Claimed by a Demon King (38 page)

Olivia gave her a sly smile. “Boyfriend? Clearly more was happening back home than just you, Thorne and Bleu trying to make your way back here.”

Sable scowled at her.

“He’s a good demon though.”

She had to concede that. Thorne was a good demon. A noble man. He had shown her that side of himself countless times, even when she had refused to believe it. He was a good man.

She sighed. “Why does life have to get all complicated?”

“I hear you.” Olivia giggled. “Look at me. One minute I’m a doctor and the next I’m mated to an elf prince and about to become his honorary-elf princess… with all this stupid stuff to learn about customs, his world, and the nitty-gritty details of the ceremony, and things to do to make the kingdom like me as their princess.”

Sable smiled now. “It sounds overwhelming.”

Olivia nudged her shoulder. “Not as overwhelming as being a queen of demons.”

Her smile faded. “Don’t even go there.”

Her friend’s face fell, turning too serious for Sable’s liking. “You are going to become his mate though, right?”

Sable lowered her gaze to the furs and picked at them, stifling the blush creeping onto her cheeks.

“I’m ready with the ‘Sable Speech’ about losing a wonderful guy. Don’t make me use it.”

She sighed and her shoulders sagged. She wasn’t intending to make her friend use the same speech she had given her about losing a wonderful man out of fear rather than facing facts and her feelings. She knew how she felt about Thorne.

It was endless and deep, consuming her. It drove her to find him just so she could see him and have him look at her in that way that said he would never tire of seeing her too, and that he loved her with all of his heart and ached to have her as his mate.

She ached for that too, but it was complicated and confusing. It was too much to think about.

“I know,” Sable said. “I’m just not sure what to do.”

“My advice. Don’t overthink it. You’ll only make yourself crazy.” Olivia patted her knee and offered a sympathetic smile that reached her dark eyes. “What you do now is the easy part. You just walk up to him, plant a huge kiss on him, and with one look into your eyes, he’ll know that you’ve made up your mind. I knew you had the moment you said you needed to talk.”

She had? Maybe Thorne knew too.

Sable smiled again. “You make it sound so easy.”

“None of it is easy… but I think you’re making the right decision… and not just because I’ll get to have my friend as my friend forever.” Olivia rose from the bed and Sable caught the flicker of relief and happiness in her dark eyes.

She hadn’t thought about the fact that Olivia was immortal now, and wouldn’t have aged while Sable would have grown old. Sable marked immortality and a best friend forever in the positive column of her list of pros and cons about mating with Thorne. They could gripe about having to run kingdoms together too, and share gossip and bitch about immortal men whenever one of them did something wrong.

Olivia’s smile widened, as if she could hear her thoughts and they pleased her. “It’s good to have you back, and you were an idiot not to tell me about the mark. All-human or half-angel, you’re still my best friend and nothing will change that.”

“That’s because we have a true friendship.”

Olivia’s eyebrows rose and she hesitated before nodding, a touch of confusion in her dark eyes.

“A wise demon king once told me that,” Sable said as way of an explanation for her cheesy line and Olivia smiled at her, walked to the door and opened it.

She looked back at Sable.

“Go and make him
your
demon king.”

Sable’s stomach somersaulted at the prospect. She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. Olivia was right and this was what she wanted with Thorne, and she didn’t want to wait until war was upon them to tell him how she felt about him. He needed to know. Not only because it would bolster his strength in the coming fight, but because he had been as patient as he could, had done everything in his power to win her.

And he had.

She needed him to know that he had scored a victory and had claimed her heart, just as she knew she had won his.

Sable drew in another deep breath, smoothed her shirt over her trousers, and nodded.

She quickly walked from the room before her nerve failed, passing Loren in the corridor. He turned, his gaze tracking her for a few steps before he continued on his way. She hoped to God she didn’t bump into Bleu.

