The Demon's Song

CHAPTER Sixteen


Something was different.

Sofia awakened to the most delicious warmth imaginable, flowing through her from head to toe. She breathed in deeply, a sleepy smile curving her lips, and immediately smelled the exotic scent that was Phenex, all sea salt and spice. That was when she understood—the hand splayed on her hip, the knees tucked beneath her own, and the gentle breathing sending puffs of air against the back of her head. And spread over her body from neck to feet, draped over the blankets, were soft black feathers.

Phenex had held her in her sleep, wrapping her in his wings. The realization, especially after the way they’d left things last night, filled her with a warmth that had nothing to do with the blankets. He might not say he was sorry. In fact, he probably wouldn’t. She wasn’t really sure he knew how. But in this case, actions spoke louder than words, and she’d take it.

As her thoughts lost the fog of sleep, her body continued to wake up. Now she could feel the hard muscles of his chest, the long, lean muscles of his legs. And most distractingly, there was a distinctive bulge pressing against her backside. One that grew more pronounced when she used stretching a little as a pretense to wriggle back against it.

The hand on her hip came to life at that point, fingers tightening to press into her skin.

“Keep that up and I’m not going to be responsible for what happens. I don’t do impulse control this early.”

He breathed the words directly into her ear, his breath making her skin tingle.

“Do you ever?” she asked, amused even as her body stirred to full awareness.

“If I didn’t, I would have had you the first night we met.”

Those words, and the hunger they hinted at, took whatever impulse control she had and lit it on fire, burning it to ash in a matter of seconds. Even with her world turned upside down, she knew two things for certain. She wanted Phenex. And she was tired of waiting.

Slowly, deliberately, she arched back into him again, grinding against the cock that now stood at full attention beneath the thin fabric of whatever he was wearing. She heard the hiss of his breath, felt the way every muscle in his body tightened against her. Then the hand at her hip slid up to cup her breast. When he toyed with the nipple that was already a tight bud beneath the thin cami, she couldn’t hold back the soft moan that welled up in her throat.

Phenex’s tongue flicked out to tease her earlobe before he whispered, “You were warned.”

Sofia’s breathless laugh turned to a gasp when he gave her breast a hard squeeze, sending pleasure sizzling through her, pooling hot and wet at the apex of her thighs. He seemed to know, his long, talented fingers slipping below the waist of her shorts to tease and stroke.

“Mmm,” he purred. “I think you like this.”

Sofia couldn’t formulate a response, apart from a soft, choked sound as he swirled his finger around the swollen bud of her sex. Slowly. Very, very slowly. Sofia pressed her hips against his hand, wanting more. She reached behind her, flattening her hand against his muscled flank, urging him against her.

“Like this?” he asked, almost a whisper, as he began to press rhythmically against her, urging her against his deft fingers even as the feel of his cock drove her mad in an entirely different way.

“Tell me,” he murmured, and she could hear the way his voice had roughened with desire. She wanted that, wanted to know he needed this like she did. Somehow, she summoned the words, sliding one foot up the outside of his leg as she opened for him.

“Yes,” she breathed. “Like this. Just like this.”

“But I can make it better.”

He nipped at her earlobe, then briefly shifted his attention to pushing the shorts down her legs and off. She did what she could to help, her movements shaky and anxious. Her body didn’t want to do anything but melt back into him, and it seemed to resent being commanded to do something else. When those were off, shoved somewhere toward the footboard beneath the covers, Phenex moved away from her. She heard the rustling as he removed what had felt like boxers, and Sofia took the opportunity to pull her cami off, flinging it somewhere in the direction of the door.

Phenex chuckled as he pulled her back against him. “Anxious?”

“Maybe.” She hooked her foot behind his thigh, giving him full access to her heat. Phenex flattened his hand against her lower belly.

“Me, too.”

He moved his hips, and then the length of his cock was sliding between her legs, slick with moisture and creating slow, deliberate friction without entering her. He began to fondle her * again, teasing in small circles and light flicks of his finger, playing her until she was arching against him, throbbing at every push and pull until she was whimpering, so close to climax that she could barely breathe. She could hear Phenex’s increasingly ragged breaths behind her as his hips began to move more quickly. She throbbed beneath his hand, against his cock, tightening…

Then without warning he was gone, pushing back from her and leaving her quivering.

