one time, he was my friend. Now he’s Lucifer’s bitch. It doesn’t matter what Erie thinks or what Asmodeus says. An oath binds him that he made to Lucifer, and the only way he gets out of that bond is by unleashing Pandora from that box and freeing the power she stole from him by placing it into her box as one of the seven sins.”
“You think Asmodeus will betray Erie?”
“I don’t think, Lena. I know. The moment he is free of Erie, Asmodeus will be forced to return and carry that news to Lucifer. When Lucifer learns how to release his one true love, he will seek to do so at any cost.”
“Great, and I am the key to unlocking that box.” I swallowed past the lump forming in my throat. “And you’re the one thing standing between Lucifer using me and unleashing an entirely new level of hell onto this world. Would now be a bad time to point out that with the Unseelie prison open, the one thing that could kill me is once more accessible?”
“I’m aware.” Lucian leaned forward to place a soft kiss against my forehead. “I have men inside the prison already. Spyder has his shadows searching every inch for that dagger. We’ll find it and figure out how to destroy the fucking thing.”
“Why didn’t you tell me how you felt?” I asked, and his lips jerked into a wicked smile.
“I told Katarina that I loved her, and she used it against me. I failed to see how selfish and vicious she truly was. I promised to never repeat those words for as long as I exist. They’re just words that hold no meaning. Actions show how people really feel.” He searched my eyes before continuing. “When you took your life, I knew how you felt about me. You sacrificed yourself to spare me pain, and that told me everything I needed to know about you. You’re selfless and pure, Lena. There’s no world where you’re not mine because I would destroy them all to get you back.” Lucian pushed the hair away from my face, smiling at the way I narrowed my eyes on him.
“I knew you were mine from the moment I saw you. Not outside your ancestral home. In Oregon, when you watched the waves rolling in to crash onto the beach. You’d pulled me to you, and you were the most exquisite thing I’d seen in a very long time. It wasn’t your beauty that called to me, though. It was the loneliness I saw in your pretty eyes that matched the same emotion within me. It was also the soft scent of darkness that beckoned me to play with it. Like seeks like, discovering what it craves most no matter what stands between it and what it needs. That’s why you’re mine. You’re the other half of me that I’ve spent lifetimes seeking and hadn’t found until you.”
“Is that it? I thought it was my sparkling personality and the first woman in history to tell your ancient ass to get bent.”
“That was part of it, and that you looked into the eyes of a monster, and you wanted to play. You weren’t afraid of me, even though you should have been.”
“Maybe you’re not as scary as you think you are, Lucian Blackstone.” I pushed him down and smiled as he settled back, placing his arms behind his head, watching as I slid onto his cock. “You owe me so many orgasms, asshole.”
“Are you planning on having your way with me, Mrs. Blackstone?” he challenged, his eyes sparkling in challenge.
“Indeed, I am, Mr. Blackstone. And you have yet to marry me, which means I am not your wife yet. You want me, put a ring on it, asshole. Until then, shut the fuck up and fuck me like you hate me. I’m fucking starving for you.”
“Good,” he growled, lifting me by my hips to slam me back down. I gasped, shuddering at the delicious soreness he’d created. “You’re so fucking hot when you think you’re in control.” He rolled me beneath him as he slowly thrust into my body. “I almost want you to keep pretending you are, but we both know that you’re not. Now scream, because I’m going to show you how it feels to be mine again, and you will be a good little girl and take it for me.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
There was peace to be found in violence. Lucian had shown it to me, and even in