Page 25 of Grabbed By the Guard

The sword falls to the ash.

Damn it!

He was distracted after all, wasn’t he? All because he was looking for me.

Barely taking his eyes off of the challenger for a moment, Glaine searches for me for a second time and, just as the demon tackles him hard, he rears back his foot and punts the hilt of the sword, sending it flying in my direction.

Glaine is on his back, the rogue demon snarling in Sombran on top of him, digging his claws into Glaine’s shadows.

The big demon howls, throwing the other one off, but the white-eyed demon launches himself at Glaine right away.

“Stab him,” bellows Glaine—in English. “He will take you for his own if he guts me first.”

I drop down, grabbing the sword from the ash. Glaine grabs the rogue demon’s remaining horn, twisting his head so that he has the leverage to rise up. I don’t know if he’s been hurt or not. Can a shadow be hurt? This sword suggests that it can.

And Glaine wants me to stab this other demon?

I… I don’t know. Can I?

I hesitate, and the rogue demon senses weakness. Twisting out of Glaine’s hold, he butts the soldier in the middle with his horn, then plants his foot in his side, kicking my demon at least ten feet through the air.

Glaine lands on the ash with a thump and a roar, but the rogue demon is already on the move. He spins on his heel once Glaine is down again, tearing through the ash right toward me.

“Billie!”

I tighten my grip on the sword.

I can’t let this demon get me. I also can’t let him hurt Glaine anymore. He’s immortal, so he shouldn’t be able to die, but the duke mentioned that he could easily end his existence if he chose to. With a sword like this? Or being gored to death my claws?

No. I can’t let anything like that happen. Glaine… he’s my ticket out of here. His only mistake was getting it in his head that I was his mate after he went searching for that spell book he was talking about. And, okay. He wants me to believe that he followed the book to our apartment because Sierra has a mate of her own. It’s not Glaine, though.

And if the pit of my stomach did a little flip-flop in inexplicable relief to hear that, for once, someone would rather be with me than Sierra? I’m sure I haven’t noticed at all...

The demon has slowed, circling me now. Taunting me. He sees the sword and doesn’t give a shit. Because he doesn’t think I’ll use it? Or because he’s just toying with both of us?

My arms shake, but I don’t drop the sword.

“Don’t hesitate if given the chance,” commands Glaine. “He is lost. Better my sword end his existence than the fate Duke Haures would have in store for him.”

In answer, the demon spits something at me in Sombran, then jerks on what has to be his dick to make sure I get the message despite having no idea what he’s saying.

That does it.

I hold up the sword, and Glaine calls out, “You can do this Billie. I trust you.”

He does?

I firm my grip on the hilt. “Bring it,” I dare the rogue.

He has no idea what I’m saying. It doesn’t matter. His eyes glow so brightly, they light up his face. It’s misshapen. I suddenly understand what the word ‘demonic’ means. His fangs are overgrown, his cheeks stretched tight, and there is a promise in his blank gaze that he will hurt me—and he will enjoy it.

No.

At the same time as a burst of adrenaline has me dashing forward, the rogue demon runs full-speed at me. I don’t even have to move the sword or do anything but angle it up before it’s slicing right through the shadows, getting lodged in the meat of the solid chest beneath.

He gasps, and I can’t help but wonder if this was some sort of demon suicide before I realize that I’m still holding the sword and he’s skewered on it like a shish kebob.

I yell and drop the sword. For a second, he’s still standing. In the next? He crumples to the ash.

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