Then he grabbed the hem of her shirt and tugged it over her head.
Walking her backwards, he unclipped her bra with one deft hand.
He laid Eddie on her back and stepped away. His gray eyes touched her with palpable heat as he studied her. “You’re exquisite, my Eddie. I would have waited another thousand years to see you like this.”
Eddie was pathetically grateful he hadn’t. “Come here.”
“No.” He shook his head with a wicked grin. Grabbing one foot and then the other, he tugged off her shoes and socks. He kissed her foot arches. “Such pretty feet.”
“Never mind my feet.” Eddie writhed on the bed, desperate for more of him. The lust seal sent another pulse of fuel to the fire, and Eddie was ready to combust.
Shade pressed a hand between her breasts and drew it slowly down her stomach to the button on her pants. “Shall I take these off?”
“Do it.”
He popped the button. “Say please.”
“Fuck you.”
Laughing, he drew the zipper down. “That’s the general idea here.”
One swift, hard tug, and she was lying in front of him in nothing but a pair of pale pink panties.
“So chaste,” he whispered, playing with the tiny satin bow. “Almost makes me feel guilty about doing this.”
He cupped her and pressed his palm against where she ached most.
Eddie reared up as sensation flooded her.
Her chaste pink panties were soaked, and he could feel it.
One long finger snaked through the leg hole and brushed her wetness. Gaze locked on her, he raised that finger and sucked. Closing his eyes, he groaned. “So sweet.”
He yanked off his shirt. Sunlight burnished the hard places of his chest and his rippling abdominals. Through his jeans, his cock strained. He palmed his erection and stroked. “Look what you do to me, Eddie.”
Eddie would rather touch, and she reached for him.
He knocked her hands aside and drew her panties off. Then he stripped off what remained of his clothes.
“Open for me, Eddie,” he rasped. “Let me see you.”
Amazed that she wasn’t the least self-conscious, Eddie parted her thighs.
Shade’s eyes grew heavy-lidded as he studied her. “Brace your feet,” he whispered as he stroked the thick, hard flesh of his cock.
Eddie put her heels to the sides of the bed, opening herself fully to his hot, needy stare.
A wave of lust, from her or the seal she didn’t know, made Eddie cry out.
Shade brushed the head of his cock through her soaked folds. “I can’t wait any longer.”
“Then don’t.”
With one hard thrust, he joined them. Cock deep inside her, he stilled. “I love you, Eddie, and you will always be mine.”
He grabbed her thighs and held them around his hips as he pounded into her.
Flesh slapped against flesh. Inarticulate grunts and moans provided the soundtrack to the steady thrust of him inside her. His abs flexed with each powerful plunge of his cock.
Eddie’s orgasm built on the rising waves of lust from the seal. It crashed into her like a storm, and she hung suspended in the most intense pleasure of her life.
Shade shoved even deeper inside her and shouted as he came. He stroked into her through a series of aftershocks until he collapsed on her. His weight drove her deep into the bed, and his sweat-slicked skin clung to hers.
The moment was so intense Eddie wanted to say something profound. But her brain was fried, and her body so sated she might never move again. So, she just said, “Wow.”
Chapter Forty
Belle gritted her teeth as forceful, tenacious tentacles of power grasped for hers. She shrunk her hell powers into a tiny kernel, but still they sensed her and ravenously attempted to take her power.
A half-moon gleamed down over the arid landscape from a cloudless night sky. The southern hemisphere stars littered the firmament like sequins on a velvet ballgown. War would materialize in a matter of hours, and instead of tracking them down like she had Pestilence, Belle hoped to deal with them here. Unlike Pestilence, War wouldn’t need to come into contact with humans to spread their poison. If the human news was any indication, already War’s effect was being felt throughout the world.
Countries armed on their neighbor’s borders. Within cities and towns, unrest broke into running, bloody battles with authorities. War would plunge humanity into unprecedented bloodshed, which considering the violent history of the species, was a terrifying notion.
The hair on her nape rose, warning her she wasn’t alone, and Belle swung around to face the threat.
A dark-haired demon with finely chiseled features, whose skin the moonlight turned to silver, studied her. For a moment, he robbed her of thought. She had never seen anything so compelling or beautiful. His horns, curling from his ears to the back of his head, brought to mind a magnificent pagan being of power. She wanted to draw closer to him. Natural caution kept her back.
With his dark clothing, the demon blended seamlessly into the night. “Greetings, Lord Belphegor.” He bowed. When he rose to face her again, a disarmingly crooked smile softened his handsome features. “Or may I call you Belle?”
“Who are you?” His aura tasted of power and something unknown. His power signature was off the charts for even the higher order demon he was.
He pressed one hand to his chest. “I am Ashe of Lucifer’s court.”
That name she knew well, and she stiffened. The betrayal almost felt personal. She had wanted— it hardly mattered now that she knew who he was. “Shouldn’t that be formerly of Lucifer’s court?”
“Ah.” His regret looked genuine. “I see my reputation has preceded me.”
Ashe had controlled Wrath and Eddie through some sort of amulet that drained their powers. His hands were empty and resting by his sides. “You risk much by confronting me.”
She dared not reach for her power with the horsemen so near, but that didn’t make her unable to defend herself. She dropped a hand to her hip, close to the onyx dagger strapped beneath her shirt.
“We are guessing we have you to thank for Pestilence going silent.” Ashe shoved his hands in his pockets.
Belle watched those hands. He could be reaching for an amulet. There was no good answer for his question, so she reverted to what she did best—watch and wait.
“Yes.” Ashe raised one hand and ran his thumb over his bottom lip. “We were anticipating a far more noticeable affect to Pestilence rising.” He grinned. “We were unaware you were able to go this power dark. Impressive. I couldn’t sense you.”
