Too much what? It wasn’t enough, as far as she was concerned. “I like touching you.”
“No one ever touches me.” He took a deep, shuddering breath that somehow sounded...pained, and not in a good way. “Nothing but the wind and rain ever does.”
Wind and rain? Was that why he often went bare-chested? He liked the feel of something caressing his skin because people wouldn’t? Or maybe he wouldn’t let them?
She couldn’t imagine living like that. She liked to touch and be touched. To show him how much she enjoyed it, she shoved her hand between them and found his erection as it strained against his pants.
Oh...my. She could feel every ridge and bump through the thin fabric as she ran her fingers along his length. Her strokes, made awkward by her inexperience and their position, still managed to elicit a tortured moan from him. The sound emboldened her, and she gripped him more firmly. His thick length pulsed, the hot blood pounding in her palm, and his shout of pleasure filled the room.
Then, suddenly, he was standing near the portal door and she was slumped against the wall, which was the only thing holding her up. How had he moved so fast? More importantly, why had he moved so fast?
“I have to go.” For a split second he looked frazzled, his chest heaving, his nostrils flaring. Then he smiled, a cocky lopsided grin that did not fit the situation. “Hanging with you was great, but I have people to torture and shit. You can...” He looked around the room. “I don’t know. Clean or something.”
“Clean?” Sure, she was still disoriented from the fog of lust and the surprise of him breaking it all off so quickly, but still...clean? “I work for Azagoth. Not you.”
He shrugged. “Then sleep. Cook. Watch TV. Whatever. Just don’t leave this crypt.”
“But I have to find that human.”
Reaching behind him, he palmed the symbol carved into the portal door, and it flashed open, turning into a shimmering arch of light. “I’ll do it.”
She pushed away from the wall, hoping her wobbly legs would hold her up. “I can help.”
“No.” His tone was harsh, but he softened it as he continued. “The demons were using you for something. Until I know what, we can’t risk you being out in the general population. Stay here. I’ll be back soon.” Before she could protest, he stepped through the portal and disappeared.
“Bastard,” she shouted after him.
She swore she heard laughter echo from out of the portal.
Lilliana strode through the halls of the building that, just a few short months ago, she’d thought of as her prison. Now it was her home, and the male who ran it was the love of her life.
She found him in his library, standing in front of the fire, his big body outlined by its orange glow. He didn’t turn when she entered, even though she knew he’d heard her approach. Coming up behind Azagoth, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his broad back.
“Hey.”
He covered her hands with his. “My love,” he purred. She adored that, how he saved certain tones and words for her and her alone. “What’s up? I thought you were busy with the new Unfallen recruits.”
“I was, but I couldn’t get Cat off my mind.”
“Cat? Is she okay?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. Have you seen her?”
“Not today.” His voice rumbled through her as he spoke. “But I’ve been busy trying to figure out why Hades won’t respond to my messages and why the fucking portals to the Inner Sanctum are sealed.”
Yeah, Azagoth hadn’t just been busy with that mess––he’d been obsessed. Something was terribly wrong in the Inner Sanctum, and with Heaven breathing down his back over the human stuck inside, Azagoth had been going nonstop. Between researching ways to open the portals and requesting help from the best demon engineers alive, he’d barely had time to eat, let alone sleep.
“You haven’t made any progress, I take it?” He made a hellish sound she was going to take as a no. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, and that fast, he relaxed a little.
“S’okay.” Within the cage of her arms, he turned to her, his gaze intense but concerned. “Now, what’s going on with Cat?”
“Did you send her on an errand to the human realm?”
Concern creased his forehead. “No. What’s this about? Is she missing?”
“For two days.” She stepped away from him, needing room to pace off her nervous energy now that she knew her friend was truly missing. “I didn’t worry until today because you sometimes send her off with messages or to fetch things. But she’s never been gone this long.”
“And you’ve looked everywhere? The forest? The dorms? The old buildings? You know how she likes to explore.”