Sinners' Kingdom #1: The Book of Lust (Complete)

13

We were alone.

Just me, and the demon.

When his face returned to nuzzle my hair, warms lips brushing my ear so sensuously that goosebumps erupted all over the back of my neck, I managed to choke out a single word.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

I could speak. This wasn't like in the dreams where I had to fight to even make a single straining noise. I was in control of my voice, in control of my body. He might be stronger, and I might sense the death that clung to him that threatened anyone who defied what he said, but I was no weakling. My mind was my own. Fear didn't rule me. Fear had never ruled the Solaria women, and it wouldn't start with this one.

"Whatever contract you offer, whatever deal you think I'll make, I reject it," I said coolly. My voice was far more level than it should have been in a throat bobbing so wildly. "I don't even want to hear it. I didn't summon you of my free will, so you return where you came from. I already know it's against the ordinance of all demons to force a contract when the bearer is unwilling. Whether you respect that or not, it means you can't mark my soul. So leave."

"Your soul is only one of the things I want to mark." His voice was a whisper, but laced with a growl that made my knees wobble. There was a beast inside him, a primal being that no witch was ever meant to match. His hand pressed harder into the small of my back between the wall and me, and the sharp tips of long claw-like nails prodded with flexing stretches into my skin through my shirt. "I'll mark you here. And... here." He kissed the side of my neck, his head dipping low near my shoulder as he nudged mine to make room. "And here..." His other hand that pinned me to the wall crept over my shoulder, then danced down to the top of my chest. "You're everything I knew you would be. And I'll claim you before the others have the chance. You're mine, Sable. All mine."

My stomach dropped. "Others?"

"You don't need to worry about them. I have you now."

"You don't have anything. I already told you, I reject whatever you're thinking of offering. Nothing you have will convince me otherwise."

"A contract's the least of what I can offer you, Sable... We don't even need one at all. Just a binding mark, to keep you for myself. That's all I need..."

What? A binding mark? "I'm not your pet," I snarled. A wellspring of rage crashed up inside me like a geyser. It overpowered the survival instinct that told me to stay calm. But could anyone blame me? He had just said he was going to chain me to him like I was a contract slave. Who did he think he was talking to? I wasn't some mindless imp. Even if I'd renounced being a witch, that took away none of my agency. Even ordinary humans had the right to freedom unless they gave it up willingly. "Whatever tricks you're about to try, go ahead. I'll die first before I contract my soul to you. Got it?"

He froze. The tip of his tongue had just flitted over the skin under my ear and come back for another light stroke, but all movement stopped, even the deep breath he had been in the middle of inhaling.

"Whether you die... is not up to you. Nothing will take you away from me. You're mine."

"You keep saying that, but until I say otherwise—"

He kissed me. It was hard and hot, his hips pressing against mine and the broad, muscular line of his body crushing me into the wall. His lips were scorching, his tongue even worse. It stroked the inside of my mouth again and again, twisting around my tongue and tasting me, devouring me.

I couldn't breathe. Every time I thought I could come up for air, he swallowed me again, yanking my head back into place so he could slot his mouth perfectly over mine and take everything I possessed. I tried to wriggle away, but he slammed me into the wall again each time. He even made a game of it, pretending to give me an inch of freedom, then taking it away with relish as he pinned me in place once more.

And with every second, the rigid heat pressing against me grew only harder.

This was a demon. Not just any demon, but a Prince. A Prince who was now thrusting against me so hard my thighs were parting. What had I done to put myself in the middle of this? How had I ended up with a hard-bodied demon wrapped around me, his groans sending a rumbling sensation through my entire being like I was standing in the center of a thunderstorm?

I gasped when his hand came down to squeeze my ass. His claws must have retracted; I only felt strong fingers and a broad palm groping my cheek and driving my body further into his. The more he touched me, the more his hands and tongue and every part of him rubbed against me, the more my body responded like something waking from a long sleep.

In my head, I had no part of it. Of course I wasn't stupid enough to make out with a demon, especially one so powerful he thought he could force me into an agreement, whatever that was supposed to be. But my body... something was absorbing into my body with every stroking movement, his dominance demanding entry uncontested.

"You're so soft," he groaned. "I have to have you. Give it to me. Everything."

This must be his power, I realized finally. That passage about the Seventh Prince had mentioned it. Through carnal sensations, he molded his victims into changing their minds, tricking them into thinking they wanted what he wanted. It had been vague because no one had ever personally encountered any of the Princes and managed to write entire book about them, and the language had been cryptic at best, but now it made sense.

Demons couldn't put people in their thrall and force them, with unsound mind, into a contract. But that didn't mean it was impossible to convince them in other ways. Demons who used desire seduced their victims over time, convincing them to crave things they shouldn't, corrupting their minds until they were finally amenable... Which was exactly what this guy was trying to do. That was why I was still in control of my mind — but he was making my body feel so good, so helpless and receptive. My legs were already shaking and weakening, inviting him to slide between them. Once he did that, he would rock my world. I knew it. He had already done it before. But if he clinched the deal, went all the way...

I probably had no chance of stopping his seduction. He was going to fuck me, guaranteed.

And if I let him do it enough, he really might corrupt me into willingly accepting him.

The best I could do was weaponize it, then. I had to beat him at his own game somehow.

Besides, he had mentioned something about 'others'. What exactly did he mean by that? He couldn't possibly mean that there were more like him after me. But until I was certain, there was only one course of action to take.

My grandmother and mother had always praised me for being a forward thinker. I just hoped I wasn't tarnishing our entire bloodline with this.

"I'll make a deal with you," I gasped out when his fingers unbuttoned my jeans. I was cutting it close, I had to move fast. "You have something I want. If you give it to me, I'll let you mark me. You can bind me to you."

"Sable..." He thrust against me again, the thin robe he wore disappeared like black smoke at last to reveal his naked, muscular body. His cock was now unrestricted as he pressed it to me. My jeans slipped down my hips. "Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Just give yourself to me. I want all of you."

Under a tabula rasa agreement, a blank check contract, I couldn't demand his life, and I couldn't force him to hurt himself. These kinds of deals were one of the worst for both parties, since there were so many restrictions to protect each side, and fair exchange made in good faith was the most prominent tenet they both had to uphold.

But there was a loophole, and he had just said the magic words without me even having to trick him into saying them.

I want all of you.

"Deal," I moaned, and finally, I let him have what he wanted.