Page 106 of Wicked Believer

For the devil to admit he’d fallen in love with a human.

My heart stutters painfully.

“And there you were, no less weak and vulnerable than a trembling bird in my palm. And what was I to do? Turn my back on you? Forget the way my stomach pitched into my feet whenever you looked at me? How I would have given up everything I’d worked for, everything I’d built, just to know the feel of you in my arms? Or worse, tell you? If I’d have told you, you’d have fucking run.”

My breath catches in my chest, my throat constricting from the tears that gather in my eyes.

“I willneverforgive my Mother for the choice she took from you, but I willnotapologize for wanting you. For claiming what’s mine. Don’t you understand? Nothing you could ever do, nothing you could ever say,nothingwill ever change that. I’m a bloody lunatic when it comes to you, don’t you see? I’ve been lost, obsessed from the very start. Fuck fate. Fuck free will. Fuck my family. Fuck everything. You aremine, and that’s all that matters.”

“Lucifer, I—”

“Quiet, Charlotte,” he snarls, and I smile as a single tear slips free. “If you’re going to behave like a filthy whore, then you will stay silent while you milk my cock like one.”

The next thing I know, Lucifer’s hand is on my throat, and I’m being hauled up against him until ...

He bites me.

I feel the length of his fangs sink into my neck, like a viper’s strike, and something comes apart inside me.

I shatter, Lucifer’s hand that’s now over my mouth the only thing that muffles my screams. I pulse and pulse, the warm gush of him finishing coupling with the heat, the pleasure of his venom coursing through me, until I can barely hold myself upright.

I don’t think I’ve ever come harder in my life.

Lucifer releases me, his mouth and teeth coated in blood from where he drank from me, as he spins me to face him, and I collapse into his arms.

He holds me upright, pinning me between him and the cold window at my back, both of us panting as we share breath.

“You bit me,” I whisper.

“Marked you.” He gives me a roguish smile.

His eyes fall to my wrist, and I follow his gaze there as he lifts it, gasping at the sight of the angelic light that snakes its way over my skin. It pulses, then fades, revealing the image of a black serpent. Like a tattoo.

“To remind you that you will always be mine,” Lucifer whispers as he cups my cheek. “Saying I love you is an understatement. You are my soulmate. Every part of my tattered existence bleeds for you.” He kisses me, the harsh, punishing brush of his lips making me melt.

We stay like that for a long time, lost in one another, trading breath.

“I wouldn’t have run,” I whisper.

Lucifer eases back, staring down at me incredulously. “Even though you fear me?”

The hurt at what he thought I was going to say at dinner a few weeks back flashes through me, a brief glimpse into his mind through our connection.

“I don’t fear you, Lucifer. I fear how much youmeanto me.” I place my hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat. “Our love is the apple. One bite and I was gone.”

He smiles, leaning in to lay a gentle kiss on my forehead, before he steps back, forcing us to separate. “That’s enough of your spellcasting for now. Best run along now, little dove. I have a meeting.”

I smirk, righting my clothes. I pick my torn panties up off the floor, and I press them into his waiting palm. He grins appreciatively.

No way would he ever allow me to leave here with them.

I brush my hand over the stubble on his face. “You can’t shield me from every danger we’re ever going to face, you know. Even though I know you wish you could. If we’re going to do this, you have to be honest with me. About everything. You wanted me to embrace being immortal, and I have. Now you need to let me make my own choices, my own mistakes.”

Lucifer grumbles, swearing under his breath like that idea doesn’t exactly thrill him, but then finally he gives a reluctant nod. “Onlyafteryou’ve had the proper training.”

A slow smile spreads across my lips.

A compromise. Our first.