Neon Blue by E Frost (best big ereader .TXT) 📕

I rub at my wrists with the towel. There’s nothing there, but I can still feel something.

“You’ll get used to it,” he says.

“What?” I look up at him.

“You’re still feeling the binding ‘cause it’s new. But you’ll get used to it. Probably won’t even notice it after a while.”

“There’s nothing there,” I say, but denial’s not just a river in Egypt. There is something there, encasing my wrists with phantom fingers. “Please, could you take it off?”

The demon tilts his head to one side, dreadlocks sliding over his shoulder. “Don’t think so.”

“Why? You got what you wanted. I was bound while you were vulnerable. Hasn’t your memory returned?” He nods and I say, “Then there’s no need for this anymore.”

The demon snorts softly. “You really got no idea, do you, sweet meat?”

“I’ve got the idea of this!” I thrust my wrists at him. “You made me think you were just tying me up so you could come.”

“Yeah, so I could come, an’ the rest. I like havin’ you bound to me.”

“Get these things off me,” I grit.

“Not a chance.” He reaches out and passes his hand through the air beneath my wrists. I feel a tug when he catches the invisible hanging traces. “C’mon, back to bed.”

I struggle for a moment, fighting to yank my wrists free. He lets me go. Only to reel me in with an arm around my waist. Through the shadow of his dreadlocks, he looks down at me. “You want to fight again? I’m up for that. The make-up sex was pretty good.”

I glare up at him mutinously. “Take these things off me.”

“I’d rather tie you to the bed again.” His hand slides down my back, pressing me to him, so I can feel that he’s hard and ready. “I want you face-down this time. I like hearin’ you scream into the pillow when you come.”

“Get the fuck off me! I mean it. You can’t do this to me. You can’t force me into giving you my soul. You can’t pretend to just tie me up and then use it to pry my heart open—”

“That’s not what they’re for. You let me tie you up and you knew that it was going to be a magical binding, so why are you complainin’?”

“Because I thought all you were doing was protecting yourself while you had amnesia!”

“Well, you thought wrong.”

“Fuck you, Jou! You let me think that and you know it! You’re a demon and a liar—”

He wraps his hand around my throat, forces me to look up into his glowing eyes. “I am a demon, you got that right. But I haven’t lied to you about anythin’. I don’t need to. You’re so ripe for the pickin’ it’s untrue. So lonely and so needy. You been dying for someone to come an’ take you—”

I shove against his chest. “I want someone to love me! Everyone wants that. And don’t give me that shit about how you love me the way I need to be loved. I need to be loved in a way that doesn’t damn me eternally. That’s how I need to be loved.”

“What do you know about damnation?” He growls into my face, his hot breath licking over my skin like flame. “What do you know about anything but this little shell you’ve built for yourself? This little cage for your power and your spirit. It won’t ever make you happy. You’ll spend your short human life rattling the bars, always wanting more. Never understandin’ why the parade of no-magic assholes you trap in here with you always let you down. I can give you what you need. Magic and pleasure and days without number. That’s what I’m offerin’ you. And maybe that ain’t love the way you want it. All hearts and flowers and pink squalling brats. But it’s the best offer you’ll ever get—” He blows out a breath. The iron rigidity of his neck softens. “Sweetness . . . I can give you what you want. What you cry into your pillow for when you listen to the rain. You’ll never be lonely again, I swear. I take care of what’s mine.”

I choke against his hand, against the awfulness of his words.

He strokes his thumb along my jaw and says, low and very soft, “You haven’t asked.”

“What?”

“What a seggurach is. And why I bound you instead of gettin’ you drunk again.”

I bow my head, exhausted by the effort of meeting those burning eyes. “What’s a seggurach?”

“A helpmate.”

His answer is so far from what I expected that I lift my head again. “A what?”

“Someone who helps,” he clarifies.

“I know what ‘helpmate’ means! What does it have to do with you taking my soul?”

“Stop fixating on that. I haven’t been after just your soul since I saw you call lightning. I want you with me.”

“With you?” I shake my head against the gentle pressure of his hand. “With you how?”

“By my side. With me.” He tilts my head to the side, leans in and nips at my earlobe. “I won’t force you to become a demon, as long as you’re with me.”

“What, like a familiar or something?” I still don’t understand, but whether he can’t read my confusion or doesn’t want to explain further, he doesn’t say any more. He begins working his way down my neck. Hot, soft kisses, and the edge of teeth. I shake one wrist at him. “And this?”

“That’s part of bein’ with me,” he says against my collarbone, but his voice drops, darkens, and I know that it’s not. He’s bound me for other reasons, reasons he’s not sharing with me. “For now.”

“So you can control me,” I say flatly.

“Yeah,” he admits. He draws back and looks down at me. “You’re too unpredictable. When I’m sure you’re not gonna fuck this up, then maybe we won’t need it.” He tilts his head to the side. “You might get to like it, you know. Binding goes both ways.”

“It does?” Somehow that’s not as bad. I’m not sure why, but