Page 27 of Grabbed By the Guard

He’s trying. I’ll give him that. He’s trying, and with the little he knows about me from my essence, it’s working.

Damn it.

All I’ve wanted was someone to pick me. To see me. To choose me.

And, fuck it, to trust me.

With that heavy sword in my hand, he told me he trusted me. And how did I react? I stabbed a demon for him.

How much do you want to bet that, to a male like Glaine, that’s like saying ‘I love you’?

But if he’s been lying to me…

“I fed enough of my essence to the charmed chain to escape it long enough to protect you, my wee mortal. Worry not. I shouldn’t suffer the same effects as the hunter.”

I have no idea what he’s talking about—or what that has to do with anything. “Hunter? What hunter?”

Glaine’s eyes dim slightly. “See? This is why you need my essence. With it, you would know.”

“Or you could just tell me instead of making everything so damn difficult,” I snap.

Sue me. I just stabbed a demon, then watched Glaine finish him off. And while I could pretend he was no better than an animal or some kind of monster human who attacks women from the shadows, I’m still shaky and in no mood to play these games.

Glaine can tell.

“I’m sorry, Billie,” he rumbles, and look at that: he’s not allergic after all. “His name is Nox. A hunter from Nuit. He was put in the dungeon for many human years, but when he sensed his mate in need of him, he fed nearly all of his essence to the chains to escape them. More than he should’ve. Now, he no longer can control his forms. Solid… shadow… he’s lost that power, but gained a mate.” He sets his jaw. “It was worth it for him. If that’s what happens to me, it will also be worth it.”

Oh. Okay, then.

“What if you give more to the chain?” I ask. “Will that break it?”

“For a time. I told you, Billie, and I didn’t lie: there are two ways to break the chain.”

Right. A mage has to remove it—or I have to accept that I am his mate. He bonds his soul to mine, making it so that the first law of Sombra doesn’t apply to us, and the chains will vanish.

Those chains will, but I’ll have a demon-sized shadow that I’ll never be able to get rid of.

Literally.

“No matter how much essence I feed it, they will return. But I can never give it all of my essence because, no matter how long it takes, I will save a drop for you. I will cling to the hope that you will see me as a male worthy of you. That you will take my essence, take my cock, take my seed… take everything I am and accept me as your male.”

My stomach tightens, and no, those aren’t butterflies flapping at the earnest yet determined way he admits that he’s waiting for the day he gets to fuck me. Too bad that sex with a demon comes with a little side effect: that permanent second shadow.

I do my best to ignore that last part. Instead, focusing on what he’s also saying—that the chains being gone is temporary unless I bond him to me. Now, I’m not doing that. I’m still holding out hope that that mage we’re heading to can give us a twofer: taking off the chain and sending me back home.

But I’m still curious about his essence.

“How much do you have now?”

“Enough that, if you accept it, you’ll understand Sombran as if it is your tongue. You’ll know the dangers of my realm without my having to explain them to you.”

Oh, Glaine… you’re a wily demon, aren’t you?

“Won’t the chain stop you from giving it to me?” I get the impression that it’s more to punish the weak mortal and that’s we’re wearing it, but that the charm in the chains does keep him from accessing his demon magic.

“That’s the one thing it can’t do. The magic is tied to our essences, but a Sombra demon’s instincts are more powerful than even that. You are my mate, Billie. My body cries out to share my essence with you. Not even the golden chains will be able to keep it from going where it belongs.”

I glance down. Can’t help it. Thankfully, the chains don’t stop him from covering his lower half in tightly-woven shadowy leather-looking pants, either. Because when he says his body is crying out to give me his essence… that’s not all he wants to give me, I’m betting.

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