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Chapter

Thirty-Six

MERRI

I stood in my doorway, my entire body coiled tighter than a spring. One second I’d been intent on taking a shower to remove the sweat and grime from my walk in the labyrinth, the next I’d frozen like a cat who’d just caught sight of its prey. Grim had been in my room. I could fucking smell him even if he hadn’t left clear evidence on my bed.

“What did you do, Daddy?”

Saliva pooled in my mouth as a low throb of arousal pulsed in my belly. I’d been hungry before, starving even, but not like this. The bed called to me like a beacon, beckoning me as though it was the only port in a dangerous storm.

The last three days had been hard. I was no closer to having an answer about what to do with the information Christian had given me, so I’d done the only thing I could. I hid—from all of them. Escape wasn’t an option. Not only did I have nowhere to go, but a starving succubus wouldn’t last long without causing chaos, and the last thing I needed was to basically toss a flare over my location for the ones hunting me.

My bedding was rumpled, the duvet askew and blanket out of place, but the thing I homed in on was my crumpled scarf that lay next to a pillow I certainly hadn’t put in the middle of the mattress.

I was kneeling on the bed before I even made a conscious thought to do so, my baser urges now firmly in the driver's seat. Fuck, he smelled delicious. I needed more of him. Face pressed to the duvet, I inhaled as I ran my nose over the places he’d been. Lust permeated the fabric, a teasing phantom promise of what he could give me if I would only ask.

A strong pulse of arousal ran through me, making me uncomfortably slick between my legs. Now I was hungry and turned on. I couldn’t think beyond those two pressing needs. Closing my eyes, I imagined what Grim would have to do to make such a mess of my bedding, my hand gliding down my leggings as I did.

The white pillowcase edged in delicate lace with a pretty blue floral print had a suspicious wet spot in the center. He hadn’t. Had he? Reaching out, I ran my fingertips over the damp patch before bringing them to my nose.

Oh, he most certainly had.

I’m sure most women would probably have been horrified by the discovery, but a horny succubus? For me, it was the most delicious gift.

“Daddy’s been naughty,” I whispered, smiling to myself. “Defiling my pillow.”

I ran my fingers over the wetness again before bringing them to my lips and sucking them clean. His flavor burst on my tongue, just like it had when I’d sucked him off in our dreamwalk. Closing my eyes, I fed. It wasn’t near enough, but it took the edge off.

The flood of him through my system, both in my mouth and via my power, was enough to bring me right to the edge of climax. Grim had done his job well. He’d known I would be helpless to resist such an offering in my current state.

I couldn’t find it in myself to be upset with him for his heavy-handed approach. I was too moved by the reason behind it. He’d wanted to take care of me in the only way I’d allow.

Goddamn him.

There was so much he didn’t know. So much I’d done wrong.

And I couldn’t forget the little detail of their competition to knock me up. They’d kept plenty from me. I should still be angry.

Instead, I was touched and turned on.

I could only do something about one of those things. Which was why I focused on the pressure of my fingers circling over my clit, my face turned towards what would for now and forever be known as Grim’s pillow.

I came in less than a minute, a quiet but powerful orgasm that had my toes curling and his name escaping me on a whimper. I hoped he was listening.

Apparently the combination of finally feeding plus the release was enough to send me straight to sleep. Or maybe that was just the safety I felt being surrounded by the scent of one of the only men who’d ever tried to take care of me.

I knew this hadn’t changed anything. I was still pissed, and if and when I confronted him, there was a lot he had to answer for. But nothing was going to be resolved tonight, so there was no use worrying about it.

Instead I was going to bask in my afterglow.

An afterglow that turned into a beautiful dream I hadn’t expected. Soft, warm sand, a perpetually setting sun, the calm lapping of waves, and strong hands rubbing my back and working out the tension I hadn’t even known was there.

“Oh, keep making those noises, darling, and I’ll have to break my promise to remain a gentleman.”

“I’m pretty sure you never made one of those,” I murmured, sleepy and content.

Luc’s laughter was warm against the back of my neck as he leaned down to press a kiss there. “Of course I did.”

