Nimble fingers stroked over his skin. “I know you’re struggling with the attraction between us. I mean, it’s not like it’s a secret that you want to make love to me.” She raised her leg a little higher, bumping gently against his rock-hard cock for emphasis.

Kain snorted. “What I want to do to you doesn’t even come close to being described as making love. How have you forgotten what I am behind this disguise? You know what it feels like to be taken by a demon—I want to consume every last ounce of you. Don’t test my resolve.”

His mate went quiet for a little while, but never stopped caressing his chest. It was oddly soothing, though every touch sent burning heat to his crotch.

“Do you know what Marathin did to make me risk everything and run?”

Kain drew in a deep breath. Just the thought of her helpless and alone like he’d found her, running from the man who’d tried to make her his, sent scalding rage through his veins, dampening the lust in its wake. He’d seen the ancient being’s desire for her when he and the Agents cornered them, and he knew what twisted desires coursed through his kind’s veins.

“He twisted my ring and made me beg for it. He enjoyed my humiliation. He threatened me with how much pain I would experience if he sent me to an auction. He manipulated me into pleading to be his so I wouldn’t have to endure it.

“He took everything from me. My body, my soul… even my mind, because he wanted to possess me in every way possible.

“I don’t think you can fully understand what it feels like to be at someone’s mercy like that, because you will never have to submit the very core of your being to anyone. He wants to consume every ounce of me, until there’s nothing left but an empty shell he can fuck and breed.”

She looked up at him, catching his gaze with those bottomless chocolate eyes. “Trust me, I know what it’s like to be consumed by a demon. That’s not what it’s like to be with you, even when you make me open for your ridges like he did, fuck me as hard, and say that I’m yours. The difference is that I want you to, because you give me everything you are when you do—because you’re going against every instinct you have to give me the freedom I told you I wanted.

“You’re not like him. You’re not like any of the monsters that showed up at that auction to win the right to force me into slavery for the rest of my miserable existence.”