Page 108 of Endless Terrors
Relief unfurled in my chest like a flower. I gave him a soft, weary smile. “Hi, Roger.”
The old demon’s eyes widened. “Let her in. For fuck’s sake, man, let her in!”
The guard hurried to comply. I heard a sequence of turns and clicks. Moments later, the doors opened.
With a deep sigh, I walked inside the tower.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
That strange, familiar calm had stolen over me.
Roger and I rode the elevator toward the top levels of the tower. None of the guards had come with us. Normally, I wouldn’t have thought anything of this, except there was a strange tension in the air as we walked away from them. I caught the nervous looks on some of their faces. A moment later, the elevator doors closed.
Now I faced the glass wall, and I kept my eyes on the horizon. It was a view I’d seen almost every day since arriving in Hell. Except this time, I knew what waited beyond those craggy rocks. Now I’d experienced just how terrifying and deadly the beauty of this world was.
The moment we stepped off the elevator, the strained silence was gone, replaced by what sounded like an argument. Shouting echoed down the walkway—the doors to Lucifer’s office were open, another anomaly. Roger and I had just started walking toward them when something shattered. The demon beside me stopped. I kept going, knowing I probably should be afraid, like Roger and all those guards downstairs. But everything inside me was just focused on those doors.
Then I heard his voice, and a quake went through me. Despite the noises of destruction, he spoke in calm, level tones. “I want her found, Dagan. I don’t care what it takes. Burn all seven cities to the ground if you have to.”
“I understand, my liege.”
“Heilel.”
I said his name softly, but it echoed through the room like a shout. The King of Hell stiffened. He turned toward the doorway, where I was standing. His eyes latched onto me as if I were a mirage in some bleak, endless desert. I waited for him to say something.
Instead, Heilel closed the distance between us in five long-legged strides, and every footstep felt like a heartbeat, pounding wild and fierce in my chest. I didn’t move. I watched him and my breathing quickened. Without a word, Heilel picked me up and strode out of his office, passing Roger and several guards as if they weren’t there.
Even when we were alone in the elevator, he still didn’t speak. I didn’t push Heilel away or fight his hold. I just looked up at him, tracing his perfect features with my eyes. Heat and urgency thrummed between us. The elevator stopped, releasing its usual chime, and then came the hushed sound of the doors sliding open. We went down the hall, never breaking eye contact.
The devil carried me into his bedroom and slammed the door shut with his heel.
I’d never been in here before, but I didn’t care about that right now. Didn’t care about anything other than him. I only had a vague sense of dark walls and a fire blazing in the hearth. Moving slowly, Heilel set me on my feet. I rested my hands on his chest, and he put his on my hips. It should’ve felt strange that neither of us had spoken yet, but it seemed like we were saying so much anyway. Things I still couldn’t admit out loud. I want you. Touch me. Take me, take me, take me.
With the barest of touches, Heilel skimmed the length of my body with his palms. His fingertips brushed against my nipples and the material of my torn dress. Excitement was already rising in me, leaving a blazing path in its wake.
But Heilel’s fingers went still, and he frowned. Cool air floated in the small space he’d put between us. “You’re hurt.”
I pulled him close again, shaking my head. “Just some scrapes and bruises.”
As Heilel buried his fingers in my hair and bent his head, I braced myself for an unrestrained, world-ruining kiss. Instead, he pressed his forehead to mine. I watched his eyes slide shut. Gentle. Tender.
I didn’t want tender; I was starving. It felt like I’d been starving for weeks, and not for anything in the kitchen.
With a growl, I crushed myself against Heilel and kissed him, hard, hot, demanding. His mouth opened, and the taste of him banished all my thoughts, along with every memory and reason why I should push him away. We were past that point, anyway. Something had shifted in me. I wasn’t sure when it had happened, exactly—maybe when I’d thought I was about to die and I’d never see him again, or the moment I’d realized I was never leaving Hell—but the timing was irrelevant. We’d rung a bell that couldn’t be unrung. Crossed a line that couldn’t be redrawn.
We got rough. Urgent. I yanked off his clothes without giving a shit about popping a button or breaking a zipper. But even when he was completely naked, my nails raking over the warm, hard planes of his back, I couldn’t get enough of him. He was pure addiction. His kiss, his cock, his hands. Speaking of his hands …
Heilel had reached down between us and slipped his wicked fingers beneath my dress. When he found me wet and clenching, he made a masculine sound that almost made me come right then. He pressed me into the wall, one hand around my throat while the other rubbed my clit, teased it, circled it. Mindless sounds filled the air. I knew I was making them, and that the guards in the hallway could probably hear, but I didn’t care. I held onto Heilel’s wrist with both of my hands, helpless against the waves of pleasure crashing through me.
I was just beginning to crest that invisible mountaintop when Heilel stopped.
Before I could protest, his mouth was on mine again and we were moving toward the bed. The backs of my legs bumped the frame. Heilel shifted his head, his mouth trailing along the curve of my neck. I turned around, letting his hands move over all of me. Suddenly I didn’t feel my injuries anymore. Heilel caught hold of my sleeves on the way down, and I felt the puff of fabric skim past my waist, my legs. The dress fell to the floor and left me naked. I shivered.
Still behind me, Heilel smoothed his fingers over my shoulders, across my collarbone, and down to my breasts. He weighed them in his hands while his cock slid past the insides my thighs. This time, I didn’t deny him. I didn’t fight my desire for him. I tipped my head back and rested it on his shoulder, reaching up to tangle my fingers in his hair while I ground against him. He licked my neck, slowly, and something about him doing that made my toes curl. His fingers curved around my breasts, holding them firmly now, and the tip of his penis prodded at my opening. Prodded it, but didn’t go any farther. I bit my lip to hold back a frustrated moan. I moved even faster.
“Say it,” Heilel murmured.
I didn’t need to ask what he meant. “I want you, okay? I want you.”
