Page 15 of Dragon in Boots

She scrambled inside, grabbed her tranq gun, and made her way toward the enclosures. But when she got near, there were no threats that she could see.

She scratched her head as her menagerie continued sounding the alarm bells. They were terrified of something. But what?

CHAPTER SEVEN

“What do you mean ‘it’s all my fault’?” Sitting in his living room, Damien folded his arms over his chest as Pet tried to translate Sky’s newest rant along with Pet’s sex menu for the day. So far, all he’d gotten out of it was that Pet was hankering for another orgy with his liquor cabinet.

“Pet, for the last time, I am not giving you the key, and that is final. I’m tired of finding little slug trails all over my scotch.” She truly was indiscriminate when it came to getting off, riding anything with or without a heartbeat. “Now focus and tell me what Sky said. Why did they take her family?”

Pet fluttered in his face and shook a finger at him. “You. You’re the reason. SBP knows you love Sky.”

“I do not love her,” he scoffed. “Not anymore. But what does that have to do with Amelia and Miguel?”

“Lie to yourself, tailor, but a sex fairy knows what you desire most, and it’s not that frog I just humped in your garden.”

Poor thing. “Just get to the fucking point. Why did SBP take them?”

“SBP thinks you’ll seek revenge for Sky’s murder. When the time is right, they plan to use Amelia and Miguel as leverage to make you back down.”

He had to admit they were clever, but he did not plan to retaliate. Sky was a grown woman and had made her choice. As for rescuing Amelia and Miguel, he could be persuaded to help, but Sky would need to do things his way.Groveling wouldn’t hurt either.Also, it would have to wait until after he tracked down Cimil.

“All right. So what does Sky want to do now?” he asked.Say it, Sky. Admit you need me.

“She needs you to kill yourself,” Pet said.

Damien tilted his head, unsure if he’d heard her correctly. “Kill myself?”

Pet elaborated for Sky, “They’re only holding Amelia and Miguel hostage to prevent you from retaliating against them for murdering Sky. If you’re dead, her sister and nephew will be released.”

“Sky actually wants me to…die?” he asked stiffly. It was a bitter pill to swallow and irrefutable proof that she did not love him. Never had. Never will.

“Eye for an eye, Sky says. You owe her.” Pet snickered.

With a sigh, Damien ran a hand through his thick, brown, manly hair. Sky’s request needed no explanation because the ugly truth was that he’d ended Sky’s first life—a fact he tried not to think about.

And she’s never going to let me forget it. Yes, he’d been on a job, and there had been extenuating circumstances, but at the end of the day, he’d run her over with his SUV. He’d squished her like a little bug right outside her own house.

Meanwhile, he’d been given three lifetimes. Four if you took into account that most men only lived to fifty in the 1800s. It all added up to deep remorse for shortening the life of a woman he’d unexpectedly come to love.

Not that I do any longer, but I still feel like an asshole for killing her that first time. Which was how she’d come to haunt him and why the question before him now had a clear answer.

“No way,” he said.

“No?” Pet arched a little brow.

“Yep. No.”

Suddenly, Sky’s faint form appeared before him. She wore a black suit and had her dark hair in a high ponytail. It must’ve been what she was wearing when SBP offed her. Either way, she looked so sexy that he wanted to take a nap.

A hard, long nap.Dream sex was the easiest way to get it on with a ghost.

Damien swallowed a dry lump in his throat. “Sky, you look lovelier than ever—all steamy and translucent.”

“Cool it, Damien,” she said with a faint but furious voice. “You owe me.”

“Correction: Iowedyou until you were given a second chance at life. It was your choice to throw it away, along with everything else. So, no, I will not kill myself to save your sister and Miguel.”

“Damien, when I died this second time, I went back to the underworld. And when I sat there trying to decide if I should just move on and rejoin the cosmos or return here, do you know what happened?” Sky asked.

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