Awakened by a Demoness (17 page)

He leaned over and threw up the contents of his stomach, his head spinning so fast he feared he would pass out as his heart thundered, the pain so intense that he didn’t know anything other than sheer agony.

He dropped his left wing, vomited again as he looked at it on the black flagstones, covered in blood, surrounded by scattered feathers.

“No!” Asteria screamed and he felt her racing towards him, realised she had broken free of the demon and was coming to stop him.

He couldn’t let her.

He mustered his strength, swapped his bloodied blade into his left hand and began hacking at his other wing. The pain stole his strength, making his blows weaker, drawing out the agony as he cut away at the muscle and struggled to break the bone.

“Rey, no,” Asteria whispered, mere feet from him now, and he looked at her.

Her beautiful blue eyes implored him not to do it.

Hot blood spilled down his back. Pain blazed through him. She kept screaming at him not to do it, but he had to. He needed to do it. For her.

The agony threatened to send him to his knees as he brought his sword down and the bone of his right wing shattered, but he refused to fall, stood tall and bore it for her.

She was worth this pain.

Because it was nothing compared to what he would feel if he lost her.

As the last tendon of his right wing snapped and it fell from his hand, light exploded from him in a shockwave that swept across the land around him. It reached the fortress, shaking the towers, and then it came rushing back at him, as black as night now. He threw his head back and bellowed as it hit him, darkness filling him like a terrible black tide, surging through him. His cry turned inhuman and he arched forwards, threw his arms out at his sides and roared.

Black feathered wings burst from his broken ones, turning his stomach as fresh agony rolled through him.

His voice gave out and the strength and power that had been ricocheting around inside him finally settled, and he lowered his head, fought for breath as he struggled to become accustomed to the change.

He looked down at himself, feeling nothing as he stared at the black metal plates moulded over his entire body and the clawed fingertips of his gauntlets, or the huge black broadsword he now wielded in his left hand.

Feeling numb as darkness swirled around his body, twining around his legs like a living thing, writhing like mist over his chest and caressing his neck between the collar of his armour and his helmet.

“Rey,” Asteria whispered.

Her voice was light in the darkness, drawing him back from the void. Feelings rushed back in, warm and soft, driving back the black numbness and restoring balance in him.

His red eyes sought her.

His reason for falling.

She was beautiful as she kneeled before him, her backdrop a dozen stunned demons the shockwave had knocked onto their backsides. Their faces held fear as they gazed at him, all of them silent and still.

He knew he looked different now, bore the horned armour and shadowy appearance of a fallen angel. He felt different too, uncertain of himself, filled with so much power he wasn’t sure he could control it, far more than he had ever possessed as an angel.

He looked at Asteria.

She wasn’t looking at him any differently.

Her eyes held no fear. No astonishment.

They held only love. Desire. Need.

That was enough for him.

It was enough to make him bear the weight of what he had done for her. For them.

They could be together now.

Because nothing could stand in his way.

Not even the Devil himself.

Rey slowly shifted his focus to the male standing ten metres behind Asteria, pinned red eyes on him and readied his blade.

The seven-foot male smiled slowly, a spark of amusement lighting his red eyes, and ran his black-claw-tipped fingers through his onyx hair, pushing the long lengths back from his handsome face.

Huge black feathered wings framed him as they arched high above his head, furled against his bare back, the tips brushing the gold-edged black armour he wore on his lower half.

Power radiated from him.

Visibly affected the demons around him.

Didn’t bother Rey at all.

He stared the male down, aware of who he was challenging, and strode towards Asteria where she had remained kneeling on the black flagstones between them. Her eyes were enormous now, her skin pale as she shook, fear flowing from her to curl around him.

He looked down at her as he passed and silently vowed that nothing would happen to her.

When he stopped just behind her, placing himself between the Devil and her, she surprised him by taking hold of his shin, her pale fingers clutching the black metal plate that protected it.

