She smiles. “How can I help you, new best friend?”

  “I’m Maribelle Saunders, the new assistant to Evelyn James. I start today, but I don’t know where to go.”

  “Of course. I’ll let her know you are here. You’re going to love working for her. Ms. James is very, very smart. And sweet, unless you get on her bad side. She’s very protective of Mr. Blackstone. Nobody gets to him without going through her first.”

  Ms. James is about ninety pounds soaking wet, but I can see how getting through her would be no easy task. She is the administrative assistant to Mr. Blackstone, the CEO, and I am her assistant. Which makes me the assistant to the assistant, I guess.

  Ms. James shows me my desk and then tours me around the office. At noon, she sends me out for Mr. Blackstone’s lunch, instructing me to bring it to his office as she will be out of the building for a few hours.

  I use the intercom on her desk to ring his office when I get back.

  “Yes?”

  “Ms. James asked me to bring you lunch, sir? I’m her new assistant.”

  “Enter.”

  I don’t know why I’m so nervous. Everyone in the break room told me he’s a fair man who expects a lot, but compensates well and is the best boss they’ve had. He always lays out his expectations clearly, they said.

  I enter the personal office, not knowing what to expect, but sort of assuming an older man with silver hair. Maybe glasses and a paunch. Ms. James is probably in her sixties, so he’s probably a few years older than her. I don’t know how long they worked together, so–

  What the actual fuck?

  Instead of a silver-haired paunchy father figure, I’m confronted with a tall, devilishly handsome man in his mid-thirties, with a shock of dark hair that falls just over his forehead. A man who wears a suit that looks like it costs more than my monthly rent. A man who bears a striking resemblance to my one-night stand.

  Right down to the horns on his head and the face tattoo.

  He recovers from his shock faster than I do.

  “This is a surprise,” he says smoothly.

  Surprise. Yes. “How...why...am I dreaming this right now?”

  He laughs, a low sound that vibrates through my bones. “No, you’re not dreaming.” He gets up from his desk. “This is awkward, I’m afraid. I’m Luc Blackstone, CEO of Blackstone Enterprises.”

  “You recognize me though, right?”

  “Of course, I do. You’re a hard woman to forget, angel. Is that my lunch?”

  My head is spinning, but I manage to nod. Power radiates from him. Our eyes meet, and an electric current passes between us. “You told me your name was Lucrael.”

  “Most people call me Luc. But you’re not most people, are you?” He frowns. “Are you all right, Maribelle? Perhaps you should sit down.”

  I’m not all right. Not all right at all. I had a one-night stand with my boss’s boss. Now I’m probably going to lose this job. And there is also no chance that anything more will ever happen with him again because...boss’s boss. Not that I really thought it would. But the hope of a cool drink of water felt nice after the six-month drought post breaking up with Mark.

  I let my soon-to-be ex-boss guide me to the chair opposite his desk. I sit, and he takes the lunch bag from my hands.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I don’t usually have...with strangers..I...”

  “Don’t apologize,” he says. “It was a memorable night. No regrets.”

  My face flames. “But you’re my boss.”

  “I didn’t know you were an employee. Evelyn doesn’t need to clear her hires with me, so I never saw your file. I’m assuming from the shock on your face you didn’t know I was your employer. Now we know.” He holds his hands out. “No harm done.”

  I take a deep breath and try to process my thoughts. He’s right. No harm done.

  Still employed, but also still single.

  “Thank you,” I say, finally. “I appreciate your understanding.”

  “We’ll need to keep Halloween between us, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  “And I’m afraid it can’t happen again.” He sounds regretful, but then again, he didn’t leave me his number when he spirited out of my bed in the early morning hours either.

  He sits behind his desk and opens the bag as if everything is back to normal now. As if he hasn’t turned my life upside down several times since I saw him across the bar Saturday night.

  I need to get out of here. “If there’s nothing else Lu...Mr. Blackstone?”

  He shakes his head. Again, he looks regretful.

  I take two steps to the door when I remember what else is strange. The fact that I momentarily forgot is a testament to how weird this day has become. I turn. “Mr. Blackstone? May I ask why you are still wearing your costume?”

  “What do you mean, Maribelle?

  I hold my fingers up to my head to mimic horns. Maybe he forgot to remove them and everyone else has been too afraid to bring it up. But, how are they even affixed to his head? I pulled them pretty hard the other night, and they didn’t budge.

  Lucrael rises from his desk and prowls towards me. I fight the urge to back away, standing my ground. He circles me slowly, and I feel his gaze drag over every inch of my body.

  “Tell me,” he murmurs, his voice darker, thicker, “how is it that you can see what others cannot?”

  My pulse kicks up a notch. “What do you mean?”

  His fingers graze my neck, raising goosebumps. “My true form,” he purrs. “Humans can’t see my true form.”

  I shiver at his touch. “I-I don’t know what you mean.” Suddenly, his hand closes around my wrist. “I think you do,” he growls. “What are you if you’re not human?”

  Well, doesn’t it just figure. I have the best sex that wasn’t sex of my life, and my lover turns out to be a nut job. “I’m human, sir. If you just let go of my wrist, I’ll get out of your hair.”

