Premonition of Peace (Her Immortal Monsters #3)

Chapter 22

twenty-two

NATHALIE

Surreal dreams with faceless enemies filled my sleep. I tossed and turned, never feeling that I truly rested. Death. Destruction. The Morrigan hurting those I loved. It was too much. With a sharp inhale, my eyes flew open.

“Hey, you,” Marcel whispered, and my stomach fluttered hearing his voice so strong and healthy. He was pressed against me, propped up on his elbow, his cheek cradled in his hand.

“Hey,” I whispered, turning to my side. “When did you wake up?”

“About an hour ago.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I wanted to watch you sleep.”

“How do you feel?” I asked, brushing a tendril of hair away from his face.

“Alive.” He smiled. “What happened?”

I sat up, letting the sheets pool around my waist as I scrubbed my hands down my face. “August found you on the floor. I guess Estrid was getting shouty at your door, and she doesn’t usually do that. Tipped him off something was wrong.”

He laid back, crossing his hands under his head. “So I have a cat to thank for saving my life. That’s interesting.”

I huffed a small laugh. “You have a lot of people to thank, actually. Estrid tipped off August, he brought you to Se?ora Rosara’s and then called me . . .”

He glanced at me, waiting for me to finish. I hadn’t thought about how to tell him everything. He shouldn’t care. He was alive, and that was the outcome we wanted. Still, everything I did, I did without his consent.

“That sounds like two people,” he said, breaking the silence. “Well, one person and his cat—and honestly, Estrid is significantly better company.”

I picked at my nails. “You’re immortal now,” I blurted out, ripping off the band-aid instead of finding a smoother way to go about it.

He sat up. “Come again?”

“I, uh, I used someone else’s power to change . . . you.”

“Change me?” He blinked, trying to process what I had said. He ran his tongue over his teeth, looking for fangs. “What the hell am I?”

“You’re still the same, actually,” I began, taking a deep breath before dropping the big reveal. “I had to bond you to an immortal to keep you on this plane. You’re the first of your kind, actually. An immortal warlock.”

“Gods, I’m not bonded to August, am I?” A crease formed between his brows as he scrunched his face at the possibility.

“No—”

“Thank fuck. That would be the worst.”

My lips parted as I tried to speak, but I closed them and cringed. “Um . . .”

“Nathalie, who am I bonded to?

“Lucifer.”

His mouth fell open. “What? The devil? I’m bonded to the fucking devil? Why him, of all people?”

“Look, the moment was a little tense, okay? You were trying to die, I couldn’t tie you to me, and he offered. I didn’t think too much about whether or not you’d like it, but I figured you would like not dying , so I used the objects of fate to detach you from mortality and bound you to him.” I crossed my arms, holding my chin out.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as though he were fighting off a headache. “I think I’d prefer August. Or the cat.”

“Well, you were on the cusp on death, so I didn’t have time to ask your thoughts on the matter, and either way, Estrid wasn’t available, I’m afraid,” I said defensively. “And you’re welcome, by the way, since you have yet to say thank you, you asshole.”

“I . . .” He sighed and his face fell as he realized how he was acting. “You’re right. It’s just a lot to take in at the moment. The last thing I remember was feeling cold. I got up to get a blanket, and then I must have passed out. I woke up feeling healthy, and not knowing what happened. I’m alive because of you—and others—so for that, thank you.”

I softened, knowing my defensiveness wasn’t warranted. It was a lot to process. I knew it would be. Finding out you’re alive and immortal is one thing. It’s another thing entirely to learn you’re bound to the devil for eternity.

“The death magic is still in you, though. We still haven’t found a way to stop it. The only difference is your body will be able to fight against it since you can’t die now. I think you’ll experience some symptoms still, like needing more rest, but I don’t know. This is all so new, so no one knows. It makes sense in my head. Piper is an immortal badass, but twins on an opposite sleep schedule still exhausts her. I would think it works the same here. The body can still get tired.”

“What about you?” he asked, running his fingers through my hair.

I tilted my head, confused. “What about me?”

“You aren’t . . . immortal, sunbeam.” He grazed his thumb across my cheek tenderly. “I’m not living in this world without you in it.”

Emotions clogged my throat. “Well, I wasn’t going to live in a world without you, so I understand.”

“I’m here now,” I whispered. “And I’m not letting you go.” I leaned into him, our foreheads connected, our breaths mingling as we both tried to work through the emotions lingering in the air. He lifted my head by my chin and brushed his lips against mine.

The kiss was gentle as we explored each other, savoring and soaking it all in. Marcel cupped the back of my head, and I couldn’t help but notice how much more strength there was to his hold. Compared to the last time I’d kissed him, his hands were steady, his body warm and inviting.

“I never stopped loving you, sunbeam,” he murmured, his mouth so close to mine. “It’s always been you.”

I pulled away slightly, my eyes skimming over him, truly taking him in. He looked how he was supposed to. His skin had a healthy glow, and his body was filled out rather than the gaunt frame he’d been struggling to hide. He looked even better than the glamour he once wore and not an ounce of magic cracked through the surface. “I know,” I breathed, nodding my head in short, tight bobs. “I thought I’d lost you. You almost broke your promise to me, Marcel. You almost left.”

“I held on with everything I had.” He pressed his lips to mine again, but the kiss quickly deepened, the desperation and relief we both felt fueling the sudden intensity.

