Page 32 of All the Devils are Here

The softness of her voice woke the man in me. It was a struggle to stay in this form when she sounded like that. But for her, I would.

I crept up onto the bed and laid alongside her, letting her wrap around me, and she did so instinctually. Light flashed behind my eyes, instinct washing over me so deeply, I shuddered.

The delicate scent I already loved became so much more intense. The way I felt her wrapped around me snapped into crystal clear focus. Everything her scent told me was sharper, confirming everything.

Relief and joy washed through me. My kitten. I didn’t stop the louder sound of my rumbling purr.

I also understood the others drinking. Knowing this joy and not being able to tell her was a different kind of torture. But it was one I would accept if it meant I could stay here like this. With her. My mate.

Turning on my side, I stretched out further, letting a paw lay over her. My kitten needed to be warmer. Especially in the clothes he’d given her. I loved the way the dress hugged her body. I didnotlike the way Prospero looked at her while she wore it.

But that was a problem for later.

Right now, I would make her feel safe, so when we could tell her the truth, she would be ours.

Our mate.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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MEGHAN

Irecognized the warm darkness I stood in right now. The scent of sawdust and sweat, the warmth coming from the sidelights, the soft brushes of ballet shoes on wood, and the harder stomping of the toe shoes. The audience cheered, and I looked down to find myself in one of my costumes forThe Nutcracker. The last show I’d performed in.

A toy soldier. Red coat, white tights, and black boots.

The strings rose in the orchestra, and I recognized it. Curtain call. It was my cue. But where were all the other performers? Where were my cast mates?

I ran out on cue under the bright lights, but faced an empty stage and an empty audience. There was no one here with me. The pit was empty, music playing from nowhere.

A rattling distracted me, and I looked down. My hand was wrapped in a metal cuff that sank to the floor. I didn’t have to look at my other hand to know it was chained too—I felt the weight.

“There you are.”

I heard Laurent’s voice behind me, and his breath warmed my neck, and I felt the brush of his lips on my skin.

“We wondered where you went.” That wasn’t Laurent. It was Trin. He was in front of me, and it didn’t seem to matter that there wasn’t any water. Ban prowled out of the shadows in the wings, shifting to his human form and coming closer, the three of them surrounding me, hands reaching and touching and I couldn’t speak.

Here, in whatever world my mind was living in, this was all right. This wasperfect.

“You’re a toy soldier.” My head snapped to my left and found Ariel standing there, entirely human and wholly naked. “Is that what you want, Meghan?” The way he said my name made me shiver. “To be our toy?”

The chains sank into the floor, pulling me down onto a box that hadn’t been there before. One of the wooden, black painted monstrosities every theatre had to mimic sets that weren’t finished. I was bent over it, and suddenly my legs couldn’t move either. Sprawled and open, surrounded by these men, and I wasn’t afraid even for a second.

Ariel stood in front of me. All I could see was him. His hand cupped my cheek, thumb reaching out to run over my bottom lip. I leaned into his touch, craving more of it from all of them.

This had to be a dream, and in a dream, there was nothing to lose. No reason I had to tell them no. I was chained down, and it was my dream. If I told the chains to break, they would.

My heart pounded, and I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to break the chains.

I liked them.

Ariel crouched, dark eyes on mine, thumb pulling my mouth open just enough. “I need you to tell me yes or no, Meg.”

“To what?” My voice sounded loud in the cavernous space. Echoing the way Ariel’s didn’t.

“Do you want to be our toy?” He asked again, the velvet softness of his voice making me shudder. “For us to play with for a while.”

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