Page 45 of Grabbed By the Guard

He adds that last part, not to guilt-trip me, because it’s been part of his identity for so long, he can’t help it. Just like he’s used to hiding a part of himself.

“For those who don’t, it will draw attention. They will wonder if I have magic that I do not, or if being a two-horn fated soldier”—because of his green eyes—“means that I am more bloodthirsty than others. It might be better if I sheared them, but if you like them…”

“I do.”

“Then I shall keep them.”

“You don’t have to do that just because I said so,” I argue.

Glaine looks down at me, his unblinking stare showing more emotion than I’m sensing vaguely from his essence. “I know. But if it pleases you, my mate, I will.”

And though he doesn’t say it, I hear the promise all the same.

I will do anything for you.

A week passes in Sombra, and while I refuse to give up all hope, with the choice of being able to return to Manhattan completely out of my hands, I find myself acclimating as best I can.

What makes it easier? Is how Glaine holds true to his word.

I guess it helps that I let down my guard a little, too. He’s given me a place to stay. He makes sure I’m fed, that I’m dressed, and that I’m comfortable. When he sees the way I ooh and ahh over Kennedy’s strange little pet, he offers to bring me to the edge of the Nuit so that he can catch me an ungez of my own to replace Three. It’s a little too soon—especially when I think of what happened to poor Two—but I appreciate the gesture.

We’re getting along. Better than I expected, too. We have our arguments, especially when he tries to tell me what to do and I make it clear I won’t tolerate that, but since he’s learned to let me win when it counts… I’m actually beginning to like my demon.

Okay. I admit it. Without the pathway back to New York opening for me as easy as I hope, I started to wonder what if. What if this was meant to happen? What if Glaine is right about me being the one true mate he’s waited centuries for? What if I make the best of a weird situation and stick around? That way it’s now my choice.

So maybe Fate got her hooks in me. Maybe I’m giving in too easily.

Or maybe I just really, really need to get laid.

That’s part of it. We’ve managed to keep the mate sickness under control since we’ve been in Nuit. I notice that, once I start thinking of Glaine as my mate, it’s not so bad. Kinda like the ache and the need was so bad because the Sombra demon gods were punishing me for ignoring them. Once I start thinking ‘maybe’, they give me a little break to get my head—and my heart—in order.

Does that mean I’m ready to make this official with him? No. I’m not that far gone, but the longer we’re in Sombra together, the more I’m thinking about taking things a little further.

That’s one thing I can say about Glaine. It took two nights before I could get him to agree to sleep in the same bed with me. Luckily, it’s so much bigger than the cot in the dungeon, and if I subconsciously know it’s because it was built for Glaine and his demoness mate in mind, I flick that tiny tidbit far, far away. It fits us comfortably, which works for me. But though we lie next to each other and Glaine eventually ends up spooning me, protecting me even on the rare occasion he sleeps himself, he hasn’t made a single move. I can’t stop thinking about how strong he is and how he lifted me up like I was a doll before making me come harder than I ever have before, and he doesn’t even pretend to accidentally cop a feel.

I’d appreciate how much he respects me if I wasn’t going out of my head with lust for my demon.

Normally, when I was stuck like this, I would go to Sierra for help. It wasn’t often. I usually had no trouble being decisive and knowing what I wanted to do without bothering her busy schedule, but I always knew that she’d make time for me if I needed it. In Sombra, my options are limited. Going to Lilith for advice is help.

Good thing I have Kennedy.

She’s curled up on the couch with me. Freya, her pet ungez, is sitting on her shoulders while Kennedy absently rubs her growing belly. I’m on the other end, legs up to my chest, arms wrapped around them as she tells me everything I can expect about demon sex.

Turns out, humans and demons do fit. It’s a tight squeeze at first, but just like how the gods chose me for Glaine for a reason, when the time comes, our physical differences don’t really matter. And if they do? Like, say I was a virgin and that was the first dick I ever had? There are ways around it.

I’m not too concerned. I’ve seen Glaine naked; he’s not all that shy, either, especially after he bathes and before he conjures his shadow clothing. That’s all the more reason why I’m thinking about this as hard as I am. He looks good naked, and the first time he walked across the room after his bath, I was already trying to figure out if it would be worth a try.

He’s long. Not too thick. It’s a lot, but considering I had a fling with a bonafide well-hung porn star in my early twenties, I’m pretty sure I can handle it. If I can’t? Kennedy tells me that all I have to do is ask Glaine to turn that part of his anatomy to shadow. Not only will we fit easier, but it’s supposed to feel amazing.

I only have one question that has me holding off.

“But what if I do sleep with him? Won’t that finish the bond?”

I get the answer from Glaine’s essence almost the same time as Kennedy says, “Nah. Trust me. I didn’t want to get stuck here either when Loki made off with me. But because sometimes the body knows before the heart does, I had sex with him way before we exchanged our essence and the mate’s promise.”

See? This is why I love hanging out with Kennedy. Besides the fact that she’s the only other human woman who lives in Niut—though there’s another pregnant one who visits occasionally to meet with the healer—she also knows what it’s like to have been whisked away to this unfamiliar world. She read the spell, never expecting she would summon a demon, and when he showed up, she grabbed her just like Glaine did to me.

Like me, she didn’t want to stay. Yet, here she is, and I have to ask, “What made you change your mind?”

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