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Every time I found something that helped calm her, I felt like I’d won a goddamn medal.
I’d been honest with her: I wanted more. Body and soul was fun and games; but having her mind, having her heart, that was something else entirely. It was beyond mortality, beyond bargains. It wasn’t just business.
I wanted to claim her smile, her laugh, the way she looked when she sighed after a long day and laid her head back, eyes closed. They were unclaimable things, things without names, things that wouldn’t bring me power or glory. Things like the storm that raged in her, the nervous energy in her long fingers, the way she bit her lip in thought.
Humans sought to fulfill so many different needs in their mates, whereas demons took mates as a matter of devotion and fascination. Juniper was short-tempered, selfish, a woman of few words, stubborn, anxious, aggressive.
I wanted all of it. All her messiness, all her sharp edges and fragmented pieces. I wanted the sharpness. I wanted to cut myself on it again and again. I wanted to move her pieces around until they all made sense.
And she needed to let her walls down. She needed to be as messy as she pleased without fear of being alone.
“Why do they do these tutorials so fast?” she grumbled, skipping back nearly a minute in the video she was watching on her laptop. “It’s like one of those stupid How To Draw things: step one is a circle, and step two is a fully-formed drawing of a horse.”
I chuckled and let her struggle with the makeup for a few more seconds. Our costumes for the party were simple: fitted black suits, boots, bow-ties, and skulls painted on our faces. It was subtle enough to not attract too much attention, but the thick face paint would do the trick to keep Juniper’s identity hidden. The blazers made it easier for her to hide her weapons too, and she was coming well-armed.
“Alright, alright, I’ve seen you struggle enough,” I said. “Sit your ass down, I’ll do the makeup.”
She looked at me skeptically. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” I snapped her laptop closed, cutting off the video. “I’ve had hundreds of years to do whatever the hell I please. You think in all that time I’ve never gotten artistic?”
She sat down on the toilet lid so I could paint the black and white paint across her skin. She had a hard time sitting still, so I took my time to make sure she squirmed.
“I’ll spank you if you keep fidgeting.”
“You fucking will not,” she said, but her skin got hotter. I grinned.
“You’ll cry all your makeup off and I’ll have to do it again.”
“Ha! Oh, you wish —”
“Close your mouth. I need to paint on the rest of your teeth.”
Instead of closing her mouth, she snapped at my fingers. I didn’t make idle threats, and she’d asked for it, but she still put up a fight as I wrestled her up and under my arm.
“Was that a good idea, Juniper?” She hadn’t dressed yet and was just wearing a pair of tight gym shorts. The bounce when I smacked her ass was extremely satisfying.
“I’d do it again and actually bite you next time!” she yelled, stomping on my toes but certainly not getting me to move. A few more smacks and she was hot as hell, her angry yelling taking on a slightly higher note of desire. Only with her properly needy did I let her go, pushing her ass back down onto her seat.
“Now sit still.” I leaned over her, brush in hand. “Or I’ll find a way to punish you that doesn’t make you horny.”
She didn’t stop squirming. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
“I’ll find something,” I said. “There’s something out there you hate. Maybe a paddle instead of my hand.”
“You’re just going to turn me on more talking like that.”
“Mm, maybe I’ll smother you instead.”
“Smothering is just lazy choking, and you know I’m into that. Try again.”
“Needles.”
Her eyes widened as I moved the brush along her jaw. “What?”
I smiled. “I should be more specific: piercings. I’ll put a few needles through that tender skin of yours and see if you still get turned on.”
She’d gone very still, her mind turning. Her arousal hadn’t gone away. In fact… “Goddamn it, I’m into it.”
