Page 4 of Stalked By the Demon (Halloween Temptation #10)

I open my eyes to darkness, and it takes me a while to orient myself. Instead of scratchy dried grass, I’m lying on a warm pillow made of solid muscle, two glowing eyes blinking down at me.

Shivering, I burrow further into his chest. “Mm, what time is it?”

“An hour has passed.”

Shit. I must have been wiped out from my orgasm. The throbbing in my ass and sticky pubes is evidence of what we did, and I squirm pleasantly, relishing the dull ache.

I glance up at the man and, not for the first time since we met, find myself captivated. He really is gorgeous. A kind of brash, rugged beauty, like he’s been chiseled from a wild tree trunk or carved out of rock. Without thinking, my hand comes up to pet one of his horns.

“Wicked costume,” I murmur. The horn feels sturdy under my fingers, like it really could be wrapped-up bone. “Very realistic. This must have cost a fortune.”

The man grunts and shifts so that we’re both lying on our sides, cocooning me in his arms. He doesn’t seem to mind me groping him, so I press a quick kiss to his cheek and continue my exploration.

I was too… occupied to notice before, but his skin is a deep gray. Flat and devoid of color, like he’s covered himself in body paint. My fingers trail down his strong jaw and over two full lips, pulling the bottom one down slightly to expose razor-sharp teeth.

Huh. They could be tooth covers, but that’s a crazy level of commitment. Something about them looks so real.

Tracing over his back, my hand bumps into those hard nubs from before. At my touch, a shudder goes through him, like he can feel it. I suck in a faint breath, mesmerized by the details of his costume.

“What are these?”

“My spine.” He bats my hand away, frowning. “Enough, human. Who was that sniveling excuse of a man?”

It takes me a while to get that he’s talking about Jake. “Oh, my ex-boyfriend. Please forget about him, he’s a horrible guy that I don’t have to deal with anymore, thanks to you.”

“You have lain with him before.”

“As in, we’ve had sex?” I clear my throat. “Not... not fully. We only ever did hand and mouth stuff, if you count that. Jake never wanted to go any further.”

The arms tighten around my waist. A loud growl rumbles through his chest, more animalistic and sub-vocal than anything I’ve heard from him yet. Flashing him a bright smile, I cup the back of his neck.

“You don’t have to be jealous. He never made me come three times in one night.”

“I am not jealous, brat.”

“Okay,” I agree happily, ignoring his annoyed grumbling and snuggling closer.

It should embarrass me how touchy-feely I am with this guy I barely know, but something about him feels so right.

“Not that I don’t like ‘brat’, but my name’s Charlie.

What’s yours? I can’t keep calling you ‘hot horned man’ in my head. ”

“Charlie.”

“No, silly, that’s my name, you can’t have that—”

Thick fingers slide into my mouth, cutting off my incoming ramble to caress the back of my tongue. He holds me like that for a moment, dipping down to sniff deeply at my neck. Instantly, I melt under his touch.

“Charlie. My name is Sebastian.”

I blink, trying to think past the sudden haze in my head. When he withdraws his fingers, I swallow the saliva pooled in my mouth and blink dazedly at him.

“Awesome. Can I call you Bas instead? Like a fun little thing between us.”

“No.”

“Okay, Bas, it is!”

He does that sexy growl thing again. I don’t know if it’s meant to be intimidating because all it does is make me ready for another round. But there’s something niggling at me. Something that I’ve tried to ignore until right now.

It dawns on me like a puzzle clicking into place. “This isn’t a costume, is it?”

He shoots me a wry look. “You finally noticed.”

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to be insensitive, I’m just… curious. I’ve never met a guy with horns before, and it’s both really hot and a little bit scary.”

“Flattering. They call me a demon in your culture.”

“But you’re not red and all ugly.”

Bas huffs out a laugh, a pleasant sound like a babbling creek.

Everything about him is so earthy, from his very scent to the laughter rumbling in his chest. “No. An older creature of dirt and trees. I’ve walked this field for centuries, when this town was nothing more than a village of huts.

