Page 2 of Demon Kept

Below us, the parking lot lay empty of infected.

“Pretty sweet setup, right?” one of the men said, coming to stand beside me. “Nat was smart to have us work on this instead of cutting wood for a bunch of freeloaders.”

I said nothing but internally laughed at his entitled blindness. They were supposed to have been cutting wood for all the people in Tenacity while other people had been out gathering other supplies. Pitching in and working together. But Nat had gotten it into his head that the workload had been unevenly distributed. That some people were taking more risks than others and were “owed” more because of it.

“Look at what we have here,” the guy next to me said under his breath before straightening away from me. “One of those grey bastards followed us.”

Nat stopped conferring with another man to come stand beside us.

“The oak tree near the corner of the lot,” the man said. “See him?”

I did. The fey casually leaned against the tree, studying us as we studied him. He was close enough and large enough that I could see the extended line of his pointed ears, and his long hair hung to his shoulders and sported multiple braids. The grey cast of his skin almost blended with the tree. If not for his light tan leather pants, which all his kind tended to favor, he would have been harder to spot. Maybe.

His size alone made him sort of hard to miss. That and the way his biceps bulged when he crossed his arms. The material of the human shirt he wore stretched to capacity to accommodate him.

He was a beast. A deadly, well-muscled beast made to fight the infected and hellhounds. And I recognized this one from the night before. He’d been one of the fey in the house with June, the woman Nat and his men had meant to rob. He’d knocked out the men with almost no effort and then tied them up. They hadn’t stood a chance against him.

“What do you think he’s doing?” the man asked when Nat said nothing.

Nat quietly considered the fey for another long moment.

“Waiting to see what we do,” he said finally. “I’m guessing he wants to make sure Shelby here is safe. This could work to our advantage.”

A shiver of worry stole through me.

“Which tent is ours?” I asked. “I think I want to lie down for a bit.”

“The orange one. But make us lunch first, Shell. You and I can have a little nap and cuddle after.”

CHAPTERTWO

I tookmy sweet-ass time making lunch while listening to Nat spout his bullshit about how we were going to survive on the cramped balcony. Delusional and mean. Why couldn’t people come with name tags that described their personalities? I would have known to steer clear of him then.

“Shelby, are you almost done or what? We’re starving here.”

“It’s done.” I turned off the camp stove and moved away from the side table. The guys converged on the food.

Keeping a pleasant smile on my face, I returned to the railing. I knew better than to take anything for myself until they finished.

Nat came over to me.

“I’m not sure I like your attitude today, Shell. You’re coming across as a little high and mighty. Do you think you’re special because the fey didn’t knock you around last night?”

My stomach clenched. Nat was always happy to show me I wasn’t better than him.

“Never. What they did to you was wrong, Nat. The fey had no right to be in Tenacity.”

He nodded slowly, scrutinizing me. “They didn’t. Yet, they were. And they knocked me out cold. How did that make you feel?” He reached up and smoothed back a piece of my hair, his fingers drifting down my throat. I felt sick with the need to get away. To hide.

“Terrified. I’d never been more afraid in my life,” I said with complete honesty. The reason behind my fear had little to do with the fey, though, and everything to do with the man before me. Nat loved retribution. It didn’t matter if it was for a perceived offense or something that actually happened.

“Your place is with me,” he murmured. “Always.”

“Always,” I echoed, hating the finality of it. There would never be an escape for me—only a lifetime of suffering.

He let his hand drop to his side and kissed my cheek.

“Go eat. I’m ready to have some alone time with you.”

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