Page 12 of Inferno (Drake Security Book 4)
VALENTINO
With my dick temporarily satisfied, my belly full to the point of bursting, Montrose’s scent in my nose, and the overwhelming warmth of his body radiating through the small amount of space between us, my dragon is feeling pleasantly drowsy and ready for another nap. The beast tempts me with images of curling up in our hoard again with the fiery demon tucked close and dozing off for a few hours.
I growl low in my throat from frustration, and Montrose raises his eyebrows at the sound. I huff through my nose and shake my head sharply. Fine, he was telling the truth about Maggard, and okay, I guess I have to believe him that he never intentionally used me, but my reaction to him is still unsettling me. And no one goes into my hoard room. Not once in a thousand years have I ever been tempted to bring a lover or anyone else inside my private sanctuary. Showing someone your hoard is the dragon equivalent of… well, I’d say getting naked, but it’s a hell of a lot more intimate than that.
“What are you thinking, deliciae?” He puts a hand on my forearm and the contact sears my skin pleasantly. I clench my fist but lean into his touch at the same time. “You look like you still can’t decide if you’d rather fuck me or kill me.” A coy smile stretches over his lips. “If you’re interested in my vote, I’d definitely prefer the fucking, but I wouldn’t say no to a little hand-to-hand combat to get our blood pumping first. Maybe if you draw a little blood, your scaly, fire breathing ego will finally be willing to forgive me.”
I huff out a laugh. It’s not my dragon who’s holding a grudge, but if I admit that, it’s only going to invite him to kick the door in and ask a hell of a lot more questions that I don’t have the answers to.
“I’m thinking…” I stack the empty pizza boxes into a neat tower and then get to my feet. “That if we’re going to hell, we’d better hurry up and do it before my commonsense kicks in and I tell you to forget about it.”
“Oh, thank fuck.” Montrose hops to his feet and claps his hands. “I should make a list of what I need to grab. Clothes, my hair products, my favorite cock sleeve in case you plan to continue your game of torturing me with blue balls.” He ticks things off on his fingers as he lists them.
I choke on a breath at the mention of a sex toy. He’s fucking with me, right? Who would want to fuck silicone when flesh is so much more satisfying? The image of him holed up in one of my guest bedrooms, sweating and moaning as he shouts my name and spills into a rubbery cock sleeve makes my dick jerk and my chest rumble.
“You’re going to make me regret every second of this binding spell, aren’t you?”
Montrose grins and nods his head slowly, taking a step closer and putting his hands on my biceps. He presses his lean body against mine, and my hands twitch with the urge to grab him roughly and tear his skintight suit to shreds.
“Ready, dragon?” he asks, nuzzling his nose against mine with a flicker of fire in his eyes.
“As I’ll ever be.” I sigh.
He cackles and sinks his talons into my skin sharply, and then it feels like every molecule of air is sucked out of the space around me. The pressure on my bones is painful, like I’m being shoved through the eye of a needle or sucked into a vacuum. I open my mouth on a useless, silent gasp, unable to do anything to fill my lungs or make a sound. Everything is pitch black around us, and the only thing I can see or feel is Montrose. His eyes glow and for a flicker of a second, I can see under his glamour. His skin is no longer peachy, but instead a mesmerizing swirl of blue and gray. Large black, membranous wings extend behind him, and a pair of matching onyx horns protrude from his forehead. His pearly human teeth sharpen to ominous points. He’s… beautiful.
I blink and the pressure around us eases. Montrose’s form melts back into the human-shaped one I’m used to, and I suck in a greedy lungful of air. Except, I’m not sure it is air. It quenches my need to breathe, but it feels dense and scorching hot.
“If you’re going to puke, the bathroom is right through there,” he says, releasing his grip on my arms and pointing somewhere behind me.
I blink a few times, trying to reconcile the feeling of otherness of this place with the fact that his apartment looks exactly like any small apartment you might find in my realm. The walls are faded gray, the floors appear to be wood, and to my left there’s a small kitchenette complete with all the usual appliances.
