Fallen by Suzanne Wright

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Raini’s eyes snapped open as she felt a rush of cool air sweep up her back. His inner entity had taken over, she realized. Which could be positive or negative. On the one hand, it didn’t tend to drag shit out—much like Raini, it was all about instant gratification. On the other hand, it was occasionally in the mood to make her wait. She was done waiting.

Scraping its teeth over her shoulder, the demon ever so slowly withdrew its fingers from her pussy. “Stand and turn to face me,” it ordered.

Breathing hard, she pushed to her feet, her knees a little shaky from her orgasm. She slowly turned and met that obsidian gaze.

The entity undid its fly, fished out its dick, and then spread its thighs a little wider. “Get my cock nice and wet, or it’s going to hurt you when I drop you on it.”

Her pussy clenched. Well, now. She knelt right there, curled her hand around the base of its shaft, and closed her mouth over the broad head. She licked, sucked, lapped, and played, already knowing exactly what the entity liked—it had used her mouth before.

Unlike those other times, the demon didn’t take over. Didn’t fist her hair and guide her movements. Didn’t instruct her, or encourage her. It left her to do all the work.

She kept the suction tight as she moved faster, bopping her head up and down, rubbing the flat of her tongue against the underside of its cock. Deciding to include a little hand action, she began to jack the demon off while suckling on the broad tip. Not slow and easy, no, she pumped fast like—

The demon snatched her from the floor and roughly dropped her on its cock. Her back bowed, and a shocked breath gusted out of her lungs. Jesus.

The entity didn’t give her a moment to adjust. It clamped its hands on her hips and began slamming her up and down its dick. She gripped its shoulders, holding on for dear life while it pretty much used her as it pleased.

“Mine,” it snarled. Then it was ravaging her mouth—licking, kissing, biting.

She felt her flesh beneath its hands begin to burn, and she realized what it was doing. Branding her. Her eyes widened as the burn spread, moving higher and spanning her waist. The demon dug its fingertips into her hypersensitive branded flesh, the fucking sadist, and then it subsided.

In control once more, Maddox palmed her ass and said, “Hold on.” He stood, pinned her against the wall near the window, and took her hard. Harder than he ever had before, knowing she could take it; loving that she got off on it as much as he did.

He sucked on her pulse, not biting, just wanting to feel it beat in his mouth as he fucked her. Her nails dragged down his back, her thighs flexed around his hips, her inner walls fluttered and squeezed his cock. She was close. Good. So was he.

Cool air whispered over him in a telling sign that her demon had surfaced. It slapped its hands on the back of his shoulders, and the flesh there began to heat and prickle. The demon was branding him, returning his own entity’s claim. Fuck, his balls tightened. His cock swelled. His release crept closer.

“Shit, shit, shit, I’m gonna come,” said Raini, clearly back with him.

Lifting his head to meet that amber gaze, Maddox frantically rammed into her and parted the globes of her ass enough for it to sting just a little. She sucked in a breath, and her inner walls spasmed around him. “Come, Raini.” Rumbling a low growl, he bit her lip, breaking the skin; the tiny taste of her blood shot straight to his dick.

Her breath caught in her throat, her brow creased, and then she came apart around him.

“Fuck, yeah.” Maddox rode her all the way through her orgasm, drawing it out. Finally he let go and exploded deep inside her.

She melted into him, limp and trembling and panting.

He pressed a kiss to her hair. “You good?”

“I think so,” Raini slurred, feeling all hollowed out. She didn’t open her eyes when he carried her to the bathroom. Or when he propped her on the counter. Or when he cleaned her up with a wet cloth. Or when he carried her to his bed. Mostly because she didn’t want to look at the brands his demon had left on her hips. It was a brazen, possessive, sadistic asshole, so she didn’t quite trust that it hadn’t marked her in some seriously inappropriate way.

Feeling Maddox’s fingers play over her newly branded flesh as he lay beside her on the mattress, her curiosity got the better of her. Squeezing her eyes shut, she asked, “What do they look like?”

“Why do you ask that with dread?”

“Because I’ve seen some of the brands that my girls wear. They’re rarely subtle, and they’re sometimes over the top.”

Maddox hummed, stroking her hips again. “I like them.”

“That doesn’t make me feel reassured.”

“Take a look.”

