The Darkest Pleasure

moving. With his other hand, he claimed the knife and tossed it to the floor. Her eyes widened as he next jerked her forward, right on top of him.

He rolled them over and pinned her into the mattress. Fight this. Fight—her breath fanned over his cheek. Her breasts meshed into his chest. Her legs wound around his waist, placing her wet, bare core against his erection. She was liquid fire.

All thoughts of resisting her vanished. One last time, he found himself thinking again, the urge tempting him. Winning the battle. Not that he'd put up much of a battle. 'You should have stayed with your family, tucked safely in bed.'

Her chin jutted stubbornly. 'I missed you,' she admitted grudgingly.

He rubbed his erection against her sweet spot, unable to stop his hips from moving. She gasped, he moaned. So good. Always this good.

'You're naked,' she said on a raspy breath. 'Hmm, I'm glad.' Her arms wound around his neck and pulled him down for a white-hot kiss.

His tongue dueled with hers, wild, untamed. He arched back only long enough to rip her shirt over her head and toss it aside before diving back into her immediately. Her nipples stabbed at him, her hands clutched at his back, and her legs fell open, pressing them as close as they could be without penetration.

His cock throbbed, ready, so ready. 'Once again, you're not wearing any panties,' he managed to croak as he kneaded her breast.

She bit his lower lip. 'Glad?'

'Dying from the pleasure.'

Smiling, she pushed him, rolling him over and straddling his waist. 'Don't enter. Not yet.'

'I won't.' She rose above him, a siren he would have died to possess. Once, twice, she glided up and down his length, still without penetration. Her head fell back, hair a sunny halo around her.

'I want to suck you,' she said.

'You're all over me.'

'I know.' Slowly she edged down him, not stopping until her mouth hovered over his swollen shaft. Her teeth flashed white in the moonlight a split second before her mouth swallowed him.

His hips shot forward of their own accord, pushing his length all the way down her throat. He didn't mean to, didn't want to hurt her, but couldn't stop the action. More. Need more. He and the demon were chanting the words together, and in the back of his mind, he realize that meant the demon was still with him, that Pain hadn't been transported anywhere. More, more, more.

His fingers tangled in her hair as her mouth rode him up and down, tongue licking at the head, sucking, then flicking against the base. He bit the inside of his cheek, drawing blood.

'Danika,' he panted.

She slammed down hard at the same time she reached behind her, fingers scrambling over the sheet…she paused…he moaned…she lifted her arm, mouth moving again…he writhed…then she sank a dagger right into his shoulder.

Shouting, he came on an explosion, spurting into her mouth over and over again. His entire body shook. Another roar parted his lips, the pleasure and pain an intoxicating blend he couldn't fight. Didn't want to fight.

She swallowed every drop he gave her. And when he finally quieted, when he finally stilled, she rose from his length, licking her lips and grinning like a contented cat. Blood poured from his shoulder, stinging so beautifully.

'You stabbed me,' he managed to work past the lump in his throat. He studied her intently, unsure what he would find in her expression. She didn't appear drunk with bloodlust or even ready to hurt him again.

She appeared satisfied with herself.

'I thought you might take the first knife, so I strapped a second one to my ankle, hoping you would be too preoccupied with the north region to concern yourself with the far south.'

His lips twitched. 'Tricky.'

'Necessary.' Still on her hands and knees, chin hovering over his navel, she glared over at him.

Gods, he loved this woman. He could see the desire swimming in the emerald depths of her eyes. His own desire returned, a blazing fire in his blood. His cock hardened anew, filling…filling…desperate for her all over again.

'You will not deny me my right anymore,' she said. 'Hurting you will not change me, I swear it. I like knowing I'm doing something for you. I like knowing I'm pleasing you. I know you wanted gentle, I suspect that's what you've dreamed about since being paired with your demon, but you had to know—I had to know—I could give you hard and painful if the need ever came upon you.'

'What right?' he demanded, those words snagging the bulk of his attention.

'I am yours and you are mine. I will see to all your needs. You will not turn to another woman. Ever.'

Her words echoed in his mind, the answer to a thousand prayers. 'Danika—angel.' He grabbed her forearms and tugged her atop him. His hands settled on her waist and positioned her for penetration. So hot, so wet. 'Wait. I need a condom.'

'I want to feel you this time. All of you.'

He went very still, his heart racing. 'What if there's a…baby?'

'Would you mind?' she asked softly.

'I once thought so. But now, with you…' He liked the idea. Craved it. Would love to watch Danika's stomach swell with his child. 'Would you mind?'

'I think—I think I would like it.'

'You do not think I would be a terrible father?'

'Are you kidding? No child would be more loved, more protected.'

He moaned, and it was a sound of pleasure. True pleasure, deep and inexorable.

'No more pushing me away. Ever.' Her eyes closed as she, too, uttered a pleasure-filled moan.

He was helpless to deny her. He would watch her, make sure she never developed bloodlust or if she did, that she never sated it with anyone but him. He would do anything necessary to win over her family. He would keep Aeron from her always, protect her from Hunters, demons—the gods themselves. Somehow. Someway.

'Are you sure you want me? Be very sure. After this, I will not let you go.'

Her features softened. 'The future might be uncertain, but I'm sure about you. About us.'

More beautiful words had never been spoken. 'No more pushing you away,' he vowed. 'Mine. You are mine.'

'Yours.'

With a single arch, he was embedded deep, all the way in. His mind instantly quieted, the demon silent. Gone? he wondered. Was penetration, physical joining, needed to send the spirit away?

Reyes stopped thinking when Danika's hands anchored on his chest, her nails digging, stinging. In all his life, he'd never imagined a moment so perfect. A moment where his heart beat for love rather than pain. She was his. He was hers.

He couldn't give her up; he simply could not do it. She was more important to him than his lungs or his limbs. He was nothing without her. He would keep her. She'd inflicted pain, yet she was still his Danika, still his angel. Good and pure and right. Oh, yes, he would keep her.

The decision unleashed a torrent of joy inside him, so sweet he surged into her, his thumb finding and flicking against her clitoris. That's all she needed to hurtle over the edge.

'Reyes!'

'Angel, my angel.' He came just as powerfully as before, rolling her over and fusing their mouths, his tongue thrusting deep. He stayed with her this time, and he suspected the bond between them was too strong to allow him through any portal.

Suddenly a blade sank into his back. Not put there by Danika, whose hands were tangled in his hair. He shouted in shock and jerked from the kiss, his head turning.

Aeron stood beside the bed, his wings spread, his eyes glowing crimson. That knife had been meant for