Page 72 of All the Devils are Here

“Right.” My chest was still heavy from crying and the tightness because of all that pain. Even as a dancer, my body wasn’t used so much. Sex and pain and adrenaline. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”

“Magic is fun when it’s not trying to kill you.”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

Carrying me into the kitchen, he set me on the counter. It was shockingly modern. “You have a refrigerator.”

“Should we not?”

“I just don’t think about things about appliances on a magical island in the middle of the fucking ocean?”

He chuckled, stepping in between my legs to kiss me. “We’ve all been out in the real world at one point or another. Or observed it from a distance. Even Ban, though he’s probably done it the least. We’re monsters, but thankfully we’re not barbarians.”

My cheeks turned pink. “Sorry.”

“It’s a fair assumption. We don’t need electricity because of the magic. But we do have modern things, and you can have anything you like.”

Trin wasn’t wearing a shirt, and up close, I could see the way his lower stomach shifted colors, just like my hands were now. I ran my colored fingers over the edge of his colored skin. “I need more of you, Trin.”

“Don’t worry. I have plans for you, mate. But I need you to eat.”

I lowered my voice. “Is this a weird sex thing?”

He matched my tone, but smiled. “No. You’re human, and you need to eat. Especially with what’s happening to you.”

The thing I didn’t want to think about at all. Yes. Comfort food. That’s what I needed. “I’d like some soup, please.”

“Coming right up.”

Ban walked into the kitchen on two legs and fixed his eyes on me. “I am going to make sure Prospero is where he should be.”

I instantly reached out, and he came. His tail curled around my calf, and his big body enveloped mine. I liked the way he pressed his nose into my neck and inhaled deeply, like I was the best perfume on earth. “Be careful, please.”

He purred quietly. “I will miss you, kitten.”

Form shifting, he collapsed into his feline form and slipped out of the kitchen. I watched him until he disappeared, my stomach now growling at the scent of soup.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

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CALIBAN

Iexited our house and quieted my purr with my mate’s scent still in my nose. That sharp sweetness was even richer in this form, and I couldn’t get enough. She wanted me—told me to be careful.

The hesitation of earlier rose, and I let it go. She didn’t think I was lesser. In this form it was easier to feel it, when I was more instinct than man. But my instincts were already changing, reforming around her and how to protect her.

Speeding through the lush foliage, I ran toward the mountain at the other end of the island. As far as possible from our home. There wasn’t a way to know if he would emerge from his den, but if he did, I wanted to know.

He might sense me coming close, but I didn’t care. There wasn’t much he could do to me that he hadn’t already, and he’d surprised us once. Prospero was crafty. He wouldn’t stop even if he were trapped.

If he gave me a hint about any other plans, I wanted to know. I wouldn’t let her die. She wasmine.

I slowed outside the mountain, going back to the window of the room where he’d held Meg before. There was nothing here now, just an empty bed and chains. No sign of what he’d done or any hint of anything else.

A thought froze me.

Did Prospero know she was our mate?

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