Page 123 of The Demon's Pet

I wasn’t sure I really had a choice.

For now, Sam was my fate, and I would stay with him until I needed to leave him or saw my next opportunity for safety. That was all.

And Zadis would never be safe for me, if he knew what I truly was.

27

Sam’s wings disappeared, and his chains clanked as we hurried down to the square where the execution would take place. His hand held mine tightly, and he practically dragged me along.

“Idiot shifter. Idiot woman. Idiot,” he was muttering as he stomped forward down the street. “Now I just need to hurry and get out of here. He’s already too bonded to you now.”

I tried to jerk my hand away, but his hold was too firm. He was too powerful. “Stop, Sam. We have to talk about the void creature.”

Sam glared down at me with stern disapproval, his jaw jutting stubbornly. “There’s no time to figure that out anymore. We have to go before that jerk issues me a challenge. The last thing I need is a fight with a fae prince. Os would kill me.”

“Wait! A fight?” I asked. “I told him no, Sam. And I don’t like him, not like that. Just stop!”

Sam finally stopped, sighing as he released me. He truly looked terrifying in his executioner outfit. Like a chained-up ninja ready to murder with two swords.

I looked down at his boots. “Why do they have spikes on them?”

“Sometimes I have to kick things off me when they’re begging for mercy,” he said in a way that I couldn’t tell whether he was serious. “So what did that creature tell you?”

“He didn’t mean to hurt anyone. He was brought here against his will. Zadis admitted it.”

Sam put his hands on his hips and exhaled. “That won’t be enough to save him. That’s all he said?”

I flushed. “He called me queen and said he wanted to serve me. I told him he was wrong.”

“He is,” Sam said. “You aren’t his queen in any way.” He clicked his tongue. “Why was he brought here?”

“Zadis needed him to open a portal to the hell realm to take rubies.”

Sam swore long and loud in a language I didn’t understand.

“What?” I asked.

Sam started forward again, pulling his black-sheathed katana out in one smooth move. The silver metal gleamed in the daylight.

“Sam, please,” I said. “That creature. It has a family. It didn’t mean to hurt anyone. It was brought here.”

Sam turned to me, rolling his eyes. “For the last time, Fae hate demons. They don’t care about anything other than the fact that fae died and that thing was involved. It being brought here, imprisoned, killed, they won’t care at all about the reason. It just has to die.”

I lunged forward, grabbing his sleeve. “If you kill it, I won’t forgive you.”

His dark eyes flashed down at me, the gold rings at the center gleaming. “You’re kidding me right now. Don’t make things difficult, Cleo.”

“Difficult?” I yelled, my hands making fists at my sides. “Difficult? You made me talk to that thing. You brought me here in the first place. Now, even when I know it doesn’t deserve to die, you’re just going to kill it anyway?”

Sam just looked at me flatly. “That’s my job.”

“Why can’t you offer it a deal? Like you did me?”

Sam’s eyes darted to the side, then back to mine. “Cleo. You have to trust me. This is what has to happen.”

I swallowed, my throat tight. “I can’t watch.”

“Too bad,” Sam said. “You have to stay right by me from now on. I don’t trust Zadis for a minute. Especially if he has blood rubies.”

---