Page 57

Naomi smiled down at the baby girl she held in her arms. “You really are super cute.”

Cooing, Lilibeth grabbed at Naomi’s hand, her incredible blue eyes locked on the ring there.

“She likes you,” said Ella, sitting beside her on the leather sofa.

Naomi cast the redhead a quick smile. “She likes my ring.”

“Oh, that too,” Ella chuckled. “She took to you very quickly, though. It’s unusual for her. Maybe it’s because you’re mated to her favorite uncle.”

“He’s her only uncle,” said Viper from an armchair, a teasing note in his tone as his vivid blue eyes slid to where Luka stood a few feet away.

“And what am I, chopped liver?” burst out Lou in pure offense.

“Well you’re not her uncle, so . . .” Viper shrugged his compact shoulders.

Naomi felt her lips twitch.

It was the first time she’d been to the Black Saints’ compound.

Several of the bikers were hanging around in the main area of their clubhouse—some leaning against the reddish-brown brick walls, others settled on the mahogany furnishings.

Their focus was mostly on Lou. All seemed ready to rip out his throat if he made any overt moves toward Lilibeth.

Of course, Lou hadn’t spoken to Naomi much since randomly showing up at the clubhouse—something he was prone to do, to the bikers’ extreme annoyance.

He rarely talked to her in front of people who didn’t know that he was her father, though he would chat with her telepathically.

No one here would ever suspect that they were more than merely familiar with each other, let alone that they were related.

Feeling little fingers slide over her ring again, Naomi peered down at the baby. “Sorry, you can’t have it. I don’t blame you for wanting it, though—it’s beautiful.” It was also a black diamond. A symbol of the ultimate commitment from Luka.

Feeling her lips curve, she met his eyes, finding them fixed on her.

She had woken a week ago to find that he had slipped the ring on her finger while she slept.

She’d tried returning the favor the next night, but he’d stirred on feeling her try to slide one onto his finger.

He’d also fucked her stupid, smug as a motherfucker that she’d claimed him so irrevocably.

He hadn’t been at all impressed when Jolene’s granddaughter Heidi had tried to steal Naomi’s ring. To the little girl’s credit, she hadn’t wilted under the weight of his radiating disapproval. She’d only given him an angelic smile.

“ Imps ,” he’d merely grumbled.

“You’re hogging the baby,” Lou groused now, crossing to the sofa and blocking Naomi’s view of Luka. “It’s my turn to—”

“Told you before, Lou; sick of saying it—you do not get to hold Lilibeth,” Viper stated.

Lou’s voice turned whiny. “But why? You know I won’t hurt her. And it’s not like I’m a stranger. We’re practically brothers.”

Viper’s brow furrowed. “No. No we’re not.”

“Uh, incorrect.” Lou jerked his thumb toward Jester. “You consider this guy your bro. He’s my bro. That makes you and me—”

“Totally unrelated,” Viper finished.

“Wish I could say the same,” grumbled Jester. Long, lean, and bronze-skinned, he appeared to have a permanent scowl.

Lou scoffed at him, a fond smile plucking at his mouth. “No you don’t. You adore and look up to me. Always did.”

Jester’s brows snapped together. “I tried to kill you. Twice.”

“I never took it to heart.”

“You should’ve.”

“You’re not fooling anybody, bro. It’s perfectly obvious that you’ve missed me all these years. Anyone would miss me. I touch the lives of everyone I meet.”

“And they all wish you hadn’t,” Jester sniped.

Grinning, Lou glanced at Naomi and Ella. “Isn’t he just the bestest? So hateful and grumpy and asocial. And how could he not be, when he had the perfect role model in me?”

“It makes you proud that he’s so rude and mean to you?” asked Razor, a bulky, dark-skinned male who seemed almost as irritable as Jester.

Lou lifted his shoulders. “Why wouldn’t it?”

Razor’s brows lifted, then he just shook his head.

Lilibeth made a fussy noise, drawing everyone’s attention.

Ella hummed. “Seems that someone is hungry.” She carefully took the little girl from Naomi.

“But not sleepy,” mumbled Ghost. “Never, ever sleepy.” He released a tired sigh. “The bags under my eyes are so big they have pockets.”

