Page 11 of Married to the Devil

“I won’t kill him.” No matter how much I want to crush any ownership he thinks he has over my wife. I slow the tapping of my talons as I consider. “That would be a waste. He could be of use.”

“I don’t know whether to be upset with your scheming—” Silas sounds tired. “Or to be glad that you’re acting more like yourself again.”

“He can teleport,” I muse aloud, ignoring Silas. The skill is very rare. If he doesn’t keep clear of my mate…

I’m lost in possibilities when Silas interrupts again.

“By the way, some luggage that I think is Stella’s was left with the doorman earlier.”

I frown. “Her items have already been dropped off.”

Barnes himself had been the one to do it and scowled the whole time. The man had been busy with putting together a wedding in a matter of days but had made the time to glower at me and ensure that Stella would be comfortable in her new life.

Silas shrugs. “There were no spells or charms on it, so I figured accepting the delivery was for the best. It’s in the entranceway.”

The oddity is enough for me to start moving. Two bags rest where Silas said. One of them is familiar because it’s mine.

I clench my jaw before running my tongue over a fang, wanting to enforce my will on this new territory as soon as possible.

“These are the bags that should have been at the hotel,” I say.

“What? That can’t be right.” Silas is next to me in the next moment. Grim exasperation lines his face as we exchange a look. “Someone wanted to inconvenience you.”

We are both used to this type of testing. We took over this territory bloodlessly. This type of prodding is meant to see just what my reaction would be.

“Find who did this.” The knowledge will be instrumental to the consequences. Something like this seems low-level, but… “And maybe you’ll actually have that report when I get back.”

I grab the pink bag next to mine and shake the lingering cold from my wings. I left my mate coated in my seed and alone in a hotel room, possessing only a wedding dress that I destroyed. No matter what past sins I blame her for, she doesn’t deserve this.

She had better be alone anyway.

4

BEN

I wishthe numbness of my fingers dangling the bottle of alcohol would spread to my heart. The night is a reminder that the world still turns, fall is in the air, and winter will follow. The rooftop of a dragon’s home is a surprisingly good place to be alone.

I’m not much one for alcohol, but if there was ever a night to dull my feelings, it’s this one.

And yet, I can’t make myself uncork whatever bottle I snatched from Kalos’s collection.

I don’t deserve the numb.

No one is a fan of mine tonight. Kalos is still furious that I put Katarina and their unborn child in harm’s way even though it saved his life. Katarina is upset with both of us that her best friend had to enter into a political marriage to get the Council to leave us alone and to deal with the Leonid threat.

And Stella…I don’t know what she thinks of me, but she deserved so much better.

She deserved to be courted and to actually know who she was marrying instead of having to deal with the Devil.

I put the bottle on the ground before I drop it.

The sucking sensation in my chest is useless. Stella was never mine. She can make her own decisions.

It’s better this way. What would I do with a mate anyway? It would only serve to distract me from my position. I have responsibilities. Kalos is my family.

Stoneheart is a formidable territory leader. His enemies won’t dare to move against him, and his people are loyal. I’ve kept an eye on his actions over the years. I’d even admired his strategy from time to time…but that didn’t make watching her walk down the aisle any easier.

She and I could hardly hold a civil conversation through most of our acquaintance, but the memory of the moment that changed has sharp edges. Each time I run it through my mind it cuts a little deeper.

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