I stumbled, but his hands were there to catch me. “What the fuck was that?” I gasped while convulsing in his arms. His steady grip kept me still as the molecules of my being realigned themselves and settled back into their places.
“I needed more time away from prying eyes,” he explained. He was still so fucking close. He didn’t create any distance between us, he simply peered into my eyes like he could see the fabrication of my warring souls. “I’m glad you survived. Not many do.”
That statement made my eyes widen. Fucking risk demon.
Chapter 16
“So they’re forcing possessions? I’ll fucking end them,” Risk gritted out while pacing the...room. It was hard to describe this place as anything, really. It just felt like white space that went on forever and ever. It was giving me vertigo.
After we’d landed through his impossible transportation, Risk explained where we were: The Between. Apparently, he’d found it during a drunken night in the thirteen hundreds. It was a place between worlds. A timeless gap of nothingness. Endless space and endless realties all bending to meet at a single point—here.
I nodded as I watched him walk back and forth. “It’s pretty fucked up. From what I’ve heard, they only focus on getting low level creature demons, but I guess they want you now,” I replied while shifting on my heels.
My muscles were so fucking sore, and my feet were killing me, but there wasn’t a single chair in sight. I bent over to rub at the place where my shoes were digging into my ankles, and I heard Risk immediately stop pacing. At his abrupt stop, I glanced behind me, still bent over, my hair hanging down and my ass probably looking like an invitation. I couldn’t even say the move was innocent. He made me feel like I was a body of needy desire. At least I’d managed to turn off my spider’s lure, but the sexual tension was still thick. So was the bulging shape in his black slacks, I noticed.
He cleared his throat when I straightened back up, and he snapped his fingers, making a leather wingback chair appear. “Have a seat,” he offered before continuing to pace.
Once my body was settled and sinking into the plush comfort, he continued, “Not all creature demons are low level,” he said, surprising me. “You’re a higher level demon. In fact, it doesn’t make sense. Black Widow could have easily outpowered a simple possession spell.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. Your demon allowed herself to be possessed by you.”
I pressed a hand to my throat, tracing over the red hourglass mark. “Why? Why would she do that?”
He didn’t answer me for a moment, and I was left to chew on my spider’s motivations and spit them back out. Why would she want to be here? Why would she possess me if she didn’t have to? During vulnerable moments, I’d even felt bad for the demon. I thought we were both forced into a cohabitation against our control.
“Can you think of no reason why your demon would willingly merge with you?” he asked, watching me carefully.
My mind swirled, but I was at a loss. Until… My eyes widened. “Oh my gods.”
Risk nodded slowly, placing his hands in the pockets of his slacks and leaning against...well, nothing. Nothing that I could see, anyway, but his body was leaning against that nothingness regardless, and he looked sexy as hell doing it.
“Tomb and Crow.”
He nodded again, a hint of a smile over his lips like he was proud I’d put the pieces together.
“They were mates in hell?” I guessed. “My spider, the gargoyle, and Crow’s malphas demon?”
“Indeed. If her mates were summoned here against their will, then it makes sense that she’d willingly come.”
Visions of a spider, gargoyle, and crow having an orgy assaulted my imagination, and I snorted at the visual. I didn’t even know how that worked.
Risk’s lips quirked up in amusement, like he knew what I was thinking. “Mates in the underworld aren’t as physical as they are here—though it does happen when beasts are compatible. It’s more like a divine partnership. A unique connection that can’t be severed. It transcends sex, though I have a feeling you will enjoy having compatible bodies now,” he said slyly.
Enjoy, indeed. I could still practically feel Tomb’s body rocking into mine—pun intended. Not to mention how Crow’s heady gaze made shivers travel up and down my spine.
“So how did she feed when she was below?” I asked, playing with the lace sleeves of my dress while averting my eyes. The question was embarrassing, but I was curious. “Here, she has to have sex to survive. She has to kill…” my voice trailed off.
“Coming topside comes with a cost. She was still the Black Widow, but she didn’t have to feed in the underworld because it wasn’t necessary, she was already dead.”
“I don’t understand,” I replied with furrowed brow.
I could tell Risk didn’t know how to explain. It was evident in the way his mouth thinned in concentration. I got the feeling that the demon realm was an abstract concept hard for supes to fathom. “Take me, for example. I’m a risk demon. When I come topside, I feed off the risky behaviors of others. But I don’t need to do that below. Hell sustains us.”
“She must really hate this then,” I replied. “Feeling hungry. Having to feed.”
Risk shrugged. “Not necessarily. When a demon comes topside, it’s like awakening to your higher purpose. It’s instinctual. We don’t have the same fear or objections to death as you do. We don’t have the same moral compass, either. She’s probably enjoying her new purpose. It’s natural for her.”
I nodded, reveling in all of this new understanding. Stealing a look at Risk, I chewed on my lip. “Did we...uhh, I mean, did we ever…?” I let a hand motion between us before it dropped lamely in my lap, my cheeks burning. What the fuck
