BRAVING THE DARKNESS: One Night With The Demon King
BENEATH HER DARKNESS: The Alpha’s Little Demon Book 2
Chapter 8 – This Is My Normal
PATREA.
I had no idea why I felt so nervous in his presence. I’ d been with him alone numerous times in the past, so this nervousness was unwarranted. But then, three weeks with him would be a long time. I was just probably nervous that if he snapped and unleashed hell, I would be the first casualty.
I didn’t flee the demon world only to be k*il*led by a demon in my own realm.
“I know you don’t eat, but I do. So I will be cooking food, and I expect you to eat with me as I’ve been eating alone for many decades…”
“Okay,” he answered as he picked up a fork and forked some meat from the steamed dish into his. ” I can do that. What else.”
“I have work three times a week. So that’s Monday to Wednesday, from eight in the morning to three in the afternoon. During those times, you can do what you want.”
“Like visiting you at the library?”
“Or visit the underworld. You can’t be at the library all the time with me. I need to work.”
“I have a fascination for reading.”
“No, you don’t.” I chuckled softly, picking up a glassof water and sipping it.
“You’ll be surprised.”
“Fine, once a week but not every day.”
He didn’t reply, so I went to the next topic. “We have an extra room. I already prepared it for you…” “No,” he interrupted, shaking his head. His eyes locked with mine before he leaned his forearms on the table. “That part is not negotiable. I’m staying in your room.”
“But what if I’m not…”
“I said no. Next topic.” He hissed.
“But Lucius…”
“You should have told me that before you said yes. Because I made my intentions clear when I said I would stay in your house and your room.” He emphasized the word ‘your,’ and I was sure he was not giving in to this easily, but I got to try.
“I just want privacy sometimes.”
“Which you will get. Tell me to f*uc*k off if you want to s*tri*p n*ake*d or simply don’t want to see my face, then I will go. But you can’t tell me to f*uc*k off every single hour because I won’t.”
“I never lived with a man before, so I’m not sure how this will work.”
A devilish grin tugged on his lips as he leaned back on his chair while still playing with the fork in his hand. “I never lived with a female before, so I’m sure we’re just in the same boat here.”
He cleared his throat before he continued. “And I have never in my life compromised before, and I’ve been doing a lot of that for you.”
“I know.” I smiled nervously. “But I don’t know what you’re expecting to get from doing all this. If ever you succeed, I’m not even sure I can satisfy you the way you want to be satisfied.”
“So you’re worried you can’t satisfy me? That’s a good start.” He stated, and his eyes blazed red before he dropped his gaze and began slicing the meat on his plate.
“Did I say that? What I mean is…”
“Eat, Patrea. I can’t keep eating forever while waiting for you to finish. Although this one looks good, it’s like popping air into my mouth.”
Even if I wasn’t sure I made the right choice by agreeing to this, I was glad Lucius was here. The last two nights were terrible. The nightmare became so intense that I woke up with head pains.
Of course, I wasn’t sure that if he was here, the nightmare would stop, but knowing that he would delve into my mind if I had one gave me hope that we might be able to find answers.
After dinner, I cleaned up the table and washed dishes while Lucius just sat back and watched. I thought I would feel agitated being watched, the same way I felt whenever Lucien would stay in my cottage and watch me. But this one felt different. I was nervous but in a good kind of way. I was hoping I wouldn’t drop any plate or make a fool of myself.
Fortunately, I was able to wash the dishes without making a mess.
We talked for a while about his set-up with the underworld before I told him I needed to sort out things for the bills that I needed to pay. He told me earlier that I could just proceed with my routine and he would just be there watching.
But after a while, I asked him to watch TV instead of me because I was sure he was getting bored already. “You don’t need to open that. I just took that with me to appease Lucija.” Lucius said as he looked at me from the door of the bathroom. He was leaning against the door frame.
We were inside the bedroom and preparing to go to bed.
“I know, but I’m curious to see what’s inside.” I smiled at him before I zipped open his bag. I was already in my sleeping wear — satin spaghetti straps and short pajamas. There was no use using a conservative one, as I was sure he would just change them again.
“Look at that! You have pajamas too!” I exclaimed before giggling as I threw him the red plaid pajama pants that I found in his bag.
“Seriously?” He shook his head, and in seconds, his clothes changed into sweatpants and a white shirt, like last time. His hand was still holding the pants I threw at him.
“Come on, use that one. Lucy prepared it for you.” “I have one already.”
I stood up from the couch where I was seated and took the toothbrush and toothpaste I got from his luggage with me. “You can have those sweatpants tomorrow while we stay home, but use these pajama pants. I’m not even going to ask you to wear the top. Just those pants, and try putting them on without using your power. Just like normal people do.”
I smiled at him before I walked past him and went to the sink inside the bathroom.
“Put it on like this?”
My head snapped in his direction. He was facing me as he pulled off his shirt and tossed it aside, and my eyes widened the moment he tugged his sweatpants down. He didn’t have any briefs or boxers on, so his c*oc*k sprang free, which was big, no doubt, and it was not even hard yet!
My eyes went up to his face with my mouth parted before I got tempted to look down again.
He stood up straight and brushed his hand against his hair while my gaze traveled from his chiseled abs to his Adonis belt and down to his d*ic*k, which was slowly coming to life.
I kept staring as I swallowed the invisible lump in my throat.
Lucius was snickering, amazed at himself, as he balanced on one foot and slid one inside the pajamas before doing the same thing with the other.
I was not sure anymore what was happening. But spirits! He was well endowed.
I had seen him n*ake*d before when Adan took his physical form, but I never even thought of checking him out. But, of course, we were in danger at that time.
