Page 33 of Malice: The Mate Games (Apocalypse #3)

Chapter

Twenty-Six

SIN

F uck, I loved a warm ocean breeze across my bare skin.

Even if it was conjured by my own mind. Merri sighed and stretched, the black string bikini she was wearing doing wonderful things for her curves.

A shaft of sunlight spilled in through the break in the cabana’s curtains, hitting both my legs and Merri’s, which were tangled together.

She picked up a fruity umbrella drink and took a sip. “This is heaven, and I never want to leave.”

Reaching out, I tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “We don’t have to. Let’s just ride out the apocalypse right here.”

“Is that an option? Won’t our bodies atrophy or something?”

I considered the question, realizing I had no idea, so I shrugged. “Worth it?”

“Probably.”

I couldn’t keep from kissing her, not when her soft lips were so close and I could smell the sweet vanilla of her lip gloss.

Leaning in, I closed the distance between us and claimed her mouth in a slow and deliberate kiss.

When she parted her lips, I used the opening to tease her tongue with mine and deepen it.

She melted beneath me, her luscious body cocooning mine as I readjusted our positions so I was mostly lying on top of her. My hands worked their way down her body until I was tugging at the flimsy string holding her bottoms together.

“You know, kitten, it’s just us here. You don’t need to wear one of these.”

“You’re the one who dressed me. The blame lies with you. I would’ve been naked if I’d been in charge.”

A low chuckle escaped me as the fabric fell away, granting me access to her already wet pussy. “Missed me, I see.”

“Of course.”

“Well, I guess I should do something about it then,” I said with an anticipatory smirk. Pleasuring my girl was quickly becoming my number one favorite quest.

Before I could part her thighs further and sink my fingers inside her, she tensed, one hand coming to my wrist.

“What’s wrong, baby?” I asked, confusion swirling in my head. “Aren’t we here to make sure you’re fed and happy?”

“It’s . . . I want to. I just . . .”

Concern replaced the confusion. She was stressed about talking to me. That wouldn’t do.

“What is it? You can tell me anything.”

“Malice gave me some homework, and if I don’t do it right now, I’m going to get too distracted.”

Annoyance replaced my concern. “Malice gave you homework for while you’re with me? That interfering jealous fuck.”

“No, no, it’s not like that. It’s because—” She cut herself off and readjusted until she was sitting up in the lounger.

“He wants me to test the limits of my control while we’re in these dreamwalks.

He’s trying to prove a point. Okay, maybe that’s not totally fair.

He wants me to learn how much power I have here. ”

She was being very deliberate with her words and purposely avoiding my gaze. My eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Why now? What aren’t you telling me, kitten?”

Glancing around as though someone else was here, she shook her head. “I can’t talk about it here.”

“Merri,” I warned.

“It’s important. Trust me.”

“Of course I do. You’re the boss. If you need to do this homework, we can do it. I’m excellent at group projects.”

Her smile was soft and sweet, and it was a potent aphrodisiac.

My dick gave a happy jerk, begging for her attention.

As discreetly as I could, I placed my hand on top of him.

No need to distract her when she was trying so hard to focus.

I could be patient. I was the most patient.

No one had ever been more patient than me.

Lies.

All fucking lies.

I had the patience of a kid on Christmas morning. But it was just because I loved her so much, you know?

“Okay, what do I need to do to help?”

She frowned, her lips pursing as she considered my question. “I’m not sure. I think I just have to do it.”

“Do what?”

And just like that, I was awake, in bed with the woman I loved, and back to real life. Rolling over, I found her looking at me.

“That,” she said.

I’m the first to admit I didn’t always understand the way Malice’s mind worked, but I was struggling to see how Merri pulling us out of a dream—that we were in for the sole purpose of allowing her to safely feed and hopefully get knocked up—was a good thing.

“So... we’re not in the dream anymore. Can you elaborate on the reason for this assignment the great and powerful Mal gave you? It really doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

Merri licked her lips, her eyes darting around nervously before landing back on mine. “We, um, sort of... well...”

“Just spit it out, kitten. There’s nothing you ever have to worry about saying to me.”

Releasing a heavy breath, she blurted, “Lucifer can infiltrate my dreams. He has been for weeks now.”

Fury and panic hit me at the same time. “What?”

