Page 5 of In My Closet

I fucking loved how much she's filled out over the past weeks. It was subtle, but it was progress. My little mate wasn't too happy about having to buy new pants because she went up a size recently, but I was more than happy with how her ass and thighs were filling out. Top-wise, she had a defined waist but a small chest and narrow shoulders, and it definitely wasn't as filled out as her bottom half. Not that it mattered to me because she was as cute and snuggly as one of those stupid stuffed bears of hers.

Defeated, my Gracie let out a groan as she threw her hands into the air and let them slap against her thighs before she plopped into the chair at her desk. Then, her head snapped to me, or the closet, more likely. "What do you even want with me? Why won't you show yourself?" It was as if she could see me, but that wasn't possible given this stupid curse.

A long sigh dragged out of me as I looked at her with a deep frown, my hand pressing against the invisible barrier. "I would if I could." I wanted to so badly. I wanted to show myself to her, let her see her glorious mate, maybe flex a bit for her because human females tend to love it when males show off.

Letting out another sigh, I rested my head against the barrier and softly banged my fist against it.

Stupid barrier.

And the more damning thing was my inability to figure a way through. I knew what was wrong but couldn't fix it because the gate was beyond my reach. I needed to examine the gate fully to see what parts were messed with to cause this barrier and my prison.

The squeak and creak of her chair and the sounds of scraping against wood turned my full attention back to my mate. Her luscious hips swayed with each step she took toward me—okay, the closet, more likely because, again, she couldn't see me.

Much to my disappointment, she stopped right at the threshold, literally a thread away from my grasp. "Listen, I know, whoever or whatever you are, that you are in there." She huffed with a glare into the closet, which right now was right into my midsection. "I don't know what you want with me, but I don't know you or even see you or want anything to do with you. So, please, just let me out. Whoever or whatever you are, my friends can help you in a bit once they get here."

"Doubtful." I mused with a scoffing laugh.

The idiot priest and demonologist (yeah, I had a laugh with that one) didn't find me out. So, I highly doubted her friends would do a better job than these 'officials' she had brought in over the weeks.

Okay, I had my doubts until her friends actually showed up. The moment I felt the familiar presence of a shadow prince, yeah, I was saved and/or fucked, depending on how my little mate weaved things.

"Gracie! Open the door!" A familiar female voice shouted through the pounding of the door.

A deeper, raspier voice 'tsked' on the other side, "She can't. It's locked with magic." Never thought I'd be so happy to hear his voice—at least, I think it was his voice.

A loud thud and bang filled the area, and the door was thrown off its hinges. The moment the door was gone, two figures revealed themselves. The female was familiar; she had been here numerous times, being my mate's friend.

The male, though. "Kastoron! Thank Lucifer's balls! Sweet screams of torment! Kastoron!" I knew letting my glee come out verbally was pointless, but I couldn't contain it at the familiar sight.

I could barely keep my eyes on my mate as she ran to her friend's arms because I was too focused on Kastoron stalking warily into the room. I'd deal with the jealousy later. What mattered now was getting out of this damn trap.

"You definitely have something here, that's for sure," Kastoron commented as he stood inches from the closet doorway, studying it carefully.

"Go inside and see if you can find something." My mate shooed Kastoron forward with a few flicks of her hand, making me chuckle out of amusement at the sight of her boldness toward my fellow friend.

Kastoron did not seem too pleased with that, not that I blamed him. Like the little sass he is, he spun around and faced the two females with his hands on his hips. "I think. The. Fuck. Not. You couldn't pay me enough to go into that gateway with no way out." He sneered while jabbing a finger toward the closet.

"What do you mean? I go in and out just fine." My mate retorted with a soft glare at Kastoron.

With a sneer, he pointed a finger at the females. "Because you're a human." Then, he pointed at himself, "I'm a demon, a completely different entity from you and Stella. If I go through there, I ain't coming back until whatever is wrong with this gate is fixed."

And that's when all my hope went into the void because Kastoron outlived his use. Then again, I didn't expect much from him in the first place. He may be powerful and a grade-A trickster, but he was useless regarding nitty-gritty dimensional magic. I had to give him some credit, though; he did figure out that something was wrong with the gate and that there was a gate present without having to spend much time investigating.

Leaning against the wall next to the closet, he crossed his arms and gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "Honestly, you could live just fine. Whatever is stuck is stuck. It won't manifest or go beyond the closet. It won't be able to harm you, either. The most you'll feel are those phantom touches, but that's about it."

Then, pensively, he looked into the closet again, even going as far as to reach out towards the closet but stopping right before crossing. "It feels… Familiar… And whatever is behind there doesn't feel malevolent, so you should be relatively safe." Now, I wanted to punch him in the face for insinuating that I could harm my mate.

"Oh, like how you're not bad?" Gracie remarked mockingly.

The spunk of human females in this day and age on earth still somewhat surprises me. If she were a demoness, then I wouldn't bat an eye, but I couldn't help but admire the backbone of my mate.

"Hey, I never… Uhh nevermind… Just… You'll need a different expertise to help you fix and get rid of this gateway. The only ones I can think of besides Aesophedus are Valphan and possibly Levianth. Your best shot will be Valphan since he is literally a gatekeeper, so this is all up in his jam." Kastoron gestured widely at the closet. "Unfortunately, Valphan is MIA, as in no one, not even Aesophedus, knows where the fuck he is."

It's because I'm right here, you dingbat!

Frustrated, I pounded my fists against the barrier with an angry cry.

"Whoa! Someone's not happy about something I said." Kastoron reacted with a surprised look in my direction. "Well, either way, you should get this fixed sooner than later before other issues start to show up, literally."

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