Page 54 of Princess of Hell

“Is this guy for real?” the blonde shifter exclaimed.

I turned to him, noticing the challenge in his eyes. I could not accept this behavior, not even from Silver. My movements were fast. My blade rested against his throat in a single heartbeat. One of my hands held his neck and the other pressed my black steel blade hard against his way-too-soft human flesh. Blood dripped along the blade. A little bit more pressure, and he would die.

“You will learn to behave in my presence, peasant.” My voice was dark and menacing. To be fair, I had a long, unpleasant day.

Silver looked at me. “Caspian, is it? Do you think you’ll earn points with me by one of killing my friends?”

“But, my dear Silver, you must understand his life doesn’t mean anything.”

“I understand you’re full of shit. Leave River alone, immediately, or we have nothing more to say to each other.”

I pulled the blade away and pushed the shifter toward his friends. Silver ran to him, her hands covered by the gloves. She ignored me as if my offense didn’t mean a thing.

“Babe, are you okay?” she asked while touching his neck gingerly.

“Next time, the positions will be changed,” the shifter spit at me.

“Silver, I must talk to you.”

“Listen, Cas. I don’t care to talk to you.”

“How can you say such a thing? I took this journey on my own to help you, to be here for you, and you act as if I’m your enemy.”

“Well, you’re not my friend either.”

The young man who still held on to the dagger wrong stepped in between us.

“Guys, I hate to say it, but we have a dead body, a human body, here. Soon this place will be crawling with police. How about we pick this up, see what we can do about the body, and, after that, we talk about who he is and why these shifters attacked and ate Demons.”

I had to nod. He sounded reasonable.

“My car is right around the corner. I’ll take that.” I pointed toward the dead shifter on the ground.

The bearded guy stepped up to me. “I want to take some samples first and send them to a friend. I’m sure he can make more sense of this. This was not normal shifter behavior, nor is that an ordinary shifter.”

“Good. Do you know where Lilith’s house is? I’m sure she can help us get the samples.”

“Yes.” Silver nodded. “See you there.”

With the shifter over my shoulder, I walked to my car, throwing a look at Silver and her friends. Why did so many men surround her? Men who were strong and good-looking.

Sixteen

Silver

“Who does he think he is?” River kept asking, his ego badly bruised by the encounter with Caspian.

I ignored River and threw a glance toward Caspian, watching him pick up the dead shifter as if it weighed nothing. He was hot and damn sexy. He touched me, and he kissed me. How the fuck was that even possible? My armor should have burned him. He should have been on the floor, calling out in agony.

And still, he kissed me. It was a full kiss, the type that set me on fire. It melted my feet. It was so different for me to be held, to be touched, to be kissed.

I had played with the guys over the last few days, and our play got hotter and hotter. River and I became closer than I could have dreamed.

The first day we arrived in New Orleans, River took me to a special store to pick out a latex suit. He said he wanted to train and, this way, I’d be able to move and kick and be touched without burning him. The feeling of latex on my skin was extremely sensual, especially when the saleswoman gave River a bottle of oil and told him to rub it on the latex. It was hot having his hands all over me, feeling my curves, my nipples, not being able to kiss but still drool over one another.

River is gorgeous. There’s nothing else to be said about the green-eyed wolf.

As we entered the small, private gym he rented for us to spar in, he said, “I don’t know what you did to Jacks and Drae, but you know they’re in love with you?”