Rey stooped, carefully curled his arm around her beneath hers, and lifted her onto her feet, never taking his eyes off the Devil.

“You… intrigue me,” the Devil said, deep voice resonating across the land, and his lips twitched into a wider smile. “You are the first to choose to fall. Hundreds of angels have been in your position, and not one had the courage to do it. I commend you.”

Commend?

Rey snorted at that. His blade twitched in his left hand.

The Devil sighed.

“I am not interested in a war with you, but your decision has caused a problem for me. Asteria owes me a debt and—”

“She won’t be paying it,” Rey interjected.

Every demon in the vicinity tensed.

Every demon except Asteria.

She gazed up at him and he looked down at her, caught the worry in her eyes mingled with love, and held her closer to him.

The Devil moved a step towards them.

The inside of Rey’s right wrist burned, and he frowned, released Asteria and pulled his vambrace back to reveal it. His Echelon mark was still there, the power of it still flowing through him. His eyes slowly widened.

Flowing through him and making him stronger.

“You are right, and she shall not be paying it, but you will,” the Devil said with a broad smile.

If he meant to attack, Rey was ready to show him just how powerful he was now. He was new to these abilities that flowed beneath his skin, the darkness that burned inside him, but he would become accustomed to them in the heat of battle if it meant protecting Asteria and keeping her safe from harm.

Safe from the Devil.

The dark-haired fallen angel eyed him, the amusement still shining brightly in his crimson gaze.

Amusement that Rey was beginning to feel wasn’t related to him at all. It was related to whatever the Devil wanted him to do in order to spare Asteria.

“Name your price for leaving us alone.” Rey lowered his black broadsword and tucked his right wing around Asteria, sheltering her with it as she stood tall beside him, her fear flowing through him.

Because he was her mate.

He could feel it now that he had fallen, was deeply aware of it as she stood close to him. His, but not in the way he needed it. Not yet anyway.

“War is coming… and when it falls on this realm… I expect you to answer my call.”

War.

The Devil turned away, his black feathered wings stretching before settling against his back, and raised his hand. The demons around them rose onto their feet, cast black looks Rey and Asteria’s way, and then moved off, scattering into the darkness. Obeying their master.

Rey’s gaze tracked him as he strode back into the castle and then fell to his right wrist as the burning dulled, and knew in his heart it was the only reason he was alive now. The Devil knew he was stronger than normal fallen angels, that he wielded a power on par with his own. A power he was going to have to learn to use if he was going to fight when the Devil called upon him.

He tipped his head back and looked up at the black sky of Hell.

War was coming, and Rey knew what that meant.

He would be fighting an angel incursion.

Let them come. Heaven was no longer his home. Hell wasn’t it either.

He lowered his gaze to Asteria as she moved in front of him, drank in her beauty and the love that shone in her blue eyes.

She was his home now.

Rey raised his hands, gently caught Asteria’s cheeks and kissed her softly. She tiptoed and leaned into it, sought more from him that he gladly gave to her. He didn’t deny her when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hopped up and looped her legs around his waist. He surrendered to her instead, teleporting them away from the castle and back into the mountains, to a quiet cave he had noticed when flying up to the peak.

His eyes slipped shut as his boots hit the smooth floor of the secluded cave and he kissed her harder, desperate for more of her as his fear finally crashed over him now that the time to fight had passed. Fear that he might have lost her. Fear that he might have been forced to live without her. Fear that he would never see her again.

He clutched her close to his chest, listened to her ragged breaths and her heart pounding hard, its frantic rhythm calling to him.

She was his home.

His love.

His everything.

He pulled back and looked down at her, taking a moment to make that sink in as everything that had happened in the past few days collided in his head, a fast and twisting journey that had changed his world entirely.

Change their worlds.

He had once needed a duty to fulfil, a side to serve, and a place to call home.

He still needed them, and he still had them, but now they were different.

Asteria was his home.

