Revealing the Monster (Playing with Monsters #4) by Amelia Hutchins

“And you raped her for it?”

“I didn’t rape Kendra. Inside the abbey, that was an illusion for Lucian. I wanted him to think I had because it was part of the plan to make him lose his mind. I thought he loved you or her, rather. I believed I had misread his feelings, but I wasn’t wrong after all. I just had the wrong twin, and he knew it. Kendra, though, I asked her to be with me and formally courted her. She was easy to charm, and I enjoyed her in my bed. In fact, we spent an entire week there creating our daughter, Makenna. The thing was, Kendra tried to abort our child, and for that, I gave her to my men. She told me I’d planted a monster inside of her, and maybe I had. But she’s such a beautiful little monster, Lena. I was grateful that Kendra grew to love our daughter before she died. I suspected her feelings, but they were confirmed when she asked you to protect and watch over Makenna.”

“What is it you think you’re going to get from me?” I countered, unwilling to discuss Kendra anymore with the man that had allowed her to die.

“Who says I want anything?”

“Your eyes do,” I stated, cupping his cheeks while searching his gaze. His hands lifted, covering mine, while he closed his eyes briefly. “What do you want, Luc?”

“Can’t I just be a man, and you a woman?”

“No, it could never be so simple, Luc. You’re the Devil, and I am something—else.”

He exhaled, leaning closer as a smile played on his lips. “Do you know why my father kicked me out of Heaven? The real reason? Not the version I made up or created to make him into a sinner.”

I licked my lips, shivering at the heat his body sent pulsing against my form through the skimpy gown. His eyes lowered to the action, slowly lifting back to mine while he pressed against me, kissing my cheek.

“I don’t know the truth, Luc. I know you tried to say he’d slept with the Devil, but you’re the Devil.”

“No, he was too pure and saintly for that. It was a terrific rumor to make people think he wasn’t as good as he pretended to be.” His eyes grew distant, as if remembering the past. He shook his head, leaning back to peer at me through a guarded expression.

“Was he Adam?”

“No,” he laughed, a sparkle of mischief dancing in his gaze. “Adam and Eve wouldn’t have ever created life had he been Adam. My father wouldn’t dare soil her garden or taint his persona in the eyes of those for which he cared. No, but I was in the garden.”

“You were the serpent,” I stated, but he shook his head.

“No, I wasn’t the serpent. My mother, Lilith, was the serpent inside the garden. I was blamed for it, but I was only watching Adam and Eve. I wanted to know what was so special about humans. My father preferred them over us, and I needed to understand why. So I’d snuck into the garden, which was off-limits to our kind. It was forbidden to speak to or interact with them, but I needed to see for myself what he saw in his humans that would make them superior to us.”

“Emotions?” I guessed, watching his lips jerk up in the corners before his tongue slipped over the bottom lip, pinching it between his teeth as he laughed.

“It was more than just emotions. That was part of it, though. Humans were strange creatures to us. Even the gods were curious about them and why my father had taken such an interest in them. Nyx was among those who noticed, hence me adding her into the mythos about Adam and Eve. My mother, Lilith, also wanted to know what my father found so perfect about his humans. It turns out that he liked them for all the reasons he punished us. They could not ignore sin and had flaws.” He ran his thumb over his bottom lip, tilting his head while watching me.

“I snuck into that garden, wanting to understand what drew my father to them. Instead, I studied them from the shadows as Lilith whispered temptation into their ears. Adam tasted Eve’s lips, and I wanted to be him. I watched Adam lay her down in that orchard and push his cock into her body. I wanted to feel her around me. He loved Eve, and I wished for her to love me, too. These were my father’s favorite creatures, and yet they were breaking all his rules. I thought my father had tested them, and they failed that test.”

“You watched Adam and Eve?” I asked, scrunching up my nose as he smiled wickedly. It was amazing to hear about them and to know that he’d been inside the Garden of Eden. It may have seemed perverted to others, but who else could say they were getting the actual story from the Devil himself?

“Adam and Eve were the first creatures to fuck in that way. Or, they were the first ones in our world. Angels didn’t get that right or feel anything because it was forbidden. Of course, I watched Adam grunting over Eve’s sweat-covered body. I smelled her arousal, and saw it on her naked pussy too, and whispered it into the wind that he should taste her there. He did, and he made it sound as if she was the rarest delicacy when his tongue ran through her pink petals. I wanted to become him and taste her cunt for myself, but I was still holding on to the fact that she was the forbidden fruit, and the apple wasn’t.”

“That’s disturbing,” I snorted, and his tongue jutted out, tracing over his lips while he held my stare captive. He moaned, smirking darkly as his gaze grew hooded.

“I bet you still taste like heaven. The flavor of your pussy is still on my lips, Lena. You came so hard for me, dripping down my chin while you fucked my mouth. You made the most erotic sounds for me.”