Lucas swallowed the sound that almost broke out of him.
His hands found her ass before he could stop them. Full. High. Peach-round. His fingers sank into the oiled curve and stayed there. Goosebumps rose under his palms.
He looked at her properly then.
Small face. Glossy lips. Heavy breasts straining soaked black lace, nipples pinched tight and dark against the fabric. A narrow waist. Thick thighs. That ass. He had always known she was beautiful. This was different. This was the kind of body that made patience feel like a joke.
His cock ached, flushed dark, a wet bead already gathering at the head. The urge to pin her and take her was immediate. He didn't.
He flipped her instead.
Chloe's back hit the sleeping bag. Heating runes warmed the fabric under her spine. Her hair spilled across the blue light. Her breasts jolted with the motion, oil sliding between them in a shining line.
She stared up at him, tense, waiting.
Lucas pushed his hair back. His breathing was rough. His cock hung over her, heavy, glistening.
"You know, Chloe Bennett," he said, "you have the kind of body that can rile up any man."
It didn't sound like a compliment. It sounded like a fact.
Chloe swallowed. She was at his mercy in a sealed cave, and he was saying it like he was reading her off a page. Her heart slammed once. She couldn't hold his eyes.
Lucas smiled and leaned in.
His cock slid between the soaked lace of her panties and the press of her thighs. The heat of him settled there, trapped, thick enough that her legs had to close around it.
"Look at me."
Chloe's breath shook. Slowly, she lifted her gaze.
Lucas held it.
He rolled his hips once, dragging that length along the wet lace. Squish. The head nudged her clit through the cloth, then slid back, leaving a shining streak of precum on her skin.
"That's it," he murmured. "Don't hide now."
Chloe's hands fisted in the sleeping bag. The heating runes had warmed the fabric under her palms. Her thighs tightened around him without meaning to, squeezing the thick shaft between them. A broken sound slipped out of her throat. She looked at him with wet eyes. Shame burned there.
That was the part that undid her more than the heat.
Lucas's eyes didn't leave her face while his hips moved. Every slow drag of his cock between her thighs made the lace cling, then peel, then cling again.
Squish.
The space between her legs had become a narrow channel. The shaft rubbed over her clit through the thin fabric, then slid back until the head kissed her entrance and stopped. Not in. Just there. A warning she could feel with her whole body.
"Haa…"
Her thighs tightened around him. The squeeze made Lucas's breath hitch. He didn't look away.
"Good. Keep them closed."
Chloe bit her lip. The order should have made her angry. Instead her legs obeyed. The next stroke was tighter. Smack. Squish. Her breasts shifted with each movement. A drop of oil slid toward her throat. Lucas's chest brushed them when he leaned closer.
"Did Alex ever see you like this?" he murmured. "Shaking. Those breasts looking like they'd melt if someone touched them."
Chloe's eyes flashed.
"Don't—"
"Don't say his name?" Lucas's smile was thin. "Then don't think about him while you're holding me like this."
Her answer broke into a moan when he rolled his hips harder. The head of him caught against her, spreading her slightly through the ruined panties. Precum smeared her folds. Her own slickness ran down toward the sleeping bag.
"Nngh— Lucas— something's coming—"
He caught her wrist and pressed it to the bag beside her head. Not painful. Just pinning. The other hand stayed on her thigh, keeping that tight channel he was using.
"Say my name."
Chloe looked at him. Shame and want sat on her face together.
"Lucas."
The sound of it made his cock jerk between her legs. He cursed under his breath and picked up the pace — still not entering her, just using her thighs and the ruined lace until the wet rhythm filled the cave.
Chloe's back arched. Heating runes glowed faintly under her spine. Her nipples strained the bralette. Every stroke pushed her closer to the edge she had only ever reached alone. Lucas watched it happen on her face.
"Do you touch yourself a lot?"
"Don't ask."
"Say it."
Chloe bit her lip. She had already learned she couldn't lie to him.
"Yes— nngh—"
Lucas moaned against her ear. He bit her there, light and sharp.
"You can't deny what you feel."
Her nails dug into his shoulder. Her thighs shook. The next drag over her clit tore a broken Ahh out of her throat. She felt him thicken.
"Ahh— Chloe—"
He lifted his head. Chloe looked at him, breathing hard.
"Yes," she whispered.
"Fuck. I'm coming."
"Ahh— me too— Lucas, please— I can't stop it—"
"Don't stop. Let it out."
Chloe's back bowed. A raw Ahh— ripped out of her as she came, thighs clamping around him, pulse after pulse against the lace. Lucas cursed and followed her, hips jerking, heat spilling across her panties, her stomach, the line between her breasts. The pulses kept coming until there was nothing left in him but shaking breath.
The cave went quiet except for both of them gasping.
Then Lucas saw the tears.
They slid from the corners of her eyes into her hair. He froze, still over her.
"What happened?"
Chloe's voice came out small.
"I'm a sinner. I don't deserve to live."
"Why?"
The truth left her before she could dress it up.
"Because it felt so good."
Lucas stared at her. A broken laugh escaped him. He leaned in and licked a tear from her cheek, then hovered above her mouth.
"Idiot. We got caught in a bad situation. You didn't betray anyone."
"You're just lying."
Lucas smiled. He leaned closer.
Chloe's eyes widened.
He kissed her.
It wasn't gentle for long. Her mouth opened under his with a shocked little sound, and he took it — slow at first, then deeper, tasting salt and the moan she tried to swallow. Chloe's fingers trembled against his back. She kissed him back anyway, messy, hungry, as the last wall had already fallen.
When he finally pulled away, a thin string of saliva hung between their mouths, shining once in the blue light before it broke.