Theirs was the side he served, an army of two.

And his duty was one that filled him with more pride and satisfaction than anything he had known before.

The duty of being her mate.

“I know what I am to you now… what you are to me,” he whispered huskily and raised one hand, brushed the gold-to-crimson stripe down the side of her onyx hair behind her ear. She trembled as he stroked her black horn, shuddering in his arms, and a little moan escaped her. “You’re my fated one, Asteria… the only one I will love forever.”

Her eyes flicked open, bright in the low light, shining with the feelings that flowed through him, the love that he knew was endless and would stand the test of time.

He lowered his hand to the mark still visible on her shoulder, one he had placed on her that night when he had finally surrendered to his desire, and fingered it. She looked there, her fine dark eyebrows pinching together.

“I know the taste of you,” he murmured and his teeth ached, his stomach turning as a strange sensation went through him. He swallowed against it, breathed deep and slow to settle himself again.

Her wide eyes met his. “You took my blood?”

He nodded, recalling it now, and just the thought of blood had his teeth aching again, as if they wanted to plunge back into her flesh and devour her.

She blinked. “You triggered the bonding process.”

“I know that now… and I know what you said… but what I feel for you, Asteria… what I want with you… it has nothing to do with fate or a bond. It has only to do with my heart.” He lowered his hand to her chest and stroked his fingers across it.

Her face softened and she caught his hand, held it against her. “Our hearts.”

Rey stared down at their joined hands, a growing sense of urgency rising within him, a need that compelled him, drove him to claim the female in his arms. “I want to be your mate, Asteria… I want you to be mine. You are mine.”

“Yours,” she whispered, pulled herself up and kissed him gently. “And you are mine.”

He groaned, torn between deepening the kiss and making a fool of himself by asking her for particulars about sealing the bond.

She took the decision out of his hands by breaking away from his lips and looking around them. Her eyes grew heated as she saw they were alone, tucked away from the world, together again and safe once more. He chuckled as she tore at his chest piece, ripping the metal plates away, and then pushed out of his arms and dropped to her feet. He didn’t fight her as she stripped him, stood still and watched her, enjoying the way her eyes began to burn black and gold as she revealed his body.

When he was naked, she made fast work of her own clothes, and then she was back in his arms, her fingers tangled in his blond hair and her legs around his waist, her heat scalding him.

He groaned and turned with her, pinned her to the cave wall as he kissed her and clutched her bare backside, savoured the feel of her body against his. She mewled and kissed him harder, tugged his hair and nipped at his lower lip. The metallic tang of blood hit his tongue and he growled at her as his teeth ached again, had to brace his hands against the wall as pain tore through him.

“Rey,” Asteria whispered, her soft voice coaxing him into looking at her. He opened his eyes and fixed them on her face, using the sight of her to push the pain from his mind. She smiled and stroked his cheeks, her dark eyebrows furrowing. “It’s just your fangs. Don’t fight them.”

He gave a stiff nod but the pain arced upwards and his cheekbones felt as if they were fracturing and his damned eyes were following them. He growled through his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, and bit out a foul curse.

Asteria palmed his cheeks, raised his head and then she was kissing him again, tearing his focus away from his teeth entirely, destroying his ability to think about anything other than the way her body was rubbing against his, her slick core gliding up and down his cock as she kissed him.

He groaned and then shuddered as her tongue swept along his teeth.

Down the length of a fang.

His cock throbbed, jerking between them, and his knees trembled.

“Fuck,” he bit out and clawed the wall, breathed hard as he struggled to come down from the sudden high of having his new fangs licked.

She moaned and wriggled against him, hips moving up and down, stroking him towards a climax. He snarled at her, warning her to stop, and she stilled in his arms.

For a second.

A grunt escaped him as she began rubbing again, driving him mad with hunger and need, pushing him right to the edge of control. His mate needed him. He could feel it in her, feel it running through him, an urge that commanded him to satisfy her.