Page 40 of Dating the Dealing Demon

“Doubtful.” He scowls at green-skinned demons leering at me. “It might have been to meet you if Father had summoned only us. Instead, he has dragged the entire family into court.”

My mouth goes dry. The monsters seem to close in around us. “When’s the last time your dad did this?”

“Decades ago. The night he officially named me as his successor.”

“Then what—” My breath whooshes out of me as a mass of swirling darkness stretches toward me.

Pretty human. A rasping voice snakes through my mind, dragging its claws to shred my attention span. I press my fingertips to my forehead, trying to get it out of me.

Theo hisses, the sound making me think of a lion more than any housecat. He unsheathes his claws until they stretch longer than my dagger and his face twists into a nightmare of fangs. He’s my best chance at a protector tonight. My ally. My mate. The last doesn’t scare me as much as maybe it should.

The pool of darkness emerges into a humanoid shape. Golden eyes flash where a face might be.I would’ve finishedkilling you, cousin, if I’d known such a pretty prize was up for grabs.

My skin goes clammy. Revulsion and fear twist inside me.

“Touch her and die,” Theo vows. Or I think that’s what he said. It’s hard to tell with all the growling.

The voice continues in my head.Don’t need to touch her to make her scream, but I will. She’ll be fun to break.

What the hell does that mean? I curse the thought the next second because an image floods my mind—carnal, awful precursors of what this monster would like to do to me. I suddenly wish I hadn’t taken the meds because, oh god, oh god, this is too much of a violation. I won’t be able to unsee whatever comes next. The images blink to black as inky as whatever kind of demon this might be.

Theo stabs forward with his claws, swiping through air where the darkness had been a split-second before.

I stare where the shadow phantom or wraith or whatever this is reforms. Only to vanish again. “Theo? What’s happening? Who?—”

“Reginald,” he says, not taking his gaze away from where the creature last disappeared.

“Reginald?” I ask. This badass, terrifying thing’s named Reginald?

“My cousin’s a shadow demon,” Theo says as if that explains everything. “Mostly demon, but part shadow monster—you know, shadow monsters, the horrors that terrorized the hell dimensions before my ancestors vanquished them.”

I didn’t know, and I could’ve gone my whole life not knowing. My pulse pounds in my ears, my breathing goes shallow, and freaking Theo is giving me a history lesson. “That’s great. But where’d he go?” My words come out too fast, too choppy.

“He’s circling us,” Theo says, and he rounds slowly as though tracking the invisible threat.

Stalking my pretty prey.The voice swarms from all directions. Something brushes against my arm, trailing through my hair, and prickles rush over the nape of my neck.

Other demons push closer, the crowd pressing against us.

Theo stabs at them with his claws, shielding me with his wing.

Screw this.

I won’t play damsel for anyone. Not against an enemy I can’t see and have no idea how to fight. Not against whatever the blue-skinned hag with spiders for hair might be or that pony-size worm slithering toward us. Pushing aside fear worked earlier today when I’d tossed caution and common sense to go against the cyclops.

Reaching for the dagger, I draw it from its holster with a soft whisper of metal against leather. I clutch it in front of me, scanning the crowd and plastering myself against Theo’s side.

We’re outnumbered, outmatched.

Seems you’ll be mine, pretty. The phantom voice rushes through my head again, invading like a virus.I like my prey to fight before I take them.

“Come out and show yourself, Reggie boy,” I taunt. “I’ll give you a taste of metal before I lop parts off.” I might as well talk big even if I feel fragile and vulnerable.

My bag shakes and shudders, popping open and hanging in the air a moment before a flash of copper and gold flies up and out of it.

Monty.

“Montejanus.” The name repeats through the crowd, rippling over the demons like a horrid wave of worry.

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