Page 8 of Grabbed By the Guard

Two moons?

Okay. Okay. So this demon… he definitely stole me. He said something in his demon language, he grabbed my arm, and he brought me here for reasons I can’t tell. And while normally my inquisitive side would be all for the adventure, all for learning about this strange not-Earth world he’s brought me to, this demon got me on the wrong day.

I glare over at him, wordlessly warning him to keep his distance, then tromp around in the ash. That patch of darkness dragged me here. It must’ve swallowed the demon up first and that’s why I thought he went black; he’s back to being the red-skinned, giant demon with the glowing green eyes, though the golden runes are gone now. But if that patch was some kind of pathway between this weirdo demon world and my apartment, if I find it again, I should be able to go home.

Makes sense to me. Too bad that it’s not that easy. I mean, the entire terrain around me seems flat and mixed with shades of red, black, and grey, with shadows every-freaking-where… but nothing like that patch that was in my kitchen.

Is it gone? How do I get it back?

Can I?—

There’s that prickle on the back of my neck again.

I whip my head around.

He didn’t move. I’m almost positive he didn’t move an inch. That only annoys me more because it’s like I could just sense him right there behind me.

Our eyes lock, and this time he does lean in my direction.

“No,” I snap. I wag my pointer finger at him. Even if he doesn’t understand ‘no’, he should understand that. “No!”

The demon growls softly, a rumble that begins deep in his chest.

I quirk my eyebrow at him. “Is that supposed to intimidate me?” I ask. So he can’t understand me… I feel better for filling the stifling quiet with my voice. “I was in a girl group in my teens with Tandy Lewis. Please. If she didn’t scare me into a convent, you don’t have a prayer.”

And, okay. I’m kind of bluffing a little. My mind’s running a mile a minute, trying to figure out where I am, why I’m here, and how I’m going to fix this situation when I don’t have my goddamn phone. But bluffing usually works, and until I can guarantee that a little Billie snack isn’t off the table, I’ll use whatever advantage I have to keep him over there.

Especially since, now that there are two moons giving me a little more illumination than my shadowed kitchen, I’m beginning to second-guess my initial impression.

If this big monster looks hungry, I don’t think it’s because he wants to eat me. At least, not for dinner.

It’s in the way his eyes are watching me. The way his nostrils flare. The way he tilts his head just so, his long black hair falling down his back while his horns are angled in a way that might be attractive to a female of his kind. His bare chest is heaving slightly, his big hands balled into fists as though that’s the one way he can remember to keep them to himself, and his lips… they’re thinned, a flash of fang revealed as he turns his growl into a soft sigh.

So he’s exasperated with me. I spend all of my time with Sierra; I’m used to that. But there’s more to it.

He’s a demon. Obviously. He’s still a guy—and whether he thinks I look as weird to him as he looks monstrous and demonic to me, I don’t think he cares one bit.

And, suddenly, I’m not so sure I can handle this… handle him… after all.

CHAPTER 3

ESSENCE

GLAINE

Ishould have known better than to assume my mate would recognize me as her male and fall into my arms.

I’d made that same mistake once before, and am grateful that Lilith’s reluctance to agree that she felt some kind of tie between kept me from sharing my essence with her right away. She agreed to join me in Sombra, leaving Soleil behind, to give me the chance to woo her—and denied me mere cycles later when she was introduced to my clan leader and realized that Apollyon was her one true mate.

That tie I sensed? She believes it was because I was fated to find her in Soleil and bring her to my world so that she could meet Apollyon. Centuries later from my failure, I still don’t know if it was the beginning of a mate bond I felt—or just the first time I was attracted to a female.

Such is life in the barracks. I left Nuit as little more than a spawn, relocating to Mavro so that I could begin my training. At the time, Duke Haures had no mate. His entire staff was made up of demon males, and most demonesses were bonded mates in the village when I would return to Nuit to visit.

Not that I paid the few demonesses who weren’t any mind. The doppelseers assured me that my mate would be found off-plane, and when I didn’t find a demoness who called to me during any of the campaigns Duke Haures sent me on, I received a year reprieve to search on my own.

Of course, then she denied me, choosing Apollyon as her bonded mate, and I returned to command well before I was expected to. I’ve never asked for another leave since, though now that I have my human female with me… I will have to at the first opportunity.

But, first, I need to find a way to communicate with my mortal.

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