast.
“Are you sure?” Horan asks.
I peer at him. “My magick did not want to take from her, it wanted to give. To feed her. To please her.” I turn my face and breathe in the scent of her temple. “I don’t know what else would cause it.”
“You care about her,” Ruin says. “Could that cause it?”
“That is what triggers an Armandour bonding,” I admit. “Even in the Abyss the pairings are reverent of the other. Gentle. Or as gentle as demons can ever be.”
“Are you going to tell her?” Tanner asks. “What she is?”
I smooth my hand through her thick hair. “She will need to know of her blood line,” I admit. “To be cautious. But the other …”
My eyes fall to her closed lids and I cannot stop the ache in my chest. “The other can wait.”
“For how long?” Ruin asks.
I kiss Onyx on the temple and smile. “For as long as it needs to. I don’t plan on letting her go either way.”
Chapter 33
Onyx
Heat surrounds me, but it is soothing. Almost gentle.
My body is languid inside the warmth, but a line of scalding heat is pressed tight to my backside and I would prefer for it to be inside me.
A husky chuckle sounds in my ear, the sound so very soft. Quiet. “She awakens.” Caine’s voice makes my core ache.
I rock my hips back, seeking him. Needing him to enter me. To fill me as surely as he did before.
“Though I am very tempted, baby, there are a few in the bed who may not enjoy being awoken so ... violently.”
My eyes fly wide.
In the dimness, Tanner’s jaw is slack in sleep, his eyes closed and his lashes like dark crescent moons on his cheeks. He is also shirtless and his hand is on my thigh.
His. Hand. Is. On. My. Thigh.
Caine’s laugh sounds again, stirring the hair on the back of my neck. I shiver and my nipples bud. “He is not all, angel.”
I lift up, careful to keep the blanket over my very nude body.
