Defying Destiny (Afterword Academy #3) - Katie May Page 0,13
a fucking Angel. Less than a man. I’m not used to feeling like this.” His body shudders around mine as his grip tightens, holding me as if I’m something delicate and fragile, something he can’t ever imagine releasing.
“You’re not less of a man or an Angel. You gave up your wings for me.” My throat clogs at the enormity of my emotions for this man. For this damaged Angel who worries that he’ll be less than because of what he lost. “Auston, I love you so fucking much. I can’t even begin to describe how much you mean to me. You gave up your wings for me. And I know you’re scared—I understand that—but I just wanted you to know how grateful I am for you. For all of you.”
Placing one hand underneath my chin, Auston tilts my face up until he can press his lips to mine. It’s a teasing kiss, there and gone way too soon, but his touch leaves licks of fire in his wake.
“Shall we go find the others?” he whispers, his warm breath caressing my face. There’s still hurt in his eyes, still resentment—that I now know is directed at himself—but underlying all of that is a love so pronounced that it takes my breath away.
“Come on.” I pull out of his embrace only to immediately take his hand. “You ready?”
His eyes never leave my own as he nods once. “Ready.”
And then, still maintaining eye contact, we jump through the portal.
Chapter 6
Braxton
I’m so used to the nauseating feeling of traveling into hell that I almost don’t even notice it anymore. If anything, the feeling excites me a bit, gets my adrenaline going in the knowledge that I’m about to release all of the anger I hold inside of me by tearing apart the nearest monster.
Right now, I don’t even fucking care what I’m going to face. Verniquin? Bring it on. Creepy inside-out spider monsters? No problem.
Channeling all of my emotion, I call upon my sword a moment before my feet hit the ground, taking comfort in the familiar weight in my hands. Immediately, I realize something isn’t right because the heat I find so comforting is lessened—not gone completely but noticeably decreased.
The sheen of sweat that usually coats my skin, making my body feel alive, doesn’t come.
And neither do the monsters.
A large cavern made of red rock I’ve never been inside before surrounds me. Tall ceilings house enormous stalactites dripping a yellowish fluid that I dare not touch. Behind me, the cave seems to have no end, its walls vanishing into blackness, and in front of me, blocking the only exit out of here is a blazing fire—fire that bears no heat.
What the fuck is going on here?
Behind me, I can hear the others land one by one. Karston’s is almost imperceptible, agile fucking Ghost. But Preston’s screams have grown increasingly louder as he closes in on the portal’s entrance.
“Ahhh!” he shouts, collapsing onto his ass.
“Great job keeping it together, Pres,” I growl out, stomping over to him with my hand held out. “If the monsters didn’t hear us before, they sure as shit have now.”
Shame heats his cheeks as he takes my proffered hand. “Sorry, Brax. I thought I was going to—”
“Puke?” Auston finishes, landing a little less unsteady without his wings to counterbalance him.
He releases Hadley’s hand, and she rises from her knees like a glorious fucking goddess. Seeing her back in hell has memories of a certain time I spent down here with her rising to the forefront of my mind. A time when I hung her from a rock wall, licked her cunt till she cried, then fucked her into oblivion.
Now my dick’s hard.
Dammit.
Why can’t Demons have invisibility like Ghosts? I’d whisk her away this instant to a niche just out of the way where I’d have to keep my hand covering her mouth to muffle her cries. And if she made a noise, I’d punish her for it. Nothing indecent, but a little slap on her ass, a little spank on her pussy, just to remind her who’s in charge.
“Brax?”
I shake my head from my daydream to look at the real Hadley, here in front of me. “Sorry, I was thinking.”
She smirks, looking down at the bulge in my pants before her gaze travels back up my body and to my face, leaving a trail of flames in its wake. “What about exactly?”