Page 17

IRIS

Panting, I whirl my glaive.

No corpses surround my last stand—the wolves disappear when killed. But for every one I return to powder, two more pop up like rabid cabbages.

A bite from the wolf that almost ended me drips down my forearm, slicking my grip in blood. The burn on my thigh stops throbbing. Instead, it numbs, making it harder to dodge.

I am pretty well fucked.

My only hope is the flickering light of the array. The wolves aren’t infinite. They’re draining the crystals’ power.

I can hold on.

I have to hold on.

I swing, stab, and slash.

My fight is nothing fancy, but I’ve been training since I was five.

Guides learn young.

We have to protect ourselves. Unless we find Sentinels willing to put us first.

That wasn’t going to be Kevan.

There was always some battlefield emergency that dragged him and his undead army away, leaving me to fight his enemies alone.

When did it become my job to run and save him ?

Did he ever think of me as a partner, or was I always this convenient, fuckable tool?

I’m an idiot for letting myself believe we had a special bond, but I have to thank Kevan for one thing.

I’m used to fighting by and for myself.

Thanks to years of practice and the reach of my long pole, I hold on from being overwhelmed.

I slash at leaping wolves. They feel like flesh when my blade cuts into their fur, but when I score a fatal hit, they puff into white powder.

Definitely chalk.

At least it helps my grip.

I sneeze between attacks, but I don’t think they’re replacing themselves as fast. I dust another wolf and swing my glaive back to center in a chalky puff.

As I fight to catch my breath, nothing else attacks.

The last few wolves hover haunch-to-haunch at the border of the array.

“You couldn’t leave me one pelt?” I ask, heaving every breath.

The pack leader tips back his head in a mournful howl.

I shiver and brace for their final attack.

Instead, the wolves crumble, falling to form heaps of chalk.

Staggering, I just barely stop a fall with my pole. Then my adrenaline drains and I slide to my knees.

I wheeze in the dark.

The crystals are out.

That’s bad news for whatever is beneath the seal, but I’m not taking one step into that cursed array field. Not even for infinite money and the chance to erase all my memories of Kevan.

I need to get back to base. Then I can summon every array master in Faervaine.

Let someone more qualified clean up this mess.

I’m slogging the long way around the cavern when my spiritual senses prick. I turn slowly, praying that I’m feeling wrong.

But there’s no mistaking the ball of pain and hellfire rocketing my way.

If Vhex were ten minutes earlier, I might’ve cheered.

Now, I wonder.

If I hold my glaive real steady, can I trick him into impaling himself?

As Vhex flames toward me, my compassion kicks in.

The flavor of his pain has shifted.

Now, it’s harder to resist.

Even though his energy screams that he’s rolled back to barely human, devil-caveman mode, I can already sense his primitive certainty that he’s heading for his cure.

Meanwhile, I can barely stand.

This is going to be a blast.

The pink of his oncoming hellfire lights the cavern brighter than the sun. When the glow hits the walls, they sparkle with the lines of more arrays.

My stomach drops.

Circle and rune patterns even more elaborate than the ones that birthed the wolves crowd all the way to the ceiling. Arrays criss-cross the thickest above the creepy, stone platform set in the middle of the cavern—the seal they exist to defend.

Thanks to me draining the last of their power, all these god-tier defenses may as well be wallpaper. I could crack open the prison beneath my feet with a chalky sneeze.

Heart thundering, I scream, “Vhex!”

His answering roar shakes the cavern.

Vhex punches out of the tunnel on wings of hellfire.

I suck a breath.

He’s morphed into a pink flame elemental with lava pits for eyes and wings that cast sparks.

Rampaging hellfire coils from his clawed toes to the tip of his massive horn. Everything between is flames. They hide his skin and stretch his shape, making him look even taller and broader.

My body heats like I’m the one combusting.

I feel his pain—his need —in the sudden throb of my jaw. The agony vibrates so hard I want to throw up.

