Chapter 44 ∣  The Truth Hurts

-Maverick

"Eris?" I felt her body shift beneath of me, her eyelids fluttering open as it appeared my action had startled her. Her heart was racing, Eris' eyes scanning around her before she finally looked up at me, filled with disbelief.

"Mav-" I cut her off, lifting her upper body up and wrapping my arms around her, holding her securely against my bare chest. Her rosemary scent drifted from her skin, encircling around me and filling my senses. Her left cheek rested against my skin, feeling the warmth that radiated from her, those wonderful electrical charges passing through her and traveling just under my skin.

My chin rested on her soft ebony hair, closing my eyes and just hanging onto this one moment in time. I'd never been so relieved to have the one person who meant everything to me, back in my arms.

I don't know how she did it...

My world rested in my arms, her voice lost as she encased her arms around my lower back, holding me even tighter to her. She was crying, the tears falling from her eyes and hitting my chest, an audible sniffle leaving her lips.

"Eris," I whispered, "I love you."

She drew a shaky breath as she responded, "I love you too."

Her arms left my back, her fingertips moving against my skin as they trailed to the front of my abs, slowly working their way up to my chest. Sharply in taking the air, her touch mesmerized me, the feeling consuming me and bring out a hidden protector within me. The want and need to be with her and take care of her only intensified when her right hand was cupping my left cheek, my eyes opening at her soft touch.

"You are my beloved," I breathed out, letting my hold of her slowly slip away as she sat on her knees, my hands resting on her bare shoulders, traveling down the length of her arms. I felt the shiver that made goosebumps break out over her skin, her breath catching as her eyes closed briefly, those emerald orbs hiding away from me. Her head tilted back for a moment, enjoying my own touch and what it did to her like she knew hers did to me. The affect we had over one another was truly something remarkable and not something I'd ever expect to experience in my life.

Eris' hand faltered, falling from my cheek and resting against my chest, bring her left hand next to her right. Her radiant eyes blinked open when I brushed the back of my hand against her cheek, placing her long dark hair behind her left ear.

"You are my beloved," the palm of my right hand cupped her left cheek, lowering my lips to hers. Breathing in her intoxicating beautiful scent, she didn't resist me like she had held slight reservations in the past. In fact, her lips parted, lifting her lips to meet mine as she closed the distance between us. Her soft lips molded with mine, both of us breathing in deeply as my left hand ran down her side, entrapping her waist.

When our lips broke away, she said, "Keegan returned my fractured soul to me..."

"What happened?" I stiffened at the mere mention of his name, wondering exactly how Eris managed to return to Earth. I had sensed her energy being suppressed and I assumed it had to be her new neck accessory. In hopes that I had been right, I broke it, immediately feeling her power filling the room.

"I almost died..." her voice trailed off, glancing away from me for a moment, thinking hard before she turned back to me and stated, "There was a succubus...she saved my life and forced me to leave the Dominion Plane."

It had to have been the one I had met during my brief trip. A thought struck me, "What of Keegan?"

"I-" she seemed unsure of herself, "I don't really know to be honest. In my attempt to bring down both Keegan and King Bram...the demonic creatures had seen I was so willing to stand my ground and fight back...anarchy...I remember hearing screams and cries and fighting broke out. I'm not quite sure what happened after that, as it was your energy that drew me away, allowing me a bright star to guide my way."

That was unsettling, not knowing exactly what the outcome of the power play had been. At least she was safe...and she was all mine, my love returned to me.

There was the small voice though, bring me back to the moment that Keegan had so boldly stated that Eris had given herself freely to him...why would she ever do that? It really was time that I found out.

"Eris?" I asked, her heart skipping a beat as she could feel my change in demeanor, our pull toward each other already feeling the emotions one another had. She knew that something was bothering me, and I could tell she held sadness and sorrow in her eyes as she nodded her head, her hands falling from my chest and resting in her lap. "Keegan said you gave yourself to him, that you willingly let him take you...is any of that true?"

Please don't be true...please...

