21
Danica
My phone rang. I opened my eyes and glared at it. Why hadn’t I put it on silent when I’d crept back in here? I’d also forgotten to pull the blinds, and the sunlight was stabbing into my eyes. I’d never get back to sleep now.
“You snuck out of my bed.”
I yawned. “Good morning, Samael.”
“Are youashamedof me, little witch?”
I needed to tread very carefully here. The male ego was a fragile thing, and Samael knew damn well that if word got around that not only was I bound to a demon, but that I’d been in his bed, I was in deep shit.
While I hunted all kinds of creatures as a bounty hunter, my specialty was lesser demons, because the imprint of demon power was found near my mom’s body. What would happen when the Mage Council decided I couldn’t be trusted to hunt these demons since I was rolling around in the sheets with their king?
The council could continue to give me low-level missing person cases for the rest of my life, and I’d have to put up with it until I avenged my mother. And I’d be stuck in Durham a lot longer if I didn’t have easy access to demons to interrogate.
Right now, my job took me all over the Triangle, allowing me to come into contact with paranormals from every faction. And each time I interviewed one of them, I became one step closer to finding the answers I needed.
Yeah,a little voice in my head saidbut look at how many people you’ve interviewed since you started working for Samael— high demons, fae, even the werewolf king.
I squashed that little voice. One fact remained: In any kind of relationship with Samael— even if it was just sexual— he would always have all the power. As long as I was bound to him, the power imbalance would mean we were never equals.
I’d enjoyed myself, sure. In fact, just the glimpse I’d had of Samael unleashed had made it clear that being with him would likely be the peak of sex for my life. I couldn’t see how it could ever get any better, and certainly not with anyone else. But getting that close once was a mistake. More than once was a pattern.
“Witchling?”
I blinked. Samael was still on the other end of the phone.
“I needed to feed my cat.” I put him on speaker and glanced at the time. 10am.
He heaved a sigh, as if he didn’t quite know what to do with me. I rolled my eyes.
“There was an attack on another of my demons. I had instructed them not to travel alone until this murderer was found, and someone targeted a young demon who was visiting his girlfriend. They weren’t aware that his friend was nearby waiting for him.”
My pulse sped up. “Is the demon okay?”
“He will be. His friend called for backup, and would have chased the suspects, however he needed to staunch the worst of the blood.”
Holy shit. “Suspects?”
“Yes. A group of them. All in dark cloaks. However one of them stumbled and fell, drawing the attention of a dark fae who happened to be in the area. He held her until my people arrived.”
“Where?”
He gave me the address and I pushed my hair off my face. “I’ll be right there.”
Lia was asleep with her paw thrown over her eyes, so I crept out of the bed and pulled on my clothes. Teeth brushed, hair up, weapons in place, I was walking out of my apartment five minutes after Samael’s call.
It was already warm— a sign that this spring was likely to be short. But Vas was wearing a leather jacket when I met him outside. His face was hard, shoulders tight, and I studied him as I walked toward my car.
“Samael said to fly you. He wants you there ASAP.”
This was new. I frowned but turned back to him. Vas crouched slightly, wrapping his arms around me until I was cradled in his arms like a child.
“We need to talk about this,” I said. There was absolutely no dignity in this position, and I was going to look like an idiot when we landed.
Vas ignored me and shot into the sky, the wind stealing the air from my lungs as a huge chunk of hair escaped my ponytail. Being carried around like a sack of flour took some getting used to. Thankfully, I wouldn’t be doing it for much longer.