  And flee the office. And, shit, I should probably move since he knows where I live. I’m guessing this is one of those teachable moments about taking strangers home from bars.

  “You smell human.”

  Okay, then. Now he’s sniffing me. “I am, sir.”

  If I can just get back into the outer office, I’ll be fine. There are lots of people out there. Lots of witnesses.

  Though you’d think at least one person in that break room could have mentioned the fair boss who compensates well also cosplays that he’s the devil 24/7. It really should have come up.

  “I’d given up hope of ever finding you,” he says.

  The office walls vanish around us, replaced by a luxurious living room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city from high above.

  “What?” I start to slide to the floor, but Lucrael catches me. “What just happened? Where are we?”

  “My penthouse. This conversation requires complete privacy.”

  I turn to face him. “How did we get here?”

  “Do you really not know? You’re not a supernatural? You really are a human?”

  “Mr. Blackstone, I am a human. I swear. Please stop asking me that. Did you drug me? How did you get me past all the employees? Do you have some secret trap door in your office?”

  “I’m a demon, Maribelle. I used magic to bring us here.”

  Thud. Thud. Thud goes my heart. That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. He can’t be a demon. Demons don’t exist. And if he can just magic me places, why did we spend that interminable car ride to my apartment after we left the club?

  No. He must have drugged me and put me in a dumb waiter or laundry shoot that goes from his office to the parking garage, then somehow convinced his driver to take us here without calling the police.

  “You don’t believe me,” he says simply.

  I gape at my new surroundings. A penthouse he somehow magicked me to. Right.

  “This is real, Maribelle.”

  “Um, okay.”

  I don’t feel drugged. I’ve watched enough true crime docs to know that waking up after a roofie or chloroformed rag is supposed to be unpleasant. I’m shaky, but not nauseous. My head feels fine. I’m confused but not disoriented.

  But if he didn’t drug me, then he’s a demon.

  His horns weren’t bought at a fancy costume store. He’s not wearing contact lenses. That tattoo on his face is not makeup.

  Lucrael Blackstone is a real demon. A real demon who is very large, very handsome, and very intensely staring at me right now.

  Fear and desire war within me. What have I gotten myself into? And why does part of me thrill at the darkness awaiting me here?

  I meet his burning gaze. “What happens now?”

  A slow, wicked smile spreads across his face, revealing a hint of fang. “Now, my little angel, the real fun begins.”

  Four

  Lucrael

  Need simmers in my veins, an ache that threatens to consume me whole. My true mate. After centuries of searching, she is finally within my grasp.

  Maribelle stands before me, arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes betray the nerves fluttering in her stomach. She has no idea what I have planned for her now that I have finally found her.

  She will be the most satisfied woman on the planet. In all the realms. I shall make her come uncontrollably, over and over again, until she can barely even remember her own name.

  I step closer to her, my eyes drinking in every inch of her body. She is even more perfect than I remember. Her curves are exquisite. My cock is stirring in my pants, aching to be inside her.

  Maribelle’s eyes widen as she realizes what I want from her. Her lips part, as if to protest, but I know that deep down she wants this as much as I do.

  “What do you mean by fun?” Her scent intoxicates me. “What is going on?”

  I should have known on Halloween that she was the one. The intoxicating way she tasted when she came on my tongue, the way I’ve thought of nothing but her since I left her apartment...apparently, my loss of faith in ever finding my bride blinded me to what was in plain sight.

  I drink in each tremble of her pulse. “You are special, Maribelle. Unique.” My hands find her waist, squeezing as I pull her flush against me. “You are the only one who can give me what I crave most.”

  Her breath hitches, eyes widening. “What are you talking about?”

  “Children.” The word is a growl, rumbling from my chest. My cock strains against my trousers at the thought of filling her, breeding her. “You are my destined mate. The prophecy foretold that only one human woman could bear my young and break my curse. The one who could see my true form. You are the only human that can see me, the real me, on any other day than Halloween. You will give me many babes.”

  It’s as if I can see steam coming from her ears. She is livid. “I don’t believe in prophecies or demons or any of this. And my job contract said nothing about being a broodmare for the CEO. I read it very carefully.”

  Her words are sassy, but her eyes flash with something else. Fear, perhaps, at the truth she cannot yet accept. It matters not. She will come to embrace her destiny, as I have embraced mine.

  Tonight she will be mine in body and soul, and by the time I am finished, she will be ripe with my child. The prophecy will be fulfilled. My curse will be broken. I will no longer be alone.

  I circle her like a predator corralling its prey. Her fear is an aphrodisiac, spurring the demon within. My eyes glow, magic crackling at my fingertips.

  “You cannot escape your fate, little angel. Tonight you will be filled with my seed.”

  “You’re not the boss of me.” Her breath hitches. “Okay, I mean, you’re not the boss of me outside the office where you are literally the boss of me. And now I’m babbling. Because this is what I do when I am nervous and you are making me very, very nervous.” She inhales a deep breath. “Besides, you told me that what happened between us on Halloween couldn’t be repeated, remember?”

