Page 66 of Spookily Yours

Like she wasmine.

After we’d gotten comfortable on the bed, Willow curled up next to my body once again.

Laying her head on my shoulder, she traced circles over my bare chest. “Why don’t you tell me about your family?”

“Hm?”

Of everything she could have asked… Did she even know how close that hit to home?

“You never talk about them,” she said sadly. “Or your mom. Not really. I want to know everything about you, Damien.”

I’d opened my mouth to tell her that wasn’t true, that I talked about them, but I couldn’t deny it. And knowing what was between us, what I felt for her… I didn’t want to hold it in anymore.

So I started talking. I told her about my mom, and how she’d been my favorite person in the entire world. How when she’d died, leaving me alone with my father and half-brother, there had been a vacancy that could never quite be filled. A hole in my heart.

One she’d filled.

How I wished my mom could have met Willow. Seen what an amazing woman she was.

I left out the blood.

I could still feel it against my fingers. Hear my voice screaming out for help. But the memory of my mother’s death was being overwritten with my dream about Willow’s.

And even so… I didn’t stop. I told her about growing up in the demon realm. Training to fight in my father’s battles. Serving as his right-hand man. King of the Demons.

And, later, being relegated to an over-glorified errands boy. Serving my brother, the Crown Prince. Who’d take over for our father one day, after he found his bride.

Long after she’d fallen asleep, I still kept holding her, stroking her hair, mystified that out of every person in this world, she was the one chosen for me.

I love you,I thought to myself alone, cradling her body into mine.

* * *

I tugged at the collar of my costume for the town’s Halloween party. The damn thing itched my neck, and I still couldn’t figure out how I’d let Willow convince me to dress up like this.

The truth was, all it took was one flash of those green eyes, and I’d cave every time.

So she’d dressed us up—in Victorian-style costumes, as a Vampire and a Witch.

“You can put those pointy teeth to use,” my witch teased me, her thumb running over a sharp canine.

“I think you just want to find out what it feels like when I bite you,” I teased her back.

Her cheeks pinked. “Maybe.”

I purred in response. I wanted to claim her. To see my mark on her neck.

Everything felt so right. I knew I could no longer keep denying the truth. How much I loved her. Why we fit together so perfectly. Why everything with her wasmore.

But it also terrified me to admit it. To say the words. What if she didn’t wantthat?Every time I’d tried to bring up what we were, she’d brushed me off. Had she only ever been looking for this? Something casual?

My deadline was looming. I’d asked my brother for an extra month. Not even being the son of the Demon King could deny what was next.

The fates had foretold that the next demon king would marry a great witch. I was sent here to do just that. To find Zain’s consort—hisfated mate—not a woman to call my own. Perks of being the illegitimate son of the current Demon King, I supposed. I was forced to serve Zain’s bidding. Like finding him a wife in this accursed place was anything short of easy. But of all the demons, I had the easiest time blending in. Being unnoticed.

Passing as human. Four months had passed since my brother had sent me to the human realm searching forhisbride.

Despite my little roadblock—I’d found her, to my worst horror.

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