Page 69 of Bound By Lucifer
My breath came out in erratic, shaky pulses as I thought on what I wanted the pool to show me. I’d seen enough movies to know that peeking into the future was risky business. Even with all my memories slamming back home, there were questions about the future that the past couldn’t answer. Mainly, what now? Lucifer was mine. My opinions of him as Sane Jessica, my human side now, came together with Reckless Jessica’s feelings, my beast, united by the bridge of memories from both lifetimes.
It created a mess of emotions that sat low in my belly, prodding my core like a million hot pokers.
“Pool… Show me what I do about Lucifer.”
The surface of the water shivered as if a stiff breeze had swept through the museum. Then a scene appeared that sent a flood of heady heat coursing through me, making my stomach swirl with need and my skin flush to Lucifer’s favorite color.
There, on the water’s surface, was a scene just as I was now, standing in the pool. The only difference was this had to be mere minutes in the future. Because Lucifer was standing in the water with me, right behind me. My dress was pulled up over my hips with my bare ass out and pressed against his groin. He had one hand wrapped so delicately around my throat, his fingertips pressed against my jawline and his thumb on my jugular. It was a possessive hold that had me burning with the most delicious fire, turning my core molten.
Then I was completely naked.
His other hand curved my bare hip, holding me flush to him. My skin was coated in a thin sheet of sweet, washed with the glow of the museum lighting. My nipples pebbled as rosy red as my cheeks. His belt was undone, and from this angle, I couldn’t see the point of penetration, but from the lusty glaze in my eyes and the not so gentle thrust of his hips, he was inside me, fucking me. Fucking mehard.
The glimpse into our very immediate future must have caught Lucifer by surprise, too, judging by the sharp inhale he made behind me. Then, an erotic, masculine growl slithered up from his throat, sliding over me like a lover’s caress. His jaw flexed, the muscles in his shoulder went taut, and his pupils dilated, fixing on me with a hunger in them that shook me to my core. He looked like a starving man that hadn’t know a meal in centuries, an ancient predator that hadn’t tasted meat in eons, a devil who hadn’t known the inside of a woman in centuries.
He didn’t even bother kicking off his shoes. He stepped into the fountain and slowly prowled towards me, eating up that precious distance between us. My heart lurched into my throat, and butterflies erupted in my stomach.
“Stop,” my voice splintered.
I wanted him. It almost scared me how much I wanted him. I was at war with myself. Jessica and Lilith. Human and demon. Nurse and Queen of Hell. Who was I?Whatwas I?
Lucifer stopped where he was in the water, his expression calm, but his eyes were wild with something that sent a thrill through me.
“This is confusing, I know,” he murmured, the soft purr of his voice comforting like a blanket or like…minestrone soup. It soothed my muscles and filled me with familiar warmth. “But just because you remember who you once were, doesn’t mean you have to stop being Jessica. I don’t expect you to be exactly the same as you were all those years ago. We have both evolved and changed. Time and circumstances have broken us apart, but now that we’ve found one another, we can continue to change and evolve together. If you want to be called Jessica, or Lilith, if you want to keep your old life, that’s your choice to make. All that matters to me is that you always remember that you aremine, Kitten. Your heart belongs to me.”
My heart, the one that belonged to him, beat so hard in my chest, it was as if it agreed with him. He’d said it himself. The King of Hell’s miracles came with a stipulation. He can only pull off a feat such as curing my dad’s cancer by receiving something of equal value. My heart, no, my love. And he had it. He’d always had it.
Watching the memories of Lilith and Lucifer had made me so jealous, seeing how they loved each other. Now that I knew Lilith was me, I just felt so incredibly miserable, knowing how much heartache he’d been through over the years. I’d not existing through much of it, then when I’d been reborn, I hadn’t remembered. But he hadn’t any such luxury. How many lifetimes had passed while he searched for me? How many nights had he spent in his empty bed, thinking of me?
“Stop that,” he whispered on a shaky breath. He took a step closer. “Stop feeling sorry for me.”
“You’ve spent so long searching for me, Lucifer.”
“I have. And it’s all been worth it for this moment. Get it out of your head that I have spent countless lonely nights wallowing in misery over your absence. Our time together before you were stolen from me— Those memories have kept me moving, knowing that there would come a day that I could begin making new memories with you. They filled me with hope, not pain.”
He was smiling again, that infernal smirk that filled me with hellfire. “I want to make new memories, starting now.”
His gaze dropped to the lascivious scene in the water, parts of our entangled bodies broken up by the movement of the pond’s surface. “It seems like you do too.”
I sniffed. “But I’m not the same person as I was before. I’m not a demon shifter anymore. I’m just a human.”
“I’ve never loved you because of your demon form, Kitten. You were never really fond of it anyway. Your beast is still with you. She still makes you,you.”
He took another step, then another. There wasn’t much space left between us at all. He was so close now I could feel his heat fanning over me, his hot breath washing over my bare shoulders and making my skin tingle.
He canted his head, his golden stare banked with love and admiration. “You know what hasn’t changed about you? While others shy away from their fear, you bend it the fuck over and make it your bitch. I’ve always loved that about you.”
My breath hitched in my chest. I could hardly breathe, but for some reason, I didn’t really need air anymore. In that moment, Lucifer Morningstar, the devil himself, was my new life source.
I wanted him desperately. I wanted the king who’d rebuilt Hell by my side. I wanted the broken devil who still mourned for his wings, who still wanted his father’s love even though he pretended he didn’t. I wanted the beast inside him who drove my inner demon mad with need.
As much as I hated Abaddon, he’d hit the nail right on the head that night outside Siren’s. Like a moth to a flame, I had found my light. His fire would turn me to ash, and from my ruin, I would rise as that fearless queen he spent centuries hunting.
Then his arms were around me, drawing me close into his muscled heat. His heart beat against my chest felt as familiar as my own. The scene in the water faded, as did the museum’s dim track lighting and the reflection of our portrait mounted on the wall. He held my chin, his touch bleeding devotion, and leaned down to lower his lips to mine in a searing kiss that scraped my very soul.
And just like that, the void I’d lived with for so long was finally filled.
