Page 67 of Bad Demon

I had to bite my tongue. She was still jumpy as hell and still hiding so much from me. Telling her now that she was my mate might send her running, and with someone out there wanting to hurt her, I couldn’t risk it.

“I’m immortal. I’m not going anywhere. We’re tied to each other through our deal. You’ve got an endless blood supply, is all I’m saying.”

She gave me an odd look. “Well, thanks for the offer. I appreciate it, but I guess I need to be ready for any eventuality.”

I lifted my chin and again bit down my snarl.

Her hand slid up my arm and over my shoulder.

That simple touch had my heart banging harder and goose bumps rising all over me, and the pain in my chest, in my gut, intensified. My feelings for Fern were manifesting in a physical way. War had described it to us once. How it’d felt when he slowly gained his emotions. He’d said it hurt, made him nauseous, and that he had to fight the urge not to do a lot of seriously fucked-up things. Like, for example, right then, I wanted to lick her from head to foot, rub up on her until she was thoroughly marked with my scent, and then lock her in my den until she begged me to mate her.

The beast in me thought that was an excellent idea from start to finish, but Lucifer had made us more than just animals, and I knew that Fern wouldn’t be down for that. No, locking her in here would piss her off and scare her. Then she’d never beg me to fuck her ever again. Was that love? Was I in love with her? I had no idea. I did know that I’d never felt this way before, and it hurt and felt good at the same time, like pleasure and comfort and touch all rolled into one.

“What are these?” she asked, tracing her fingers over the ink on my shoulder.

“Protection runes.” I couldn’t take my eyes off her lips when she spoke. Fuck, they were pretty.

“Protection from what?”

Her tongue darted out a second time, moistening her lower lip, and again, I leaned in and kissed her softly because I couldn’t not. That mouth was fucking mine, and like the last time, she let me.

“From possession. Evil spirits are drawn to us because we make good vessels. We’re touched by Lucifer, Hell-born, and”—I stopped myself before I saidsoulless—“strong. A couple of our brothers were possessed a while back when War mated Willow, so we got these.”

“Holy shit,” she said, still tracing them, making me tingle all over, “that’s terrifying.”

“We lost one of our brothers, and another chose to remain in Hell after he lost his mate and unborn pup.” It had been years, and Maddox still hadn’t once returned to the surface.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know what it’s like to lose someone you love …”

She stopped herself, like she often did, but if I wanted her to keep opening up to me, I had to keep asking the questions.

“Who’d you lose, baby?”

She breathed deeply, and I could see her thinking about it, deciding if she should share.

“My mom,” she finally said.

Her gaze grew distant as she shut whatever she was feeling down, and the pain in my chest intensified because I knew that talking about her mother hurt her. But again, I had to keep up that pressure, gently pushing.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Tink. How did she die?”

Her throat worked. “She was murdered by a monster when I was seven.”

I froze. “A monster?”

“Yes.”

“You see it happen?”

She nodded.

“Fern—”

“Do you have a mother?” she asked.

I wanted to ask her more, but this time, I let her change the subject. The more time that passed, the more she was letting me in. She’d tell me the rest of that story—I just needed to wait it out.

“Lothar’s my sire, but I never knew my mother.”

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