Forcing her eyes open, she raised her head and glanced down. A gasp flew out of her. A good kind of gasp. Because the ends of two exquisitely detailed wings curled around her hips and overlapped at her navel, as if someone had protectively enfolded her in their wings. “Wow,” she breathed. “Your demon has good taste.”

“I’d say so.”

“Shall we get a look at what brands my entity left on you?”

In answer, he sat up straight. Her lips parted. “It seems my demon didn’t want to be outdone by yours. It used both hands, so I thought it had left two brands. It didn’t. It left a big one that spans your upper back. And it’s … well, it’s a thunderstorm. An amazing thunderstorm. Dark clouds. Whips of lightning. Heavy rain. It looks wild and badass and magical at the same time.”

Maddox grabbed her cell phone from the end of the bed and handed it to her. “Snap a picture of the brand with your cell.”

She quickly did so and then showed him the photo. “I think my entity must have liked that comment you once made about my being like rain, lightning, and thunder.”

His mouth curved. “I think you might be right.”

“You like it, then?” she asked, a little nervous of his answer.

He cupped her jaw. “I’d like it no matter what, because it’s what the brand signifies that’s important. But, yeah, I like it.”

Her toes almost curled as he kissed her soft and slow, indulging in a thorough taste. The kiss might have been gentle, but it was no less possessive than the exceptionally intense fucking session they’d just had.

Finally, he pulled back. “Do you want to tell Jolene in person that you’ve switched lairs, or are you happy to tell her over the phone?”

Raini tensed. “Um … I think we should wait before I transfer.”

“Wait?”

“Yes. Not because I’m not fully committed to you—”

“It’s not just a simple commitment, Raini. We’re mates now. Those brands on your hips are never going to fade. This is serious. Permanent.”

“Agreed. I don’t want to fuck it up by rushing everything else. Plus, my parents are really worried for me right now. They’ll be happy for us, but—considering their other daughter is missing— they might find it too hard to see me leave the lair. So much so that they might even want to switch along with me. Do you want to be the one to tell them they can’t? Because I don’t.”

Maddox sighed. “I can agree that another upheaval for your parents might prove to be too much. But that’s not the main reason you’re hesitant to transfer to my lair, is it?”

“No, I’m leery of moving too fast. We’ve so far let things move at their own pace. It’s worked. We should just keep doing that. Why are you smiling at me like, I don’t know, like you feel sorry for me or something?”

“I had a feeling you’d say that. Do you know why? I’ll tell you. It’s because you don’t like to jump into anything. You don’t like to succumb to your impulses—unusual for a demon. But I suspect it has something to do with growing up around imps, who leap without looking and often seem surprised when that backfires. You don’t want things backfiring on you, so you take a more careful approach.”

She couldn’t help but bristle at how easily he’d read her. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“No, there isn’t.” He pulled her back down to the mattress and held her flush against him. “Like I said, we’re mates now. Mates don’t live apart or belong to separate lairs. But if it’ll make you feel better to spend time ruminating and reflecting and looking at the situation from every angle before we make those changes, you do that. One day, when you’re more sure of us, I’ll make my claim on you deeper by slipping a ring on your finger—that’s how serious about you, about us, that I am. But I’m not going to rush or pressure you. Just bear in mind that our demons will only give you so much time to play catch-up—they won’t like that we’re not living together or part of the same lair.”

“Why aren’t you annoyed that I’m struggling to move at your speed?”

“I can be patient when I know I’ll eventually get what I want.”

She narrowed her eyes. “In other words, you’re indulging me by giving me time.”

He pursed his lips. “In a nutshell, yes.”

She gave him a haughty sniff. “How benevolent of you.”

A smirk flirted around the edges of his mouth. “I was thinking exactly the same thing.”

“God, you’re an asshole.”

“I wasn’t thinking that.”

“You should be.”

He smoothed his hand down her back. “The only asshole I’m interested in is yours.”

“Pfft. You can be as interested in it as you like, but my ass is an exit-only zone. Nothing goes up there. Definitely not your cock, because there ain’t anything slim or small about it.”

“All right.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Enough with the indulgent ‘I’ll let her believe what makes her feel better because I’ll eventually get my way’ smile.”

He lathed her lower lip with his tongue. “Kiss me.”

Raini sniffed. “Not feeling the vibe right now.”

