Page 24 of Immortal Throne

My muscles tightened at that. Had he been…watchingme?

I don’t know why, but a delicious tingle shot down my spine at the idea. “And how do you know that?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but Chupey yipped to steal our attention again. “We’re getting off-topic again.” His head whipped my way. “Sloane, this is bigger than you realize. You need to think about it first, really think about it, before you go making rash decisions like this.”

“Why the hell would I want anything to do with a father who wanted nothing to do with me? I don’t know anything about the Underworld. I didn’t even know demons existed, and now I’m expected to rule them? I want nothing to do with the throne.”

A slow smile spread across Ryker’s face, one that was calculated and full of secrets. Like him. Before I could realize what was happening, he grabbed my hand for a firm shake. “Can I get that in writing?”

“Don’t you dare try to use your special touchy-feely powers on me.” Disgusted, I attempted to tug my arm back, but he held on and then lifted my hand to his face. His warm lips pressed against the scarred, rough skin of my knuckles.

“I can’t say it’s been a pleasure.”

Ugh. I snapped my hand back and this time he let go. Wise, since I planned to kick him in the balls if he tried to hold on any longer.

Pulling my shoulders back, I pinned Ryker with my best death glare. “I hope you burn in Hell.”

His gaze brightened and for a second it looked as though green flames flickered in his eyes. “Oh, I plan to.”

I watched as Ryker Dante walked out, and as soon as the door shut, Chupey rushed across the room and bumped into my legs.

“That was a mistake, Sloane,” he growled.

“Geez, Chupey.” Rolling my eyes, I grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped off the lid. “Tell me how you really feel.” Then I realized just how ridiculous all of this was and took two huge gulps of my drink. I mean, I was arguing with my dog about taking over the Underworld, for fuck’s sake.

When my gaze fell on the letter that Ryker had handed me again, I grunted, still not wanting to read the thing yet. If ever.

Not today, Satan.

Literally.

“Sloane, listen to me. You’re letting your daddy issues get in the way of your success. Of your life.”

I choked on the beer. Instead of spraying the pale ale all over Chupey and my dinette set, I swallowed it down with a whole bunch of air. The bubble traveled down my throat and settled as a painful lump in my stomach.

“Not… fair,” I sputtered.

Chupey cocked his head at me, his one ear pointing straight up at the ceiling. “You told me to be honest. I was honest. I don’t understand mortals, sometimes.”

Mortal. I’ve never felt more mortal than I did right now. Sure, my biological sperm donor was the King of the Underworld, but all that gave me was a tingling sense of danger and some asshole knocking on my door. Last I checked, I was still dying, and this changed nothing.

“You need to claim the throne,” Chupey went on. “It’s what your father would want.”

“I don’t care what he would want. I didn’t know him, remember?” I flopped down on the couch, momentarily distracted by the scent of Ryker’s cologne that still clung to the worn fabric. I inhaled deeply. That man smelled like sin in all the right ways. “Besides, there’s no point.”

Chupey jumped up on the cushion beside me and sat. “What do you mean?”

“I’m dying, Chupey,” I said. The words almost got stuck in my throat, but he had the right to know. I couldn’t exactly take him to that no-kill shelter anymore. Not with him talking and all…demonic like he was.

When Chupey blinked at me and didn’t immediately fill the silence, I kept going. “The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with me, only that my organs are all failing. They’ve given me about a month, but there are a lot of unknowns.”

He didn’t say anything for a while. Instead, he stared at me, wagging his tail like a normal dog would, and in those few moments, I struggled to remember he was so much more than that.

When he finally spoke again in a human voice, that was where the sense of normalcy evaporated.

“Of course, you’re dying. You’re half demon. Your human half and demonic half are fighting with each other, and this isn’t a war where there’s a winner. The halves will both fight until you die.”

The neurons in my brain misfired. “What?” That was absurd—just as absurd as everything else had been today—but he said it as if it were a fact. A fact that was as clear as fucking day. “No way. Is that possible?”

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