Page 92 of The Sinner and the Scholar
She makes cute little sounds and squirms until she’s fully awake. I can’t believe I’ll wake up with this for the rest of my life. It feels too good to be true, but she wants what I want. I smooth my palm over her hips, slide my hand to her stomach and trace my finger around her belly button. She rewards me with a little moan and rolls to face me. Just enough light comes through the window that I can make out her beautiful face. Well, the blurry outline of her face. My glasses are on the bedside table.
She’s as blind as me—she removed her contact lenses before sleeping. Now she’s rubbing her eyes with her fists. A smile tips my lips, and I pull her hand down.
“You’ll get sore eyes.”
“Yes, boss.”
I snort.
“Why are you awake?” she asks, her expression serious. “Did you sleep?”
“Yes.” But a part of me couldn’t sink into oblivion knowing how close we came to losing everything. I kept thinking Vepar would find us or someone else will. It’s a given that another demon will take Vepar’s place, but whether they continue to hunt me or one of the others is the question.
A thought strikes me. A demon took Zeke’s sister. What if he’s been targeted from the start like I was?
Thea smooths my frown. “You’re very scowly for someone who slept well.”
“I said I slept,” I reply. “Not how well.”
A glint in her eyes replaces the concern as her hand moves south down my abdomen. “I can make you feel better.”
My lashes flutter as she strokes my cock, coaxing it to life. My nerves seize with pleasure. I can’t function when she does this to me. I’m instantly hard. Suddenly there’s nothing I want more than the comfort between her thighs. I roll on top of her, careful not to drop my weight on her ribs. She opens her thighs, and I push in. We take it slow, enjoying our pleasure until the alarm goes off on her cell phone, and then we finish at a grueling pace. Neither is willing to leave this room until we finish what we started.
Later, when we’re dressed and carrying our bags to the garage, she stops and says, “You know I meant it when I said I chose you.”
I smile. “I know.”
“I really want you to believe me. Even if I didn’t stab you—sorry about that, by the way—I would have used the staff on you to stop what Vepar did, and I would have still saved you, even if the relic only had a single use.”
Guilt flashes in her eyes, and I know why she’s brought this up again. It’s not because she thinks I don’t believe her. This declaration is more than an affirmation of our love. We’re about to return home and face the loved ones we put second. I spent months working on a plan to get the broken manuscript to the Sinners so I could follow them to the relics. For Zeke.
“It’s good that we chose each other,” I affirm. “I believe that.”
“Even if the relic doesn’t work on Zeke or Prue?”
I open the door to the garage. “I don’t know, but I’ll never regret it.”
A swishing sound startles inside, and we freeze. Someone is in here.
Thea clenches the staff. I wish I had a knife or arcane card, but I don’t want to move suddenly. We scan the gloomy, dusty space for signs of life. Thea gestures for me to go one way around the car. I take a hammer from a box of tools and move to one side while she goes to the other. Her sharp gasp of surprise sends my pulse skyrocketing. I glance over, ready to attack the danger to her, but she’s crouched or fallen. I can’t see her over the car.
“Thea!” I jog to her side.
I find her on the ground, dragging a little squirming black creature from beneath the car.
“Look,” she coos as she adjusts her package. “Have you ever seen anything like him?”
After confirming she’s unhurt, I finally look at the creature in her arms. Its body is long like a Daschund but not a dog—scales shimmer in strange iridescent colors on its smooth dark skin. A transparent gray, papery frill decorates the spine on the length of its back and tail. Big, liquid eyes full of fear glimmer at her. It whimpers from deep in its throat like a dolphin caught in a shark net.
“What the bloody hell is that?” I blink.
She inspects it further, checking its clawed paws and sharp teeth inside its mouth. “It kind of looks like those demonic fish minions, but… it’s not so grotesque. It’s cute. It’s even cuter than that puppy.” Her smile drops. She groans and looks at me with wide eyes. “Oh no.”
“What?”
“Oh nooo.”
“Thea, what?”
