Page 40 of The Devil Takes

Percy shook his head. He looked lovely like that. Swathes of flushed tan muscle spread out beneath me, filling up my bed with his sunshine and sweat. I wanted to taste the salty skin at the base of his throat, nuzzle into the damp skin at his groin and inhale his musk till I had the flavor memorized. “Good.”

I stroked along his cheeks, keeping my touch innocent at first as I traced between his freckles like they were constellations in the sky. I missed stars. Somehow I’d forgotten that. His skin was covered in downy soft peach fuzz, not a lick of facial hair in sight. I wondered if that was because he was an omega, or if it was something inherently Percy.

There were many things about being human I’d lost over the years. Maybe I’d need to brush up on them if I was going to keep him.

No.

No.

Not keep.

I shouldn’t.

I couldn’t.

Right?

But he did look perfect spread across my dark sheets. A beacon of light in a world made of shadow. I traced over the swell of his lower lip, unable to help the arousal that bubbled up inside me as they parted and a soft little puff of hot air met my skin.

“Focus on my touch. Pay attention to how it feels,” I murmured, watching his pulse flutter. Thump, thump, thump went his heart. “Think about what I may do next. Anticipate it, relish it.”

He inhaled shakily as I traced back over to his ears, stroking along the velveteen skin so I could watch him squirm again. It took him a while. But the longer I played, the more relaxed he became. Several minutes later, after I’d memorized the features of his face with my touch, Percy finally went lax beneath me.

Beautiful.

I couldn’t help myself, my hand slipping lower, fingers wrapping around the long column of his throat possessively. He didn’t tense up again. His heart beat stuttered against my palm.

How could all this be mine?

If not forever, then in that moment.

He was far too lovely to be here. Far too lovely to be sullied by my touch. And yet, he caved for me, let me hold dominion over him in a way no one should be allowed to. I squeezed his neck tighter, power thrumming through my body, arousal white hot in my veins. How far would he let me go? He didn’t move, didn’t so much as flinch from the pressure, though his pulse continued to thump erratically, and his body began to grow stiff once again.

“I can tell this is difficult for you,” I encouraged him softly. He shook. “But you submit so beautifully, pup.” The most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. In a way, he reminded me of the puppies I raised down in the pits. The way they’d fight each other for scraps of attention, always earnest, if not naive.

It was clear from the way his lips thinned that he disagreed with the compliment. It wasn’t like I often handed them out, but even still, the words to soothe him quickly rose to the tip of my tongue.

“If I say that you are beautiful, then you are.” His pulse thrummed beneath my palm, his airway carefully pinched, but not hard enough that he would no longer be able to breathe. I refused to harm him. “I do not lie.”

“But, maybe you’re biased.” The cheek on him.

“Why?” I thumbed over his collarbone, drinking in the startled little gasp he made. “Because I bit you?”

He didn’t make sense.

How he could think I would bite him without finding him beautiful was itself a contradiction. As much as I’d lost the human part of me, even I knew what he proposed was preposterous. That I would sink into his heat only because of carnal delight? No. There was something else there. A beauty flickering through the tension in his muscular form. It made me drunk, like every twitch of his supple thighs, or tremble of his pectorals was like taking a sip of wine, making me drunk on desire.

Percy began to shake again, and I loosened my grip on his neck, simply holding it now as I let him gather himself together. His nipples were hard, and I fought back the urge to lean down and lick them, instead swiping my thumb across one of their pebbled peaks with my free hand. Percy jolted, a little whimper escaping his lips. My cock ached in response.

“You bit me and ran,” he accused, his voice wobbling with pleasure and vitriol.

“I do not run,” I scoffed.

“Fine.” The muscle in his jaw flickered with tension. “You left then.”

I suppose I couldn’t argue that.

“Would you rather I stayed?” I flicked his nipple to emphasize my point. Gently. But he still jumped like his entire body was electrified by the fleeting touch.