Hellfire Crown by Meg Xuemei X.
CHAPTER 14
Tessa
I opened my eyes, only to meet Loki’s gaze.
The king sat on a high chair, studying me. He was dressed in a light gray shirt that stretched across his muscled chest and dark jeans that hugged his powerful legs. As usual, he looked like a supernatural billionaire, and he was.
I smiled at him. “If other guys looked at me like that, I’d say it was creepy.”
“No other guys will ever look at you like that,” he said simply. “They’d be dead before they even tried.”
“Are you always this mean and possessive, my king?” I teased. I was in a good mood after getting plenty of my mate last night.
“Mean, yes,” he said broodingly. “But I was never possessive until you came.”
“You do know how to make a girl feel special.”
“You’ll feel very special after what I’ll do to you later,” he said despite my flush. “But I must feed you first as a proper mate. Don’t get up yet. Let your mate serve you.”
He helped me up, but it was more like dragging me up. I doubted he knew the difference. The king obviously had never served anyone before.
As he yanked me up, the silky sheet fell off, exposing my breasts. Now he was busy staring at my breasts, heat brewing in his eyes, but then he had the good sense to shake the idea off and murmured “later,” or something else. Yet he didn’t forget to graze my nipple with the back of his hand as he pulled the sheet around my shoulders.
The touch burned me, sending a shiver of pleasure through my body.
The king rushed to lift a tray of food and drink from a golden side table and brought it to me. He placed the tray on a small stool in front of me.
“Drink your milk and eat your omelet,” he ordered. “That’s a standard Earth breakfast.”
“But,” I stuttered, feeling bad I had to say this, “I’m lactose intolerant.”
He eyed me warily, rubbing his chin.
“I can just go get a mug of coffee or tea myself,” I offered, ready to move the tray and throw the cover off. “I appreciate your effort though, really.”
“You’ll appreciate it more when I get you the right breakfast!” He put out a hand to stop me. “Don’t get up. I must serve you and please you as your new mate.”
I wondered who had given him advice about how to be a proper mate. Hopefully, it wasn’t his wolf.
Loki pondered for a long second. “I haven’t punched the Duke of Wickedness for a while, so he keeps making mistakes. He can’t even nail the breakfast for you, which is utterly unacceptable.”
He strode toward the door, hellfire and shadows twirling at his feet at the king’s irritated mood. Then he stopped short, and I snapped my head toward the door.
A peal of laughter and loud chat sounded right outside the master bedroom.
“I told them to come after lunch!” Loki said through his clenched teeth. “Now they’ll insist on staying for lunch!”
Axel and Paxton led the group, with Marigold positioned and protected in the center, and Héctor and Zak bringing up the rear. Mari was protesting and trying to push through the ranks. She managed it by peeking out through the space between Axel and Paxton.
“What can Loki do to me?” Mari asked, rolling her eyes. “He wouldn’t try even if you begged him. You should know that about him by now. My little brother is all bark and no bite.”
“Excuse me,” Loki hissed as he blocked the group. “I’m your big brother and I do bite!”
The death demigod narrowed his sapphire eyes and frowned. “Who are you going to bite?”
“Come back later,” Loki dismissed them. “Don’t you see I’m having a private moment here?”
The group diverged as if they’d rehearsed it and got past him from either side. There were five of them and only one Loki.
“Tessa’s having breakfast,” Mari called giddily. “We came at a good time.”
Zak sidled up to her side, lightning flashing in his blue eyes. “But you had breakfast already, Rosebud. I cooked for you, remember?”
“What about a second breakfast then?” she asked, batting her green eyes at him.
Zak blinked but soon smiled at her dotingly. “Of course. That can be arranged.”
Before he gestured at Loki, Axel beat him by yelling. “Demon King, where is our second breakfast?”
“Get you own, brat,” Loki said.
Before an argument could break out, I called, “Mari, you can have mine. Here’s the milk.”
I picked up the glass of milk while my other hand grabbed the sheet to make sure it didn’t slip off my chest. “I haven’t touched it yet.”
Mari squinted at me. “Hell has milk? Is it organic?”
Before Marigold could come to get the milk, Loki zoomed in on me. He removed the tray, put the milk aside, and started to wrap the sheet around me, mummy style.
He even covered my naked arms. The king was an incredibly unreasonable, jealous man, but this was overkill.
“That’s interesting,” Mari said, snatching the glass of milk and drinking it. “I’ve never seen you this prudish, brother. You were a notorious womanizer, and you threw orgies all over the place all the time.” Over Loki’s scowl, she shrugged. “It wasn’t a secret. All Earth knew about it.”
“Stop badmouthing me in front of my mate,” Loki shouted furiously. “Now out! Out!”
“Don’t be a butthole, Loki,” Paxton advised mildly.
“Guys, please give us some privacy?” I said. “You don’t want Loki and me to visit you while you and Icy Dagger are in the middle of something, do you? You all know that Loki is the grandson of the God of Tricksters. He can be really creative at playing practical jokes, and I, of course, will always stand by him. I also happen to have a few tricks up my sleeve as a notorious assassin.”
Loki grinned at me.
“Fine, fine, we get it,” Marigold said. She was pleased to be called Icy Dagger. “If Loki provides us with a second breakfast, we can wait in the sitting room. We’re doing this for Tessa.”
“A second breakfast large enough to feed the five of us,” Héctor added. “Don’t cut corners this time.”
An appreciative smile sparked in Paxton’s violet eyes. “That sounds good.”
“Good, my ass,” Loki said.
A second later, Leviathan poked his head in, eyeing Marigold and the demigods cagily.
“Give these riffraff some refreshment so they’ll leave my mate and me alone,” Loki said in a snide tone. “Tell the kitchen there’s no need to go for top quality.”
“Now that’s just mean, jerk.” Axel shook his head in disgust and strode out of the room.
Loki slammed the door shut at the heels of the last member of the group with his Hell wind, evoking a few curses from the demigods.
“I’ve had bad luck lately,” the king murmured sourly. “Every time we are in the middle of something, they bust in and ruin our moment.”
“They didn’t ruin anything,” I said with a smile. “No one can really ruin the moment between us.”
His gaze slid to me, warmth and gentleness sparking in his midnight eyes. The king was never rough around the edges when he was with me.
I pulled the sheet from my body, and he stared at my nudity with burning lust.
“We should join them before they test your boundaries again,” I reminded him.
“They’ll regret it tremendously,” he said. “Now that I have you, we can make their lives hell together.”
“It’s not a competition,” I said. “Now I need to get dressed.”
He grinned at me. “Let me help you.”
His help included sucking my tits before he allowed me to put on a shirt.
