Page 17

17

ADAN

T yphon had barely disappeared before my father turned to me with a smirk that made me want to set something on fire. Namely him, even if it wouldn’t do much harm.

“Well, I’d linger, but we both know what comes next. And even I’m not quite that much of a bastard.”

“Debatable,” I muttered.

He chuckled, unbothered. “Brand her well, son.”

Then he was gone.

Calliope shifted beside me, and I turned to face her fully. Her skin was still flushed from power, but her storm-kissed green eyes held steady on mine.

“You okay? With what Typhon said?” I refused to call him her father when he hadn’t earned the title.

She hesitated, then nodded slowly. “I think so. I don’t know what having a father in my life looks like, but I think I’m open to finding out.”

I reached up and brushed her hair back from her face. “You were incredible tonight.”

“I wasn’t alone,” she whispered. “I had you.”

The words hit harder than they should. I’d spent centuries keeping everyone at a distance. Never wanting to let them in. But with Calliope, there was no space to hide. “You’re the fire in my veins now. The tether that holds me to this world.”

“I probably should have known something was not quite human about me when we met.” She pressed her palm against my chest, over my heart. “Your darkness calls to me. Just like you do. That’s not exactly what most people would call normal.”

“It is when you’re a demon who just met their fated mate,” I reassured her. “You set fire to the darkness and made it something beautiful.”

“Stop.” She sniffled with a smile. “If you keep being so sweet, I’m going to cry.”

“Hold those tears back for one more minute, baby.”

She blinked up at me with wet eyes. “There’s more.”

“Yes, baby. The most important part.” I cradled her cheeks in my palms. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

One of the tears spilled down her cheek, and I swept it away with my thumb.

Hearing those three words from her was everything. My demon surged inside me, greedy and exultant. I curled my hand around her waist and pulled her closer.

“More than I ever thought I could love anything. You’re mine.”

Her breath caught, lips parting, and I knew she felt the shift between us. This was no longer just fate. Loving each other was a choice we’d both made.

And I was done waiting.

With one arm around her waist and the other beneath her thighs, I lifted her easily, holding Calliope against my chest like the treasure she was. Her breath caught, but she didn’t protest.

Curling into me, her fingers rested lightly at the base of my neck. “I can walk, you know.”

“Too slow,” I growled, already moving.

We stepped through the ruins of the atrium. The scent of scorched stone and lingering ozone still hung in the air, but The Abyss had already begun to repair itself. Wards shimmered faintly along the edges of the damage, weaving threads of healing magic through the cracked floor and shattered glass.

Kastiel passed us near the southern arch, his sleeves rolled up and blood still drying along his knuckles. He gave us a once-over, nodded, and went back to barking orders at the cleanup crew. Lyra stood farther back, overseeing the movement of a massive shard of glass that had embedded in one of the columns. Her eyes met mine briefly, then shifted to Calliope and softened.

Neither of them said a word. They knew I was at the edge of my control and beyond ready to fully bond with my fated mate.

Calliope buried her face against my collarbone, her voice barely a murmur. “They all know what we’re about to do, don’t they?”

I didn’t slow my pace as I answered, “They know not to interrupt.”

The hallway darkened slightly as we reached the tenth floor. The wards pulsed once, acknowledging me and the precious woman in my arms. As I reached the door to my private quarters, it swung open without a sound.

I carried her inside.

And this time, I wasn’t letting Calliope go until she was fully mine.

I laid her on our bed, my demon pushing to go faster while I paused to savor the sight of her beauty spread out before me.

I was desperate to have her, to solidify the bond between us. My mate clearly felt the same because she stripped out of her clothing as quickly as I did.

But before we lost ourselves to our passion, I needed to make sure she was fully on board with what I had planned. “I know you enjoyed my phantom touch when I used it before, but I’m not sure how you’d feel about me using it to claim every part of you.”

She blinked those bright green eyes, her cheeks already flushed as she whispered, “What does ‘every part’ mean?”

While stroking her jaw with my fingertips, I used my phantom touch to send a slight flutter against her puckered asshole.

She moaned, her eyes widening. “Oh.”

Even though Calliope knew I loved her and that she was mine, I still had a beastly desire to claim her. To fill all of her. “I’ll be gentle, baby, I promise. And you can tell me to stop at any time.”

She answered by pressing her lips to mine as she took my hands in hers, trailing them lower to cup her breasts.

This woman drove me crazy and knew exactly what to do to get my inner demon going wild. I growled, deepening our kiss as I tasted her sweetness.