“That feels so good,” I moaned when he dug his thumb into a particularly stubborn knot.

“What has you so tense, my beautiful girl? You’re here in paradise with your dream lover. What could make you strung so tightly?”

I sighed and rolled over, sitting up on my elbows so I could face him. He was still one of the most beautiful men I’d ever seen. My brain was a real hot guy factory.

“My life is a shit sandwich.”

Luc frowned, his eyes seeming to sparkle in the sunlight. “How so?”

I scrunched my nose and shook my head. “I’d rather not talk about it. The whole goal of this place is to forget the real world.”

He studied me intently. “Maybe your subconscious knows you need something else.”

“Like what?”

“To unburden yourself.”

Rolling my eyes, I huffed out a laugh. “You don’t want to hear this.”

“Try me.”

“The men who are supposed to keep me safe are secretly trying to get me pregnant. How’s that?”

His eyes widened, and a flash of anger lit their depths. “What?”

“Yeah. It’s a whole contest. Who can knock up the succubus fastest.”

He reached out for me, his hand curling protectively around my ankle. “You need to get away from them.”

“And go where? The world is ending, and I also have the legions of hell after me. Apparently.”

“Don’t you have somewhere you can run to? Someone who’ll take you in?”

My thoughts immediately went to Lilith. “Not anymore. It’s not safe for me to go back home.”

“Not home. Somewhere else. Somewhere no one would know to look for you.”

Andi’s offer came to mind, but just like I had in real life, I’d dismissed it. Malice knew about Andi from his snooping in my phone. I wouldn’t be safe with her for long, and the last thing I wanted to do was bring four angry horsemen to her doorstep.

“Merri, you can’t stay with these men. They aren’t putting your best interest ahead of their devious desires. You’re so lovely and kind. There has to be more than one option. Who else do you know?”

His name was on the tip of my tongue like it had been summoned there. “Cole.”

“Who is that? Is he safe?”

“He says he loves me.”

“That doesn't make him safe.”

“Doesn’t it?”

Luc smiled. “I suppose it might. Go to him. Run from these men who want to use you as their broodmare.”

“I’m not strong enough.”

He reached out and stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. “You know what you need to do to remedy that.”

“But you’re not real.”

His knuckles brushed over my cheek again, their warmth causing me to curl into them. “Aren’t I? I can touch you. That seems pretty real to me.”

“You’re just a figment of my imagination.”

“So you should probably listen to me, then, since it’s really you telling yourself what you need.”

Something about that logic turned my brain into a pretzel. “I guess.”

He leaned forward and feathered his lips over mine. “Let me give this to you, Merri. You need it.”

“Yes,” I whispered, so fucking hungry it hurt. My skin was hot and tight, breasts heavy, thighs rubbing together uncomfortably as I searched for friction I couldn’t find. I needed him to give me some relief.

Luc smiled before closing the distance between us fully and kissing me, his tongue pressing between my lips and his body lining up with mine. I wrapped my arms around him, urging him closer.

There was a yawning ache inside of me, begging to be filled.

“Please.”

“Oh, it will be my pleasure to give you everything you could ever wish for, darling. And maybe even something you wouldn’t dare think of.”

He ground his pelvis against me, the hot, thick length of him everything my body craved. But before I could move my panties aside and welcome him into my body, a terrible, twisting ache collected in my belly. Pain unlike anything I’d ever known radiated from deep within me, making my back arch and my eyes well with tears.

I screamed, skin on fire, gnawing agony burning in my gut.

Oh God. Was I dying?

No longer writhing beneath a sexy man on a beach, I was back in my bed, trapped in a nightmare created by my body. Pain was rolling through me in waves, making it hard to breathe, let alone think clearly.

Another scream tore from my throat, and Sin burst through the door, chest heaving, eyes wild.

“Merri? What—Oh fuck.”

Before he could even reach me, every muscle in my body seized, and my eyes rolled back in my head. Darkness took me then. Blissful nothingness that pulled me deep, deep, deep down where I was safe and nothing could ever hurt me again.