Page 33 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
I felled two more knights roaming the ground floor, dumping them in a closet where they could recover. By the time they awoke, Lily and I would be gone. To where, I wasn’t sure yet, but she wasn’t staying there. Not any longer. I didn’t care what her affinity for that silly bakery was. We were leaving. I had to keep her safe.
The trio I’d spotted in the streets came in through the front door, spotting me and giving chase.
“Shit.” I darted into the stairwell.
Another minotaur was coming down the stairwell. Just how many had Dannorax sent? Two full squads? I bent my legs and flung myself up into the stomach of the magic law enforcement officer, hard enough to feel his ribs break. We hit the wall, and his head slammed into it.
“Whoops,” I said, turning and, with a swift kick, sending the unconscious—and hopefully not dead—minotaur crashing into his friends as they burst into the stairwell behind me, their eyes yellow and angry.
They knew what my presence signified.
We battled up the stairs. They had weapons out, a pair of stun sticks and daggers. Perfect weapons for close confines. I ducked and kicked, sending them back, but unable to gain an advantage over the trio, despite having the high ground. I couldn’t do anything about the stun sticks. A simple touch would shut down the limb, or worse, if they connected with my torso.
By the time we reached the fourth floor, Lily’s floor, I could sense her panic rising. Something was wrong. She needed my help, and there was no time to waste. I couldn’t play games anymore. I had tried to ensure I didn’t hurt anyone, and other than the one I’d launched into the ceiling, all the knights should recover.
“Stop,” I barked, giving them one last shot. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
They came on anyway with grunts.
“Very well,” I said, resigned to what would happen.
My skin vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by the red leathery hide of my demon form as fire walked its way up my body. I thrust a fist forward, and a yellowish-red flame caught the nearest minotaur in the face. There was no time to scream before it was down his throat, melting his lungs and pouring into his eyeballs.
The other minotaurs hesitated at seeing their comrade burned alive. I took advantage, darting between them, hitting the burning knight in the chest to knock him back down the concrete stairwell. At the same time, my wings flicked out as hard as they could.
Both Gray Knights snapped backward, heads hitting the concretehard. I caught them as they fell but spared no time to check on them. I was already stuffing myself back into my human skin and heading for the exit.
I had caught a wave of emotion from Lily just as I let loose. Something was wrong.
Something was very, very wrong.
Chapter Eighteen
Lily
Iawoke abruptly, sitting upright as the shout faded in my mind.
Danger.
That was all I could recall as I came fully awake, throwing off the covers and the cobwebs of sleep.
“Belial,” I whispered, sliding from the bed, fear coalescing around me. Why would he be trying to contact me? To warn me?
I headed for the bedroom door, only to have it swing open before I got there.
“Who the fuck are you?” I yelped, backing away in a hurry as a monstrous figure filled the opening, only their silhouette visible in the darkness of my bedroom. My hand started reaching blindly behind me for the lamp on the bedside table. When I finally found it and twisted the knob, I wished I hadn’t.
A tall, cruel-looking man with features that looked stretched to odd proportions was advancing on me, arms outstretched.
“Lilith Rowe. You are under arrest,” he said. “For breach of magical protocols.”
I gasped. Belial had warned me they would come, but I hadn’t expected it so soon. Or so violently! It was more like a kidnapping than an arrest.
“Get back!” I shouted, grabbing the only thing I could from nearby. The thick tome of a novel from in front of the bed. I waved it around like a weapon.
The ogrish man lunged at me, sweeping the book and me aside with one arm. I yelped, flung down to the bed roughly. Bouncing off the mattress, I rolled away from the intruder and darted for the door, flinging the book at his face in an attempt to stall.
He bulled his way through the flying paper, yanking my hair back at the last second. I cried out in pain and tried to pull free, but a knife appeared against my throat.
