Page 101 of The Demon's Pet

He looked at the ceiling, as though my question didn’t even warrant a response.

“Is that why you were kind to me? You could tell we both had inner demons?”

“My demon isn’t an inner demon. It’s just less dominant than my celestial side, so I spend most of my time in this form.”

“Do I have another form?” I asked excitedly.

He smirked. “I guess we’ll have to see. When I can trust you enough to take your collar off.”

“Why can’t you just take it off now?” I asked.

“When you keep threatening to run off to Zadis?” His expression darkened. “I don’t think so.”

He had a point.

“But how am I going to learn to use my powers or awaken my inner demon if I always have my collar on?”

“You can still hear your inner voice and become more aware. But it would be dangerous to take your collar off. Even for you.”

“Why?” I asked. “I wouldn’t hurt myself.”

“Not on purpose,” he said. “But you’ve been running around with something inside you, and until we know what that is, and how to train you in controlling it, your life could be at risk.”

“Why? What kind of demon do you think I am?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” he said, continuing to stare at the ceiling while my heart was beating rapidly.

“Why did you tell them I was a succubus if you’re the one who’s an incubus?”

He let out a sigh, as if growing impatient with the topic. “If we ran into someone who could detect demon magic, they would sense incubus, and that would allow me to hide what you really are.”

“Which is?”

He refused to say more. “The demon inside you has always been suppressed by your inner celestial. As we wake it up, it might be angry since you haven’t listened for so long. You fought back. That’s good. It’s part of that inner demon. Rebelliousness, freedom. Those are traits demons value, just as celestials value power and faithfulness. We want to wake your demon, but not give it full power until it calms down. Otherwise, it might destroy you.”

“But you have no idea what it—”

“Cleo, we need to talk about tomorrow.”

He’s hiding something.

There was my inner demon again. So he was right. What we did together strengthened her. Strengthened a part of me.

I’d always thought sex was this forbidden, scary thing alphas did to omegas only when mated.

But if it was anything like what I’d just done with Sam, then I really looked forward to doing it with someone I loved one day.

You don’t have to love them, my inner demon added helpfully.

I snorted at that, making Sam finally look over at me.

Then he turned back to the ceiling calmly. “I’m glad you’re able to have more open discourse with your inner demon. Now, about tomorrow. I’ll be out conducting interviews, and I don’t want you going anywhere with Zadis.”

I rolled onto my side to stare at him, still covering myself with the blanket. “You don’t get to tell me who to spend time with, even if I do have a collar on.”

Sam’s eyes flashed, and he sat up. “If you feed on me, you can’t possibly feed another.”

He never said that before we started, so in my mind, he couldn’t change things now.

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