Flames roil around him, charring the array’s outer ring of chalk.

I have to get him away from here.

“Vhex. Come and let me cool you down.” I reach out my silks and an open palm.

“ Guide .” Pit-eyes twinkling, Vhex zips over. He sheds liquid flame, but at least he’s flying over what’s left of the array.

He crash-lands into me.

My burned leg buckles.

I flail, trying to stop cracking my head on the rocky floor, but Vhex cushions the back of my skull.

For half a heartbeat, I think he cares.

Then his flaming weight smashes on top of me, knocking the air from my lungs.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t see through his fire.

“E-easy,” I choke, latching into his white-hot silks before he ashes us both. His soul bends to mine, already conditioned to come to me for comfort.

His flames and tendrils curl obediently, bumping against me as eagerly as kittens. But Vhex is too far gone to do anything but growl.

“I’m right here,” I soothe, already feeling into his meridians and straightening the painful snarls. I squirm until I find his bare hips.

Right.

He’s naked under the fire.

That makes my job easier.

“Be gentle,” I warn, wiggling to part my legs.

Vhex growls and grinds between my thighs.

I bite back a whimper.

His horn isn’t the only part that grows when he transforms.

Even blanketed in hellfire, I can pinpoint the heat of his shaft. The silky-hot tip kisses my bellybutton. His molten pre-cum singes a hole through my shirt, but it can’t burn my skin.

I’m part of him.

My knees tremble.

Nothing exists but Vhex’s heat, his need, and the ache between my legs that begs to let him fill me with his pain.

His lava-pit eyes burn so bright, I blink pink spots. But I keep holding his gaze as I untwist his insides, trying not to purr with satisfaction.

I’m the only one who can fix him.

And, yes.

I’m totally fucked.

Vhex growls, sensing that I’m only giving him ninety-nine-point-nine percent of my attention. His least damaged silks snake together, trying to lasso every free wisp of my energy.

He demands it all.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I murmur, smoothing his ribs. “How do you feel? Better yet?”

“More,” he says low and sultry, smoke curling from the hole of his mouth.

I slide one hand to his tight jaw so that I can work the coils in his head. I ease the other lower and feel through his flames.

Vhex’s hot skin is ultra-smooth and totally hairless.

My fingertips glide through his heat until I find the molten shaft of his cock.

I pump slowly up and down, mesmerized. His candy buttons tickle my skin.

“More.” He thrusts his hips, desperate enough to fuck my hand.

Shivering as his ridges scrape my palm, I try to stroke his length, but it’s too thick to close my fingers around.

I work up to his head and thumb his slit as I squeeze what I can. “Is this what you want?”

It’s definitely what I want.

His bumps and heat are going to be a treat compared to frigid dick spikes.

Vhex snarls and yanks my hair to bare my throat. I flip my attention back too late.

Do devils bite?

He flashes fang—only one—and sinks into my jugular.

“Vhex!” I jolt, choking his cock. “What are you?—”

Something hot drips down the back of my throat.

It feels like a line of melted candle wax, but it’s inside me and rushing toward my heart.

I taste raspberries. My skin pebbles.

There’s no pain.

Vhex bites smoother than the vampire.

As my head spins, he sighs into my speeding pulse. His body goes limp except for the part I’m gripping like a safety handle. As his muscles relax, his overwhelming relief presses me into the ground.

I sweat as the poison boils.

All the blood in my body surges. My pussy swells and my clit lights up.

“What —” I squirm, not just wet, but suddenly gushing.

I soak through my pants, so sensitive that Vhex’s body weight almost finishes me off.

“What did you just do?” I ask, shaking.

Vhex’s hellfire retreats, finally revealing his face. His devil sharpness softens, but the lava-light burning in the depths of his eyes doesn’t dim.

Sparkling with lust, malice, and stomach-swooping satisfaction, Vhex licks my blood from his lips. “Make a wish.”