“I’ll make you feel it.” He slid his hand around her hip and down to her pussy.

“I’m not in the mood to—” She gasped as he started doing some very clever things to her clit, unerringly finding every hot spot. “You know my body too well,” she grumbled.

“It knows me. It knows I’ll give it what it wants. As do you, so just lay back and enjoy.”

Shutting the top drawer of his dresser early the next morning, Raini turned to Maddox, who stood a few feet away with his hands in his pockets. They’d collected her things from the penthouse an hour ago, and he’d shuffled some of his clothes around to make room for her own. Not liking the self-satisfied look on his face, she clipped, “There, I’m unpacked. Happy?”

He stalked toward her. “You really should stop sulking. It makes your lips pout, and that just makes me want them wrapped around my cock. I’m pretty sure you’d rather eat breakfast before you do anything else.”

As if to back him up on that, her stomach rumbled.

His mouth curving, Maddox took her hand. “Come on.”

He teleported her to the main hall, where most of his demons were gathered, eating, drinking, and talking. The delicious scents of toast, eggs, bacon, and breakfast potatoes laced the air.

People said their good mornings or nodded in greeting before going back to their food and conversations. There’d been a time when the descendants had seemed awkward whenever she joined them at mealtimes. Now, well, it was old news. The only people who ever gave any real sort of reaction were Marcella and Euan—usually by going stiff in their seats or offering brittle, insincere smiles. Like Raini gave a shit.

Maddox guided her to their usual table, where his sentinels were already seated.

“So, you all moved in?” asked Hector.

Piling food on her plate, Raini replied, “Temporarily, yes.”

Hector snorted. “Temporarily. Sure.”

Carmen elbowed him hard. “Is there anywhere you need to go today, Raini?”

“Nope,” replied Raini, shaking her head. “I need to go over my plans for the upcoming party I’m throwing, but I can do that through video calls.”

She wasn’t in the mood to venture out, because it had become clear that the halo-bearers had no problem with striking in public places. If she went anywhere, she’d be on edge, expecting an attack. And it was possible that Castiel might be planning to launch one, so why make it easy for him?

Just then, her mother’s mind touched hers. Listening to Evangeline’s telepathic heads-up, Raini felt her mouth tighten. “Dammit.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Maddox, stilling.

“My dad almost leveled a city block last night.” Raini sighed, slicing into her bacon a little harder than necessary. “No casualties, just utter mayhem. He’s almost as bad as Jolene when he’s pissed. The only difference is she uses her ability to cause that kind of destruction; he uses household fucking chemicals.”

Hector grinned. “I think I could like your father.”

“Hmm.” Raini shoved a forkful of food into her mouth. “I love my dad. He’s a freaking treasure. He also drives me insane. I guess, as an imp, it’s sort of his vocation.”

“I saw him a few times while guarding your house,” said Carmen. “He always spotted me, no matter how well I hid, and gave me a subtle salute. Your uncle usually sensed me, too. He waggled his tongue all Hannibal Lecter like.”

Raini cringed. “Bram is inappropriate in so many ways.” Deciding it was time for a change of subject, she turned to Maddox. “What are you doing with your day?”

He took a sip of his coffee. “I need to go to the club and see to a few things. You can come, or you can stay here. I’d rather you didn’t leave the monastery, but I won’t force you to remain here. You’re not a prisoner.”

Raini couldn’t help but smile. “You say that like you could force me to stay. You’re so cute at times.” Adorable, even.

Hector snickered.

Maddox gave her a droll look. “I’m well aware that you could take me out with psychic hellfire, but I don’t believe you’d ever use it on me.”

Raini tipped her head to the side. “Whatever makes you think that’s the only notable power I possess? See, so cute. I just wanna squish your cheeks together right now.”

Carmen snorted. “Never heard anyone describe you as cute before, Maddox. Or speak to you so very condescendingly.”

“It surprises me that you allow it,” a voice further down the table commented, its tone hard and clipped.

Carmen exhaled heavily. “It’s called banter, Euan.”

Fisting his hands around his cutlery, Euan stared at Maddox. “I can’t believe you’ve brought an outsider to stay here. This is our home. What’s next? Are you going to bring her into our lair? Are you going to welcome her family into it if they insist on following her?”