Chloe stared at him, wrecked and still crying a little. The cave smelled of oil, stone, and the heat they had left on the sleeping bag.
"You… you kissed me."
Her voice came out hoarse. She could still taste him.
Lucas rested his forehead against hers. His skin was damp. His breath came slower now, warm against her lips.
"You looked too cute to resist."
The words were lazy, almost fond. They made her ears burn.
"Wha—"
Before she could finish, Lucas slid down. His eyes shut. Exhaustion finally took its toll. His voice was already half-asleep when it left him, muffled against the lace over her chest.
"You're free of the drug now."
Chloe stared, bewildered. The itching between her legs had gone quiet, as if his words had turned a switch.
"Hey. Wake up."
The cave swallowed the sound. Water dripped somewhere behind the stone.
Lucas didn't answer. His heartbeat eased against her. His hands stayed on her waist as if she already belonged there, warm and heavy.
Chloe's face burned. She shoved him aside with effort. The sleeping bag rustled. Cool cave air touched the places his body had been covering.
His face looked peaceful. Nothing else about him did. Her eyes darted down before she could stop them. He was resting now, but the size of him still startled her. Even like this, it looked ready for a second round just by existing. Chloe gulped and turned her face away.
She cleaned herself with his ripped shirt. The fabric was rough, already ruined, and it came away streaked. Then she pulled her dress back on as quickly as her shaking hands allowed. Metal and embroidered plates settled over her skin again, colder than his mouth had been.
Lucas's last words kept circling in her ears.
You're free now.
It was true. What remained was tenderness, and the memory of his heat.
She looked at him, conflicted. When she spoke, it was barely louder than the drip of water.
"Did he do all that to help… or was it just an excuse?"
Even though he had played with her, she knew he could have done anything. She wouldn't have been able to stop him.
He hadn't.
He hadn't taken her virginity. He hadn't made her feel used.
A single thought tugged at her as she leaned against the cave wall. Stone pressed cold through the back of her dress. Her heart was still unsteady.
Who are you really, Lucas?
Sunlight cut through the mouth of the cave in a thin, hard line.
Lucas woke to it first — heat on his eyelids, then the ache in his body. His mouth was dry. The sleeping bag was still warm where two people had been. Only one was left.
He sat up slowly.
Chloe was gone.
Her armor was gone. The vial was gone. The only proof she had been there was the ruined shirt on the stone, the faint herbal scent in the air, and the dried mess on his stomach he hadn't bothered to clean before sleep took him.
Lucas dragged a hand through his hair and laughed once, low.
"Of course."
He stood. Cool air touched his bare chest. Outside, Pandemonium's crimson sky was already burning. His bracelet pulsed with overnight updates he didn't open yet.
He cleaned himself quickly and dressed. The coat had been torn the day before, but the fabric had already knitted itself shut. One of its functions. The repaired weave still smelled faintly of smoke and oil.
He cracked his neck. Bone popped.
"When did she leave, Imp?"
The devil answered from his shadow, voice small and close.
"Three hours before you woke, Master."
Lucas nodded and walked outside. Heat hit his face. The distant forest stretched under the red sky, black leaves shivering without wind.
"Looks like those wet dogs already lost our scent. Fucking whelps. I had to leave the corpses behind."
Nyx Claw answered his summons.
The beast formed in the clearing with a low, grinding sound — massive, dark, heat rolling off its hide in waves. Dust lifted around its claws. Lucas climbed up without hesitation. The mount's back was hot through his coat.
Let's see if that red-haired girl actually completed her transaction… or if she's just another failure.
"Let's go, King. We've already wasted enough time."
Nyx Claw tore back through the forest without mercy.
Black trees whipped past. Heat rolled off the beast's hide. Lucas kept low against its neck, an unlit cigarette between his fingers, eyes already fixed on the old spider chamber.
The scent hit him before the webs did.
Rot. Silk. Blood that wasn't human.
Nyx Claw slowed at the ridge. Lucas dropped first. His boots left a trail in the damp earth. The massive mount followed, its bulk making the clearing feel smaller than it was.
He lit the cigarette as he walked.
The opening of the boss chamber yawned ahead — the same place he had last felt Liora and Riven. Webs hung in thick, glowing strands. Something red moved inside them.
Lucas's eyes narrowed.
A crimson streak cut across the dark.
Riven was no longer the girl who had led her friends toward a treasure.
She stood in the center of the chamber in a black, thorn-laced bodysuit that clung to every curve. The high collar framed a pale throat.
The front was cut deep enough that each breath made the glossy fabric strain. Long red hair poured down her back in a wild fall, some of it bound high, the rest drifting like smoke. Extra limbs had grown from her spine — long, jointed, black as obsidian, each tip sharp enough to punch through stone.
And she was not idle.
She was fighting her own friend.
Liora's silver hair was plastered to her face with sweat. Her cracked staff shook as she blocked another descending limb. Sparks of light burst against black chitin. The blow drove her back across the wet stone, boots sliding.
"Riven— stop— it's me!"
Riven didn't answer like a girl anymore. A low sound left her throat. One spider limb slammed down where Liora had been standing. Silk burst from her other hand and pinned the staff to the floor.
Crimson eyes found Lucas.
The spider-woman turned toward the entrance the moment she felt his presence. The glow in her irises brightened. Liora used that second to rip her staff free and stumble behind a broken pillar, breathing hard.
Lucas exhaled smoke.
"Wow. You got a few more arms now."
**
**Character Art**
Want to see the characters come to life? Join my Discord server for **character art, visuals, and other story-related content**!
[Join the Discord Server]- https://discord.gg/QxdfzfBYB