Lou gifted him a condescending look. “You’re so dramatic.”

“You’d know all about that,” Luka quipped.

Lou ignored him, just as he’d ignored every other comment Naomi’s mate had made. He hadn’t glanced his way even once. It was agitating her inner entity something fierce, but Luka didn’t seem to mind. If anything, it appeared to amuse him.

“Why are you acting like Luka ain’t here?” Razor asked.

Lou blinked, as if confused. “Who?”

Exhaling heavily, Razor threw up a hand. “Actually, I don’t wanna know.”

Naomi wasn’t surprised that Razor had dropped the topic. Lou was so asocial, he didn’t like anyone, so there was nothing odd or suspicious about his behavior.

She was careful not to look at him as she reached out psychically. You need to stop being an ass to Luka , she telepathed.

Lou’s mind bumped hers. Who?

She fought the urge to roll her eyes. You’re an idiot.

An idiot who you love.

Yeah, she did. I’m still gonna rip out your spine if you don’t start being nice to my mate.

That’s my girl — so pitiless. I raised you well. I’d totally win Father of the Century.

The funny thing was, he wasn’t joking.

Panting, Naomi let out a mewl of frustration. “Didn’t I mention how I like it fast and rough?”

Fighting a smile, Luka lazily sank his cock back inside her, earning himself another soft, tortured moan. Her pussy, fuck, it was sheer heaven around him. Tight and hot and the perfect fit. “Yes, you did. Many times.”

“Then why are you still insisting on going so slow?” she all but wailed, her eyes glazed, her face flushed, her mouth swollen.

Luka swiveled his hips, making her suck in a breath. “Because I can. Remember, I control when you feel good. When you get more. When you get to come. Me , Naomi.” He dropped his mouth on hers as he went back to slowly fucking in and out of her.

Soft palms smoothed down his back, fingers splayed, as her hips restlessly rose to meet each sluggish thrust. He and his demons loved how she melted beneath him, giving him everything. Taking everything he gave her.

Possession scored his skin like blunt nails, intense and bottomless. Everything about her tantalized his senses, evoking a response from every cell in his body, making endorphins and feel-good chemicals flood his system.

Luka kissed his way down her neck and then trailed a path of suckling bites to her breast. He drew a tight nipple into his mouth, making her breath catch. He sucked it. Licked it. Nibbled on it. Rubbed it against the roof of his mouth.

She ran a demanding hand down his back and gripped his ass, her touch nothing short of possessive. “Seriously, can we not hurry things along?”

He trailed light kisses over her shoulder and up her slim neck, flooding his lungs with her intoxicating scent. “No.”

She groaned in annoyance. “You’re my mate. That means you’re supposed to give me whatever I want.”

Mirth filled him. “No, baby, it really doesn’t.” Breezing his lips over to her mouth, he kissed it, licked at it, nibbled its corners. “You should be a little more patient—you came three times already.”

Outrage flared in her eyes. “Uh, no , your demons almost made me come. All three of them stopped just before I went over the edge.”

Stifling a smile, Luka swept a hand down her front, along her side, and down her outer thigh. “Sorry. Forgot.” Pushing one of her legs up higher, he fisted the hair at the top of her head and slid his cock even deeper, loving how her head shot back with a loud cry.

“Fuck,” she rasped.

“Born for this,” he snarled. “For me.” Abraxas nudged its way to the surface, correcting, “For us.” Reclaiming supremacy, Luka feasted on her mouth, plundering it with his tongue as he lazily buried his cock deep inside her over and over.

She suckled on his tongue, which of course had him imagining having her lips wrapped around his dick again. Something she well knew.

He raised a brow. “Did you think that would make me start hammering away?”

“A girl can hope.” She cast him an appeasing look. “ Please. ”

“Since my baby asked so very, very nicely . . .” Luka began pounding into her, filling the room with louds smacks of flesh on flesh.

Her breath catching, she scratched at his back, her eyes going wide and gleaming with pure pleasure. She eagerly took everything he gave her—her tits jiggling with every brutal thrust.

Their moans and groans got louder. Their hands got grabbier. Their mouths got greedier.

“Come around my cock. Let go.” He rolled her clit with his thumb, and over the edge she went, her inner walls rippling around his cock from head to base as she screamed and arched beneath him.

