Page 15 of Grabbed By the Guard

“I asked Duke Haures if I could go to the dungeon in your stead. He pointed out that you could only be released if you are a Sombra demon’s mate, otherwise you’re in breech of his first law. You said it yourself,” he says, and though he’d kept his tone flat and emotionless when he first started talking, it cracks a little at that part. “You’re not my mate. You’ve denied me. The consequence for that is you are a rogue human who knows about Sombra. That’s not allowed. Until he decides what to do with you, you’ll stay in the dungeon.”

That explains me. And while I don’t like that explanation, I get it. I can work with that. There’s gotta be a way out.

But what about him?

“Let me guess: you got tossed in here because you kidnapped a human. Right?”

“No. I did what I thought was right, and Duke Haures understands why I did it. But whether you deny me or not, you are my mate, mortal. And I will be by your side until you accept that.”

Considering the chains attaching us together, he means that literally.

“Bullshit.”

“Pardon?”

“You heard me. I said bullshit. You don’t just get to pick your mate?—”

“You are correct. I didn’t. The gods gave you to me.” I want to call bullshit again, but before I do, he continues. “Sombra demons get one true mate. Their fated mate. We wait as long as it takes… decades in the human world, centuries, millennia… however long it takes to find our mate, or have our female call us to her. You are mine.”

No, I’m not.

“Let me say this plainly so we both know where we stand: humans have this little thing called ‘free will’. We can pick and choose our partners”—and have them use us because they’re obsessed with another woman—“and change them whenever we want. You get one mate. I could have five husbands.” I pause. “Well, not at the same time. That’s polygamy, and while poly couples are cool, I’ve always been a monogamous chick.”

All the more reason why Trevor pissed me off when he said that he needed to be with Whiskey like he needed air, but to show that he didn’t consider his year with me wasted, he’d pity-bang me whenever I got horny.

Yeah. No, thanks. I’d rather take a ride with a demon?—

I shake my head. “Anyway, my point stands. Humans don’t have mates.”

“Perhaps not,” Glaine says. “But they can be a demon’s mate.”

I’m sure they can. He seems pretty human-ish. He has two hands. Two legs. Two feet that, while his nails are definitely closer to claws, aren’t cloven hooves. No tail, and the horns are actually more intriguing to me than they have any right to be. If he has a penis, I’m sure we could technically mate—because, yup, I’m under no illusion that what he wants is to get laid—though here’s hoping he’s on the smaller side for his build because, otherwise, I don’t see how his tab A would ever fit in my slot B?—

Oh my God. Am I really thinking about the logistics of fucking a demon?

“It’s impossible. This… it can’t be happening. I mean, look at me. I’m not a demon. I’m a human. We can’t be mates!”

I can’t be his mate!

“Of course you can.”

He’s not listening. I can’t say he’s not looking since he hasn’t taken his eyes off of me yet, but he doesn’t get it. “Glaine?—”

My first impression of the demon was that he was big. My second is that he is stoic, yet grumpy. My third is that he is a guy used to getting his way.

That doesn’t change as he looks down his long nose at me and says flatly, “You’re not the first to be joined to one of my kind.”

CHAPTER 5

VOW

BILLIE

Looking back on it, that was probably the most obvious thing in the world. If not that other humans, like, married demons or something, then that they’ve been to Earth before. If they’re such a big secret that people are sent to the dungeon to protect that secret, it would explain why it’s never got out to the press before.

I respect that.

I don’t like it. But I respect it.

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