Sipping at his coffee again, Maddox leaned back in his chair. “What’s your real issue, Euan?” he asked, cool and calm. “It isn’t that Raini’s here. It isn’t that I want her to join our lair. It’s something else. Tell me what’s really eating at you.”

Euan clamped his lips shut, his nostrils flaring.

“It’s that she makes me stronger, isn’t it?” Maddox went on. “You stopped with your whispers, but you held out hope that the lair would eventually reject me as their Prime; that they would never accept Raini; that my keeping her in my life would weaken my standing here. Instead, she can not only prevent me from turning rogue or going through a haze, she can spare the lair any more future hazes. Maybe one or two demons in this hall aren’t happy that she’s here,” he added, flicking Marcella a brief look. “But the others have accepted her, and you don’t like it.”

Stiff, Euan cleared his throat. “On the contrary, I find it a positive thing that the lair has accepted your anchor, since she will be a big part of your life and—as you said—she makes you stronger. I want that for you. I simply don’t like that we weren’t given a say on whether or not she could stay here. It is our home. We should have been consulted as a measure of common courtesy.”

“It was wrong of me to assume that my own demons would want my anchor protected?”

Euan spluttered. “I didn’t say we wouldn’t want to help protect her.”

“Why do you keep using the word ‘we’? Do you feel that you are a voice for the lair as a whole?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m a voice for them, but I do believe I am merely saying what everybody here is thinking.”

“I see. Look around you, Euan.”

The demon did so. His jaw hardened when he saw that the majority of the people present were either glaring at him or shaking their heads in disgust. A few others, Marcella included, were averting their gazes.

Maddox raised a brow. “Do you still believe everyone here thinks as you do, Euan?”

The man licked the edges of his teeth. “Perhaps they simply fear speaking up.”

“I don’t see why they would. I don’t punish people for having an opinion. Yours is clearly that I should have spoken to you before inviting my anchor to stay in the place where she’d be safest; where I could better protect her from the beings who are only targeting her because of me. It is my responsibility and my honor to keep her safe, so I do not see why anyone would begrudge her being here. My demons are better than that. But, for the sake of your delicate feelings, I will ask you … Euan, do you have an issue with Raini staying here?”

Euan opened and closed his mouth. “No.”

Hector looked at his mate. “Then why the fuck did I spend part of my morning listening to that pointless conversation, babe?”

Carmen patted his back. “You know Euan, Hector. He needs to feel important. But he knows he’s not, so he does dumb shit that he thinks make him look and sound good. It never quite works out, so I don’t know why he hasn’t quit acting this way.”

“I don’t think it’s dumb to want your opinion to be noted,” said Raini. “Thank you, Euan, for not asking that I leave even though you’re not tremendously comfortable with my being here.”

Looking somewhat lost for words, Euan curtly inclined his head and then pushed out of his chair. He muttered something to the people he’d been eating with and then left the hall.

Maddox looked down at his anchor. “You were so good, I almost bought that.”

Raini frowned. “You don’t think I’m truly grateful to him?”

“No.”

“Okay, fine, so I would have preferred to rip the weak prick another asshole,” she admitted. “But he was hoping for that. He wanted me to be a bitch to him right here in his own home so he could look like a victim of the big, bad succubus and probably make out like I think I can take liberties because I’m your anchor. I don’t know if anyone would have fallen for it, but it was what he was hoping for.”

Hector’s brow creased. “You’re right, he was. I didn’t see it until you pointed it out, though.”

Raini’s lips curled. “A devious mind helps you see this shit coming.”

“And you have a devious mind for sure,” Carmen said to her. “It’s just not always apparent straight off.”

Raini shrugged. “Some wear it on their sleeve. Others hide it in their panties.”

Maddox almost choked on his coffee. He glared at her. You did that on purpose.

She flashed him a bright smile that would have weakened his knees if he’d been standing. Well of course I did.

He looked up as three women stopped in front of their table, one of whom was Marcella. It wasn’t she who spoke, though. It was her aunt, Deborah.

Smiling a little shyly at Raini, Deborah said, “I just wanted to say that the rest of us don’t think like Euan. Don’t let him plant any seeds of doubt in your head.”

“Thank you,” said Raini. “I won’t, I promise.”

Marcella looked about to speak, but she instead followed the other two female descendants out of the hall. It was clear she’d had something to say, though. So he wasn’t surprised that she later turned up at his office inside the Damned.