And all females would react in this manner if they saw a n*ake*d man, right?
Or was it just me? With him?
Because I had seen Lucien n*ake*d, and other demons, but never had this reaction.
“Are you okay?” Lucius’ voice reached my ears. He was already in front of me, snapping his fingers to get my attention.
I shook my head to snap myself out of my trance, and my head automatically tipped down and a sigh escaped my lips upon seeing he had the pants on already.
“You’re drooling.” He wiped something at the corner of my mouth with his pointer finger.
“I’m not.” I rolled my eyes at him and turned to face the mirror, only to see my face blushing. Spirits! This was embarra*s*sing!
“So did I p@ssyour screening?” He crossed his arms against his chest before he leaned his @sson the edge of the sink counter, so we were facing in a different direction, but he tilted his body slightly to my side.
“You just took me by surprise.” I scoffed with a soft chuckle before putting toothpaste on his toothbrush and handing it to him.
“I don’t need to. My teeth won’t get rotten.” He said so, but he still took it.
“Just try and tell me later if you don’t enjoy brushing your teeth with someone.” I smiled at him before taking my own toothbrush. “Doi need to teach you how?”
“I’m sure in more than two centuries I had seen someone brush their teeth.”
I stifled a giggle as I began brushing my teeth without taking my eyes off him, urging him to follow my lead.
“Patrea, I don’t need to do this.” He grunted.
I took out the brush from my mouth and spit out the bubbles before facing him, making sure I didn’t shower him with my spittle. “When you’ve been alone doing things on your own, you’ll want to share every moment with another person. It’s weird, but sometimes I go to Althea and brush my teeth in front of her.”
I took the glassof water and gargled, spitting it out before I continued. “And since Althea is not here…” “Fine.” He turned around and began brushing his teeth, and I almost laughed hard because he was gripping his brush so tightly that I was sure it would snap into two soon.
Our eyes met in the mirror, and we both ended up smiling as we continued brushing, until we were alternating, between spitting and rinsing with water. O
It looked weird, but I think I liked it.
“Are my teeth clean now?” Lucius asked as he bared his teeth at me.
I gave him a thumbs-up sign only to gasp in surprise, my body jolting back when he let his demon fangs out, before swiping his tongue on them.
“Since you showed me your normal, I’m showing you mine. I clean my demon fangs with my tongue.” “Okay.” I dried my mouth with a towel before pressing it on his face to wipe off the water on his chin and around his mouth. My action caught me off guard, and it was too late to take it back. So I did it so fast that in just a few seconds, I had already dropped the towel on the hamper, and I was out of the door.
I didn’t hear movement inside the bathroom. What was he still doing there?
I leaned to the side to check on him and found him in the same position.
“Lucius? You can turn off the lights there and come here. We should sleep.”
This was all new to me, and I was sure it was more for him. I should take it slow and not overwhelm him with too many human ways.
I slipped inside the blanket, but I remained seated, waiting for him to come to his side of the bed.
I wasn’t sure if we’d fit here because my bed was smaller than the one we shared at the Mystic Pack. “Maybe we should get a bigger bed,” I told him as soon as he sat on his side.
“This one looks okay to me. I don’t move.”
“Isn’t it too small for you?”
He shook his head. “But if you want to buy a new one, then we can do that.”
“We have to wait for a few days as my salary is coming next week.”
“I have money,” he said.
“We won’t use stolen money.”
“Lucija gave me an allowance.”
“You’re lying.”
“It’s up to you if you don’t want to believe it, but I have money inside the bag. She told me I shouldn’t make you pay for my expenses. I’m not sure what my expenses would be, but perhaps the bed would be a good place to start.” A smile slowly crept into his lips, but his eyes looked solemn like he was sad. “Are you okay?”
He nodded his head.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No. Nothing.” He smiled, and the solemnity of his eyes was gone in an instant. “You had nightmares again.”
“Yes. Do you think it will come tonight too?”
“We will see. I’ll watch over you.”
“Thank you.”
“You should sleep.”
I slid my body down to lie down but tilted my head in his direction to look at him. “And what will you do?” “Talk with you until you fall asleep.”
“And after?”
“I can freeze my mind and rest. But I probably won’ t as I want to catch your nightmare.”
“Have you tried sleeping? Like close your eyes and freeze your mind?”
“Don’t worry about me, this is my normal. I’m used to it. But can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“When do you think you’ll be ready to talk about Lucien and the things he did to you?”
I swallowed and closed my eyes for a few seconds before opening them. “Maybe soon… I don’t know what I need to say.”
“When you are ready to talk about it, I can start by asking questions. Just answer what you can. And you can talk as much as you want. And we can stop anytime.”
“What questions will you ask?”
“Do you want me to ask one now?”
I nodded my head and focused my eyes on the ceiling above me, my hands clutching the blanket tightly against my chest.
“Did he kiss you?”
My eyes automatically closed as I nodded my head. “Was he harsh?” “He was never gentle with me. Every touch, every grip, every kiss was painful.” My voice came out hoarsely.
I snapped my eyes open and pushed my body up, so I was back to sitting beside him again. “I had s*e*x with humans before him, but I couldn’t even remember how it was since all I remember are the ones he gave me. And they were never pleasant.”
My jaw clenched, and I saw him swallow, but he didn’t take his gaze off me.
“Your father is the definition of evil. Beyond evil.” “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing on his behalf?”
“Do you see him when you look at me? Do you see the same evil in me?”
“No. Maybe at the beginning. But not anymore. I won’t be here with you if I see him on you.”
“Do you think that if I promise to be gentle, you will let me kiss you?”