I don't think I could handle her telling me she had allowed him to fuck her. Before she could even respond, I was already growing slightly angry at the thought of her moaning, screaming his name as he touched her. It was one thing all those years she had been forced...but to willingly let him? My mind was about to lose it, my heart hurting as her eyes fell from mine, gazing down at her hands.

"He didn't seduce you," I said, watching for her to react in anger, challenging me to prove me wrong. She didn't make a single move, her body shaking slightly, her own heart aching as she continued to look away from me.

"I wanted to believe he was seducing me," Eris' words filled the silent void between us, "Even my demonic side made me believe I was being controlled," my hand left her cheek pulling away, my other that had been resting on her waist pulled back as well. "But I wasn't," she stated, "I gave up. I was tired of being hurt and having my emotions manipulated, pushed and pulled around until I wasn't sure what was what. Keegan made me believe you weren't coming for me...that he did you a favor so that you could find your beloved," her lips quivered when she said the word, beloved. "I had been led to believe that sex demons don't have soul-mates...and here you are..."

"Eris-"

"I let him have me," she interjected, "Because I thought my eternity was to once again be bound in an unending servitude. My love for you...disappeared, as though it had never existed. I blocked you out because I didn't want to be hurt, thinking my mind was playing tricks with me and wanting to torment me with the single thought of you coming to rescue me. I couldn't let myself believe that...because I would have broken down further. I lost you back on Earth when I was taken away...I couldn't stand the tricks my mind was playing with me, wanting to believe...desperately wanting you to take me away and just hold me until the end of days."

"Eris...I-" she was about to break, her chest heaving as she continued to finally say the words, I hadn't wanted to be true.

"Keegan made me feel whole...when I lost you. He had begun to show me love and returning my fractured soul was something I never expected to be handed so freely to me. Though his intentions were wrong and malicious, he still returned it to me without me having to fight once for it," Eris whispered, tears brimming her eyelids, slowly spilling over as she said, "I thought I loved him...but I know...it was wrong."

The pain hurt much more than I thought. Eris had slowly begun to form an anchor, attaching me to her and driving away from the need and want to kill. Now, I just wanted to destroy everything in my path...I wanted to take out my rage and anger, to defuse.

"You betrayed me," I said slowly, feeling the hurt in my heart slowly crumble my entire existence.

"Yes," she whispered, her breath catching in her throat as she cried. "I could have fought harder...but I didn't. I could have resisted him...but I didn't. Yes, there were times he did control and seduce me...but even in the times I was in my right mind, I was a willing participant."

"I-I can't-" The anger boiled to the surface, pushing away from the bed and standing to my full height. Eris couldn't look me in the eyes, her tears rolling down her cheeks and off her chin, hitting her hands that still clutched each other in her lap, her knuckles turning white.

I had to restrain the want to hurt her...the spark deep in my chest igniting as I no longer had control to seal off that connection. Stalking to the door, I began to put my combat boots on, lacing them up and snapping the buckles into place. I took my shirt from the cushioned chair and angrily put my arms through the holes and pulled it down over my head. Snatching my trench coat, I threw it on, placing my hand on the door handle, my hand shaking as I narrowed my eyes, turning to look at Eris.

"Why?" I asked, my voice seething with rage that was becoming harder to control by the second.

"I'm so sorry..." her voice was barely above a whisper, her body wracking as sobs radiated through her, her eyes lifting to meet mine. She could feel the same hurt and loss that flowed through me, and her voice cried out, "Don't go! Please!" She cried, jumping off the bed and running toward me.

Before she could lay a hand on me, I let the door handle go and caught her left wrist in my right hand, compressing down tightly around it. Her shocked eyes widened in fear as I growled lowly and stated, "I cannot forgive you."

I threw her backward, her feet coming out from underneath of her as her back collided against the bed frame, a small scream escaping her. It was that same look I received from everyone else...and now, it was the same look that crossed Eris' face.

Love hurts...and I was better off without it.

"Maverick," Eris half whisper-yelled at me as I opened the door, taking a step out, "Please...Don't leave me...please!"

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To Seduce a Succubus by K. A. Young.

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