He chuffed through his nose, the sound meant to be derisive, but it came out soft. “What does it matter to you if I am evil or not? You still despise my very nature—and you will still be made to surrender to a lifetime subjugated to my kind.”

She smiled. It was barely more than a weak twitch of her lips, but it still lit up her face and penetrated through his ribcage. “Perhaps. But subjugation to a demon who won’t violate and abuse me is infinitely less terrifying than the alternative.”

“I won’t be the one to mate you, Georgia. It will be one of my men.” He had known this from the moment she was brought into his throne room, trembling and weak. There was no reason for lead to sink heavily into his gut as he reminded them both of this indisputable fact.

“No, it won’t be you. But you won’t give me to someone who will hurt me, either. And who knows? Maybe he will even be capable of love.” She looked at him with that soft smile, the expression in her pretty eyes suggesting her future mate’s potential to love her should somehow be a comfort to them both.

It wasn’t.

24

Georgia

Georgia had always tried to stay as far away from the demons she saw as she could. Regardless, she’d been painfully aware of their dark nature and tendency toward violence and degradation. Her P.E. teacher, with the horns and the tendency toward sadistic, public humiliation, was a mild example of what she knew them capable of.

To now be faced with the reality that they could feel remorse? Empathy? It was… startling.

She looked up at the big monster on the bed with her, his demonic features softened with remnants of grief. Once upon a time, he’d been a little kid who loved his mom. And he’d lost her in the worst way imaginable. She’d never thought she could feel sorrow for a demon’s misfortune, but her gut still clenched from the raw pain he’d been unable to hide from her.

And still… it wasn’t just empathy for his loss that filled her. It was staggering relief, too. She had sold herself to the monsters to save Larry, and she’d expected the price for her brother’s life to be a lifetime of misery. But if they were capable of love… Of tears… Then there was a chance, however small, that her future might not be as grim as she’d dreaded since signing Lewin’s contract.

Even if she would still need to do some things she’d rather not.

“We should continue.” She held out a hand, her fingers wrapping around Kesh’s clawed digits when he reached for her on autopilot.

“Continue?” he repeated, eye ridges rising in question at her sudden change of topic.

“You look exhausted. Let me… Let me nourish you. Our bargain…” She trailed off, feeling guilty for reiterating how she was offering him comfort purely to fulfill her end of their arrangement.

Kesh shook his head, a humorless smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “No.” He drew a deep breath, releasing her hand as he climbed off the bed. “You’ve given enough. Our bargain is fulfilled, little Breeder. Get some rest. I’ll have to mark you tomorrow, but for now… Just rest.”

“Wait.”

They both froze at the sound of her soft plea. She stared up at him, her pulse picking up. Was she really going to offer…? But one look up into his black eyes, still softer than she’d ever known they could be, and the nervous energy fizzing along her spine dispersed to a tolerable prickle.

“Wait,” she repeated, a little more strength to her voice this time. “You need… Please. Let me take care of you.”

He frowned, the expression severe on his harrowing features, but for the first time it didn’t cause unease to clench at her esophagus. For a long moment, silence stretched between them. Then he exhaled a shaky breath and knelt back down on the bed.

“You’re sure?”

She nodded, teeth digging into her lower lip as she fought the shyness threatening to rise. He’d had his face between her thighs three times already. With a beast like the demon prince, there was no room for bashfulness.

Which was perhaps the one good thing about him; the second she nodded her consent, there was no awkwardness nor hesitation—nothing but hunger in his eyes as he moved forward and captured her mouth in his.

“Mm-h.” He swallowed her surprised moan as scorching heat traveled from his kiss all the way down her chest and stomach to center right in her clit with a throb of excitement. Large, clawed hands cupped the back of her head and her lower back as he eased her down on the bed without ever breaking the kiss.

Her legs parted for balance, and he settled down between them as if he belonged there, forcing a stretch along her inner thighs as she spread to embrace his wide body. Heat bloomed everywhere his scaled skin grated roughly against hers, but that was nothing compared to the hard press on the full length of her abdomen as he put his weight on her and his absurd cock pressed down.

A glimmer of fear tried to worm its way to her brain, but before her adrenaline could respond, Kesh’s tongue plunged into her mouth, and anxiety was replaced with another rush of heat.

Gods, why did it feel so good? The demon’s kiss was edged with gasoline and lit matches—danger distilled into scent. But every cell in her body bloomed awake, heat curling in her abdomen for every stroke of his tongue over hers.

She’d never been kissed like this; like nothing else mattered to this male than the taste of her. He groaned into her mouth, filling her airways with his demonic scent and her head with the pounding of her own blood. Every part of her lit up, as if her very biology was tuned to his need on a primal level.

Of their own accord, Georgia’s arms wrapped around his wide torso as she let herself melt into him.

“Blackened stars,” he groaned, pulling back from her lips to place scorching kisses along her jaw, down the column of her throat. The heat in her blood turned to champagne fizz with every press of his lips against her skin, inching lower and lower. When he kissed his way down her breastbone, she didn’t think; moaning with need she hadn’t known she possessed before the first night in his bed, she speared her fingers through his hair and pulled him to one achingly tight nipple.

Kesh obeyed her unspoken demand. Warm, wet heat closed around the needy little bud, the flick of a tongue following. When he sucked, her groan of pleasure mixed with his.

“More!” The demand rasped out of her throat, pulled by the aching throb in her clit for every suck on her nipples. Shit, he made her feel so fucking needy. Like every nerve in her body was strung too tight, and the only way to relief was through him. “Please, Kesh, I need—oooh!”

Her desperate cry cut off on a moan when he pushed one large hand between them, thumb landing on her ringed clit as he turned his mouth to her other breast. Deep, rhythmic suckles echoed down the length of her body and back up her spine with every strum over her center of nerves, until there was nothing left but wet, clenching need. Without thought, she grasped onto his horns and pushed, trying to guide his mouth downward.

“I love how desperate you are for me,” he rasped against her, scorching lips nipping at the skin covering her belly as he let her steer his head down. When he finally reached her pussy, his breath hitched, and a growl rumbled out of his throat. “Fuck, you smell so fucking good. Do you want to come? Is that why that needy little pussy is soaking for me, hmm? You want me to feast on your helpless little clit?”

Georgia nodded frantically, giving his horns a hard tug to try and guide him down to her throbbing clit. “Yes, yes, please, that! I need that!”

Snarling, he roughly parted her labia and, without further warning, buried his mouth in her pussy.

“Ah!” Her cry as shocks of sensations rocked through her pelvis and down her thighs was overlaid by his rich growl.