He drew in a ragged breath and ran his calloused thumb along my cheek. “You’re not allowed to die.”
“Is that your way of saying I can have the throne?” I panted.
“The throne will be mine. Just like you will be. Just like you are.” He leaned forward and snagged my mouth for another intense kiss.
“I’m…yours?” I raised an eyebrow.
“You’re mine.” He visibly shook himself. “Mine to kill.”
Son of a bitch!
“Then get off.” I shoved him away. “You can’t distract me with your good looks and that thing you do with your tongue.”
He raised his eyebrows and stepped back. “That thing I do with my tongue?”
Heat flushed my cheeks, but I refused to look away. My body still ached with an unanswered need. He was such an ass, yet I wanted him. God, I wanted him so badly it hurt.
A sleek figure raced over and skidded to a stop at Ryker’s feet. A smaller, leaner version of Chupey looked up at Ryker, adoration clear on its face. I recognized his familiar immediately—Zi.
“This is Zi’rel,” he introduced us, and the demon dog responded by turning to me and snarling. She flashed long, blood-stained teeth.
I stepped back. “What’s your problem?”
“You should step aside,” she purred, her voice low and smooth and in complete contrast to Chupey’s. “You are weak and useless compared to my master.”
Everybody’s a critic.
The lingering heat in my veins aching for Ryker faded away, replaced with ice. Step aside? Me? Not fucking likely. “Pretty sure I’m the one that just hacked into Borca’s throat. I wouldn’t be so quick to insult me.”
My own familiar emerged from the dust cloud and slinked over to me. He said nothing, pressing his blood and saliva soaked body into my leg. He must really be rattled to stay quiet. Or maybe watching me try to hump Ryker through our clothes horrified him so much he lost his ability to speak.
A portal snapped open a few feet away.
“And, just so we’re clear. Stepping aside? That’s not happening,” I told Zi’rel before turning to Ryker. I jabbed my finger into his hard chest. “And the only thing that’s yours is the failure you’ll feel when I win my rightful place on the throne.”
Not waiting for a response, I spun on my heel and stalked through the portal, Chupey close behind me.