Page 9 of Dating the Dealing Demon

I rub my temples even though I know it’s a useless human gesture that won’t relieve the throbbing pain between my horns in my real form. I can’t risk procrastinating when keeping Val here puts her in danger. I move to unlock the magical wards I slapped on the doors as soon as the gargoyles took Rosemarie, but the wood rattles and shakes like she has slammed her entire body against it.

Vicious little thing.

Her violent temper is remarkably sexy.

Fuck, who am I kidding? She’s a lust goddess reincarnated. Taming her will be harder than I’d planned. How do I keep my emotions in check when breathing in her scent and imagining those curves bouncing as she rides both my cocks has me struggling to stay in control? I can’t let the primal part of myself take over, or I’ll be no better than the lesser demons in the pits.

“You should know I screw up beauty products on the regular,” she says. “I’m sure I could whip up some cream that would shrivel your dick to a size so small it’ll make a raisin look gargantuan.”

Okay, her temper’s not so sexy now. Little does she know I have two dicks and both can take her. The need to dominate floods me, and I want to show her exactly what mating between us could be like. But I can’t get distracted by a beautiful face and a body made for fucking.

I remind myself that this is for the crown. For the magic. For the kingdom.

The moment I release the wards keeping her trapped, she collides into me with a force that would’ve knocked me over if I’d been only the human my glamour depicts. Steadying her before she might fall, I try not to stare at her. And fail.

When she arrived, she aimed a stunning smile at her friends and walked toward the house with an easy confidence that drew me in and made me want to know more about this woman who shone as bright as a gods-damn star.

The second I opened the door, her smile turned brittle. This was the woman I’d seen on Nic’s screen—beautiful in a knife-sharp way that suggested I keep my distance or she’d put me in my place.

Now, she glares at me, her chest heaving and her cheeks flush, and it takes everything I have not to drag this siren closer.

“Where are they?” she snaps. Without waiting for an answer, she shoves past me.

I can’t let her go running into the house. Not with portals opening to other dimensions. Who knows where she might end up or what monster might steal her? She’s my fated mate, mine to protect. Instinct has me grabbing her around the waist and dragging her back against me.

She brings the sharp corner of a hardback book down against my knuckles with a loud crack.

Ow. The sting burns hot through the glamour to my true form. I tighten my hold, and she fights harder, swinging the book toward my face and kicking at my legs.

“Calm down before you hurt yourself,” I tell her.

“Don’t you tell me to calm down,” she says on a hiss. “I’m going to find my friends.”

I carry her inside the library, catching the doors with my heel to shut behind us. “It’s not safe out there.”

“All the more reason for you to get out of my way.” So much for her flirty, fake persona from earlier. This woman could command the legions of hell. “Move.”

I lean against the doors, not backing down. “No.”

“Drop the act, Theo. Or whatever your real name is. Whatever my mother promised you, it’s not enough for what I’ll do to you if you’ve hurt my friends.”

“Your mother?” What does she know about her mother’s contact with mine? The queen of the hell dimensions doesn’t take kindly to an attempted summoning. Certainly not one by a family who benefited so much from our magic before wasting the gift they’d been granted as part of a bargain.

Val waves her hand in my face as if I’ve gone stupid when she’s the one not making sense. “I knew Mom fought me on keeping this trip and my friends off the show, but I should’ve known she would arrange a secret taping. How much did she pay you?”

Realization hits me. “You think this is part of your family’s reality show? Why in the world would you believe that?”

“I know it is. From your looks to those bullshit contracts to the way this place is furnished by Sets R Us. Whatever my mom or the producers paid you, I can promise it’s not worth it. Now, take me to my friends.” She moves to storm by me, and I wrap my hand around her upper arm as she passes. “Keep your hands off me.”

She yanks a blade—a letter opener—from where she must’ve stashed it between two hardbacks on the closest bookshelf and raises it in one clenched fist. In the other, she wields a spray bottle. Is that hand sanitizer?

I fight an eyeroll. Does she think some rubbing alcohol and essential oils will banish me?

“All right.” I don’t addfor now. In an attempt to play the peacemaker and speed this infuriating process along, I let goand raise my hands in the human gesture for surrender. I don’t need my hands to do damage, but she doesn’t know that.

She doesn’t put down the blade or the disinfectant. “Apparently you didn’t learn that women don’t like to be grabbed or trapped. You don’t want me being the one to teach you.”

With rage in her eyes and her obvious stabby tendencies, her take no prisoners attitude is oddly bewitching. But I have enough of a fight in maintaining the hell dimensions and surviving court intrigues. I don’t need to worry about my mate knifing me in my sleep. “I’m protecting you. This isn’t a show.”

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