Ink & Dagger (Sins of Eden #1)

18. Chapter XVIII

Chapter XVIII

Emily

“ W hat the - ? How the fuck did you get in?” I screeched, taking a step back and pulling the towel tighter around my body.

A muscle in his jaw ticked as he looked me over from head to toe and for a moment I was terrified to be in his presence. His eyes lingered on the purple finger prints around my arm before flicking up to meet my own.

The raw anger and violence radiating from him and the way he held his body tight, while his eyes flashed onyx, made my skin prickle with fear and my heart race, but I couldn’t look away as he held my stare. His glamor slipped and I saw the real him.

The Demon that hid beneath.

Everything from his red skin, and his dark curved horns, to his piercing black eyes as his tail twitched beside him on the bed was menacing, and for some fucked up, twisted reason I couldn’t help but find him even more beautiful in this state.

Slowly he set his jacket down and stood from the bed, fisting his hands at his sides and drawing trickles of blood from his palms from the sharp claws of his fingertips as he took a step towards me. His long legs made up the distance between us in easy effort.

“Sweet Witch,” he growled, like gravel against pavement.

A shiver worked its way up my spine as he spoke. “I will see him dead before he ever so much as looks at you again. His days left on Earth are fucking numbered.”

Before I could respond, he pulled me into his arms and wrapped me in his embrace, holding me there until my tense body relaxed into both him and his smoky scent. Laying his cheek against the top of my head he whispered quietly to me.

“Don’t ever fucking scare me like that again, do you understand? You lock the doors and keep yourself safe at all times from now on. I can’t bear the thought of what I’d do to this wretched world if I ever lost you.”

Pulling back slightly to look at me, he wiped the moisture from my cheeks. I hadn’t even realized that I was crying.

“You know?” I asked shakily. His nostrils flared as he gave a single nod.

“Like I said, I went into your shop when I couldn’t find you. I watched the tapes from your security feed,” he told me, his arms tightening around my waist.

“Then you know that he’s mine. I’ll be the one to make him pay,” I whispered.

His dark eyes searched my own. He must have seen the determination and truth in them, because he relented with a nod.

“Good, baby. Make it fucking hurt,” he said darkly, gently cradling my face in both hands.

Watching this terrifying Demon in all his glory treat me with such tenderness and intensity broke my resolve. Bats fluttered wildly in my stomach. I don’t know what emotion overcame me, but I leaned forward and placed a soft kiss at the corner of his lips.

His hands that were still cupping my face gently slid into the roots of my damp hair before pulling me into a knee buckling kiss. I gave in and relented, my body melting into his as a heady mixture of warm vanilla and intoxicating smoke washed over me, but I sucked in a sharp breath as his claws grazed the back of my head. Pulling away quickly he searched my face and retracted his claws.

“It’s still tender,” I winced.

He tentatively trailed his hands down to the folds of the towel where I’d tucked one end into the other and gave me a questioning look. Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply as I nodded for him to continue.

Slowly, he pulled the towel away and I stood there completely bare to him as he looked over all of the fading bruises and injuries Erik had inflicted on my body.

A deep rumble came from his chest, his shoulders heaving in fury. It was as if his entire body was vibrating with rage and vengeance for the pain I’d gone through.

“Never - again,” he growled, pausing between words. “Come here.”

Taking my hand, he gently led me to my bed, before pulling his shirt over his head and unbuckling his jeans, stripping down to his boxers.

“As much as I would love to destroy your delicious body in all the worst ways tonight, right now I need to hold you and feel that you’re here with me. I couldn’t breathe being away from you and not knowing if you were okay,” he admitted as I searched his face in confusion.

The walls that I kept around my black shriveled heart cracked even more at his confession as he carefully crawled into the bed beside me. After a few awkward minutes of laying in his arms, my body settled into his like this was the most normal fucking thing.

I had a whole ass fucking Demon in my bed, I mentally laughed to myself.

I gazed up at his horns while he pulled the blankets up around us, wondering what they would feel like.

“Can I - can I touch them?” I asked.

“You can touch all of me, Little Witch. I’m yours,” he whispered with a kiss to my forehead.

Fuck, why did he have to do and say things like that? Didn’t he know that I was falling for him?