Page 60 of Grabbed By the Guard

Probably not the garden, either, Haures muses as he drops his hand to her ass, trailing a blunt claw over the nearest curve.

She arches back into him, chuckling under her breath even as she turns the next page.

Susanna’s soft laugh has always been able to soothe something sharp and jagged inside of Haures. Even when he was unsure why the gods tempted him with her… when he tried to keep his distance because he knew, deep down, that he would never be worthy of her… her laugh reminds him why he stubbornly held onto the crown for so long, knowing that he might not be worthy of her—but that, as the duke of Sombra, his title and station would be enough to at least keep her safe.

And if it wasn’t? Then his claws and tusks would be…

Haures knew from the moment Lucian and Damien approached him two thousand years ago that—like most demon males—he would do anything to find his mate, and to keep her. When the doppelseers admitted that the day would come that his mate would be from the legendary world of humans, as would theirs, a plan was forged. The first draft of the matefinder spell was written, and the Grimoire du Sombra was bound.

And then, for nearly twenty centuries, they waited. With the path between the human world and Sombra monitored, and the first law set into place, Haures ruled over Sombra, careful to conceal that his fate would, one day, be entwined with the mortal realm.

As, it seemed, would the doppelseers’.

It began with Susanna. His mate has a fondness for a human game called dominoes. That’s how he can explain the doppelseers’ connection to his beloved mate. A hundred human years after Haures brought the grimoire to Earth, waiting for his mate to be born and find it, she read the Verus Amor spell and set the events of the last three decades into motion.

There was Susanna, the first human mate to have crossed into Sombra since Haures became Duke Haures.

The first domino.

Amelia. Susanna’s kin, and only a spawn when she summoned Nox to the human realm. Of course he had to imprison the hunter when it became clear that he needed to give the child time to mature. They still lived together in the human realm, though—if only for his mate’s sake—while Haures waited until the day they would return to Sombra to stay.

The second.

More time passed, and when Damien saw that the grimoire would pass rapidly, Haures sat on his throne and waited some more.

The clan artist from Nuit and his feisty pale-haired human.

The former rogue who, like Haures, escaped the shadows to claim his human mate and settle down with Apollyon’s clan on the edge of Sombra.

Haures lost his former head mage when Sammael used the grimoire to summon his own mate, and now he and the bold human who retrieved the ashbalm flower are still in the human realm.

Then Susanna lost her own personal guard when Dagon chose to do the same. He might have returned to Sombra with his tawny-haired female in order to search for her missing kin, but Haures sensed the portal opening to Earth earlier this eve. Dagon and his mate are back in the human world.

His mate’s kin and Glaine are not.

The latest domino has just fallen into pace, though, with the most recent bond snapping. And, with that, Haures’s grin widens.

There is one final tile to go before the demon duke of Sombra can fulfill his end of the agreement set into motion two thousand years ago.

Damien saw this as well. When all Haures wanted was a mate and a child to carry on his legacy, he became the most powerful demon in the entire realm so that—because of his strange appearance and terrible magic—they would forever be protected. But while it was safe to claim Susanna as his when he finally accepted that the fragile human female was his mate, he could never allow himself to forget the second half of the doppelseers’ prophecy.

But it would all change when that final domino fell. When Lucian and Damien—who saw the promise of their future the same day they saw Haures’s—found their human mate in a female who would only summon them after seven other human females did first.

And then, when that vision has come to pass, Haures can finally breathe a sigh of relief and share his beloved Su with the rest of Sombra.

Well, no, he corrects as he shifts his bulk, throwing his leg over Susanna’s, nestling his stirring cock in between her thighs… he will never share her, but he looks forward to the day when he’ll no longer have to hide her from his people.

Susanna glances up from her book. Her expression warms over as she glances behind her. “Again?”

Haures grins, showing off his tusks. “Glaine has finalized his mate bond with his former mortal.” Using a free claw, he trails it over the first rune in her name carved on his chest. “You know how… mm… randy your male gets when he senses mate bonds at work.”

As if he needs an excuse to turn to his mate. But it’s true, and also a reason why he learned to block his fellow demon’s bonds as early as he could. Between accidentally severing them or rubbing his cock raw before he learned control, it was torture for a demon already used to being kicked into the ash fields.

Until he became the strongest, most terrifying Sombra demon of all, that is.

Except, of course, to her…

Susanna’s dim eyes—something that took Haures longer to get used to than he cares to admit—light up at what he said… and what he didn’t say. They don’t glow, but he sees the hope in them, and makes sure to return it ten-fold as his own eyes gleam.

“Not that much longer than, is it, my love? Until we can finally start a family of our own.”

The next gold moon approaches. It might be too soon for Damien and Lucian to find their human mate, but with the dominoes falling faster and faster, there won’t be that many left where he will have to abstain from enjoying his delectable little mate.

And since it’s not quite the gold moon yet, and Susanna is always ready to welcome him so long as they’re not risking the second half of the prophecy coming true… Haures angles his hips, lodging the head of his cock into her waiting heat.

He dips his head, nuzzling his chin against the top of her ink-colored hair as he slowly begins to feed his length into the one cunt meant to take it.

“Not much longer, no,” he rumbles, a rare chuckle of his own escaping as Susanna clutches his thigh, moaning gently as he finds his way home again. “But, until the final mate finds her way to Sombra, I see no reason we should get out of practice. What do you say, mate?”

Susanna angles her head back, reaching up so that she can stroke the edge of his hard jaw with her delicate hand. “That I only hope the next girl doesn’t make Damien and Lucian wait as long as poor Glaine had to…”

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