Page 67 of Ballad of Nightmares

Ana’s head tilted, and he watched her bend to her knees, settling one on each side of his hips, and then she grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and pulled his chest off the floor. He stayed in surrender, not daring to look away from her as she seemed to thrill at his obedience.

“Be a good little demon and open that pretty mouth for me,” she said, her voice such a delicious taunt that Sam found himself obeying without a second thought.

Ana’s chin lifted. He watched the corner of her lips quirk, her throat bob and her cheeks suck in slightly before she spat in his mouth.

It took everything within him not to lose control at the claim she’d just taken on him. Theblatantfuckingclaim. He was rock-hard beneath her, and he knew she could feel just what that had done to him.

Ana brought him closer and licked the column of his throat. “Show me those talons,” she purred in his ear. “Show me the true demon that you are and give me your darkest desires.”

Fuck, he wanted to. He wanted to show her the beast she’d leered at in that museum. Wings. Claws. Eyes. Everything. But he knew if he did, it would all be over.

And he wasn’t done playing yet.

So he grew those talons and pricked the shirt she was wearing, the tips digging into her flesh enough to make her mouth drop and her breath catch just slightly.

“Is this what you want, baby?” he asked as his long fingers pushed under her shirt and flicked her clothed nipple. He pulled the fabric over her head, revealing her red lingerie beneath. A claw snagged on the lace, and he ripped. Ripped. Until all that was left around her breasts were the seams. But her nipples peaked so beautifully against the chilled night air and the adrenaline coursing through her. He pricked that bud between his fingers and squeezed, watching her face the whole time as a bead of red dribbled down her skin. She sucked air between her teeth, and he captured that drip and began to suck on her. She clawed his scalp, her hips riding over his straining length, that wondrous moan echoing off the walls and the iron.

Sam felt the demons she’d run from now gathering on both sides of the bridge and down below them on the ground floor. He felt their starvation for play and release. He focused on that power as it soaked within him and he held it there. Right at the tip before it exploded out of him. The more she ground against him, the more he began to lose control.

And he would let her take him to that edge.

He would let this fucking Queen drive him to the brink of letting his existence be released. He would let her show these demons who else they should bow to.

Ana reached between them, a scuffle as she unhooked his jeans and then began to stroke him. He cursed and bit her breast hard enough to leave teeth marks behind. The pressure of her hands around his cock made him growl loud, the entire room shaking in response.

“The dead are all watching, baby,” he managed once he’d collected himself, his talons now digging into her generous ass.

Her chuckle was a chill on his flesh, and the whisper… “Tell your friends to enjoy the show.”

The whisper sent him snarling.

She sank onto his length and shoved him down. With her fingers wrapped into his shirt, she pushed him with every sink and rock on his dick. Her head threw back. She cried out to the ceiling, to the demons, to the very lightning striking outside. She channeled that energy into her as she writhed and screamed, and Sam…

Sam couldn’t breathe.

This woman was the deadliest prayer in existence. She was mortal, and she rivaled the power thrumming through his veins and leaking out in shadows onto the floor. He was holding his release, waiting for her to find her own edge and rhythm. He could feel her walls tightening around him, her nails digging into his chest and stretching his shirt. She grabbed her hair, and he clenched her hips, settling her still as he lifted his hips and pounded inside her. Faster and faster. Her high-pitched moans singing to his power—

She came with a scream, and fog curled around them as he came after. She continued rocking on him, milking him for everything he was worth. Sam spiraled down, down, down as he kept the power at his fingertips from pulling him under.

A glint of silver caught in the next lightning strike.

Sam saw the flash, and he grabbed her wrist as she brought the small knife down toward his neck.

And the smile she gave him had him hardening for her again.

He tutted his tongue as he took the blade out of her hand and watched as her chest rose and fell with every heavy breath.

“You wicked,wickedgirl…”

He remembered then what she’d told him on the phone that night, how she would kill him, and the fact that she’d shown him…

This was how she’d taken those kings. This was exactly how she’d ripped their hearts from their bodies. By spending their bodies and sending them begging for more of her. She’d taken that control from them and given them a grand final night.

Sam sat up as she continued to smile—no,grin—at him. He enclosed his hand around the knife in her fist, letting it break his skin. A quiet laugh constricted in the back of her throat, and he let that noise run over his skin and spread his own lips wide.

“My fuckinggoddess,” he hissed.

The knife clattered to the bridge as their hands entwined, his blood matching hers on their palms. He wrapped his other into her hair and kissed her, unable to resist her lips after the absolute ferocity he’d just witnessed.