He powered into her, burrowing deep, his balls slapping her curvy ass over and over. And then his release crashed into him. He jammed his cock deep, snarling her name as he exploded inside her.

She sagged to the mattress, her eyes closed, her breath coming in shallow pants.

Slumping over her, Luka nuzzled her neck, utterly sated. He rolled them onto their sides and held her tight, reveling in the sheer rightness of it—her scent, warmth, weight, softness, how perfectly she fit against him.

His attention fell on the ring she wore, and emotions swelled in his chest. The feelings she brought out in him weren’t soft and sweet and fluffy. They were too dark, too intense, too greedy. But they were deep and true and so fucking encompassing it almost hurt.

“I noticed that Lily kept eyeing this,” he said, tapping the diamond.

Naomi opened her eyes. “It’s your own fault for buying me such pretty bling.” She snuggled into him like a contented cat. “She’s almost unbearably cute.”

“I liked seeing you hold her. It made me imagine you holding our children.”

“How many do you want?”

“At least two.”

A playful light shimmered in her gaze. “Hmm, children born of a legion and a half-demon half-fallen-seraphim. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a prophecy out there claiming that they’ll destroy the world.”

He chuckled low. “Let’s hope they can’t open portals to hell.”

“Fingers crossed.”

Sobering, he said, “If we have a son, he will not be groomed to take over this lair—or the empire I inherited—as I was. Our kids will be allowed to be children, and they’ll know they’re loved.”

Her expression tightened. “I don’t like that you never felt sure you were loved. I really don’t know how I’m supposed to be nice to your father when I meet him. My demon wants to choke him.”

Once Luka had made his parents aware that he’d taken a mate, they had insisted on meeting her. On telling her that, Naomi’s first response had been a hard no.

“ I get why Andrey thought it best to shape you into someone who wouldn’t feel he needed love and affection ,” she’d said, “ but I still resent the fuck out of him for it .”

Still, she’d eventually agreed to meet them. Once.

“You don’t need to be nice to him, you . . .” Luka trailed off on seeing that her gaze had turned inward. “Naomi?” Nothing. “ Naomi? ”

Her eyes sharpened on him. “Hmm?”

“Where’d you go?”

“I have not moved.”

“And yet you disappeared. Now, maybe you could listen to me.”

“I’m gonna hang off your every word—watch.”

He nipped her jaw. “You should always hang off my every word. You should find everything I say utterly fascinating. I should have your full attention at all times.”

A chuckle bubbled out of her. “You sound like Lou.”

He felt his good humor fade at the mention of her father. “I swear if he randomly appears in our bedroom one more time . . .”

“Once he gets over the fact that I’m mated, he’ll stop dicking with you. Until that time comes, he’s going to be difficult.”

“ ‘Difficult’ is being stand-offish and rude. Hanging over my bed while I sleep, ensuring I wake to find him looming over me chewing on beef jerky—”

“He promised he wouldn’t do that again.”

“He also promised that he’d stop leaving burn marks on my suits with his joints. Guess what? He lied.”

Naomi grimaced. “Yeah, he does that a lot.” She pressed a kiss to his jaw. “I’m sorry that my dad’s a pain in the ass. Can I make it up to you somehow?”

“You don’t need to make it up to me. He’s the issue. Not you. Never you. You bring me peace. Never had that until you.”

Luka had been forced to swim in dark waters his whole life. That shit had a way of staining your soul. But Naomi had wiped those stains away, leaving her own touches behind; engraving her name right there on his soul. There would be no removing it. He wouldn’t even if he could.

His father had been wrong in insisting that attachments weakened a person. She didn’t make him feel weak. She made him feel stronger. And he knew that his life would be worth shit if she wasn’t in it.

He curled a loose strand of hair around her ear. “Never imagined what it’d feel like to have someone who’d be your entire fucking world. That’s what you are to me.”

A warm smile curved her mouth. “You say some pretty nice stuff sometimes.” She nuzzled his face. “Love you more than I love painting – and that says a lot. You’re my person.”

“Just as you’re mine.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

“And you’ll stop subjecting me to delayed gratification?”

Luka hesitated. “No.”

She let out an irritated sigh. “I was afraid you’d say that.”