Bound By Lucifer by Aiden Pierce

Chapter Twelve

Lucifer

She tasted just like how I remembered.

Like clean, sun-warmed skin. Which didn’t make much sense when she was a native demon of the Underworld, where there was no sun. She was always meant for the light. She was always meant for me, the light bringer. Of all my names, I never understood that one until I met her.

Oh, sweet Lilith.

Up until now, I couldn’t be sure it was her, but as soon as I tasted her, my beast came roaring to life inside me, just as it did the day I fell from Paradise and landed in the Ninth Circle.

At the time, I had been ignorant, wallowing in my own misery and intent on crawling my way out of Hell to find my true mate so that I could get my wings back. That was when I had believed Eve to be my true mate. My beast didn’t roar for her like it did for Lilith, but when God tells you Eve is the woman for you, put there to test your will and your piety, you fucking believe him.

Turns out even God can be wrong.

And it took me eight hundred years to fully realize that. When I finally did, Lilith was stolen away from me.

Now, after centuries of searching, I’d finally found her.

My Lilith. My ferocious, fiery demoness.

She’s so soft now. So different. She has blonde hair the color of wheat. It was black back then. Her face has changed, too, except for her eyes. They haven’t changed. They’re still gray like a sea-storm ready to break. She’s thinner now, with bags under her eyes which makes me angry at Paradise all over again for not blessing this beautiful woman with all the things she deserves.

But they don’t give a fuck about her. To them, she’s nobody. They don’t know that she’s mine.

I have to get her to the Underworld, where it’s safe.

For all I know, Michael’s already caught wind of this, and he’s just waiting to tear her away from me for the second time.

I won’t let that happen.

I’d have her heart regardless of what paperwork she signs. I was supposed to get her to sign the magical document so that it would be easier to compel her to the Underworld. But plans had changed.

Abaddon was no doubt furious with me for veering from the plan. But if she remembered who I was, I wouldn’t have to use magic tricks to get her to come with me.

And I wanted her to remember me.

As she’d requested, I was trying my damnest to stay out of her head, but that was a tall order when my mate was imagining me on top of her, tearing that dress I’d bought her from that perfect, tight little body and burying myself between her perfect thighs.

How I burned to bend her over the table and take what was rightfully mine, what I’d been deprived of for centuries.

It had been an absurd amount of time since I had her beneath me, screaming the devil’s name loud enough for the whole of Paradise to hear. I lost count of how many years had passed since I’d been inside her.

Despite coining the most recent nickname of “playboy,” I hadn’t been with another woman since Lilith. Centuries ago. Fucking centuries.

I was so hard for her that it was soul-screaming agony.

But I wanted her to know exactly who I was and that in her past life, she’d given me her everything. Her body, her mind, her heart, even her soul.

I had owned everything she was, and she’d owned everything I was.

I wanted that again. I would own everything again.

All the cryptic clues Cerberus had prepared into the meals hadn’t been enough to jog her memory. I had to break the kiss and tell her, but that was a shit storm waiting to happen.

I wasn’t sure how she was going to respond to being told she’ was once the literal Queen of Hell and a terrifyingly sexy demon shifter. On top of that, Abaddon’s ex-wife. And it was highly unlikely she was going to take that as well as she was taking my tongue right now.

Damn God and all his bleeding angels to the Pit because fuck, did she taste good.

I knew I couldn’t take this any further, but I wouldn’t be the devil if I didn’t consider holding off on telling her who she really was until I’d probably fucked her. But no, that would make for a bitter reunion started on deception and lies, and I always tried to keep that to a minimum between us. But each second this kiss went on, it became all the more difficult to let her go.

The slide of her tongue against mine, the little breathy sounds she was making in my mouth, the fevered pound of her heart in her chest as I knotted my fingers in her hair and pulled her tighter against me…

I might have lost my wings long ago, losing the ability to let my beast loose in my true form, but sometimes he had a surprising grip over my human form. He snarled at me, a deep rumbling growl sounding from my chest as a result.

He was resonating with her, calling for his mate. It was her. It was really her.

Jessica froze in my arms and jerked herself out of my embrace, her eyes wide with fear.

“I’m sorry…” My breath hitched. I swept a nervous hand through my hair, rubbing the back of my skull with idle embarrassment. Fuck. I’d messed that one up.

“What was that? I thought you were the devil, not some damn, growly bear shifter.”

“You don’t know anything about shifters, do you? We all growl, Jessica.”

