Page 107 of Bad Demon

Agatheena eyed Relic.“You’re not coming in, hound.”

He stared back, eyes blazing, teeth bared. “You think you can stop me, crone?”

I stood on the other side of the ward. “You need to stand down. Agatheena isn’t going to hurt me—”

“Where you go, I go.”

“You try it,” Agatheena said coldly.

Relic charged forward, hit the ward like a brick wall, then was propelled back and knocked to the ground. He bounded back up and charged forward again, this time slamming his shoulder into it once, twice …

He was airborne a moment later, crashing to the ground again.

“Please, Relic, stop.”

Agatheena snorted at him when he charged back. “You might have broken through the wards of lesser witches, but you won’t get through mine. Growl and snarl all you like, but it won’t make a scrap of difference.” She muttered something under her breath, shaking her head, and headed back down the path. “If you’re coming, then move it,” she said to me. “Or I’ll toss you out with him.”

I turned back to Relic. “I’ll be right back—”

“That female fucking eats demons,” he growled. “Don’t you dare go in there without me.”

“She’s not going to eat me. I’m her family.”

“I said no—”

“Are you coming, or am I tossing you out?” Agatheena called.

“I’m coming,” I said, my eyes on Relic’s, pleading for him to understand.

“Don’t do it.”

“Please, don’t worry; I’ll be right back,” I said, then turned and sprinted up the path to the cottage with Relic’s roars following me. I ran up the stairs and through the door, and it slammed shut behind me.

I didn’t want him to be afraid for me, but I had to do this, and there was no time to make him understand. In fact, I didn’t think he was capable of it right then. He’d told me himself how possessive newly mated males were, how irrational they could be at times, and how insanely protective. So, I knew this was my only option. Still, I felt sick to my stomach, leaving him out there to worry.

I turned to Agatheena, who stood by the fire, her eyes burning into me. “I’m sorry for what he said. He didn’t mean to offend you.”

“He’s not the first delusional male I’ve had out here, and I have a feeling he won’t be the last,” she said.

Relic roared again, and it sent a shiver down my spine.

“You’re mated to the hound,” Agatheena said, not a question.

I nodded.

“If you want him to calm down, you need to do the same. He can sense your unease whether he realizes that’s what it is or not.”

“I’m not uneasy,” I said, lying through my teeth.

She tilted her head to the side. “If you continue to lie to me, child, this visit will be very short.”

Fuck. “Sorry, I won’t lie again.”

She huffed out a sound that might be her version of a laugh. “So, spit it out. What do you want?”

I straightened and worked on calming myself, for Relic’s sake. “I need to find the one who hurt me, and I was hoping, if you’d found any information about me, about what I can do, then maybe—”

“Then maybe you could use your powers to find him?”

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