Page 37 of Bad Demon

I hadn’t slept that deeply in five years. Still, I shoved his shoulder. “Get out of my bed.” The sight of that wide, muscled, tattooed chest was making me feel … funny. “Make me a cup of coffee,” I snapped, desperate to get him out of my room.

“No, I won’t be doing that. I did that shit last night because I could see you were freaking out over what you’d done, but I’m here to protect you, not clean your toilet and do the dishes.”

“We have a deal.” Unease filled me. “You agreed to protect and obey.”

He shook his head. “No, you swindled me out of my soul, and in exchange, you demanded I protect you. That means if someone scares you, I will fuck them up. If you need me to reassure you, soothe you, I’m your hound. When it comes to anything to do with your safety and well-being, I don’t need to be told what to do; I’ll already be doing it. Anything else? You need to say please, like everybody else.”

“No, that’s not what the deal was. I said—”

“You said—and I quote—‘In exchange for your protection, I willallow you to remain by my side.’ You said nothing about obey.”

“Yes, I did.”

He grinned. “That was before. You skipped that bit during the actual ritual.”

Did I?Oh, fuck, I did.

“I still own your soul. You have to do what I say,” I said desperately.

“How many souls do you own, Tink?”

My face heated. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“For future reference, you need to spell that shit out during the ritual; otherwise, you end up with an extremely protective hound on your hands who does whatever the fuck he wants.”

He grabbed my wrist when I tried to scramble out of bed, stopping me. I gasped in a panicked breath, trying to jerk out of his hold, and he quickly released me.

A deep frown rearranged his features. “I have sworn to protect you, Fern, from everything, even from me. Not that I would ever hurt you.”

“Right,” I said.

“Take a breath.” He picked the book back up, but the muscle pulsing in his jaw gave away his unhappiness. “Didn’t hurt you last night, did I? And like I already told you, hounds don’t harm females in any way.” He flicked back to the page he’d been on, and then he glanced over at me. “Go get ready. It’s almost time to open your store.”

He was fucking with me. Pretending he was cool with meswindlinghim out of his soul when he was actually furious.

“Whatever you have planned, you might as well forget it. You said yourself, you have to protect me, even against you.”

He looked up from the book again. “I know what I said, and I’ve got nothing planned, Tink. I’m yours. Whatever you need, whatever will help you sleep at night, just ask, babe. I got you.”

He sounded so sincere. How did he do that? He had to be a freaking psychopath. He didn’thave me.He was trying to lull me into a false sense of security, and then he’d make his move.

“I think I want you to leave.”

“Can’t do it. I’ve sworn to protect you, and that’s what I’m going to do.” His gaze stayed on me as he placed the book down on the bedside table. “Wherever you go, Fern, I’ll be right there, by your side.”

My swallow was audible. “Is that a threat?”

He shook his head. “Not a threat. I’m just doing what I promised.”

“And what’s that?” I needed him to spell it out because he’d proven that he was good at twisting my words and being tricky as hell.

I might have forced him to be my protector, but he’d been my stalker first.

He licked his lips, and his eyes flashed red the same way mine could. “To make sure nothing and no one ever hurts you.”

My heart jumped in my chest at the look in those intense eyes and the growl in his voice.

“If any fucker even looks at you wrong, Fern, I will make them regret it. If someone does somehow manage to hurt you, I’ll gut them. I’ll make them scream for mercy, and then I’ll tear them to pieces. That clear enough for you?”

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