“He didn’t die by getting his head torn off,” Titus said in a smooth, silken voice. “In case you’re wondering. I ripped off his dick, then choked him with it.” His one white eye gleamed with mischief. “Even though there were only a couple of inches to gag him on.”
I noticed something else cushioning the beast’s head. “Are those his…?”
“Hands,” the half-devil confirmed.
My jaw fell open. “Why?”
Titus gave a flippant shrug as if I were asking why he’d left the toilet seat up. “Because I did. It’s over, and that’s that.”
“You could have come looking for me right away. Instead, you decided to take your time disemboweling this garbage. Why?”
Titus’s demeanor went from invasive to exasperated. His shoulders fell, and he heaved a sigh. “I cut off his cock because he tried to hurt you with it. And I cut off his hands simply because they touched you. I should have come straight for you, but my devil needed to…relieve some rage.”
This was the part where I should have been horrified. Once again, though, I continued to impress myself with just how messed up I really was.
Because seeing the head of my second almost rapist and knowing he’d been strangled by his own pathetic lump of flesh sent a flood of molten heat through me.
I lifted my attention to Titus and found him already looking at me with a knowing smile. “You know, most boyfriends give their girl jewelry or something.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not just your boyfriend. I’m your half-devil stepbrother and soon-to-be owner of your very soul. This is better than a necklace anyway.”
I couldn’t agree more.
“You can’t give me presents like this when we get out of here. You’ll have to be a normal guy.”
He laughed. “I don’t think I’ll ever be normal, babe. You won’t be either. I watched you crush the skull of a devil. Which was hot as fuck, by the way. But you’re still a murderer. There will always be times that we’ll have to pretend.”
The half-devil prowled toward me, the outline of his horns falling over me as his shadow stretched across the blood-soaked ground, even though he wasn’t shifted. “Behind closed doors, we can be our twisted, hell-bound selves.”
I wasn’t sure what life would look like for us after we escaped the Pine Barrens. Where would we go? Would we get normal jobs, and I’d come home to the half-human man who owned my soul like it was no big deal?
Part of me was almost too scared to imagine the future, because there was a part of me I couldn’t convince that we were going to get out of here.
Titus’s smile fell, and his mismatched eyes flickered between mine as he searched my gaze. “We’re going to get out of here, Lorelei.”
I closed my eyes and leaned against his chest, savoring his masculine heat. “Say it again.”
His strong arms banded around me, pulling me close. “We’re going to get out of here.”
He said it a few more times, but it didn’t matter how much he repeated it.
It still felt like a lie.
Chapter Twelve
Titus
I’dbelyingtomyself if I didn’t admit that I had some doubts we’d be able to make it out of the Barrens without facing the Jersey Devil. But I knew deep in my core that if he did catch us, I’d fight like hell.
I could practically taste her rising anxiety. After last night, she had to know I’d protect her, even if it meant throwing myself into the flames to save her.
This was the first time I admitted that, even to myself. In this part of the woods, the way of life was to eat or be eaten. But this little human was more than just my prey. She was my reason for fucking breathing at this point. And while there was still breath in my lungs, I’d fight like hell to ensure there was breath in hers.
Fuck me. This would have been way easier if we just had a car. I had a pretty good idea of our location. It would have been easy to guide us to a town and hotwire a car. But I didn’t trust any civilization. Bishop was the only all-devil town, but there were Leeds descendants all over the Barrens. So it was just our luck when we stumbled upon a house in the middle of the woods with an old pickup truck parked out front. Unlike the last place we’d found, this one wasn’t abandoned.
The advantage was that I wouldn’t have to fuck around with the vehicle too much.
The obvious drawback was that we’d have to be quiet.
