Page 36 of Bad Demon

His eyes flashed, but he stood instantly, then dropped to his knees in front of me, taking my foot in his hand.

“You may not hurt me, not in any way.”

“Never had any plans to hurt you, Tinker Bell,” he said as he slid a hand over my ankle and up my calf.

His hand was huge, bigger than my foot. Then he gripped the zipper and slid it down slowly. The heat of his palm radiated through the leather, and I barely suppressed my shiver as he reached the bottom, slipped the boot off carefully, and placed it on the floor. He took the other foot, and as instructed, he dragged one of those big mitts up my leg again, slower this time, and I swore I felt a pull low in my belly when he tugged on the zipper. I actually held my breath as he slid it down slowly and eased it off.

“Anything else?” There was a whole lot more growl to his voice.

He was pissed off, but obviously under my control. Completely.

I was safe, and for the first time in a very long time, I allowed myself to relax, and as soon as I did, I realized how tired I was—no, how utterly exhausted I was.

It’d been a long time since I’d had a proper night’s sleep. I never felt completely safe, and on my worst nights, my memories turned into nightmares. But now, I had a hellhound protector, and no one could touch me.

I stood. “I’m going to bed, hound, and you’re going to protect me while I sleep, understand?”

He bared his teeth in a vicious smile. “As you wish.”

I went to my bedroom and quickly changed. I should have been nervous that he was there, crowding my place, but weirdly, I felt the complete opposite. I owned him; he was mine to command. When he’d said he never planned to harm me, for some reason, my gut had told me to believe him.

I wasn’t sure how this soul-owning, deal-making thing worked, but that feeling—the zaps and tingles—they were still there. This was obviously how it felt to make a deal—this buzz of euphoria, followed by a crash so hard that I could barely keep my eyes open.

After ordering a new phone, because this one was obviously compromised, and ignoring all the missed calls, I drowned my old one in a basin full of water. Try calling me on that, asshole.

The last thing I wanted to do was my bedtime routine, but I had no choice. I didn’t miss a step, even in a daze, then climbed onto my bed, crawled under the covers, and passed out.

* * *

Blinking groggily into the darkness, I reached for my phone to check the time, then remembered I’d destroyed it. Something caught my attention—

A pair of glowing golden eyes, watching me through the shadows.

My heart leaped into my throat. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Protecting you,” he said.

“I never said you could come in here—”

“Sleep, Tinker Bell. You’re safe now.”

My eyes were too heavy to hold open, and his voice, it slid over me, soft and rough, somehow soothing. I should tell him to leave, to get out, but I was too exhausted to say the words.

The next time I woke, I was hot. I kicked off the covers with a groan. It was still dark, and those glowing eyes were closer, right there beside me.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Go back to sleep.”

That low rumble in the dark, it was a soft blanket wrapping around me. How could a voice make you warm? How could that rough-as-gravel voice be comforting? But it was, and unbelievably, I drifted back to sleep.

Yawning, I stretched, and my hand hit hot, bare skin. My eyes flew open, and I shot up, spinning around. Relic was sitting on my bed—no shirt, boots off, pillows propped behind him, leaning against the headboard. He was reading one of my romance books.

“Why are you in my bed, Relic?” I tried to sound confident and in charge, but my voice came out all jittery and breathless.

He turned the page. “You kept tossing the covers off, and I got sick of getting up and down all night to put them back over you, so I sat here to make it easier. Then, when the sun came up, I thought I’d kill time with a little light reading, but I gotta say, Tinker Bell, this shit is hot as fuck. I’m only a quarter of the way in, but it’s good stuff. This male—he knows what he’s doing.” His gaze slid to me. “His female danced with his enemy, so he carried her out of the club, spanked her ass, then finger-banged her.” He looked back at the book. “Respect.”

I snatched it out of his hands. “Put that down and get the hell out of my bed.”

He grinned. “Not in it, babe, on it, and thanks to me, you slept like the dead. Seemed like you needed it.”

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