Page 31 of The Demon’s Delight (The Demon Princes #3)

Chapter 30

Hailon

“ S eir!” I called out, headed for where he’d fallen at a dead run.

I didn’t see him hit the ground, but I could only imagine the damage such a fall would cause. He’d done plenty just slipping down that embankment at the ruins.

My breath ran short as I sprinted, his form nothing more than a dark dot on the road at a distance… until it wasn’t.

“Hailon!” he called out, suddenly no further away than perhaps the distance of a few city blocks from me. I could see the panic on his face until he spotted me, then everything transformed to pure joy. His arms went out wide, the interesting glide he was doing about a foot off the ground steady as he beat his wings. He hit me at full speed, grabbing me up in his arms then folding his wings around me for good measure. “Are you crying? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he breathed the words into my hair, peppering my face with kisses between words. The warmth and smell of him put everything inside me at ease. “I was summoned back to Hell to report to my unit leader.” The fire behind my ribs was doused, and I no longer felt as though I might drive myself mad with thoughts I couldn’t control. “I came back as quick as I could. I didn’t mean to go. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He was babbling and clearly at least as distraught as I had been.

Then he took a few steps back and fell to his knees in the road. Panic stopped my heart for a moment. “Seir?” My eyes went wide as he literally crawled the short distance between us. “What are you doing? What’s wrong?”

His eyes met mine, full of glimmering sincerity. “I have no right to ask this of you, especially since I have to return to Hell once we get you back to Ravenglen, but know that I am yours, Hailon. In every way. I just need to be near you. I swear, I’ll figure out how to come back to you as fast as possible, every time. When I do, please let me stay by your side.” He pressed his forehead to my stomach, his hands wrapped around my hips. “Let me love you the way you are meant to be. Adored. Cherished. Please, my dangerous little Moonflower, let me show you how good of a mate I can be to you.”

It was the tremble that gave me away, the slight twitch in my flesh that had him gazing up with the gold in his eyes glowing. Fear shivered through me, worry that I was not worthy of this sweet demon, that this was all too hasty. That somewhere along the way, he would decide I wasn’t enough or that I was too much trouble. That the fates had made a mistake.

“How did I manage to summon a demon such as you? What have you done to me?” I exhaled long and slow, then plunged my fingers into his curls, giving the slightest tug as I swept through the strands, forehead to neck. I continued to stroke his hair like he was so prone to doing for me as he relaxed into my touch. The longer I stayed silent, the harder he dug his fingers into my hips, his forehead into my middle. The longer I delayed answering because I was speechless, the harsher his breath became.

“Please, Hailon. Don’t make me go on without you for eternity. I don’t want it if you’re not there with me. I know I said I could walk away before, that I could be okay if you weren’t mine even if I was yours. But I don’t think I’m strong enough.”

I sniffled, unable to hold it in any longer. He pulled back to look and reached up to wipe away the tears streaking down my cheeks. “Will you carry me, then?”

All worry fled from his face, leaving behind the youthful exuberance that was his very essence. “Yes. Every step. I’ve been telling you that since the day we met! You just have to stop arguing about it and let me.”

I laughed again, feeling whole and centered. “Ridiculous demon. Get up.” He all but jumped to his feet and tangled his arms around me. “Seir?” His eyes shimmered, shifting subtly between gold and red. “Are you okay? You really weren’t hurt when you fell just now? How did you land? Were you in trouble in Hell?” The idea he’d been physically punished for helping me made my stomach roll with guilt. I raised a hand to his face like he had a habit of doing to me, and his eyes closed. A breath leaked slowly from him as he relaxed under my touch, and he held my hand in place with his own on my wrist.

He turned his head slowly, kissing my palm as it slid over his mouth. “I’m fine. So much better now, actually.” His expression became pinched, pained. “But I was worried about you. You’re okay?”

“I only passed out once,” I whispered. “Now we’re even.”

He stilled. “What? Why did you do that?”

I shook my head, wondering why I’d mentioned it at all. “It was fine. I felt really… odd while you were gone.”

“Elaborate, please?” He was frowning, deadly serious.

“The bond was… really upset.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Yes, I felt that too.” His hand rubbed at his chest. “But you fainted?”

I nodded. “Only once. The pain went everywhere a few times. Like a flare through my whole body. Like I couldn’t control my muscles. I don’t know how else to describe it.”

Seir grunted, still frowning. “I was definitely more uncomfortable than I have been.”

“Wait, you didn’t answer me. Were you in trouble?”

“There are consequences to disappearing from your post for a full shift cycle and forgetting to check in, even if you’re summoned and leave a note,” he said cryptically. “But I’m fine.”

My emotions shifted violently, my fear for what had happened to him manifesting as anger. “If we’re going to be mates, you must teach me the rules of your job so I don’t accidentally get you tortured by summoning you back in the middle of something important! Because I almost did, but then I didn’t because I didn’t want to make things worse, so I was just out here, by myself, going crazy!” I found myself shouting. “And you must teach me your alphabet! Soon!” I rushed to inspect the parts of him my hands could get to, looking for any injuries or damage. “And I need to know how time works other places, so I know how to convert that before I start to worry or start walking by myself, and—” I’d started gently beating my fists against his chest to emphasize my points, my anxiety bubbling over as subtle violence.

