Page 30 of Wickedly Yours

“Yes.” I shut my eyelids, my nose inhaling deeply. She didn’t know how much it settled my instincts that shedid. Howgoodshe smelled. Like mine.

“Will they come after me again?”

Tampering down the possessive flare that pulsed through my body at the thought, I smoothed down her hair, letting my fingers run through the silky blonde strands. “I wish I could tell you no. Reassure you that you’ll be okay. But...”

“You can’t.” Her voice was hoarse.

“No.” I agreed. “You’re not safe here.” I was angry at myself that I’d screwed this up. That I’d threatened her very existence. Even if it meant I was getting exactly what I’d wanted all along. “Not anymore. Not where I can’t keep an eye on you.”

“My sister is here. And her… boyfriend.” She screwed up her face at the word. “I’m not alone.”

But she was. She lived alone in this apartment above her bakery, and it was my stupidity that led to this incident.

Because I hadn’t insisted on her coming back with me the moment I found her.

“If something happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

Luna shut her eyes, waging an internal battle with herself. “So, what?”

“Come back with me.”

“Where?” Her eyes flew open.“Hell?”

A deep rasp escaped my lips. “We don’t actually live in Hell, Luna. Though your human views on the location aren’t entirely wrong.” Even I didn’t want to spend time there. It was an awful place. “You can come back to my realm. My home.”

“I don’t want to leave my life behind.” Her voice was quiet—subdued. Nothing like the Luna from the bar.MyLuna. The girl filled with so much energy, a smile almost always glued on her face. “Everyone I love is here. My sister. My friends. My coven… My job.” She worried on her lower lip, looking away.

“In time, once the threat has passed… You could come back.” I wouldn’t force her to stay with me—not if she didn’t want to.

I wanted her to choose me willingly. To choose us.

Luna sounded almost… resigned. “And when will that be?” Like she’d already decided to accept my offer. A spark of hope bloomed in my chest.

“I don’t know.” I cleared my throat, hoping I was doing the right thing. “But you’ll come to enjoy living in the palace, I promise. You’d be well taken care of. Looked after.”

“Palace?” Luna’s eyes flared with surprise. “Wait. Your father’s business, your…” I could see her brain working, adding up all the pieces of information in her head. “You’reroyalty?”

“Yes.”

“And all those business deals you said you were making?—”

“To be fair,you’rethe one who said they were business deals.”

She punched my arm, though I barely felt it since her fists were so tiny. I was over a foot taller than her, and the size difference was staggering. “You didn’t correct me!”

I furrowed my brow. “What was I going to say? ‘I’m a demon?’I couldn’t. You wouldn’t have believed me even if I had.”

“Why?” Her voice was low. “Whyme?”

I knew what she was asking. I brushed my thumb along her cheekbone. Touching her like this was abating the last of the anxiety from my system.

“You captivated me more than anyone has in a long time.” The truth. Most of it.

“How long is a long time?” Luna’s voice was hardly a whisper.

“A few hundred years.” Give or take.

“You’rethatold?”

---