Noa’s free hand moved to Diel’s hair and yanked on the strands, her vise-like grasp pulling his head down until his nose hovered a millimeter above hers. She searched his eyes, then that smirk appeared again. “Hello, pretty monster.”
Diel mustered all the strength he could and pushed the monster from the forefront. His jaw tightened when the monster slashed its claw across his stomach as it fell back to the depths of its cage. Diel slipped back in charge, and before he could take a single breath, he became aware of the subtle warmth between his legs. His eyes slammed downward. A guttural cry ripped from him as he felt the heat from Noa’s pussy against his rigid cock. As she spread her milky thighs. His eyes flicked back up. Noa’s nipples were erect and pushing against the material of her bra.
Releasing her arms, Diel shifted back, losing his balance and tumbling from the bed. His large body hit the floor with a thud. It was all the opening the monster needed to strike again. Diel was dog-tired; the ongoing battle for his soul was too much against the monster’s superior artillery.
As he fought against the monster’s punches and slashes and ever-sharpened claws, his body failed to lift off the floor, depleted of energy and too wounded to strike back. His nails dug into the wooden floorboards as the monster sliced open his back. Diel roared out, his agonized voice echoing off Noa’s bedroom walls.
He panted, black spots appearing in his vision. The collar surged in warning, but he was unable to calm his racing heart and it ignited, a white-hot lightning bolt striking straight through his broken body, shattering it to smithereens. Blistering pain clouded his head.
Through his hazed effort to hold on to some sliver of consciousness, he heard the door to Noa’s bedroom burst open. “What the fuck?” Even slipping in and out of the fog swarming his brain, he recognized Dinah’s voice.
“I’ve got this,” Noa said. Diel blinked his eyes open. His monster shimmered to the forefront, clinging to any sound from Noa’s mouth, any movement from her body. Diel lifted his head from the floor and saw Noa jump from the bed and usher Dinah out of the room. “I said I’ve got this.”
“He attacked you?” Dinah asked, her tone switching from surprised to outright savage.
“Dinah!” Noa snapped. “I can handle it. I expected it. I was waiting.” Noa went quiet, then said in a softer voice, “I saw it in him. Saw it from the first night.”
“Noa …” Dinah said, sympathy flooding her tone.
“I’m handling this.”
“I’ll tell Gabriel—”
“No, you won’t,” Noa hissed back, and the monster’s strength built. Noa was defending them. Noa was protecting them. Diel frowned, confused as to why she wouldn’t just kill them, wouldn’t hand him to Gabriel for retribution.
“I won’t fucking stay here if this is the shit they try to pull,” Dinah said.
“You’re going to go back to your room, and I’m going to handle this,” Noa ordered, and Diel felt himself growing hard again, the monster preening at the authority in Noa’s voice. Diel was still as night, recovering, but listening.
Why was she doing this? What did she gain from protecting him?
“I hope you know what you’re doing, sister,” Dinah said. “You’re dancing with the devil and you know it.”
Noa shut the door, sealing Diel, herself and the monster inside. Diel’s head dropped back to the floorboards, cheek to the cold, worn wood. He watched with wide eyes as Noa approached. Her long, toned legs came into view, much to the monster’s delight.
Then she stopped before his exhausted, internally battered body and lowered herself to her ass. She crossed her legs and leaned her arms on her knees, and she looked Diel in the eyes. His lip lifted in a snarl, but the monster quickly smothered Diel’s flicker of power and pushed him back, just like it had done for so many years in Purgatory. But this wasn’t to protect him from pain—this was so the monster could have Noa all to itself. Diel was the enemy to it now, not some evil-minded priest. It wanted to possess her. It wanted to own her. It coveted her more than it had anything before.
Noa reached out her hand. Diel recoiled; the monster smiled. She pushed back his hair that had fallen over his forehead. Shivers raced down his spine, and he held his breath as she ran her finger down his stubbled cheek. The monster closed its eyes, relishing the warmth from the unfamiliar touch.
Affection. Diel knew of the word, the concept, but had never experienced the reality.
For the first time in their lives, Diel felt the monster soften. Diel the man sat back in his body, wrapping his arms around his knees, feeling Noa’s stroke but trying his best to repel it. But he felt it regardless. Despite all his efforts, he felt it.