I catchAmelia to my chest as she falls forward into my arms and bite back a groan of satisfaction. I love the feeling of her slight weight pressed up against me.
I raise a hand to stroke her red curls out of her face. Her eyes are closed, and she's like a limp little ragdoll in my arms.
Maybe it's wrong of me to keep using my hypnotic power on her to make her lose consciousness, but it was either that or ravish her right here and now.
I can't seem to keep myself in check around her. I hadn't considered how hard it would be to be in the presence of my obsession and not indulge in her.
I'm not like the incubi down here. I don't need sex to survive. But I am a male. I crave that form of intimacy with the one I desire—and that one is Amelia. It's been at least fifty years since I've been with a female. I certainly haven't been with one since I decided Amelia was going to become my queen. Even back when she was just a child and my feelings for her weren't what they are now, I was devoted to her.
Now, having her presence in my arms, smelling her sweet berry scent… it's enough to drive me insane with lust. If this is just an ounce of what the incubi go through every day, I have a new sympathy for the creatures.
And knowing that Amelia is a virgin only makes it that much worse because I find myself pressed with an urgency to hurry up and claim her before someone else does. Which is ridiculous because there sure as hell won't be anyone else claiming her when she's under my care. She'll be guarded at all times until the time comes for us to enter our union.
I stroke my fingers over her porcelain skin again, marveling at how warm and soft she is. So young, so innocent, soripe.
If I looked my age, this obsession I have with her would be disgusting. I’m centuries older than her. I’m old enough to be her grandfather at least a hundred times over, but that doesn't stop me. I want her like I've never wanted anyone else. In fact, I want her more than I want the keys to my old kingdom back, and that should concern me, but it doesn't because somewhere along the line, my priorities shifted. Getting back my kingdom isn't my number one goal anymore. Amelia is.
This little human doesn't know the power she holds in her tiny hands. She has the most powerful being of the Nether World in her grasp.
A sudden knock at the door has me scowling. I don't like being interrupted when I'm holding my tiny angel in my arms. I reluctantly lay her gently on the bed and cover her up before I hurl the door open and glare at the person on the other side of it.
Of course, he doesn't flinch. Michael is my brother, so the look I'm hurling at him that would send any other subject trembling merely elicits a smirk on his smug face. “What do you want?” I snap at him. “I'm busy.”
He cranes his neck to see around me, and I growl as I step in front of him to block his view but obviously not before he got a glimpse of Amelia laying in my bed.
“So, you finally got her then?” He raises an eyebrow at me.
I press my lips together and don't answer. That's none of his business.
He takes my silence for what it is and just shrugs before he reminds me, “We have a meeting tonight, or did you forget?”
Fuck, I did forget. I had more important things on my mind, but I sigh as I run a hand over my face. The duties of a king never end. I know that the meeting can't be held without me.
“I'll be there as soon as I find someone to sit with her,” I tell Michael. I don't want her to wake up and be frightened if I'm not here.
“I'll do it,” Michael volunteers a little too eagerly.
I frown at him. “No,” I state firmly. My brother has a notorious reputation with women. I don't want him anywhere near my Amelia.
He smiles a shit-eating grin at me. “What? Don't you trust me, brother?”
Again, I don't answer him. I just level him with a look that would have a lesser creature trembling.
He has the audacity to laugh. “Wow, you're really serious about this one, huh?”
Again, I don't answer. Michael doesn't know the significance of what Amelia is to me. There's a reason I never told anyone else that she's the key to getting my kingdom back. That knowledge has stayed between me and my seer.
As far as Michael and anyone else who knows about how I’ve watched Amelia all these years is concerned, Amelia is just a human I've become obsessed with. And while that's true, she's so much more than that. She’s not something that I just want to toy with for a while. She'sitfor me. I want herforever.
I know Michael has adopted the ways of the incubi and other creatures down here. He doesn't believe in monogamy anymore and is all about having a good time, but if he presses the issue, he will find out in no uncertain terms that I will not ever share Amelia. Just the thought makes me livid with rage.
In fact, I don't trust any male with my Amelia. She's much too beautiful and would tempt any male creature down here.
Fuck, it was hard enough watching the way the males in the human world lusted after her, and it was all I could do to keep the fuckers off her. I saw the way the male humans looked at her, and I had to intervene more than once to keep the fuckers from putting their hands on her.
She, of course, doesn't know about her silent protector who would suddenly show up and scare the shit out of all those boys, warning them in no uncertain terms how it would be detrimental to their health for them to go anywhere near my Amelia.
It's not just that she's mine. Amelia is special. The thought of her with anyone else, especially a fumbling schoolboy makes me homicidal.