You’re the first human that I’ve interacted with in years. ”

I have no idea what to say. It’s not every day that the hottest guy you’ve ever seen turns out to not be human at all. I should be running for the hills, telling him he’s crazy, but something in his telepathic voice twinges at my heartstrings.

As much as I complain about not finding my soulmate, I’ve at least got my friends. Val and Quinn are awesome when they’re not tongue-deep in their partners. I can’t imagine how he felt, being alone for this long.

“That seems lonely,” I say, playing with the long tendrils of his hair. “Why don’t you leave?”

“My curse binds me to this place with something stronger than rope. It is a complicated and harrowing story… Charlie.”

Hearing my name in his voice makes me smile. “I’ve got time. Tell it to me, please?”

Bas sighs, low and rumbling, and flips us over so he’s on the bottom and I’m lying on his chest. God, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to his strength. It’s hot as fuck.

“When I was of an age more than yours, my younger sister was accused of being a witch. She had taken after our mother in her gift of medicine and healing, and it was enough to scare the local men. They stole her from her shop, intending to throw her in the river with rocks tied to her feet. But I helped her escape.”

“Go on,” I murmur, listening to the steady thrum of his heartbeat.

“When I returned to my village and it was reported what I had done, the men turned on me instead. Beat me senseless and threw me into the wilderness to be eaten. I was sure I was dying and was ready to, when a demon came from the shadows and made me a deal. He could heal me to be whole, but I would become immortal. Cursed to roam these lands for years.”

A demon? Immortal? All of the stuff I’ve only ever seen in TV shows and those romance books that Val likes, but somehow, it’s real. With the man here to prove it. Honestly, it’s a lot to wrap my head around.

But one thing is abundantly clear: Bas got screwed over. What a shit deal for someone who risked his life to save his sister. I don’t even know that other demon—and are there a lot of them? Now, I’ve got so many questions—and still I want to chew him out for what he did to Bas.

Shaking, I burrow deeper into his arms, whispering admiration and praise. He’s a hero, and he deserves to be told so. Even if nobody else alive knows.

Bas stills, then a hand cups the back of my neck and tucks my face into his neck.

Somehow, I know what he wants me to do. No words necessary.

It’s like there’s a giant neon sign in my head telling me the answer.

Like we’re connected mind, body, and soul.

I press us closer together and take a big sniff, exactly how he smelled me earlier.

That earthy, rich, cinnamon smell of him invades my nostrils and curls around every cell in my body.

“Fuck, you smell so good.” What is with that? I’ve never been a scent guy, but here I am, sniffing at him like a dog. The anger seeps out of me like spreading ink. “You were right, that story is super depressing. What kind of sick fuck binds someone forever?”

Bas grunts, looking away. “Not forever. The demon left me one way out; if I can find my fated mate and bond with them, I will be reverted to a man.”

Fated mates… like a soulmate?

“Those exist?”

“For demons, yes. One day I will find my one and be free from this curse.”

He sounds almost wistful. But I’m too preoccupied with the swirling turmoil in my own head to decipher it.

If he finds his fated mate, then there’s no way for us to be together.

Maybe it’s a bit presumptuous, thinking that the guy I fucked once is The One, but nothing in my life has ever felt this natural.

It’s like Bas is my True North, and every bone in my body is pointed straight towards him.

Yes, including my dick.

I tilt my head up, mouth falling open in a way I know is slutty, sue me. My entire body lights up when he grips my face with large hands and ravages my lips. I’m engulfed in six-foot-four inches of pure muscle, soaking in the heat of his rough palms.

Bas kisses like we’ve got nowhere else to be, like he’s not a demon stuck in this cornfield, and I’m not a human with a terrible track record of relationships.

I want more. More kissing, more sex, more Bas. Anything he’ll give me.

The night is almost over. In a few minutes, I’ll have to go back to my friends and lose this quiet peacefulness. Lose this feeling of home.

Bas pulls back just as my lungs are screaming for air. But I don’t want to separate. Whining, I clutch at him, chasing his lips.

