Page 19 of Wicked Believer (Original Sinner #2)
Reluctantly I tip my chin toward him, and the full force of his beauty hits me. Even now, after everything I’ve been through, being pinned beneath Lucifer’s gaze, it ... still makes me forget myself. Like nothing else in the world matters.
Nothing except him and me.
He cups my cheek. “What would you have me do? Turn the other cheek to the people who would hurt you? Who would’ve stood by and reveled while they watched you bleed?” His eyes light with fury. He shakes his head, wrinkling his nose as if that isn’t even an option to him.
Nearly as unconscionable as this whole situation is to me.
“No. No, I think not. I haven’t enjoyed torturing a fresh batch of souls this much in ages.
” His eyes darken. “I may not have been the one to make them drink the proverbial Kool-Aid this time ,” he emphasizes, “but they deserved everything they got and then some. He certainly seems to agree.” His eyes dart toward the ceiling, and I know that it’s God he’s referring to.
He once told me that it isn’t him who decides where we go in the end.
It’s God, and God only.
“What do you mean?” I ask, sensing there’s something deeper to what he’s saying, but he doesn’t answer me. Not directly, at least.
He sighs, staring past me for a long moment, before finally he says, “Someone needs to send them a message. Punish them for what they did to you.”
For Mark’s role in hurting me. A blatant warning ...
And a declaration of war to whoever else it was who sent the anthrax. That goes without saying. Not that we’ve figured out who that is yet.
I take a shaky, resigned breath, crumpling in on myself. All I can feel is a desperate longing to go back to before, to erase all this from my memory.
“I ... don’t think this is the kind of message they need,” I whisper softly.
A heavy weight presses down on me.
And the ... sympathy, the mercy I feel for the people who hurt me surprises me. Innocent people who ...
I shake my head.
No, not innocent . But people all the same.
People whose lives mattered. People who should have been forgiven, shown mercy, despite all they did to me, despite what they’d continue to do if given the chance.
Lucifer lifts a brow. “Then what do they need?”
I fumble over my words, instantly exhausted. Suddenly, I’m tired, so, so tired. “They need ... less arrogance,” I whisper. “Less entitlement. Less animosity to those who are different.”
“And?” he prompts.
“More humility. More generosity. More compassion and understanding.”
My eyes dart to his, and I think we both understand it isn’t only the Righteous I’m talking about anymore.
“Now you sound like my Father.” Lucifer huffs, though there’s less amusement in it than there used to be. He nods slowly. “All right, Charlotte. In the future, I shall take your opinion into advisement. Happy?”
I nod. That’s all the capitulation I’m going to get.
For now, at least.
If I can change his heart, his mind, even a little ...
Well, maybe that’s the true reason why he’s destined for me.
My breath bottles up inside me, the memory of the hope I felt the night he cast the aurora borealis over the city coming to mind. I thought I could change him then, too, but even then he was ...
I can’t bring myself to think it.
I bite down on my lip.
I have to hope, have to believe, to hold on to that feeling, because the alternative ...
Well, the alternative isn’t particularly flattering to me.
I sag against him.
Lucifer grins, mistaking my defeat for closeness, before he tips my chin up toward him, kissing me so that all I can do is melt into him. Like he’s reveling in the flavor of me.
“If you could have only seen their faces the moment they realized they weren’t in Heaven.
That they were mine,” he whispers against my lips.
“They belong to me, Charlotte. They all belong to me.” His eyes darken like he’s trying to impart some deeper meaning to me, but I .
.. can’t begin to understand what it is.
“As do you.” He presses his forehead against mine.
“Yes, sir,” I whisper.
He traces his finger down the exposed skin between my breasts, curling it slightly.
All at once, I sit forward, my fatigue gone from the rush of lust he’s coaxed from me, but he’s not Azmodeus. He can’t create what isn’t already there, buried deep inside me.
He can only call it forth.
The darkest desires of my heart.
He sits back in his seat, smiling appreciatively at how flushed and ready I am. “Like what you see?”
My gaze rakes over him. My body says yes, but ...
For once, I can’t bring myself to answer.
Even though my pussy is practically whimpering Yes, please.
This is what Lucifer does. Makes me wild and wicked.
Until the darkness inside me is unleashed.
“Stand before me,” he orders.
“Yes, sir,” I mutter, my cheeks reddening at how eagerly I obey his command. All it took was the single crook of his finger, and I’m more than ready for him, craving him.
Unable to resist.
I rise from his lap, coming to stand in front of him exactly like he ordered.
Slowly, he takes my hand, and I let out a startled eep as I’m hauled back down into his lap, this time with my hips positioned so I’m straddling the thick length of his cock where it strains against his suit pants.
“I would burn this world for you, little dove,” he whispers to me, bringing his lips only a hair’s breadth from my own as he gently tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear, his other hand kneading one of my nipples. “Do you understand?”
I nod, leaning into his touch, unable to resist closing the gap between us.
He’s told me this before, but I ... think today is the first time I fully understand what that means.
He feasts on me for a moment, his tongue laying siege against my mouth and his hands at my breasts, until a few seconds later I’m rocking and moaning against him, practically begging.
“Please, sir?” I whimper.
I want him inside me.
“Is it playtime, Daddy?”
“First on your knees,” he orders, gripping me by the hair and lifting me from his lap, only to force me down onto the floor before him.
A devilish smirk crosses his lips as I take out his cock, running my tongue along the thick vein that pulses near the head.
“I’m feeling particularly indulgent this morning. ”