Page 55 of Demon's Bride

I’m alone, for one, and when I sit up and look around the room, Eren is nowhere to be found.

“So much for sharing our mornings together,” I grumble to myself before getting out of bed and padding naked to the bathroom.

I’ve discovered the shower stall cut into one of the rock walls and am mid-way through rinsing myself off when a pair of big hands reach around to cup my breasts from behind.

I jump and shriek, which only makes Eren laugh and hold me tighter.

“Did I scare you?”

“Oh, no. I’m more than used to strange men walking up and grabbing me while I bathe.” He growls a little at that, and I rub a soothing stroke over the back of his hand. “I’m only kidding. I thought you’d already left for the day.”

He spins me in his arms and steps under the warm spray with me. When he reaches one hand up to cup my jaw, I can’t help but lean into him.

“I wouldn’t have left without saying anything.”

The assurance is serious and sweet, and combined with the tenderness of his touch, all my lingering irritation at waking up alone and being ambushed in my shower disappears.

“What’s on the agenda for today?” I ask him.

He presses his lips to my forehead briefly before answering. “I thought we could spend the day together. That’s where I went this morning, to clear a few things off my plate so I’d be free to spend it with you. If you’d like, that is.”

Eren sounds almost… shy, like he’s really not sure how I’m going to respond. Silly demon. I lean up and capture his lips with mine for a few long, hot kisses before pulling back with a grin.

“I’d love that.”

An hour later, Eren takes me by the hand and leads me through the stone archway and back onto our private balcony-slash-landing strip. I’m wearing a cream-colored tunic top, and a pair of fitted trousers in an impossibly soft, dark brown material. I complete the outfit with a pair of knee-high boots in black leather.

I look like a pirate, or some fantasy princess about to sneak out of the castle to go on an adventure, and—as it turns out—I really, really dig that look. So does Eren, if his short growl of approval when he sees what I’d picked out for the day is any indication.

“Where are we going?” I ask for at least the fifth time this last hour. He’s been maddeningly closed-lipped about what our day is going to entail.

“As I’m the one with wings,” he says, stepping back and giving those admittedly magnificent black wings a mighty stretch behind him, “I believe that’s for me to know and you to find out.”

I cross my arms over my chest and pop a hip. “You think I’d just let you carry me off to parts unknown? A dangerous predator like you?”

Eren’s eyes flash molten for a moment and I hope my words had their intended effect. I hope he’s thinking about our first night in the wilderness of the demon realm, about what happened when he caught and carried me back here.

After last night, I’m desperate to reignite that spark between us. I understand his reasons for walking things back, completely agree that nothing should happen between us if we’re not both fully into it, but I’m also all-for anything that might help renew the bargain and the magick in this realm. And if that so happens to be fucking the brains out of my hot demon husband, so be it. You won’t see me complaining.

Now I just have to get him to feel the same.

“If this predator promises to be on his best behavior?”

“Hmmm,” I murmur. “Then I think I’d be even less inclined to go with you.”

Another flash, this time accompanied by a low growl of warning and a few stalking steps toward me.

“Be careful what you tempt, little witch.”

“No. I don’t think I will.”

As soon as he reaches me, Eren swings me up into his embrace and nestles his face into my neck, walking us out onto the rock ledge outside the bedchamber. The sharp drag of a fang follows, and I can’t help but shiver in anticipation and arch a little closer.

He hasn’t bitten me since yesterday afternoon, but the answering shot of lust in my veins when he runs his tongue along his claiming mark is undeniable. So is the purr that kicks up in his chest.

“Sweet as a rose garden in a rainstorm,” he says against my skin.

I don’t have time to respond before he executes a truly impressive vertical takeoff into the clear morning sky. Letting out a yelp, I cling even tighter to him.