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

For good or bad, Lucian was my end game. He was the part of my life that I couldn’t live without. No matter what I ended up as or where I sat, whether at his feet or by his side, I was his. It wasn’t only the furies within me that wanted him. I wanted him.

I loved Lucian, and the thing scaring me most right now was not knowing if he needed me as much as I needed him.

Without him, I was lost. I had fallen in love with him, but more than that, I wanted forever with him. Lucian was my soul, and even though I’d lost mine, he kept me grounded.

He was my warmth when I was cold and my security and protection when I did stupid shit.

Lucian’s smile was blinding while he watched me, taking my breath away with the unguarded look burning in his gaze. He slid his eyes over my face, grinning and pulling me in for another kiss as an animalistic sound escaped his throat. His tongue traced my lips, pushing through them to find mine. He subdued me easily, groaning as I melted into the strength of his body.

When the kiss ended, he pulled me with him toward the throne that sat in the middle of the stage. I started to lower myself onto the pillow, but he tugged me back up, slowly shaking his head.

“You do not sit at my feet, Magdalena. You sit with me or beside me, but never beneath me. You are the one I chose to be with me. You’re not my submissive or my pet. You are mine, and that means you’re my equal. You’re the woman I choose to be with forever.”

I swallowed past the lump that formed in my throat with his words. Tears flooded my eyes as he smirked, sitting on the throne, before pulling me down onto his lap. His hand slid to my thigh, exposed from the slit in the material of my dress.

I surveyed the crowd, who continued staring at us silently. The weight of their stares made me fidget, but Lucian’s fingers began working small, circular patterns on my leg, comforting my uneasiness.

Lucifer stood at the back of the room, his violet stare burning a hole where Lucian touched me. His hand slid around my throat, lifting my chin as he placed a gentle kiss against the pulse thundering at the base of my neck.

“He wants what isn’t his to claim. Only you can send him away,” Lucian growled, knowing right where my eyes had landed.

“I am yours, and only yours, Lucian. He knows that because I have told him who I chose and to whom I would always return.” He placed a soft kiss on my throat, and I felt his lips curling into a smile. “I love you now, and until the world crumbles to ashes around us.”

I waited for him to replicate my words or admit how he felt about me. The only answer I got in return was a wicked chuckle that caused my nipples to harden with his heated breath, fanning the exposed skin on my throat and shoulder. He lifted his hand from around my stomach and cupped my breast, running his fingers over the sensitive tip hidden beneath the thin fabric.

“He has tasted your cunt, and desires to drink from you again. Should I spread your succulent body and show him what he can never have?” he asked huskily.

His question sent need pulsing to my core, and there was no hiding the arousal that drenched me. Lucian’s dark laughter confirmed it, yet he made no move to do as he wished—what we both wanted.

“You’re not saying no, Lena,” he mused loudly.

“I’m not saying yes, either,” I returned, moaning as his hand lifted, encircling my throat in a show of possessiveness that made my thighs clench together.

“Look at Lucifer,” he ordered. “He’s imaging being me at this moment. He wishes he was touching your pretty throat to feel your pulse growing faster while your entire body hums with need for him. You want me to fuck you right now, don’t you?” He moved his hand, grasping my chin, his fingers sprawling across the bottom of it.

“I do, but not here. Not in front of Lucifer or your guests,” I whispered huskily, unable to hide the tremble of need in my voice.

He chuckled, kissing my shoulder. I didn’t need to see him to know he was daring Lucifer to make a move for me. His eyes were trained on the Devil, the fucking Devil, and he was challenging him openly.

Lucian lifted my leg, parting my thighs to reveal the lace panties I wore. I was soaked from his endless teasing, and the toy was still seated in my core, lightly buzzing from where he’d left it on, torturing me endlessly.

Lucian’s hand slipped around my throat, and his lips brushed against my ear. He spoke in a foreign language, which made Lucifer’s image shimmer as rage played over his face. Violet eyes turned red, and his boned wings expanded to blot out the sight of Spyder behind him.

I felt something burning on my wrist, as if a branding iron was searing it. Strange words in ancient writing covered my skin in a molten orange glow. I didn’t balk or so much as whimper while I held Lucifer’s enraged gaze.

“It says, Forever in Life and Death,” Lucian uttered softly, slowly kissing the sensitive skin below my ear.

“You branded me?” Like cattle, I didn’t state out loud, knowing every immortal within the club hung on our every whispered word.

“As my Queen, Magdalena,” he corrected, making my stomach tense as my heartstrings frayed. “You are linked to me in a way that not even death can argue. Now everyone in this room has seen the words forming on your flesh and knows you’re mine and only mine. I have never claimed another as I am openly claiming you now.”

Swallowing past the swelling in my throat, I turned his words over in my mind. Tears flooded my eyes, but I blinked them away rapidly. He wasn’t declaring his love. Lucian had declared ownership in front of the guests who watched us. He’d branded my flesh as if claiming a cow that would graze in his fields.