He smirks and glances from my eyes to my lips and back.
“I’m more than okay. Are you?”
I nod and caress his face, his hair, his neck. I can’t get enough of him. My heart is still racing, and I don’t know if it’s theadrenaline or how close I came to losing him, but I can’t stop kissing him. I can’t stop drinking him in.
“You did this. You did all this,” Lucian tells me every time we separate to take a breath, and I look behind me at the warpath I’ve left behind.
“I…I know,” I say when a being made of lava and fire with wings made of the same stuff appears in the sky.
It watches us, and the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“Who-who is that?” I ask Lucian.
Lucian looks at me and swallows. His Adam’s apple bobs and sweat beads on his forehead.
“That…that’s Lilith’s true form.”
CHAPTER NINE
“WE ARE ONE.”
“Her…true form?”
What does that even mean? Because from the looks of it, she’s peeled off her skin and revealed that underneath is nothing but lava and muscle. Fire has become her new skin.
She’s like an angel of the apocalypse. A nightmare come to life.
A nightmare that dives for me.
“Shit!” I flap my wings, taking to the skies before she can reach me, but she catches me by the tail and yanks me back.
Her touch burns. I yowl. She wraps her hand around my neck, and it’s like I’m being branded.
How is this possible? How is she doing this? Fire is not supposed to affect me. Not since I bonded with the eldritch creature that gave me my wings and tail. Unless…
Unless she’s really made of lava.
I’m screwed.
“You pathetic little boy. You think you can have him? You think you can steal my husband?” The voice that comes out is anything but human. It’s more like a chorus of screams with the ability to scratch the back of your throat by merely hearing it.
“He…he is my husband…bitch.” I struggle in her grasp.
Her strength and the pain she’s inflicting are too much to bear.
“No! He’ll never be yours. Never!”
It hurts. Everything hurts and burns in equal measure. I know she said she wouldn’t kill me, but she’s extreme. I don’t know what she’s capable of anymore.
I use my tail to slice her hand, but all it does is pinch her and burn me. However, it’s enough that she releases me, and I take to the skies again. I fly as far and as fast as possible.
I need distance. I need time to think.
This isn’t working. I can’t touch her. How can I kill her if I can’t touch her?
I take my ring off and look back. She’s hot on my tail. If I don’t do something now I’m toast. Literally.
I cut my other arm, wrist to elbow, and close my eyes.
