Page 20 of Drawn to the Demon Duke (Sombra Demons)

MINE

HAURES

T hree days later, I have cleared the castle of all soldiers.

Dagon is traveling to Caol to report to the clan that he will no longer hunt for their village now that he is Susann’s personal guard.

Castle staff have been warned to return to their quarters so that, tonight, is for their lord and his mate alone.

As I lead Susanna out to the scene I’ve prepared in the garden while she was curled up in the royal library earlier, I nod to see that it is also as empty as the rest of the palace had appeared.

“If anyone interrupts us this eve,” I vow even so, “they will suffer the same fate as Bandu.”

And Tropp, I think, though I don’t add it. I never want Susanna to see my vengeance and mistake it for cruelty. I am ruthless, yes, and when it comes to my mate, anyone who even thinks to harm her will always perish.

Still unfamiliar with how she can access my every want, my every thought, my every memory by using our bond, she has no idea what’s passed through my mind. Perfectly aware of what I have planned now that the gold moon has finally waned, my Su is in a cheerful mood.

Though, of course, that could’ve been because I propped her up on the library seat, kiss ing her cunt repeatedly after I found her in the library.

I have been doing so for days. I could not claim her with my cock, but my tongue and my fingers…

she has denied me no intimate touch. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if her ‘ditto’ did not fulfill her mating vow, and if the gods were punishing us with the mating sickness until she did so, but that wasn’t so.

My Susanna is eager for her male’s touch.

She even searches it out, no fever necessary.

I have an ulterior motive, of course. Unlike other demons in Sombra, I do not have shadows.

Therefore, I cannot change my shape. The cock that I have is what I must use on my wee mortal mate, and I haven’t forgotten the look of surprise that crossed her beautiful face when she implored me to undress in front of her and share a steaming tub with her the first night I had her moved into my—our—quarters.

She tried wrapping her hands around it, making another strange human sound when it was a struggle for her to do so. And while Su has tiny hands, I am concerned that that means she also has a shallow cunt.

I will give her what I can. Anything to finalize our bond and claim my mate.

Still, I want to make it pleasurable for her like any demon male would.

So, learning how her body responds to her male, I’ve kiss ed her cunt, I’ve bitten of my claws and dipped my fingers inside her much cooler body, nearly spilling seed in my trousers when I imagined how it would feel when her slick, tight little body took as much of me as she can manage.

Which, should she welcome me tonight, will happen beneath the pale blue moon overhead...

So while I’m already imagining laying her out in the pile of bedding that they use out in the smaller villages, Susanna laughs as she thinks of me eliminating my demons all because they might interrupt our mating night.

She bumps her shoulder against my side, brushing up against the scars that I no longer see as a sign of weakness. Not when Susanna strokes them absently after we pleasure each other, telling me that she thinks it’s ‘hot’ that I survived an arkoda without any help.

Of course it is ‘hot’. The challenge between the arkoda and I happened near the firepits of Sombra, after all.

Ah, Su… my mate thinks me romantic.

Tugging her close, pressing my mouth against hers, I rumble softly and admit, “For you, I try.”

Her gaze lands on the nest. “I see. I… I guess that’s where we’re going to do this?”

I reach out, settling my palm on her shoulder. Her skin is so soft and warm and utterly human . It’s nothing like mine. I’m made of calloused palms, corded strength, a brutal body, all horns and claw. I’ve killed for this female. If I had to end my existence for her, I would.

Without Susanna, there would be no existence left for Haures.

I stole the throne from Yelios, accepted and defeating any challenger to the throne. I’ve ruled over Sombra for two thousand years, making deals in the dark with the doppelseers. I am the most powerful demon in our realm?—

—and, yet, I have never done anything so monumental as this.

My fingers tremble. That catches her attention, pulling her gaze toward me now.

Her brow furrows. “Haures? Hey. You alright?”

Am I?

“Susanna…” My voice is suddenly hoarse, tight with emotion. “I am trying not to scare you.”

She snorts, her humor returning. “You can’t.”

I cock my head. “I can’t.”

“Nope.” She taps her chest, and my cock twitches to see her pat her luscious human breasts. “I’ve got the bond with you, remember? No matter what, if there’s one thing I know about you, Haures? You won’t let me be hurt. And that includes you.”