“Turn over,” I murmured into her mouth, gripping her waist as she wiggled against me, flipping her so she was on her stomach, ass in the air.

And what a beautiful ass it was. I let my phantom touch give her a squeeze that had her yelping in a pleasant surprise before she spread her legs farther, giving me access to that tight little hole.

Leaning forward, I gently blew on her skin, using my touch to send a low pulse straight to her pussy at the same time.

“Oh yes,” she moaned, pushing her ass closer to me as if she couldn’t wait for me to claim all of her.

I slowly pressed my finger against her hole, letting another phantom flutter spread through her pussy.

“Adan,” she whimpered, gripping the sheets in her fists.

“Be patient, my good girl. I promise you’ll be rewarded for it.”

Reaching a free hand to my side table drawer, I pulled out the lube I’d stashed away for this moment. Then I made sure to douse my fingers before sliding just the tip into her puckered hole while sending another deep pulse to her pussy.

Calliope breathed out, relaxing against my fingers.

I wanted to push all the way in, to claim what was mine, but I knew I had to take it slowly, no matter how ready she seemed to be. Or how much my demon was pushing me to brand her as ours.

I hooked my finger and slid it in, slow and steady, all the way to the knuckle. Then I sent a longer pulse to her pussy, making sure it rippled through her walls and up to her clit. Wetness dripped down her thighs as she pushed her ass closer to my fingers, wanting more.

“You’re so wet and needy for me, baby,” I whispered, adding just the tip of a second finger inside her tight hole.

“Take me, Adan,” she begged.

I sent a deep vibration through her, making her toes curl as she cried out. Her ass squeezed my fingers with her orgasm.

I growled, unable to hold it back anymore and doused my cock with lube. When I eased my fingers free, her tight little hole clenched as though reluctant to let me go.

I sent an invisible caress straight to her clit, watching Calliope press her beautiful face against the pillow before I edged just the tip of my cock against her waiting hole. I didn’t want to hurt her and knew there would be no way I could hold back once my inner demon was unleashed, so I gave her another strong pulse between her legs, feeling her wetness drip onto both of us.

“Fuck, baby,” I growled, inching slowly into her.

She wiggled her ass against me, begging for more as she moaned, gripping the sheets and giving in to the pleasure I was giving her. Her dark hole was so tight that I couldn’t move after I filled her to the hilt. I had to let her adjust to my size as I sent phantom pulses through her pussy that I made sure vibrated against her swollen clit.

“Please, Adan. I want you to claim all of me.” Her voice came out in hot pants. “Brand me. Bond us together forever.”

I gripped her hips, giving her a hard thrust as I sent another wave to her begging pussy.

Her body was limp against me, so I pulled her upright, her back against my chest as I held her stomach.

She reached back, gripping my neck and then my hair as she moaned.

I sent a small wave to her breasts, the tight buds puckering as she moaned, her body vibrating against me.

“That’s it, baby. Give me another one so we can come together and my demon can brand you,” I demanded, sending a wave from her breasts all the way down to her pussy.

She screamed, her body going taut against mine as warmth flooded us both. I moaned into her ear as I filled her, her tight little ass taking every last drop as I sent low fluttering pulses through her body.

At the height of our orgasm, I flattened my hand against the curve of her breast and allowed my demon to come forward just enough to leave his mark on her soft skin. Instead of hurting, it heightened her pleasure. And mine.

It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and when the shudders subsided, I tilted her head back so I could capture her mouth. “You’re fully mine now, Calliope.”

“Yes, I am,” she replied with a drowsy smile.

I pulled out of her as gently as I could and placed a soft kiss on her lips before lifting her, letting little aftershocks stroke her sensitive pussy and asshole as I carried her to the bathroom, setting her in the tub before turning on the water.

As the basin filled, she glanced down at her chest and gasped.

“It really is a brand,” she whispered, awe and wonder in her voice.

I traced my fingers over the red flame on the swell of her breast. “Nobody will ever see it, but every supernatural will now instinctively know that you belong to me.”

Tilting her head back, my pretty mate narrowed her eyes. “And what about you?”

As a half human, Calliope couldn’t shift into her demon form, but mine had taken care of the task for her, wanting to wear his mate’s mark. Turning my wrist over, I showed her the brand that resembled a tornado on my inner wrist. “They’ll also know I’ve been claimed by you.”

Marked by fate, claimed by instinct, bound by something deeper…I was never meant to exist without Calliope.