Page 7 of Lifeblood

Walls with floor-to-ceiling windows lit the space naturally with lights from the city’s neon skyline filtering throughout. In the center of the domed room hung a massive, crystal chandelier with golden adornments. In the center of the space was a circular dais raised just above the floor and which had been covered in carefully concealed magic runes strewn nearly imperceptibly into a decorative, painted design.

Anyone else might’ve missed them. Many probably had.

Not me.

I’d disabled similar runes just last night on the King of the Court of Brimstone’s hotel room window. But I wasn’t sure what this knowledge would get me now. It didn’t change where I was or why I was here. And it certainly wouldn’t change any immediate outcomes.

But it was… interesting to note the level of security in a place where the demon kingsshouldhave felt safe.

The group of demonic guards led me right up to the edge of the dais but not onto it. Several fell back, apparently confident that with my hands bound and surrounded by them—and soon by four demon kings—I was no longer a threat.

Two, however, stayed by my sides, and neither was part of the original group that’d walked me away from the lottery announcer and up into the Shard’s readying space.

They want no one to make a personal connection. To be swayed by me because of what I am.That was why they kept swapping out the guards.

Why so paranoid, demon kings?One little lifeblood had already caused so much upheaval. No wonder they’d hunted my kind to extinction.

“Don’t cause any problems,” the guard to my left grunted. He was my height and appeared human save for the tiny, black horns growing out of his pale forehead, and the gills along his neck. He, like the others, wore sleek, black kevlar armor pieces and a sword at his waist that was more likely magical than the steel of old.

“Of course,” I retorted. “Why start now?”

He didn’t appreciate the comment, but luckily, I was spared any reply when doors on the other end of the room—the only other entrance or exit—swung open.

My breath hitched in my throat. I felt the weight of their presence before they even entered the room.Himfirst, Gareth, the King of the Court of Brimstone, as the weight of our hollow mate bond bloomed through the space like a cresting wave on the shore. My attention snapped like gravity not just toward him and the other demon kings, but to another realm entirely, one where this mate bond—hollow though it was—andonlythis mate bond existed.

Gareth came through the double doors first, as tall and intimidating as I remembered from last night. The King of the Court of Brimstone. He was rumored to have had a dragon form once a upon a time, and it was easy to see why those rumors existed now as he charged through the space like a dragon stalking prey. All tight shoulders, snarls, red hair, and burning ember,darkeyes. His nostrils flared as he took one step onto the dais of thrones and then froze.

And looked directly at me.

Gareth’s jaw tightened—that glorious jaw with a thick, full, red beard and which sported his full lips that had felt like heaven on mine. And sure, maybe that was the mate bond talking, but nothing about this demon king was anything short of hot as hell. Literally. He wore dark clothes, but the area around him seemed to shimmer like a hot mirage, his magic one of fire and warmth.

A sudden flash of how warm and hard his body had felt over mine last night flooded my mind. The feel of his lips. His campfire and smoke scent. The hard length that’d felt like fire against my legs.

My cheeks flushed, which only seemed to piss him off more.

“You,” Gareth growled loudly as he stalked forward a few steps. “Again.”

Ice swept through my veins. I wanted to retreat.

The fear was instant and deep—mate or not. Which we were, sort of. Supposedly. The bond still felt hollow—like it was missing pieces—but itwasthere. And right now, my prey drive was overriding it.

But there was nowhere to run, so I held my ground as Gareth bounded toward me, all bulging arm muscles and flared nostrils. His large hands closed around my upper arms and dug in tightly. I cried out against my better judgement, which only sent one of the other demon kings toward us. This king, Mordred, was all fair skin and dark hair, taller than the King of the Court of Brimstone, and lankier, too. I recognized Mordred as the ruler of the Court of Darkness.

“Don’t hurt her.” Mordred grabbed Gareth by his shoulder. The dragon king didn’t budge, so he added coolly, “Gareth, if you kill her now, none of us will have her blood. Herlifebloodblood.”

The dragon king seethed. Gareth’s eyes went wide and he breathed in sharply before exclaiming, “She’s athief.”

“Gods, you’re so short-sighted,” another demon king said. This one I recognized as Lancelot, the King of the Court of Illusion. Supposedly a monstrous demon fae of some sort, or so the rumors went. I wondered how many of those rumors were true. “Let her be a lifebloodanda thief. She’s clearly stolen your sense of logic; don’t let her steal your chance at extended immortality, too.”

“Fuck off, Lance,” Gareth hissed.

The demon fae strolled over, his demeanor entirely more relaxed than it had any right to be in this moment. But nothing seemed to bother him. Lancelot was even whistling as though hisfriendGareth weren’t about to tear me in half with hands strong enough to be dragon claws.

I bit back another wave of pain. “Enough.”

But the longer I was in this room with four powerful demon kings, cursed though they may have been, the more the sheer force of their auras and magic were affecting me. It came in waves, the darkness of their magic. Each feeling was different, but all were equally intense. Just like with Gareth last night where, before I’d felt the pull of our mate bond, my body had simply reacted to being within such close proximity to pure, rawpower.

“Let her go,” Mordred said, cutting in. His words shook me from my thoughts, but I had to squint my eyes to keep my mind focused through the continuous waves of power washing over me.

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