“Yes,” I breathe out. She does… she does understand. “I will never.”

“I know.” Taking her hand from her chest, she wraps it around my smallest finger. “And once I’m your bonded mate… once I’m immortal… you can stop worrying about that. Even then, I know you’ll protect me.”

“I vow it.”

She raises one of the furry strips over her dim eyes. “Then prove it.”

I want to. Desperately.

But—

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I admit. “I’ve never done this. Claiming a female… what if I do it wrong?”

Susanna’s soft laughter is a balm to my jagged soul.

“Haures, seriously? First of all, I know you’re a virgin.

Me, too. That’s the best part of us doing this thing together.

If we do it wrong, how will either of us know?

” She gives my finger another tug. “Come with me,” she says, echoing the same words I said to her when I released her from the dungeon, bringing her to the upper floors of the palace for the first time. “We’ll learn together.”

That’s all the invitation I need. Well, apart from the delectable scent of her body reading itself for her male.

She smells divine, and I know that her cunt’s juices—along with the pleasure I’ve given her, and how deliberately I’ve been trying to stretch her out—will help ease my cock where it belongs.

Just on the edge of the bedding, I fall to my knees before her. After all, how else can I worship my mate properly if I don’t do so?

With no one to spy what we plan to do, Susanna doesn’t just lift her skirts.

She removes the entire dress, her pink skin glowing blue beneath the oasis’s light.

Her fingers grab my horns, guiding me as I kiss her thighs, her stomach, her hips…

I taste her musk, her ice, and a hint of fire that tells me that even Susanna knows that belongs to Sombra.

She belongs to me .

Releasing one horn, she threads her fingers through my hair as I slowly kiss higher.

Su knows what her mate desires. Spreading her thighs as far as she can, giving me space to wedge my big body between them, I mate her with my tongue until she’s panting my name, legs trembling on either side of my face.

Only then do I believe that Susanna is ready to take her male.

It’s easy to rise up even in this position, gathering her up on my shoulder so that I can carry her over to the bedding. Once I have laid her out, I remove my trousers so that I am as naked as she is.

Her small teeth dig into her bottom lips. Her eyes go wide. “Holy shit, Haures. I… crud. You’re just so big everywhere.”

“You can take me,” I promise, and it is another vow. “You are my mate. You were made for me.”

She nods. “Yes. Haures… yes. I am.”

Again, it’s an invitation that I would be a fool to ignore.

Still, I want to make sure that, before I claim her for all eternity, she has once last chance to deny me. “We don’t have to do this tonight. We can wait. Just say the word, my love.”

Her eyes glimmer as I call her what she’s always been: my love .

“Say the word, Haures?” she whispers throatily, stroking the cords in my thick neck. “ Please .”

The last of any restraint I might’ve had simply snaps.

Bowing my head, I kiss her again. It’s on the mouth this time, swallowing her cries of pleasure mingled with slight pain as I feed my cock into Susanna’s hungry cock.

There is resistance. I won’t pretend there isn’t.

I go slow, easing my way in. I don’t push.

I go achingly slow, pausing when she bites my lip, the pain echoing down our band.

“This… this is enough,” I tell her. “I can give you my seed and we will be bonded.”

Susanna shakes her head, dark hair splayed against the bedding. “No. I… you were right. I can take it. Just…” She scoots a little beneath me, adjusting her position. Panting softly, she grins up at me. “Okay. Keep going. I’m ready for you to fuck me.”

Fuck me.

It’s a human word for ‘mate’, and it hits me in this moment: this is the first time I have ever done this, but it is the same for Susanna. No other male has touched the inside of her cunt as I have.

The need to possess her completely overtakes her demon. I am not rogue. I do not lose all of my senses. And yet… it seems like I do as I pull out of her body, returning my cock to its grip before it can cool down again.

The more I thrust into my mate, the warmer she is. Her body is acclimating to mine in all ways. She is stretched around my length, taking me beautifully. Immortality is settling over her as well. She feels no pain now, only pleasure, as our temperatures slowly begin to match.

We are one. In every way that counts, we are one, and the mating vow has made it so that it will be forever.

And not even an ashbalm flower nor my powers will be enough to snap the bond that I have with my mate.

Thank the gods.