She held up a hand, effectively silencing me. “Malice wanted me to prove, mostly to myself, that even when I am in other people’s dreams, I am the one in control. And that my strongest defense against Lucifer will be making the dream stop before he can manipulate me into anything.”

“How do you know you’ll be able to stop him? He can appear as anyone.”

“He’s been showing up as the same man in every dream I’ve shared with him. Mal saw him and recognized his face.”

I sat up straight and dragged a hand through my hair. “Once he realizes you’re wise to him, he’ll stop doing that. Fuck, kitten, he could pretend to be me.”

“No,” she said, so emphatically it stopped me short.

“How can you be sure?”

“I know your signature. I could pick you out of a crowd of millions. Same with the others. There’s no way he could ever make me think he was one of you.”

I sort of loved that.

“My signature?”

“Yeah, like your personal mental print.” She shrugged. “I’m not great with the terminology, but you get the idea. I can feel you... here.” She pressed her palm to her heart and then did the same to mine with her free hand.

A smile twisted my lips as I rested my palm over hers. “Same here.”

“Is it because you luuuurve me?” she teased.

“Yup,” I said with an unrepentant grin. “Just like you love me.”

“Guilty as charged.”

The topic was the elephant in the room I knew we needed to discuss.

Love wasn’t an easy subject for either of us.

It came with deep connections and ties we’d both been afraid of.

Love meant I could be rejected. It meant we could lose everything.

But it also meant we could gain so much.

It had been centuries since I’d last even considered the big L.

Horsemen certainly didn’t have any need of it.

But when Merri came into our lives, she changed everything.

Now, loving her was practically the only thing I thought about.

The intimacy of the moment washed over us. We may have already admitted our feelings out on the battlefield, but it was different doing it here when it was just the two of us.

“You okay with that?” she asked softly, reaching out to run her fingers along my cheek.

“More than okay.”

“So why do you look like you just bit into a lemon?”

A bark of laughter escaped. “Well, I’m not gonna lie, kitten. I’m fucking terrified. I’ve never loved anyone but myself. Not once. What if I fuck it all up?”

“You might.”

“Thanks for your vote of confidence,” I said dryly.

“But so could I,” she added with a one-shoulder shrug.

“I doubt it.”

She snuggled closer until her chin rested on my shoulder. “You want to know a secret?”

“Obviously.”

“Love should never be measured by its length. Only its depth. So, if you do go and fuck it all up, at least we will have this to remember it by.”

I couldn’t decide whether the right move was to shove her off the bed or pull her closer. I chose to believe the truth in what she said, that we had to live in this moment to moment rather than looking to a future we weren’t certain existed. So, I pulled her to me and kissed her.

“You know,” I said around the kiss, “we were supposed to try and knock you up in that dream. Maybe we should give the old-fashioned way a try and do it with our eyes open?”

Holding her as tight as I was, there was no missing the way she tensed.

“What’s worrying you now?” I asked, not with judgment but genuine concern.

She peered up at me with worried eyes. “What if I can’t get pregnant, Sin? Not in the dream realm or in the real world?”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because Grim said it hasn’t happened yet.”

I ran my fingers across her shoulder and down her arm to soothe her. “We haven’t been trying that long. Some couples try for years before it happens.”

“And sometimes it doesn’t happen for them.”

“We have time.”

“Not a lot. And now that we know that Lucifer can find me in my dreams, we know he won’t stop hunting me until he gets what he wants. At least until he realizes I’m no longer any use to him. And that won’t happen until I get pregnant?—”

Fuck. We were a bunch of insensitive assholes. Merri was so spun up, so concerned with getting pregnant, that she was a ball of stress. She was carrying the weight of ending the literal apocalypse on her shoulders as if she alone was responsible for the outcome.

“C’mere, baby. It’s okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. If I have to come into your dreams every time you fall asleep, I will. Lucifer isn’t going to touch you.”

She held my gaze for several heartbeats, her fingers drawing invisible patterns on my skin. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being you.”

“I haven’t done anything.”

“Not true.”

I raised a brow. “If you say so, kitten.”

“You’re my hero, and I can say so if I want to.”

Who was I to argue with logic like that? Instead, I wrapped her in my arms and snuggled her as close as possible. “I love you, Merri.”

She hummed happily and pressed a kiss to my chest. “I love you.”