“N–not like that, not unless—” She couldn’t bring herself to finish her sentence, but she didn’t need to. I could read her thoughts loud and clear. It was always easiest when she was frightened or panicked. While the world of shifters, all paranormal creatures for that matter, were new to the human world, most of Jessica’s knowledge seemed to spur from rumors revolving around the Tacoma Wolf Pack and those shifter romance novels she occasionally read. Much of the information was just fictitious, but the little thought blaring in her head like a little alarm was correct. At least, partially.

The sound she’d heard was something a shifter made only around their mate.

“Is he going to claim me as his mate?”her mind asked.

Oh, Jessica. What are you going to say? That once upon a time, I already did?

“Ask the question you’re thinking right now.”

Her throat twitched with a swallow. “I don’t want to.”

“Yes, you do. Don’t lie to me. You’ve always been courageous, don’t start getting shy on me now.”

Her eyes narrowed into gray slivers, and I could practically taste her ire on the tip of my tongue, the sudden shift in her mood causing the air to quiver.

“I’m getting pretty fed up with you acting like you know me. We just met yesterday. Stop acting like I’m yours.”

“You are mine, Jessica. You gave me your heart.”

“I gave you a kiss.”

“You know you gave me more than that,” I declared with a smirk. “Or at least, you will.”

Blood rushed to her cheeks, staining her ivory flesh with that most delicious hue. “This has all been to save my dad.”

I raised a finger, waggling it at her as I clicked my tongue. “Now you’re lying to yourself and me. You wanted me the moment you laid eyes on me. Don’t deny it, Kitten.”

Her mind was moving as fast as a jackrabbit on cocaine, but I could glean the general theme of each thought. She was trying to figure out why she was so attracted to me, why she was eagerly going along with all this. Because as much as she wanted to file it under the easy case file of “noble daughter,” she knew there was more to it than that.

Oh, Kitten. You have no idea how much more there is to this story.

“You must have confused me with someone else,” she murmured. “You’re treating me like I’m your mate.” Her voice grew frantic, raising an octave. “You’re acting like you know me. Like I’ve fallen and hit my head, and you’re trying to get me to remember who I am. It’s like a fucked up Fifty First Dates, only instead of Adam Sandler I’m dating the devil!”

Bingo.

This date might not have stirred her memories enough to recall who she is, but at least our intentions behind tonight were clear. That was a start.

I took a step forward, sliding her a smooth as silk smile that made her throat and the delicate flesh stretched over her collarbone flush to match her cheeks.

She wore the color of sin so well.

“Fifty First Dates? Actually, that movie is an excellent analogy to what is going on here.” I chuckled, taking another step toward her. She took a tentative step back, her heart pounding in a wild tune of fear and excitement.

Oh, Lilith. She always did have a thing for danger.

“Only instead of Adam Sandler, I am indeed the Lord and Master of Death, Hell, and much of the cesspit that lies on top of all that. And you’re not simply dating me, Kitten. Now ask me the question burning in your brain.”

She took a deep breath, collecting her nerves. “Am I your mate?” Her voice sounded so small. She was afraid of the answer, yet the scent of her arousal coiling between her thighs lent a clue that her body still wanted me, even if her mind was still hanging on to the logic.

“You are.”

“But you haven’t claimed me yet.”

Another step forward. She retreated backward until her back bumped into the wall. I placed an arm on either side of her head, trapping her. I could see the two parts of her clashing, a war between her beast and her mortal human instincts. Even in this mortal form, her beast was still in there, driving her toward me.

“Oh, but I have claimed you, Kitten. A long, long time ago.” I reached to capture a stray lock of her blonde hair that had come undone from her bun and wound it slowly around my finger. Then I unwound it, tucked it behind her ear, and let my fingers slide from the shell of her ear, my knuckles brushing against the soft flesh of her throat.

“That’s impossible,” she breathed, shivering beneath my touch.

I chuckled, my hand trailing to brush her lips. The beast inside me purred when they softened beneath my touch, and a different sort of monster came to life in my Armani slacks, hardening. “As impossible as you pressed beneath me? Your pussy weeping for the devil like it’s never known pleasure from a human’s cock?”

It was true how wet she was for me. I could scent the way her body begged for me to take her.

She bit her bottom lip, conflict raging in her stormy gaze.

“This is insane.”

“Oh, Kitten, you have no idea.” I couldn’t resist any longer. My inner celestial was howling to taste her again, and who was I to deny him of his mate? I dropped my lips to hers, claiming her mouth as mine, as it’s always been mine.