Page 17 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
And if I lost the bakery, I lost any hope of ever seeing my mother again. It was the only thing Iknewhad been around before she left. My father had let that slip. They had started it together. Sheknewwhere it was and how to find it. I couldn’t let it go. I had to do whatever it took to save it.
I looked over the contract again.
Whatever it took, right?
Nervously, afraid that I was making the absolutely wrong decision, I picked up the pen. I hesitated, however. My fears locking up my limbs. Should I do it? Probably not. Did I have any other choice?
Also probably not.
“How do I know you’ll actually do what you say you will?” I asked. “I don’t know you at all. You originally came in here saying I tried to bind you. Which I didnotmean to do, by the way. Now, you want to turn around and help me?”
I put the pen back down, glaring at him.
He stared right back, and I clenched my jaw against a shiver. The way Belial looked at me, it was like he could see past whatever defenses I had into my soul.
He has seen into my soul. When our minds touched, he looked into me. He knows that I don’t really have many choices. I have to sign the contract. Maybe not today, but soon. Otherwise, it’ll all be for nothing.
“Do you want the money or not?” he rumbled.
“Your motives are confusing.”
“No, they aren’t.”
I lifted my eyebrows, inviting further comment, but Belial’s mouth stayed closed. Apparently, that was all he had to say.
Once again, I picked up the pen in my right hand, its tip resting on the empty spot where my signature was supposed to go.
Yet again, I paused. I didn’t want to do it.
But you have to. The bakery has to stay open. For Mom. Whatever it takes.
“Whatever it takes,”I whispered, my hand sliding across the paper as I signed my full name.
Lilith Cornelia Rowe.
Halfway through my middle name, I realized I was signing it through a splotch. No, not a splotch.
Blood. My blood. From the papercut I’d given myself on that very paper.
Sparks began to fly from the parchment as I finished signing, my mind still on autopilot.
Yellow flames licked up, and I yanked my hand away, but not before they plunged deep into the paper cut. I screamed as I felt the fire reach into my mind, splitting itself over and over again like an octopus with a million tentacles, each sucker full of tiny teeth latching on to my very soul.
Across from me, Belial roared as well.
My eyes flicked over to him to see that same yellow magic shooting into his eyes, linking him to the contract and then to me.
The pain intensified, shooting a jolt of energy through my entire body, sending me backward into one of the empty racks of baked goods against the wall. I started to fall, but Belial was there in a flash, grabbing me, holding me, and shielding me from the metal trays that had been bounced loose by my impact.
Concern for my well-being flooded through me. Only it wasn’t my concern.
My eyes flew open, meeting his.
Shock met shock. From two separate minds.
“What have you done?” he growled, his surprise turning to anger as he held me in his arms.
Chapter Ten