He makes a tortured sound. “Sweet thing. Charlie. Why can’t I seem to let you go?”

Great question, but I hope he never finds out. I want to stay here forever.

Then I’m shoved out of Bas’ warm embrace, landing on my back with a pained grunt. “Hey!”

Scratchy dried grass tickles my bare skin. Bas stares down at me in all his sexy, horned glory, his thick cock jutting straight out into the air, heavy balls dangling like mouth-watering presents. But it’s his expression that heats me from the inside out.

He looks like he wants to devour me whole.

*

My hole is still wet and stretched from earlier. Bas rolls me onto my stomach, and I barely have enough time to brace myself when he shoves two fingers into my hole, punching a moan out of me. They slide in easily, fucking his cum back inside.

He growls, something animalistic that makes me drop my head, baring the back of my neck to him. I want to submit to him.

Want to be his.

But I’m not his fated mate, I have no right to ask for things like that. So, I do the next best thing and thrust my hips back, fucking myself on his fingers to show him how bad I want it.

“Going to fuck you so hard you won’t be able to think straight.”

“Fuck. Yes, please. Please, Bas. Please.”

When he grasps my hips and hauls me to my knees, one hand pressing my face into the grass, I almost weep in pleasure. His spongy cockhead presses against my entrance and slides in with one smooth thrust.

Then I’m really weeping. Fuck, he’s so big.

“Bas, it hurts.” I whimper pitifully.

He shushes me with fluttering kisses over my back, then tangles his fingers in my hair and pulls out slowly until just the tip of him is inside, before slamming forward with a grunt.

Eventually, the pain blossoms into a mind-melting pleasure.

Bas fucks like he’s trying to breed me, his large balls slapping against mine, and the thought makes me flush all the way to my toes.

My cock dangles between my legs. I itch to touch it, but it’s all I can do to breathe.

“That’s it. Let go for me, sweet thing, release on my cock or not at all. Let me breed that tight hole.”

There’s no way I can come again. It’s impossible. But when Bas yanks my head up and kisses me, my orgasm pulls out of me like the slow pour of molten chocolate, sweet and cresting.

Bas comes not a second later, coating my insides in heat with a choked-off roar, but his dick is still hard. He gets to his feet with me still impaled on his cock, legs flailing in the air.

Doesn’t this guy have a refractory period? Jesus, I thought I was horny, but Bas puts my stamina to shame.

“Please don’t drop me,” I plead, clutching at the arms tight around my middle.

“Relax, I have you. Let me fill you like you deserve. You’re so beautiful. So sweet. The most perfect human I could’ve hoped to meet.”

Then he’s fucking me, hips snapping up to meet my ass, pounding into my abused hole with distressed grunts.

All I can do is hold on. I blush, head thrown back against his shoulder.

It feels so dirty to fuck like this, standing up where anyone could see, held up only by his sheer strength.

He fucks me until I come again, and what spurts out of my cock is a watery dribble.

Again and again, shifting back to the ground when he gets tired.

This time, he puts me on my back, and his gorgeous face fills my vision.

“Perfect,” he rumbles, nosing along my jaw. “Like home. I would be overjoyed to have you as my mate.”

I’m lost in a sea of pleasure. Breathing through each thrust, my entire body lax and open for him as he uses me like a sex toy. Every shuddering orgasm of his paints my insides with cum.

It’s so hot, I could combust right here.

Bas grips my jaw and kisses me languidly, swallowing my tiny moans and gasps. When he pulls back, his eyes are ablaze with an emotion I can’t name. He comes with a low grunt, cock pulsing against my walls, and I squeeze around him hard, milking every drop from him.

He collapses against my chest. God, he’s heavy, but I wrap my legs around him and cradle him against my neck anyway.

I kiss the top of his head. “I wish we were soulmates, too.”

But he’d said he would turn human if he met his mate. And as far as I’m concerned, humans don’t exactly have giant horns sticking out of their heads.

Which means I’m not the one he’s waiting for.