Then, with a throaty groan, he laid me back and buried himself deeper inside me in one long thrust. I sucked in a lungful of air, held it as he eased out then back in again, his movements agonizingly slow, insanely meticulous. He tortured me for several long minutes, stopping when I came too close to the edge, pulling back when I clawed at his steely bu**ocks, wanting more. Slowly, he increased the rhythm, quickened the pace, lured me closer and closer to the inferno blazing in my abdomen until an orgasm exploded inside me. In one continuous rush of adrenaline, the sweet sting of orgasm washed over me, pulsing and coursing through every molecule in my body. I threw my head back, bit down, and steeled myself to ride out the wave, shuddering beneath him with the power of it.

He came moments after I did, sending a second cl**ax bursting and spilling through my veins. But this one was different. This one was even more intense. More … important.

Stars exploded into white-hot supernovas in my head. Galaxies formed in my mind as I saw the universe being born. Planets were forged from raw material as gravity reached out and took what it could, manipulating and bending the elements to its will. Gases and sheets of ice became orbiting spheres, bright and incandescent against the black of eternity, while others shot through the sky at impossible speeds.

Then I saw the Earth form and its magnetosphere take shape, giving the brilliant blue orb the ability to sustain life like a shield from heaven. I saw one mass of land part and become many, and I saw the rise of the angels then the fall of the few. Led by a beautiful being, the fallen hid in stones and crevasses scattered throughout the universe, where the hottest molten rock flowed and ebbed like the seas of the Earth.

It was then, after the brief war of the angels, that Reyes was born. Nearly identical to his father, he was created from the heat of a supernova and forged from Earth’s elements. He rose through the ranks quickly, becoming a great and respected leader. Second only to his father, he commanded millions of soldiers, a general among thieves, even more beautiful and powerful than his father, with the key to the gates of hell scored into his body.

But his father’s pride would not be subdued. He wanted the heavens. He wanted complete control over every living thing in the universe. He wanted God’s throne.

Reyes followed his father’s every command, waited and watched for a portal to be born upon the Earth, a direct passage to heaven, a way out of hell. A tracker of flawless stealth and skill, he forged through the gates of the underworld and found the portals in the farthest reaches of the universe.

And then he saw me. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t see myself through his eyes. All I saw was a thousand lights, identical in shape and form. But Reyes looked harder and saw one made of spun gold, a daughter of the sun, shimmering and glistening. She turned and saw him and smiled. And Reyes was lost.

Plummeting back to the present, I felt Reyes lean up on his arms, alarm evident in his expression. “I didn’t mean for you to see that,” he said, his voice spent, his breathing labored.

I was still quivering, shaking weakly from the cl**axes that were just now waning. “That was me?” I whispered, astonished.

He lay beside me to catch his breath, rested his head on an arm, and watched. For the first time, I realized his eyes looked like small galaxies with a billion sparkling stars. “You’re not going to try to run away from me again, are you?”

Too shocked to smile, I asked, “Would it do me any good?”

He lifted a solid shoulder. “If you knew what you were capable of, it might.”

That was an interesting thing to say. I rolled onto my side to face him. His eyes sparkled, sated and relaxed. “And just what exactly am I capable of?”

He grinned, his handsome face—too handsome to be human—softening under my gaze. “If I told you, I would lose my advantage.”

“Ah,” I said, a piece of the puzzle falling into place. “The consummate general, with more tricks up his sleeve than a seasoned magician.”

He lowered his chin as if ashamed. “That was a long time ago.”

His body glistened beside mine, and I couldn’t help but let my eyes stray to the hills and valleys that made up his exquisitely molded form. I suddenly realized he was covered in scars, some tiny and some … not so much. I wondered if they were a product of his life with Earl Walker or his life as a general in hell. “What did you mean earlier when you said that Satan was looking for you?”

He swirled a lazy finger around my belly button, creating tiny quakes that riveted straight to my core. “I mean that he is no longer looking.”

“He gave up?” I asked hopefully.

“No. He found me.”

My jaw dropped open in alarm. “But, isn’t that bad?”

“Very.”

I sat up so I could see his face better. “Then you need to hide again. Wherever you were before, you need to go there again and hide.”

But I’d lost him. Something beyond my range of perception had stolen his attention. He was on his feet at once, covered in the black hooded robe. I scanned the area but could perceive none of what he was seeing. This disturbed me, especially after what I’d just witnessed. There was so much I couldn’t see, so much going on around me every minute of every day that I had no access to.

“Reyes,” I whispered, but almost before I’d gotten his name out, he was in front of me, covering my mouth with his hand.

His robe tingled along my skin, sparked along my nerve endings like static electricity. With eyes blazing, he shifted, liquefied, straddled two planes at once. After a moment, he let his hand drop and replaced it with his mouth in a kiss that had me shivering despite the heat that surrounded me.