  “I thought you were my employee a few minutes ago.”

  “I am your employee,” she protests.

  “Well, now you are no longer my employee.”

  “You’re firing me?”

  “I’m breeding you.”

  Maribelle shrieks, attempting to dart around me. I seize her by the waist and bring her against my chest.

  “I do love a good chase. We can play games later. But now we must talk, as you humans do love to talk. We shall get it over with so we can get onto better things.”

  She shoves away from me and I allow it. This time.

  “This is insane, Lucrael. No, Mr. Blackstone.” As if saying my last name will return us to simple boss and employee. “We had a one-night stand. An encounter you fled from while I slept, let me remind you.”

  Ah. Her pride is wounded. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, angel. Humans can see my demon attributes on Halloween, when the veil is the thinnest, but it’s safe to roam because everyone is in costume. However, I needed to be away from humanity before dawn when the change came again. The change happens in ripples, not all at once. It would be hard to explain why my horns were blinking in and out of focus.”

  “And glowing eyes.”

  I nod. “Yes.”

  “And teeth. My goodness, and your tongue.” She blushes.

  She did so enjoy my tongue that night. And my tongue enjoyed her as well.

  “That is something I can control, actually.”

  I open my mouth and let my tongue reshape and show her what she had stuffed in her sweet cunt the other night. I cannot wait to get her back on it. The memory of her quaking thighs as she came on my tongue has haunted me since Halloween. I need to taste her again, to make her come and come until she’s a writhing mess, begging me to take her.

  Tonight she will be mine. There is no other option.

  I wiggle the tips and she gasps, turning a fetching shade of pink. “I knew it was forked! I thought I had to be imagining it.”

  I bring my tongue back in, returning it to a human shape.

  “You loved having my tongue in your pussy. You came all over my face, naughty girl.” I pause to adjust my pants. “I was so hard for you, Maribelle. So hard I nearly exploded when you squeezed my head between your thighs and stroked my horns. I wanted to plunge my cock inside your sweet, wet pussy and fill you with my seed.” I let my words sink in and her blush deepens. “But I couldn’t.”

  “Why not?” she whispers.

  “My true cock is visible on Halloween as well.”

  She shakes her head. “I don’t understand. What does that mean?”

  I pull her back into my body so she can feel the bulge in my pants that shames any human male she has ever seen. “I could not explain away my demon cock as part of a costume. It’s not human. It’s better.”

  Five

  Lucrael

  Maribelle tries to put distance between us, but I push against her center so she can feel every inch of my beastly member through our clothes.

  “It’s way too big.”

  There is that sweet scent of fear again. “It’s exactly what you need. What you deserve. It will keep you full and satisfied.” I pull back enough to place her hand on my erection. “I’ll give you the best orgasm you have ever dreamed of having.”

  “Better than the other night?”

  “Better than the other night.” How intoxicating to know that I’ve already given her the best orgasm of her life. “And then you’ll beg for another and another. And I’ll give them to you. Until you are swollen and heavy with my young.”

  “This is insane,” she breathes, though she squeezes my cock gently as if unable to stop herself. A look of wonder softens her features briefly.

  Then she lets go of it and her emotions whiplash, her hands going to her hips. “You didn’t leave me your cell number. You say you had to leave before dawn, but you weren’t interested in me contacting you, so I’m not convinced that you suddenly want me to bear your demon offspring.”

  The monster inside me is getting impatient. It’s not her fault, and I must remember that she has been treated poorly by human men.

  I’m not used to answering to another. In all my dealings with humans, I always have the upper hand. Not one person has ever questioned my motives or argued their point.

  Until now.

  Maribelle doesn’t show the natural deference to me that her kind normally does by instinct. She does not lower her eyes first. She does not show a healthy fear of a predator in her midst.

  Instead, she challenges me. Me.

  It would be a lie to say I do not enjoy her little rebellion. However, my inner beast rages, wanting to show my dominance. I take one large step forward, and she takes a step back. I move closer, she moves away. I keep up the game until her back is pushed against the wall and I have her cornered.

  “You will obey me. You will bear my young. You will do as I say and you will not question me. Do you understand?”

  She looks up at me with...well it certainly isn’t deference. “I most certainly will not.”

  I swallow the roar threatening to sound. “I sent you flowers this morning, Maribelle. They’ll be delivered to your apartment sometime this afternoon, though you will not be there because you will be here, in my bed, screaming my name.”

  I didn’t even have Evelyn arrange it, which is good since she would have thought it strange I was sending her new assistant flowers. “I stopped at the florist myself to pick them out because I wanted to hand write the card. I had every intention of contacting you again. I did not know I would see you in my office today first.”

  It’s amazing how mercurial human emotions are. She loses her glare, softens, then her features firm up again...all in the space of a breath. “And the card says?”

  I pinch the bridge of my nose. I spent all day yesterday trying to form the right message. I’m still not convinced I accomplished it well. “The demon misses his angel. And my personal number below it.”

  She thinks about this for a moment. She wants to believe me. She wants to know she was special even before I knew she was the one. “I’ve never had a one-night stand before,” she says, her voice quiet and vulnerable.

 

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