Page 13 of Prince of Demons
The girl spluttered, outrage tingeing the sounds—and then, without warning, sharp pain bloomed through his arm.
Kesh jerked back, more from surprise than anything else, and blinked down at the little creature in his grasp. Her blunt teeth were still firmly lodged in his forearm from where she’d bitten him.
What…?
It was only then he realized what he’d done. He stared down at the woman in his arms in horror, sick dread clenching in his gut. He’d wrapped himself around her body like a fucking meat shield, the urge to protect and soothe still thundering in his blood, making his temples throb and his cock ache.
“Shit,” he muttered, pushing her off his lap hard enough to make her stumble a few steps backward, nearly tripping down the two steps of the dais.
Yeah. She was a Breeder, alright. One of the few human women capable of bearing a demon’s offspring. And so fucking valuable, even the war would have to wait while he prepared her for a mate.
There’d been a time, before his brother took control of the Americas, when specialized Procurers would seek out and train these women, then auction them off to the highest bidder. But since Kain had met Selma, that was no longer how things were, because stars forbid anything be simple. His brother had literally gone to war with the previously reigning family to protect his mate—and by extension, the whole sub-race of sweet-scented little cunts she was part of.
These days, any potential Breeder was to be brought to the nearest lord, who would then be responsible for gentling the woman into her new life and finding a suitable mate for her.
And Prince or not—Kesh was the only lord within a fifty-mile radius.
He scrubbed his face with both hands, trying to steady himself from the onslaught of her scent as he gathered his thoughts. He’d have to ring and mark her, find some unlucky sod who be more than willing to spend the rest of eternity getting mind-fucked by her pheromones, somehow persuade her to allow a mating, and at the same time, while he was preoccupied with playing matchmaker not lose the entire fucking eastern coast to the European king.
He should have left his brother to rot in the old queen’s prison.
Of course, then he’d have been responsible for Selma.
Kesh suppressed a shudder at the thought of claiming his brother’s mate as his own and refocused on the current clusterfuck at hand.
The girl was huddled at the edge of the dais, seemingly too scared of him to try to run away, yet clearly not in any hurry to get closer either, and when he tore his gaze from her to address the sorry demon who’d brought him this nightmare, he found the rest of the throne room empty, save the guard.
“Where the fuck did he go?” he snarled at his guard, getting to his feet to take up pursuit. The Breeder stumbled another step back at the sudden movement, lost her balance—and fell down with a hard thump.
Without thought, Kesh took the stairs in one leap, kneeling by her side to cradle her head in his hand as he ensured she wasn’t hurt.
“Don’t touch me!” she hissed, cringing away from him. She pushed herself along the rug, scrambling to put distance between them.
“He left, your Highness,” the guard said.
“I can fucking see that,” Kesh growled, irritation flaring in his veins, both at the renewed smell of the Breeder’s fear and his own inability to hunt down the demon who dropped her off. He had questions—but the girl was obviously not in a good state. And his first priority was to calm her down.
“Curse it all,” he muttered, finally straightening up and taking a couple of steps back, putting enough space between himself and the girl to hopefully calm her down. If she was an unmarked Breeder, she’d be able to see his true form. Even if she’d been among demons before—which her scent suggested—he knew he would be frightening, his features much less human than most lowly demons’.
“Is she truly a Breeder, my lord?” the guard asked, the note of longing in his voice unmistakable. Kesh rolled his eyes—at least it’d be easy enough to find a man willing to mate her.
“Yes,” he bit out. “And you will tell no one. Understand? We don’t need the entire territory to be distracted.”
“I would never,” the man said, sounding more than a little aghast at the suggestion he might betray his prince.
Kesh sighed, shooting him a glance over his shoulder. He’d hand-picked every single man in his service. He knew they would never betray their loyalty to him.
“My lord...” the guard began.
“Once she is settled, I will put you on the list of potential suitors, Sefron,” Kesh said, returning his focus to the girl still huddled on the floor. “Now, go. Bring food to my private residence.” He wrinkled his nose as he looked the Breeder over, for the first time noticing how grimy she was. “And draw a bath, too.”
“At once, my lord.”
The sound of the doors closing behind Sefron echoed through the throne room, leaving Kesh alone with the Breeder.
7
Georgia
