Page 81 of Underworld
“You made that so easy, little angel.”
“You piece of—”
Metal clinking together cut me off.Coldmetal. It snapped around my ankles and wrists, dragging me down as I crashed to my knees.
“You shouldn’t let your anger overpower you, Lily. You’re a Champion. You have entire realms depending on you.”
“Asshole,” I snapped.
I tried to reach out for the connection back to my body, but couldn’t seem to move. Languorous warmth replaced all the blood in my veins.
“Don’t bother,” he said, his smugness making me want to slap him in the face. “I’ve bound your soul to this place. Your physical body will slip into a coma while I untangle the mess you’ve made.”
“The messI’vemade?” I shrieked.
He sighed and looked again to the horizon. I spotted it now, that faint, distant gleam of brilliant light.
“Fallen angels are an incredible nuisance, and you’ve poured a legion of them into my brother’s domain. Their anger… it’s so righteous, I can hardly even use it.” He knelt at my side, the tip of his tail running up the inside of my thigh. “I’ll deal with them… and then? Then, you’re mine.”
Cole had made a mistake yapping his mouth, thinking me defenseless. He’d lowered his guard too much.
And then he’d touched me.
I opened myself to the succubus darkness within me, divulging it a freedom I never would have allowed with anyone else.
Cole went rigid when I stood, snapping the chains as I spread my wings. The poor fool. His magic ran off of Hell, a power that ran through my veins, too.
I traced my finger under his chin, drawing him to me as a glimmering blue fog of my own drifted around us, tickling his nose. His nostrils flared as he took in my scent.
“Ambrosia,” he whispered, his voice holding a tremble of desire that made me bite my lip.
The floral scent I’d come across in Purgatory had been one of my own making.
My angelic powers coming to life.
Now, I twisted them, working them in tandem with my hybrid nature. I was a succubus and a fallen angel, an intoxicating combination for a creature like Cole.
“You underestimated me, Cole.”
He growled as I hauled him to me. “It won’t happen again,” he vowed as I threaded my fingers through his hair, gripping at the roots. I tilted him in the way I wanted, then I formed my lips to his.
He didn’t fight me as I let my hunger free.
I devoured him, drawing in his magic. I ran my tongue along his as he gave himself over to me. The temptation I offered ran too hot, too fast.
The raw potency of his power punched into me, making me gasp.
His tail wound up my ankle, gripping me, not wanting me to go. “Lily…” he breathed out, his voice harsh with need. “Stay with me.”
He knew I meant to leave him here, just like he had planned to do to me.
He kissed me again, his intoxicating power flowing into me in ruthless waves.
He had passed my test, but he still had a long way to go. He wanted to claim me, to own me, and as it stood now, he would not share.
It would be too easy to give myself over to my natural state, one where I lived as a creature of Hell and darkness, but my other Virtues had brought so much more out in me. I had only just begun to understand myself and my destiny.
The correct path is not always the easiest one. I tore away from him before I could give in to the future he unfurled in my mind.
