Page 31 of Demon Valley Marked

I blinked and simply looked over to the right to see the culprit of the comment—their slimmer but muscled frame now leaning against the wall a few steps ahead of us.

“Nathan.” My voice was suddenly neutral while the actual sight of him made me feel… odd.

Was I surprised to actually see him? Yes. Was I happy to see him again? No. Was I still mad as fuck that the fucker of an Astra hung me over a cliff, dropped me, and killed my familiar? Ya. I was going to use that against him for the rest of his Astra existence.

“Your obvious displeasure pisses me off,” Nathan muttered as he pushed off the wall to approach us. “If we don’t walk through those doors in five minutes, that bitch is going to skin that doll that sings non-stop.”

“You mean Momo,” I dryly responded. My scowl couldn’t fully display my irritation regarding his unexpected company.

Jeez. They’re the same person and yet I despise this side now.

I obviously knew he did what he did was for my own benefit, just like what I did for their own benefit, but I was allowed to still be pissed.

Maybe I’ll forgive him after a hundred years. Nah. One hundred years is sus. A thousand years and I’ll think about it.

Their dual chuckles freaked me out as my eyes darted from Malifer to Nathan. Aside from the obvious height difference between the two and Nathan wearing black from head to toe, they looked almost the same.

“Still feisty as ever,” they said in unison, which had me cringing.

“Don’t talk in unison like that,” I whined. “I have to be able to survive a thousand years hating you.” I paused to point at Nathan before moving my finger to Malifer. “And loving you before I think about giving him,” My pointing finger went back to Nathan, “a possible chance of not being my eternal enemy.”

“Seriously? A thousand years?” Nathan huffed while Malifer looked over to his Astra self.

“Push it and she’ll make it two thousand.”

“That’s like capital punishment,” he argued.

“Capital punishment isn’t two thousand years,” I grumbled, my voice neutral before an annoyed voice added, “It’s eternity, Alpha.”

Nathan flinched and looked back to see, well me: Maleficient Astra Lexianne, though she appeared exactly like how I did before my Demon Valley upgrade.

“L-Lexi,” Nathan stuttered while his cheeks actually grew red.

“Since when did I even give you permission to call me Lexi, hmm?” She wasn’t going to even say hello to the poor man. “Wasn’t I yourpretty little monster? Stick to that instead of acting like we ain’t enemies, you rejected fucker!”

“This… is unexpected,” Malifer quietly muttered to me as I slowly nodded like this scene had become a bigger inconvenience than it was.

“They say demons stall and get distracted easily when your alter is all love struck by my Astra. Funny.”

“I’m not love stru—” he tried to say but the sound of a slap cut him off.

“Oh shit,” I whispered.

“Ouch,” Malifer dryly commented. “I can assure you, that hurt.”

“I bet,” I commented. “Can we make popcorn from the shadows?”

“We could but it would ruin your lipstick.”

“You’d fix it for me, though,” I offered with a tiny grin.

“True,” he replied.

“Will you two interfere?” Nathan whined with a huff. “Jeez. I come here to fetch your late asses and I’m being abused by this bit—”

And he was kicked in the balls.

“Game over,” Malifer concluded as we watched Nathan collapse to the ground while clutching his balls like his life really did depend on it.

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