Chapter 121 Chapter 121
“I’m not the only one who’s been waiting for you to wake up. Your friends are getting more impatient each day, and they might tear your house down soon,” she said and smiled faintly.
She hadn’t wanted to upset him with her words, but that was exactly what happened. He stiffened and sat up straight, staring at her with wide eyes before he looked around the room and finally realized that they, in fact, weren’t in Valerie’s flat, but in his own home in the pits of hell. Panic flashed over his face.
“Why… are we in hell?” he said disbelievingly. “Why are you in hell? It’s much too dangerous here! Who brought you here?”
“Your friends,” she answered, and he scowled.
“Where are they?” he growled.
“They’ll come by later,” she said. “It’s fine, calm down.”
His bloodred eyes were a very clear indicator that he wouldn’t calm down any time soon, so she sighed defeatedly and took his hand in hers, squeezing it tightly. “You only just woke up from a coma that lasted for days. First and foremost, you need to take care of yourself. Everything else isn’t important,” she said sternly and glowered at him when he opened his mouth to object.
“But…”
“No. You’re staying right here, and you won’t move an inch, understood?”
“We demons aren’t as easy to break as you humans.”
“So what?” she said. “Demons aren’t immortal either.”
He hesitated, his eyes moving to the windows behind her, staring at the night sky with a bitter frown. “You don’t need to remind me of that. I wouldn’t ever forget.”
She watched him unsurely, not knowing what to make of his sudden change, sensing that she might have said something wrong. “Maxwell?”
He looked at her questioningly, lifting an eyebrow.
“How are you feeling?” she asked carefully, not necessarily talking about his physical state, and he seemed to know that.
“Fine,” he said unconvincingly.
“Maxwell, you… You know that you can tell me when something’s bothering you, right?”
“Yes, I know that,” he muttered, his eyes straying back to the window. “I just… had a nightmare. That’s it.”
Valerie held in a sigh and decided not to push it. If he didn’t want to tell her, then she’d accept that.
“I’m glad you’re awake now—I was very worried about you since you almost died after we fought Zane,” she explained reluctantly, mumbling her words. Those uncertain moments in which she hadn’t known whether he would live or not had shaken her up. She couldn’t forget about him lying on the ground, slowly dying. “Do you remember what happened?”
“No, my memory is very hazy,” he replied and studied her, noticing that her eyes were suspiciously glossy. Tears were about to spill over. “I don’t recall anything after the fight ended. What happened?”
She took a deep breath and tried to keep her composure. “You used up all your magic, so I shared mine with you to save you, but it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t strong enough to help you on my own. In the end, I called Thorne for help, but I don’t even remember him arriving because I lost consciousness too.”
“Why would you do that, idiot?” he yelled agitatedly, cupping her cheeks with his hands.
“Because you were turning to ash, idiot. I didn’t want to lose you,” she snapped, and that shut him up for some reason. He stared at her with wide eyes, the red within them slowly fading so the blue became visible again. “If you want me to spell it out for you, then fine, I will do just that. Listen closely, stubborn demon. You are very important to me, and I’m not planning on letting you go again.”
Now he really was speechless. The strange pain she had briefly read in his eyes disappeared and was replaced by a different emotion. She suddenly noticed how close they were—their noses were almost touching, a strand of his white hair tickling her brow. Valerie looked right into his eyes, seeing tiny dark blue sprinkles in the lighter blue of his iris. It was dyed a darker color around the edge before it faded to sky-blue. Getting lost in his eyes was easy, so easy that she completely forgot about what else she wanted to tell him.
When he exhaled, warm puffs of air fanned over her lips, and she parted them slightly, feeling tension rise between them. His alluring eyes became hooded, flitting down before he met her gaze and abruptly closed the distance between them. Maxwell’s lush lips crashed on hers, and then he was kissing her hungrily, overwhelming her with the suddenness of his actions.
Her pulse rose, her pupils dilated; it didn’t matter that she was in hell right now, she felt like she was floating on cloud nine towards heaven. The corners of her mouth quirked up, and a happy smile spread over her face. She had missed him. She had underestimated just how much she had missed him, so she was surprised by herself when her tears spilled over. Putting her arms around his neck brought her closer to him, and he let himself fall on his back, pulling her down with him. They broke the kiss, but not for long.
Their lips met a second time as she sat on his lower stomach and bowed down to kiss him fervently. He was just as impatient as she, putting his palms on her shoulder blades to push her towards him, pressing their chests together. Fire coursed through her, drove her insane, made her want him more. She was burning, and she couldn’t get enough. He was demanding when he kissed her, sneakily biting her lower lip before he slipped his tongue into her mouth.
His hands that had previously been on her back now ran down her sides, leaving a trail of burning heat. He smirked when her body shuddered under his touch, and his growing lust for her made him act impulsively. He turned them over so her back hit the mattress, and they switched positions. Breaking their kiss, he let her draw in a deep breath, her chest rising and falling as she stared up at him and met his eyes.