know someone wasn’t possible while I was obsessed with sex.
Love wasn’t in the cards for me. Not that I cared. Much.
Being bound to someone forever?
I’d rather not.
I was already stuck with a sin that tried to control every aspect of my life. The idea of Lust becoming infatuated with someone made me want to crawl into a hole and never come out. I rubbed my chest as a sharp stabbing pain coursed through me.
That’s not the reason, I told myself. I just need more.
I shook my head and tried hard not to think of him. I panted, slipping my hand in my pants to rub my clit even though it wouldn’t help. A shadow appeared in front of me. Glancing up, I took in the massive black, shadowy form. Lust sparked, and I whimpered.
Soul Reaper.
Not just any soul reaper.
I recognized that hulking soul because he’d plagued my dreams since the human festival. He wasn’t real. Only an illusion I created, but it was enough.
In all the years I’d been alive, lust had never craved a single person. She wanted everyone. Until then.
Why a fucking soul reaper?
The very moment I spotted him in The City of the Dead, I felt it.
The doom.
The burning.
The yearning.
An intense need that went beyond anything I could comprehend.
It was why I rushed away from the demon before he could say a single word and possibly seal our fate. I didn’t want to know his name, but one look at him and I knew.
If I wanted to keep my head, I had to visit Shepherd’s dreams. Maybe then I could quell the ache he’d created in me.
For real.
Three
Shepherd
She’s sitting in a booth at Mino’s Bar, a location just outside the limits of the City of the Dead…
I shouldn’t have a certain person’s whereabouts stuck in my fucking head all the damned time. My hands shook as I tried to ignore the goose bumps, like the ghost of someone’s touch, rippling over my body.
Aligning my pool stick with the cue ball, I hit it at an angle, and it bounced off the corner. The ball smacked straight into the three others like I wanted, but only two of them went into the slot.
Standing tall, I tugged at my collar and pulled the shirt from my damp skin. Moisture covered me unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I’d been sweating for days. Running my hand through my damp hair, I strode over to the other side of the pool table and aligned my stick with the cue ball again.
Getting that last one into the hole became a priority. I concentrated as hard as I could on the outcome, but still missed it completely thanks to a single, mysterious woman consuming my thoughts. I yearned for her with a passion that began in the depths of my soul. The craving made my heart pound and blood rush to my cock. The intensity pushed me to find her.
Who was she?
I didn’t know her name, but I was fucking positive I knew where to find the black-haired beauty. Her location came to me hours after I encountered her at the human festival. It wasn’t by scent because I no longer smelled the candied goodness wafting off her, and I missed it.
No, something deeper, more primal enabled me to find her. My soul knew exactly where she was at all times. All I had to do was think about her, and she’d be there. It was like I was connected to her.
It amazed me that someone I’d only seen once and never spoke to could burrow herself so deeply beneath my skin. My explanation? Madness—the mindless obsession that eventually possesses all demons.
Then the sweats came along with the urge to go to her. My feet had a mind of their own, always trying to seek her out.
I couldn’t sleep. I hadn’t eaten since the human festival, not that I needed to with all the souls I devoured that night. My thoughts were consumed by the stranger. I knew—I fucking knew—something came undone within me when I saw her. A monster tugged at his leash and my human part stomped his boots to stay away from whatever hell was about to break loose.
Why was I fighting desire? The woman I saw was perfection—a goddess. All of me—the demon and whatever was left of my humanity—ached to know her. I’d forgotten what wanting someone felt like, and it burned so good.
“Should we make something out of Sire’s fallen petals?” Wallis asked.