“Aw, so you were worried about me.” He smiled down at me, all too smug as he brushed some hair away from my face before resting his hand over my fists, stilling them. He didn’t relax his grip on me overall, however, the other arm still lashed tight across my back while his wings cocooned us in their hold as well.

“No.” I huffed a breath. He was right, but I was feeling indignant.

“Liar.”

I opened my mouth to argue but couldn’t formulate anything clever fast enough. Seir, however, planted a thorough kiss on my lips as quickly as he could. “I missed you too.”

I squeezed my hands against his forearms, eliciting the smallest intake of breath from him.

“You are hurt.” I reached for his shirt, pulling it up so I could find his hurts and fix them.

“It’s nothing—hey!” His chuckle was rich, full of amusement as I pulled his shirt off altogether. I circled him, then took his hands into mine and turned his arms over. At my grunt over the new collection of angry stripes, he said again, “It’s nothing. Really. Hailon .” He used that tone on me, the serious one that made every cell in my body pay attention. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not. I can fix it, just hold still?—”

Instead of letting me gather my thoughts and reach for my magic, Seir crushed his mouth to mine. Then he reached for the tails of my shirt, pulling it up and over my head in one smooth motion.

“What are you doing!” I squeaked.

“Checking you for injuries. Fair is fair, right?”

“I’m not hurt!” I protested.

“You could be. You said you fainted. Did you fall? Did you land on your side? Your back? This delectable ass?”

“Seir!” My blood pounded in my ears as he gripped my backside with both hands, mouth sealed over mine once again.

“Tell me to stop, Moonflower. I’ll listen. I’ll always obey your commands.”

Our bare chests plastered together, his warm voice rumbling through me, I took the final leap. “Why would I do that?”

He grunted, sounding strained. “I need you to be absolutely sure, Hailon. This is no small agreement.”

“I’m sure, Seir.”

I felt his hesitation and ended it for us both, once and for all. I leaned into him, enticing him into a long, luxurious kiss. His hand came to cradle my face as our tongues tangled and his breath mingled with mine.

My hands shucked my trousers and then worked on his, earning me another surprised grunt, but also a smile, though he never pulled away from our embrace or the kiss. I used my hands to position his along my thighs, and he understood right away what I wanted. He lifted me up, my center against his stomach.

“This will not be sweet,” he warned.

“I never asked for sweet.”

“But—”

“I’m fine. I want this. I want you, Seir.” I took his hard cock in my hand and guided the tip to my opening. A noise rumbled through his throat as I swept it back and forth through the moisture already gathered there before seating it properly. I reveled in the burn as he slowly lowered me down, his eyes fixed to mine as we both gasped at the sensation of him entering me for the first time.

The sounds of my harsh breath and pounding heartbeat were all I could hear as I adjusted to the way he filled me up.

“Hailon.” My name was a prayer on his lips, his cheeks flushed with color and eyes soft as he gazed down at me.

I put my hands on his shoulders and used the strength in my thighs to move a bit. I was rewarded with Seir following my example, his wings tightening even further around me in a way that allowed them to provide stability so I wouldn’t fall, even if he let go of my legs with his hands. His mouth met mine again, our moans exchanged through mutual breath as we rocked.

“I’m going to shame myself,” he panted, nipping at my neck with those sharp teeth. I clenched against him, earning another moan. “Hailon, no. Please , don’t do that, I can’t?—”

I moved my hand to grip behind his neck, angling my hips so that I could guarantee if he was close, I would be right there with him.

“Fuck,” he swore, the word drawn out and harshly whispered, the heat of his breath and the slight graze of his teeth against my neck beyond erotic. “You have no idea how many times I dreamt of this, Moonflower.”

“Those untoward intentions again?”

He groaned. “I was having thoughts constantly, trust me. We’ve just had far more important things going on.”

My whole body felt like it was on fire, but the spot in my chest that had been causing so much trouble most of all. As the tension low in my womb finally released, I cried out. I worried I might be dying the way my ribs burned, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Seir’s thrusts became rough, frantic. His eyes rounded as he gazed down at me, the gold and green flashing to red and back again as his face pinched with strain and bliss. He rested his forehead on mine as he exhaled hard, body shuddering against me.

“Thank you, Hailon. I swear I’ll be a good mate.”

Chests pressed together, our hearts pounded the same rhythm, the heat and ache gone completely. Only after I wriggled in request did he set me down on my unsteady feet.

Seir smiled, placing light kisses all over my face before turning to gather our assorted discarded clothing. “Come, dangerous creature. Let’s get back to your camp, I’ll tell you everything I can while I make you dinner as an apology for leaving at such an inopportune time.” He kissed me again and again—cheeks, lips, throat. He even hovered in the space between my neck and shoulder for a long moment, inhaling slowly. “Though this return greeting certainly makes me think it might have been worth it.”

My cheeks flamed again, and I batted at his shoulder. He chuckled as he nuzzled into my neck, then squeaked as he pulled me back against him, his tail winding around my waist as he lifted us both with his powerful wings and glided us the short distance back to the meadow.