Page 31 of The Demon's Pet

He moved over behind the desk he’d been sitting on and opened a drawer, pulling out a large book. “Ah, pack law. Interesting.”

“You would know,” I said sullenly. “You and your kind set the rules.”

“It’s not exactly like that,” he murmured, licking his finger and continuing to flip through. “Hmm…”

Still a bit dizzy from my head injury, I got back onto my bed and rolled onto my back to stare at the ceiling.

A sudden pain throbbed, and I put a hand to my head. When I looked up, I caught Sam staring at me. As I caught his eyes, he quickly looked away, ignoring me completely and going through the book again.

I reached up to my neck, wondering if I still had on my wolf collar. I did. But there was another collar there, too, making my neck feel crowded. I touched it, but it was a choker and I couldn’t get a good look. I could feel the leather strap and that there was a smooth, cabochon stone in the center, but other than that, no idea.

“You went demonic last night,” he said. “One of my angel friends put that collar on you, and then they told me to stay and perform the execution while they moved on once again.”

“They leave you behind a lot?”

He shrugged. “I don’t mind it.” He smiled, those perfect white teeth flashing. “I like killing.”

My heart clenched. This beautiful man was going to kill me.

“Did you want to hurt them?” He cocked his head again, still holding the book.

“Yes,” I said, though saying it was all some accident and I never wanted to hurt anyone would have probably gone better for me.

I just wasn’t a very good liar.

He nodded. “Good.” Then he went back to flipping through the book as though he were in the library on a lunch break, not waiting to execute me.

“How soon?” I asked.

“Sunrise,” he said.

“And what is this collar?” I asked. “Does it keep my demon suppressed?”

He nodded.

“Great,” I said. “I finally unlock enough power to level the playing field, and I’m about to get murdered before I can even get revenge.”

“That is frustrating,” he said coolly. “As I said, pet, life isn’t fair.”

“I’m not your pet,” I spat.

His eyes slid to mine, dark like melted chocolate, with a ring of molten gold at the center that I hadn’t ever noticed before. “You might not find it a hardship.”

I grimaced, shaking my head. “I’ll never live on a leash. I promised myself that.”

He frowned at that but shook his head and sat down in the chair behind the desk, leaning back and putting his booted feet up on the interrogator’s important papers. “I’m busy. Try not to distract me. It’s for your own good.”

“What? So you can kill me easier?”

He ignored me, so I went back to resting on my cot, wishing I at least had a book so I could read one more before I died.

I jolted when the door to the jail opened and sat up to see Zane walking in alone, still wearing his alpha robes.

Zane’s hands were in tight fists as he faced me. “You’ve ruined everything. You could have been my mate.”

I shrugged at him. “Well, I guess there’s at least one positive to this whole execution situation.”

Zane’s face went an unpleasant shade of red that clashed with his blond hair. His blue eyes were fiery. “You can’t ever hold your tongue, can you?”

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