Page 101 of Dating the Dealing Demon

Montejanus breathes smoke at me.

“Not now,” I tell the dragon. “Unless you can heal her, I don’t want?—”

He puffs fire, and I shield Val from the flame with my wings. The pain is excruciating. “Gods damn it, soul guardian, if you—” I bite off my reprimand when he blinks at me as if willing me to figure it out. “My fire could kill her,” I tell him.

“Or maybe save her,” Ora argues. “Look, sire, she’s not burned. Her magic didn’t destroy her.”

The dwarf’s right. Hell, I don’t spot a single blister on Val’s skin. “What about the poison?”

“What more do you have to lose?” Ora asks, and I don’t answer because Val is absolutelyeverything.

Montejanus flutters his wings, flying at me to rap his claws against my horns.

I swat him away. “If you’re wrong, soul guardian, I’ll hate you forever.”

He huffs more smoke as if he doesn’t give a damn about my feelings.Get on with it already, his infernal screech seems to say.

I hold Val as tightly as I dare, letting Brimstone fire lick over us both in the shelter of my wings. Pushing the smoke away from her as much as possible, I focus the flames on her wounds.

“I love you, Vicious,” I whisper. The purple of my fire plays over her skin, a kiss without burns. “Don’t you die on me.” I dial up the magic. “You have a kingdom to claim. We know how you’ll love being queen.” Forcing more flames, I shake her. “I will drag you out of the After Worlds and back to hell, damn it. Those pretty chains you escaped from will be nothing compared to the industrial-strength ones I’ll wrap you in.”

She frowns, her eyes still closed, and I want to cheer at the movement.

“That’s it,” I say. “Don’t you dare leave me with this damn dragon. Wake the fuck up.”

The frown turns to a scowl. “Hate,” she rasps, licking her lips. “Hate you. But love you, too.” She makeslovesound like the worst possible thing that could happen to her.

A dark chuckle escapes me, all of my hope and fucking worry rolled into one.

Only my mate could hate to love me. I’ll spend the rest of our long lives convincing her our love is worth it.

It’s worth more than all the kingdoms in all the realms.

EPILOGUE

Theo

Ayear later…

Family poker night has grown to include Ora, her dragon not-a-friend, and usually at least one of Val’s friends via illusion. Who knew Shadowvale could accommodate cross-dimensional playing?

Of course, I’ve stopped guessing the limits of what the castle can do with the amount of mating magic thrumming through it.

Instead, I use my time as king more wisely, like snagging my queen and hauling her into my lap the moment she stops raking in the last jackpot.

Val laughs, swatting at my tail as I wrap it around her waist to anchor her. “Cheater,” she says. “I’m not playing the next round of poker from your lap.”

“I’m not using magic,” I argue. “Just simple seduction and perhaps some bribery.” I hand her a pint of butter pecan ice cream and a spoon. “Besides, cheating is encouraged at family poker night, you know that. Think of it more as scoring on a curve since you’ve won the last ten hands.”

“Beginner’s luck,” she mutters around a mouthful of ice cream.

“Nuh uh,” Nic protests. “You’ve cleaned house at every family poker night for almost a year now.”

The days of my mate thinking herself a curse or a jinx have long passed.

Meg, Val’s redheaded friend who’s matched to the minotaur, appears at the table, looking flustered and paint-stained. “Sorry I’m late.”

Val wags the spoon at her. “Worth the tardiness if whatever you’ve been up to on your sex altar made all this mess.” She draws a circle around the woman’s tousled hair. “How are those labyrinth repairs going?”

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