Page 192 of The Demon's Pet

My eyes widened at his crudeness. Before, in the cell when I’d been awaiting execution, he’d said I shouldn’t even talk because I was just going to die instead. At my most terrifying moments, this “angel” had treated me like garbage.

As Os moved to his side, I wondered what he possibly could see in this man that he would serve him so loyally.

“Good job, Os,” Gabe said, patting Os on the shoulder. “Did she accept the challenge, or are we just dragging her back?”

“She accepted,” Os said, but there was something in his eyes I didn’t like.

Something like defeat.

“Os, why are you doing this? Do you know how they do things?” I pointed to Gabe. “They lie. They make up whatever suits them to keep everyone in line and believing.”

“Obviously,” Gabe said, folding his powerful arms. “We feed on belief. But keeping our haven safe above the veil ensures that everything runs smoothly. You, Cleo, are disrupting everything. People are starting to question things. Like how you disappeared and how effectively we really deal with demons.”

“Demons aren’t what I was told they were,” I said. “They’ve only helped me.”

Gabe laughed, raising an eyebrow. “Because you’re also a demon.”

“Better a demon than a jerk like you,” I retorted. “Os, listen to me. They are brainwashing you.”

Os just shook his head. “Cleo, you’re the one being brainwashed. Sam is not to be trusted.”

“Why?” I asked, but Os simply looked away.

“We can start the fight now,” Os said.

“Come on.” I gestured to Bran, who was watching sullenly, and then I jogged across the broken street to a large square that held the remnants of what must have been a huge building. “We’ll fight here, away from the others.”

“I promise they’ll be safe,” Os said. “I wouldn’t kill any innocents.”

“Why should I believe that when you were willing to freeze them?” I yelled back.

“I’m a diplomat,” Os said, following behind us with Gabe. “Sometimes things get too hot, and I need to cool them down.” He held up his hand. “My sapphires do that.”

I rolled my eyes and continued jogging to the ruins, climbing over the low remnants of a cement wall. Looking up at the gray sky, I asked for patience.

For strength and the ability to win this fight so that Gabe and Os could leave and I could prove to Sam he was right to trust me all along.

I didn’t pray to some god or the celestials, but to the demon within me, who had been my hidden ally from the start.

Together, we could do this. I could feel it in my heart.

Gabe and Os stayed on the outside of the remnants of the building while Bran walked inside with me.

We had a fifty-foot by fifty-foot fighting area amongst the rubble, which Bran appraised skeptically.

“So how do you want to do this?” I asked, my collar burning at my neck, warning me not to overdo it.

Bran was just a wolf. Just a childish, pampered alpha who’d been given everything from birth. Then again, he’d probably been given a dispensation of increased power when he was ordained an alpha.

That made him a bit more dangerous.

And any pure-blooded wolf shifter was strong.

“As wolves,” Bran said. “The way we were meant to fight.”

I focused on the shift, telling myself we would get this over quickly and then be able to go back and help our friends.

I glanced at Gabe and Os, hoping they would make good on their promise to make this go away if I won.

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