Her hands shook and she curled them into fists. She breathed deep and slow, trying to steady her heart too. It pounded against her chest, fierce and strong, a beat that she walked to as she took the stone stairs down to the next floor.

Sable arrived at Thorne’s heavy wooden door, raised her fist to knock and paused. She stared at the wood, fighting another wave of nerves that threatened to pull her under.

She wasn’t sure how long she stood there in a daze, her mind swimming and heart racing. Before she could shake herself out of her ridiculous nervous stupor, the door swung open, revealing Thorne in all his glory.

His bare chest glistened with drops of moisture and one strong hand rubbed a piece of dark cloth over his damp russet-brown hair.

“What is wrong?” he said, his deep voice making her quiver and heat inside, evaporating some of her nerves but not chasing them off completely. He leaned towards her and looked both ways along the stone corridor and then back, his gaze resting on her again. “Are you unwell? Did your talk with Olivia not go well? Speak, Little Female… I must know what has upset you.”

She should have known he would sense her outside his door, would feel her nerves and her fear rippling through the growing connection that tied them together. Now he was drawing conclusions that were all wrong, but it was sweet of him to want to know the source of her feelings, and to desire to do something to remedy them.

“I was just looking for you.” Sable managed to force those words out and struggled to think of what to say next as he stared at her, his dark crimson eyes locked on her face, concern shining in them.

It didn’t help that he was half-nude, evidently come straight from bathing to answer the door when he had sensed her standing there. His dark mahogany leathers were barely fastened, the lacing tied hastily over his groin.

Sable dragged her gaze away from his crotch and trailed it up his magnificent body, her own heating in response to the sight of rope after rope of honed, powerful muscles beneath bronzed tight skin.

“And so you have found me… did you need me for something?” There was a hint of desire in his thick voice, passion that began to flow through the link they shared.

Did she need him for something?

Did she ever.

She cleared her throat and drew in another fortifying breath, raised her gaze to meet his and chanted in her head that she could do this. She wanted to do this.

Before he could utter another word and throw her off course, she did exactly what Olivia had told her to do.

She tiptoed, wrapped her arms around his head and planted a huge one on him.

Thorne immediately dropped the towel and clutched her to him, his lips claiming hers in a soul-searing kiss that made her burn so hot that her fear melted under the intense heat. She groaned as he mastered her mouth, giving her no quarter, bending her to his will. Sable went willingly, a slave to the sensations bursting to life within her, bringing with it the crushing need to have more of Thorne, to never let this kiss end and never let him out of her arms.

His fingers pressed into her hips, clutching them tightly, and he groaned, the sound not born of pleasure but frustration. She fought him when he pushed her back, trying to break the kiss. Not yet. She needed more of his heat and his spice, needed to linger and slow the kiss, to awaken the deep yearning she felt within her heart in his too.

He was too strong for her though, easily pushing her back to arm’s length. The softness of his expression was her undoing, the affection in it only strengthening her need to have him close to her, to hold this powerful, beautiful king in her arms and know that he was finally hers and they were together at last.

She had one hurdle to leap before she could have that dream though.

A claiming she knew nothing about.

“Is everything all right?” Thorne whispered, the dark slashes of his eyebrows furrowing as his gaze searched hers, filled with tenderness and a touch of confusion.

Sable blew out another breath. “No… yes… it will be.”

The confusion in his striking crimson eyes grew, overpowering the softer emotions, and she sensed a sliver of concern go through him.

She was making a mess of this already.

Don’t overthink it.

Wise words from her wise friend.

Sable sucked down another strengthening breath.

“There’s no other way to say this… so I’m just going to say it.”

Thorne released her, trudged into his expansive room and sank down onto his bed. He stared across the room at her, the sliver of concern she had felt in him growing into fear and other darker feelings. She cursed the way he looked at her as if she had plunged a knife into his chest. She wasn’t just making a mess of things. She was making a royal mess of them and now all she wanted to do was go to him, wedge herself between his knees and stroke his horns as she looked down into his eyes. She needed to reassure him.

