Page 173 of The Demon's Pet

“Cleo? You in there?”

I opened my eyes groggily, blinking at the utter darkness all around me. Thinking it was a dream, I turned over and pulled my covers in, trying to get back to sleep.

A loud knock made me sit up immediately.

“Yes?” I called out to whoever was outside my door. Who would bother me in the middle of the night?

It wasn’t Sam’s voice. I hadn’t seen him since training, and I’d spent the rest of the evening in my room, going to bed early.

“Meet me in the courtyard, Cleo. I have something you want.”

Mor. I recognized the voice now. But I didn’t know if I should follow.

“Something bad might happen to someone you care about if you don’t.”

Fear flooded me, and I rushed for the door, but when I swung it open, no one was there. Just dust lightly falling as if someone had moved by quickly.

I sucked in a breath, then went to change into different clothes. I pulled on black jeans and a loose white sleeveless tank top, along with a sports bra, and slipped into my Converse and walked out into the hall, locking my door behind me.

My footsteps echoed eerily in the darkness as I made my way upstairs.

No one else seemed to be awake, and the cathedral seemed to be truly abandoned. I walked down the aisle toward the back doors, looking around me at the moonlight streaming through the stained-glass windows.

An owl cried outside, making me jump.

A shudder of anticipation moved through me, and I wondered what Mor could be calling me out for at this time of night.

I knew she was Sam’s friend and angry with me for letting him get hurt by Zarris. I knew she didn’t like that I hesitated to kill.

Her punch to my face had shown that.

I didn’t hold it against her. I actually respected that she treated me like an equal and didn’t hold back.

That didn’t mean I felt awesome meeting with her at night.

For a moment, I wondered if I should go call Sam to come out with me, but then I thought better of it.

He still needed to heal, and he’d need sleep for that.

I could handle this. I was the Morningstar.

That’s the spirit, my inner demon said.

I smiled, glad that I was finally beginning to trust her.

Sam was right. My inner demon had been correct all along. I was the only one holding myself back. I fought back against being an omega outwardly, but in my heart, I followed the rules and believed them about who I was.

I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

I pushed open the back doors quietly and slowly closed them so they wouldn’t creak.

But as I walked out and down into the courtyard, I froze, unsure if I was hallucinating or really seeing what I was seeing.

The moon was full and high, casting eerie shadows over the shaggy grasses growing up between the broken slabs of concrete. Trees swayed along the borders of the courtyard, their branches grasping creepily at the cool night winds.

And in the center of the courtyard, on a large, black object that looked like a huge standing X, Sam was hanging, unconscious.

Shock moved through me, tightening my chest and making it hard to breathe, let alone think straight as I approached the odd… cross?

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