“Why do you need a microwave?” I frown.
Montrose snorts a laugh. “This is hell, darling, obviously that’s the preferred way to heat water for tea.” I gape at him and he chuckles again. “You should see your face right now.” He pats my cheek. “Give me two minutes, I’m going to pack my bags and we can go.”
He doesn’t wait for me to respond before turning and sauntering into the nearby room. Just like he explained back at my house, I can feel the binding spell between us like an invisible leash. He can’t run anywhere. He can’t pop out of this realm and leave me to rot.
An orange glow from outside catches my attention and I wander over to the window. The smell of sulfur hangs heavy as I peer through the glass at the city outside. There are towering buildings, but no vehicles, just demons in various shapes and forms walking on the street below. There’s no sunshine, just the orange flicker that barely manages to brighten the otherwise pitch-dark sky.
Montrose’s ear-shattering shriek pulls me away from my observation of his realm. Scales burst over my skin and my body swells a few sizes bigger as my dragon pushes towards the surface. With a threatening roar for whoever might be hurting my demon, I charge into his bedroom.
MONTROSE
My clothes.My beautiful clothes. They’re shredded and scorched, tossed into a pile in the middle of my bedroom floor like they’re nothing more than rags out of the clearance bin. I unleash my wings and throw back my head, opening my mouth inhumanly wide to shriek again. The sound is loud enough to rattle my windows and shatter the ear drums of any mortal unlucky enough to hear it.
My bedroom door flies open, slamming against the wall, and my dragon bursts in, half-shifted. Valentino’s chest is heaving, flames flickering on his lips as he casts his gaze around the space looking for danger.
“My clothes,” I scream, grabbing a handful of the tattered remains and holding them up to show him. “These were designer brands.” Maybe the sob that accompanies my words is a tad dramatic… Actually, no, no it’s not. Some of these were Hermès. What kind of monster would do this?
“Are you hurt? What happened?” Valentino demands, hauling me to my feet and scanning my body the same way he checked the room.
“My clothes,” I hiss again, clutching the remains to my chest, my grief slowly turning to utter rage. My skin burns hotter and my tail flicks with irritation. It vaguely occurs to me that I’ve shifted into my demon form without meaning to, but I don’t have time to worry about what the dragon might think of me. Not when my one-of-a-kind, custom-made suede jacket is nothing but ashes.
“Your clothes?” Valentino repeats, his gaze finally landing on the destruction.
As I slowly cope with the fact that I have to cultivate an entirely new wardrobe, I realize that my clothes aren’t the only things that have been destroyed. My bed frame is broken, leaving my mattress resting at an odd angle, and there are scorch marks on my walls.
Valentino’s grip on my shoulders tightens and he lets out a low growl.
“Who did this?”
That’s exactly what I’m wondering. I wiggle out of his grasp and drop to my knees again, leaning over the pile of clothes and inhaling deeply in search of a scent. But all I can smell are the usual heavy odors of this realm, fire and sulfur and smoke, and the ashy remnants of burned fabric.
“I don’t know. Maggard maybe.” Saying the words sends a shiver down my spine. Could he know somehow that I ran straight to the dragons with a warning? Is my name already on his list?
Valentino wraps his arms around me and hauls me back to my feet. He steadies me with his chest against my back, rising and falling with the rapid breaths he draws in.
“Could it have been anyone else?” There’s an edge of frantic desperation in the question.
I shrug. “It’s possible. We’re not exactly the friendliest bunch of fuckers around,” I say with a weak laugh. “This is why I hate the demon realm.”
I clench my teeth, my body quaking lightly with the warring instincts to track down whoever trashed my place and rip their tongue out through a hole in their throat or to run away from here and hope Maggard isn’t already waiting for us back at the compound.
“Your brother made a real fucking mess of this whole thing.”
“I know.” Tino sighs. “Come on, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
With one last frustrated growl, I hold on tight to my dragon and blink us away.