“Not yet,” he said, his voice soft and strained. “On your back, Sofia.”

She did as she was told, the only time she’d had absolutely no reservations about following Phenex’s command. He moved to kneel between her legs, pushing them apart so that her knees were slightly bent, her feet flat on the bed. Then he sank down, his own knees spread apart. Sofia watched him rise before her, in awe of what she saw. Before her this way, his alabaster skin bared and his black wings flared, he looked like nothing less than some dark and ancient god…or a fallen angel. His eyes burned vivid blue, and the look in them, a desire as hot as eternal fire, was only for her. They roved over her prone figure, caressing her heated skin without even touching her. When they finally returned to meet her gaze, there was something almost reverent in the way he looked at her.

“You are the most beautiful creature,” he said, his voice a seductive melody.

“Not like you,” Sofia breathed. She pushed up so that she could stroke her fingers over his lips, down his chest. He allowed it, though his muscles jumped and flexed with even the lightest brush. He was a wonder, Sofia thought. Pure masculine perfection. She could touch him for hours, exploring every inch of silken skin. But not this time. Not when she still ached and throbbed, when his cock thrust upward between her spread legs, taunting her with how it might feel to have him deep inside her.

She dragged her fingers down Phenex’s chest again, this time all the way down until she’d wrapped her hand around a shaft that felt like it was covered in hot silk. She saw the way his muscles tensed, heard the shudder in his breath. His hips twitched as she gave a small, testing stroke.

“Sofia,” he ground out. “I don’t think…this time—”

“Uh-uh. Turnabout is fair play.”

He didn’t fight it, though she could see it was a struggle. Before he could change his mind, she began to work her hand up and down his cock, slowly at first, then picking up the pace. He was so hard, the heat radiating from him incredible. Phenex’s head tipped back, his eyes slipping shut.

“Ah,” was all he said, a soft, broken sound.

Sofia’s breathing was uneven as she watched him, as she felt him begin to rock his hips in time to her strokes. It was heady stuff, holding him in her hand, controlling his pleasure when she knew that nothing could ever truly control a man like this. He’d given her power over him, willingly. It was a revelation—one she tucked away to take out and marvel over later. For now, she wanted to share.

She stopped stroking him and moved her hands to his hips, waiting until he opened his eyes to look at her, his question unspoken. Sofia nodded.

“Now,” she said.

Relief flashed across his face, bright as day. Then his wings snapped fully out at his sides as he pinned her to the bed, hands at either side of her head, in a single, swift motion. Then he drove into her, burying himself to the hilt.

Her hoarse cry mingled with his at the sudden, intense pleasure of their joining. He stretched her tight, filling her completely, throbbing deep inside. Phenex was still for only a moment, and Sofia looked up at him to see his eyes slip shut, his mouth opening to reveal the shining points of his fangs.

This time, they didn’t frighten her at all. Still, it was something of a shock to realize that not only was she not scared of them, they were actually a turn-on.

Then she stopped thinking altogether as Phenex began to move in her. Sofia gasped, arching into him as he set a pulsating rhythm that wound through her and made her swell around him, made her slick with need. However hot she’d been before, he pushed her higher, further, harder, until there was nothing but their two bodies sliding against one another, nothing but the low, rough sounds Phenex made at the apex of every thrust. Nothing but raw, primal lust.

There was some dark part of her that thrilled at being at his mercy, unable to do anything but take him pounding into her while she arched helplessly beneath. She tightened, shivered, every push of his hips sending her closer to the edge of some unknown precipice. His thrusts turned wild, Phenex’s head falling back as he began to lose himself. And seeing him like that, seeing him let go, was all it took to give Sofia that final push and send her flying into the darkness.

She cried out as she came, clenching around him as something deep inside exploded into thousands of shimmering sparks. Again. And then again, each burst nearly as intense as the last. Phenex growled, then slammed into her one final time before he found his own climax, coming with an inhuman roar.

When the intensity finally began to ebb, Phenex threaded his fingers through Sofia’s and dropped his forehead to touch hers. It was sweet, gentle, and all the more potent for the way he didn’t even try to find words. He didn’t need them, Sofia thought, her heart pounding against his chest.

For right now, simple feeling was enough.

For right now, he was perfect.