Page 55 of The Demon's Pet

“Who knows why that guy does anything?” Griffin asked, shaking his head.

“Nonetheless, if I want to keep you out of the hands of the celestials, you’ll have to be my pet. Like Cleo is Sam’s,” Os said. “For me, it’ll be in name only.” He wrinkled his nose. “I have no desire to actually rule someone.”

Griffin nodded eagerly. “I will protect you with my life.”

Os looked slightly taken aback, then laughed awkwardly. “Probably not needed, seeing as I’m a demigod, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

Griffin seemed somehow disappointed.

How did he know Os?

And more importantly, what was going to happen to me once Sam got back?

“I want to go for a run,” I said, standing and stretching. “Anyone want to come?”

Os frowned. “Tell you what. I’ll set a long tether bond.”

“A what?”

“A link so that if you’re in trouble, I can know and come right away.”

I looked at the pristine, wild land around me, the bubbling of the stream soothing my ears. My inner wolf wanted nature, now.

I was finally free from my home.

“It’s not like Sam’s,” Os said. “It’s more to join us so I can see what you’re seeing than to restrain you.” He sighed. “You’d do best not to wander far in minotaur country.”

“What are they?” I asked, a chill moving up my spine at the way Griffin and Os looked at each other in response to my question.

“Demigods,” Os said. “This is their territory. Technically, if we’re here, then…”

“You don’t want to know,” Griffin said. “I’ve seen one break into the cougar territory. Took three cougars to take him down.” He shook his head. “I was too young to fight when it happened.”

“So they’re bad,” I said.

“They’re just mindless fucking machines,” Os said. “Half human male, half bull god. All instinct and sexual hunger.”

“So they’d attack me?” I asked.

“They wouldn’t see it that way,” Os said, folding his lithe arms. “They’d see you being in their territory as permission.” He shook his head. “Even the celestials don’t know what to do with them. There aren’t many left, and they cause problems whenever they wander outside their territory.”

“How do they… make other minotaurs, if they’re all male?” Griffin asked. “That always bothered me.”

Os smiled unpleasantly. “This place is beautiful and abundant. They rely on other creatures wandering into their space. Almost any creature can be impregnated by a minotaur, though carrying the offspring to term is fatal for the mother. Or father.”

Griffin’s eyebrow rose. “So they…”

“Aren’t particular,” Os said. “But as I mentioned, there aren’t that many of them. You’re unlikely to run into them. Most of their time is spent grazing and rutting, even with each other.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Awesome.”

“Well, that’s why their territory is all the way out here,” Os said. “As far away from most creatures as possible.”

“Sounds like they should be eradicated,” Griffin muttered.

“It’s not for us to decide what lives and dies, unless we are called to protect our subjects,” Os said. “Many different creatures came into being when the supernatural realm merged with the humans in the mid-realm, during the great divide. As long as something isn’t a demon, we let it be, unless they leave their territory.”

Griffin snarled at that. “I’d say something that impregnates unwilling creatures, knowing it will kill them, is more of a demon than any devil in hell.”

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