She knew a better way to make him see that what she wanted to say wasn’t a bad thing though.

Sable closed the door to his apartments and locked it.

He frowned now, confusion surfacing again. Her big strong king, her beautiful powerful demon, looked as if he was dying inside and felt it too.

“Thorne,” she murmured, unable to bring her voice above a whisper as emotions swirled through her, growing stronger by the second, becoming a maelstrom that swept her along at a dizzying pace.

She had never been good at sentimental crap. Give her a sword and a horde of bad demons and she knew exactly what to do. Give her a moment alone with the man that she loved, the one she wanted to be with for eternity, and she was struck silent, unable to think clearly or find the right words to say.

Sable crossed the room to him. He spread his thighs and she settled between his knees, placed her hands on his bare muscular shoulders, and looked down into his eyes.

She just had to say it and everything would be all right.

Sable smiled.

She
would
just say it.

“I’m in love with you.”

Thorne’s expression shifted from pained puppy dog to hot-blooded male demon in a heartbeat, a sexy and devastating grin curling his lips and flashing a hint of fang. He grabbed her by her hips and dragged her down to him, twisting his body at the same time so she ended up beneath him on the soft silky furs.

He growled and then his lips were on hers, capturing them in a fierce kiss that seared every inch of her and branded her with his name.

“I love you, too,” he murmured between kisses, his lips brushing the words across hers, painting them with each syllable.

Sable wasn’t done. She had to take the next step, had to leap and hope Thorne would catch her, and she had to do it now or she was going to chicken out.

She kissed him again, a brief hard clash of her mouth with his to boost her courage, and then pressed her forehead to his.

“Do it,” she whispered, a shiver racing over her skin, turning it to goose flesh, and her heart pounding in her throat. “Claim me… I want nothing more than to be yours.”

CHAPTER 26

T
horne was certain he was mistaken and that he had only imagined Sable asking him to claim her.

He pushed himself up on his hands, rising above her, and frowned into her golden eyes.

“What did you just say?” The words had left his lips before he could seek out the truth in her gaze, searching her soul through it to see if she really had just asked him to claim her.

Sable laughed and brushed her fingers through his damp hair, her palms grazing his curling horns, sending a fiery shiver down his spine. “This is a lousy start… you don’t believe me?”

“I do not believe I heard you correctly… say it again.”

Nerves flickered in her eyes and he realised it had taken her great courage to speak the words the first time, and now he was asking her to find the strength to put voice to them again. Was this why she had felt so scared and nervous while standing outside his door?

Had she truly come here to ask him to claim her and finally seal the bond between them, bringing her into his world as his eternal mate?

“Tell me you want me to claim you, Sable… tell me you want to be mine forever.”

She hesitated still, her fingers twining in his hair, squeezing droplets of water that ran down his back, cold against his overheating flesh.

“Tell me,” he pleaded, lost in her fiery eyes, in the thought that she truly had asked to be his and his fight for her was finally coming to a close.

A smile briefly danced on her lips.

“I want you to be mine… forever… Thorne. I want to claim you.”

He grinned. Typical of his female that she could not give him possession of her, instead requesting possession of him. He could go along with that. He would be the first demon to let a female claim him.

He rested all his weight on his left elbow and brushed the backs of his claws on his right hand across her cheek, holding her gaze the whole time he caressed her, savouring the sight of her beneath him, her eyes sparkling with feelings he had only ever dreamed of seeing in them.

“I am yours,” he husked and her cheeks heated beneath his touch, a blush rising onto them that made him smile. His little contradiction. She was strong, independent, unwilling to allow herself to be a possession of anyone, yet the simplest words from his heart could make her blush and shy away, could bring a flicker of vulnerability into her eyes that pleaded him to reassure her. He sighed, opened his hand and cupped her cheek as he swept the pad of his thumb over her lower lip. “I have always been yours… from the moment I set eyes on you… from the moment I was born.”