Demon Fire (The Angel Fire Book 3) by Marie Johnston (top 10 novels of all time TXT) 📕

“Millie.” There. He was onto her rambling.

Her hand was going to reach a point where she’d have to decide what she was going to do. Pressure built in her skull, coalesced in her belly. She was going to explode and she knew a surefire way to let off steam.

Orgasms were nature’s pressure valve.

“It’s been so long, Leo. I’ve held it all in. I have needs.” Her libido had been shut down. Hard. She could continue to ignore her baser needs, but an unseen force propelled her. Was it her sync bond? Was Leo trapped in his own head and looking for a reason to escape? Was it her own pride motivating her?

She wouldn’t know unless she tried.

Hit him where it hurts.

She snapped her hand up. Leo’s gaze jerked, following its path. “Well?”

His pupils were dilated. Was he realizing that he had needs too? Was he realizing that not all was lost? He was alive and he had her. That was a good start, wasn’t it?

“I should go since I can’t sleep in here anymore.”

She rushed out before she lost her nerve, yanked her robe closed, and shut the curtains while profusely apologizing. She might’ve if that hadn’t been the most alive Leo had been since he’d been injured. In his eyes was male interest. Her mate was still in there. He’d buried himself so deep to protect himself, to protect her, he didn’t realize how much he was hurting them both.

The way he’d looked at her . . .

She slid into the guest bedroom that she’d been using for the last several months and was about to close the door when she paused. She hadn’t closed his door. He’d hear better with the doors open.

Her belly fluttered. She was really doing this.

Yes. No. Yes. She had to do something and she’d exhausted her reserves.

She flopped on her bed, her wings spread wide and her robe flung open. She clung to the brief glimpse of desire that’d been in Leo’s gaze when his eyes had adjusted. The way he’d looked at her. So much longing. So much self-defeat.

She skated her fingers down her abdomen, and this time she let her mind wander to the first time she’d been with her mate. They had synced first. Ever the traditional couple. He’d done little more than kiss her hand before they’d bonded.

She’d questioned how much he’d wanted the bond. Wondered if he was after the healing abilities of a bond critical to a warrior’s longevity. Wounds that could otherwise incapacitate him for days or weeks could be healed in seconds with a mate. His work had been his life.

Then he’d made long, sweet love to her. He’d taken his time untying her robe, but he’d left it on, the sides flung open, just like she had it now. When he’d spread her on the bed, the dark look in his eyes had said he was going to devour her and she’d love every second.

She’d told him countless times how much she loved him. She’d never told him how much she enjoyed being with him. She’d never been the instigator, always waiting for Leo to make the first move.

Her fingers reached her sex and she paused. She’d never done this on her own before. Never. She’d waited for a mate. Other Numen got as much experience as they could until they had to mate. Not her. She’d waited for her mate and he was better than any she could’ve hoped for.

The way he’d settled between her knees, his broad shoulders pushing them farther apart. Her fingers touched wet heat and she gasped. It’d been so long. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she moaned her mate’s name.

Had he heard?

She explored herself, learning her own body. Leo knew it better than her. He knew that licking across a nipple while strumming her sex made her writhe, made her crazy.

With her eyes closed, she could almost feel the heavy weight of her mate on her. She spread her legs farther apart, spreading herself farther apart. Her fingertips touched her clit and she let out a strangled moan.

They weren’t her mate’s big fingers. The touch was wrong, and she missed the gentle yet proprietary way he handled her. She almost stopped.

Then Leo’s hoarse voice reached her. “Millie? Are you . . . are you okay?”

The sound of his rough rasp was enough to encourage her to continue. She wasn’t alone in this.

She stroked herself again. Her hips jacked up.

“Millie?”

“Yes,” she gasped. This wasn’t going to take long. She was more sensitive than she’d ever been and she didn’t have the expert touch of her mate. She didn’t know how to draw it out, how to pull back, how to tease like he did.

Pleasure licked through her. The sense of empowerment was unexpected. She’d been doing everything by herself. She’d been used to being alone while he worked long days, but since he’d been hurt, she’d been emotionally and physically alone even though Leo had been here all day long. She’d been helpless, powerless.

Her touch had healed him before. Was it pure hubris to think she could do it again?

Yes, but she was too far gone to care.

Her fingertips were slick and her hips rocked. She let out another moan and made this one louder.

“Are you—” His words choked off.

He couldn’t say it. Was he feeling anything?

Her feelings clogged her throat as lust mounted. Yes, she could get herself off. Quite efficiently, it turned out. But just because she could do that on her own didn’t mean she wanted to.

She wanted to be with Leo, legs or not. She wanted to be intimate with him. She wanted to experience life with him.

Had she told him? He’d been abandoned since he’d been hurt. Treated like an invalid when he was otherwise strong and healthy. It was enough of a blow to realize their realm didn’t need him, but he’d been left unwanted too.

“Leo!” she cried as her climax built.

“Millie, why are—”

Another shout tore from her throat as the muscles of