Not bothering with a hello, she instantly declared, “I’d like to transfer to another lair. Not right now while there’s all kinds of crap going on, but afterward.”

Maddox leaned back against his desk. “All right.”

She swallowed. “You really don’t care that I’ll be gone, do you?”

“It won’t be nice to lose a member of my lair. But I’m not going to ask you to stay for a number of reasons. One, you want to be someone’s co-Prime; that isn’t going to happen here. Two, I fully intend to have Raini join the lair at some point; you won’t like it, so you’ll be unhappy here. Three—”

“She won’t want me here, and her feelings matter most,” Marcella sniped, bitterness coating every word.

“What were you hoping I’d say, Marcella? Did you think I’d beg you to stay? That I’d offer you the things you want?”

She balled up her hands. “No. But I thought that, as my Prime, you’d care just a little bit that one of your demons intends to leave. But this suits you just fine, doesn’t it?”

“No, it doesn’t suit me. It doesn’t please me. It doesn’t anything. You clearly have an overestimated sense of your value to me, but I’m unsure why that is. Each and every one of my demons matter. I wouldn’t like to see any of them leave, but nor would I attempt to hold them here if it wasn’t what they wanted. You no longer wish to be one of us. You believe you’re meant for bigger and better things than to be simply part of a lair; you want to co-run one. Why would I try to hold you back from pursuing the things you want?”

A sour expression twisted her face. “Will you make the succubus your co-Prime? Don’t try to tell me you’re not serious about her. Don’t deny it, there’s no point. I can see it clear as day.”

“I would imagine you could, since I’m making no attempt to hide it.”

Her nostrils flaring, she jutted out her chin. “You’re making a mistake. A mistake as old as time. So many demons have gotten swept away by the feelings that come with having an anchor, and they’ve mistaken them for something else. For more. For love, even.” She rolled her eyes. “Once you adjust to the bond, Maddox, the emotional chaos inside you will settle, your feelings will dim, and you’ll realize you don’t really want her the way you think you do now.”

Done with her bullshit, his demon surged to the surface, determined to deal with her. The bravado left her in a rush, and she held herself very still.

“This right here is why you will not make a good Prime,” said the demon. “Too dramatic. Too emotional. Too wrapped up in yourself to care about the well-being of others. You have no interest in leading, only in being followed—that is your biggest downfall. No demon can stay in power for long if they do not lead.”

She swallowed. “I-I’ll bear that in mind.”

“See that you do. There is another thing you would also do well to remember.” The entity walked toward her. “If Maddox or I want your opinion on our relationship with Raini, we will ask for it. Unless that happens, you will say nothing more on the matter. You will keep your beliefs to yourself. You will not seek us out and waste our time with your petty jealousies.

“No amount of stamping your feet will earn you the attention from Maddox that you are looking for. You insist on viewing Raini as someone who is trying to take what should be yours. You would never have been made co-Prime of this lair. You are searching for what you want in all the wrong places. He could not have been clearer on that, but you have not listened to him. Perhaps you will listen to me. There are ways I can enforce that message; every one of them will hurt you. Will it come to that?”

She shook her head hard. “No. No, I-I’ll mind my own business. I’ll look for what I want elsewhere.”

As his demon then retreated, Maddox said, “Wise of you. Now go.”

In a blink, she was gone. His demon grunted, a little disappointed that she’d backed down so easily. A lot of rage had taken up residence inside its system since the recent trouble began, and the entity would have gladly worked out said rage on Marcella.

Knowing the sound of his anchor’s voice would calm it, Maddox reached out and asked, Everything okay?

Her mind touched his. If you mean am I drinking shots of tequila and trying to teach Carmen how to do the Gangnam Style dance, then yes.

His demon chuckled, and Maddox felt one corner of his mouth kick up.

Teleporting to Raini’s side a short time later, Maddox didn’t know what bothered him more. That a good portion of his lair were in his bedroom, or that they were all—Hector included— doing the Gangnam Style dance.

Raini grinned at Maddox. “Yay, you’re back! Come on, you’ve gotta join in.”

Shaking his head, he sank into the armchair and watched. Of course, that made enough people so uncomfortable that they began to trickle out of the room. Which suited him just fine, because he had plans to fuck Raini right on the floor where there’d be no give.

The moment they were alone, that was exactly what he did.