He responded to my heat immediately, his fingers threading through my hair and gripping just tight enough to send a thrill through my body. His free hand moved down, grabbing at my waist and pulling me closer. Never pulling my lips from his, I rose onto my knees, swinging a leg over him until I straddled his lap, my hands tangling in his hair as the kiss grew more passionate. His heart beat against my chest, a steady reminder that he was alive and here with me.

“Gods, I want you,” he murmured against my lips, his voice filled with a mix of need and love.

“Then take me,” I whispered back, my hands slipping under his shirt, feeling the warmth of his skin beneath my fingertips.

He didn’t make me beg as his big hands slid under my shirt, his touch sending shivers down my spine. He lifted the fabric, and we broke the kiss only long enough for him to pull it over my head, discarding it to the floor. When he saw I’d been in nothing but a t-shirt and underwear, he gave me a smirk of approval, admiring my body. I ripped his shirt as I pulled it off, needing to feel the skin-to-skin contact. Needing the warmth of him to seep into my very bones.

Marcel’s lips moved from my mouth, trailing along my jaw and down my neck, leaving a path of fire in their wake. He latched immediately onto my pebbled nipples, and I gasped, arching into him. He sucked and nipped, the warm wetness of his mouth teasing my sensitive skin.

I moaned, and my hands started moving with urgency, fumbling at his pants. I needed him, all of him, right now . My movements were far from smooth, leaning heavily into desperation, but I didn’t care. Marcel didn’t even seem to notice, his mouth still on my breasts, his tongue teasing me.

Raising myself off him, I shimmied his pants down. His cock was freed, hard and jutting towards his chiseled abdomen. I leaned back, forcing Marcel to break contact with me, as I fisted him, stroking him as my thumb rubbed his own arousal over the length of him. Locking my eyes with his, he reached between my legs, ripping the fabric of my delicate underwear to shreds, exposing me fully. I positioned myself over him, and his hands went back to my waist, guiding me down, a groan escaping his lips as I slid down him, inch by inch. I moaned, deep and guttural as I stretched around him.

“Fuck,” he breathed, his voice rough with emotion. “You feel so damn good.”

The connection was electric and the moment my body began to grind against him, I felt tension coiling in my core. Marcel gripped my hips, his brown eyes locked onto mine, filled with something headier than desire and softer than adoration.

My head tilted back as he began moving, his hips matching my rhythm, thrust for thrust. A hand strayed up my body, tweaking a nipple on its way and coming to clench around my throat. A twitch fluttered through my pussy, coating him in more wetness, and he grinned.

“You still like that,” he growled, digging his fingers into my hips as I clenched around him. He used his hold to pull me forward just a bit, but the change of angle almost did me in as the tip of him hit over and over and over in just the right spot inside of me.

“I love what you can do to me,” I whispered, my own voice barely more than a breath as my body moved over top of his. My fingernails dug into the skin of his chest.

“You’ve always been mine,” he said between breaths. He talked through every thrust of his hips, telling me how pretty I looked around him, how much he missed being able to take me the way he liked, how good I felt. His words ignited my insides and my movements became faster, his jerkier, and both of us more frantic as every pump drove us higher and higher. I felt the edge approaching, my body dangling over the precipice of pleasure as a whirlwind of sensations built within me. Marcel’s hands guided me, his touch grounding me even as I felt myself slipping over the edge.

My eyes started to close as my head fell back, but he wouldn’t let me get away that easily.

“Eyes on me, sunbeam,” he forced out through gritted teeth. “I want to look at you while you come on my cock.”

My eyes snapped open, locking on his as his free hand moved between us to find my clit. The instant electricity I felt with a few quick circles was bliss. It only took moments of the combination before I let out a scream, pleasure pulsing through me while I came.

With a feral grin, his upward thrusts became punishing, bringing me close to the edge once more.

“Are you going to come again, sunbeam?” he asked, angling his hips and hitting me deeper inside. I gasped, trying to swallow, feeling my throat bob against the pressure of his hand.

“Yes,” I breathed, trying to get the friction against my clit.

“Tell me to make you come,” he said, his voice becoming shaky. He was close. I was close.

“Fuck me harder, Marcel,” I ground out. “Make . . . me . . . come.”

He growled, slamming into me faster. Harder. Deeper. As my brows pinched together and my lips parted, he squeezed around my neck, cutting off my air.

The tension built.

Seconds passed.

The lack of air was sending me into a spiral of ecstasy.

Each sensation inside me intensified.

Every electric touch sent jolts through my body.

I fluttered around him, my inner walls clenching him tight as my orgasm spasmed uncontrollably. My eyes rolled as I came so hard I almost passed out. When he released my throat, stars exploded with the onset of air. A tidal wave rushed through, coating him beneath me as I cried out. He let out a low, deep groan when he pulled my hips down hard and thrusted up, bottoming out and emptying inside of me.

Aftershocks rolled through me, and I fell forward, exhausted, and intensely happy. My head nestled into the crook of his neck. His heartbeat was fast and strong. Healthy.

“I’ve waited so long,” Marcel said softly, splaying a hand on my back and caressing the skin. I hummed, not having the energy to form words. “All I ever wanted was a future with you.”

“I’m here now,” I whispered, mirroring the sentiment he’d shared with me earlier.

The beauty of the moment stalled, but I didn’t want to let him know. There wasn’t time for me to think about the future. I didn’t know if I was going to survive another day.

Living in the moment was all I had, and I wanted to give myself to him without that hanging in the balance. We’d finally stopped the sand in his hourglass, but a new hourglass had been turned, and this one affected everyone I loved. I would do anything to protect them.

Only I could shatter the glass before time ran out.

I just didn’t know how.