He was even worse than Kain, who at least hadn’t threatened to force feed her, and she was beginning to find his special brand of protectiveness more than a little aggravating.
Her mood wasn’t helped any further by the lack of apparent urgency in freeing Kain.
“You should sit down. You need to conserve your energy.”
Selma leveled a glare at the big man leaning against the door frame to the study, watching her with slightly narrowed eyes as if she was to blame for his need to keep her under constant watch.
“You do realize that this fetus was conceived like, five days ago at most, right?
“You do realize it’s a demon’s offspring who will suck you dry of energy if he needs to survive? You’re not carrying a human child. The more energy you expend, the sooner you’ll need semen.”
Well, wasn’t he just great at making her feel all at ease with being an expectant mother?
Just as she opened her mouth to hiss at him to back off, a large, dark form appeared behind him, and her jaw clamped shut at the sight of Kirigan. She may have given him attitude the night before, but he still made her insides tight with fear. There was just something utterly disturbing about him, from his dark gaze down to his unsettling aura.
“Don’t argue with the Breeder, Kesh.” Kirigan moved easily past his son and walked toward her, fixing his terrifying eyes on hers. It was all she could do not to shrink back when he stopped right in front of her and placed a single finger under her chin to tilt her head up. “There is spark left in this one still. Do not seek to quell it.”
Kesh seemed to materialize by her side out of thin air, looming over her shoulder as if to press his father back a little with his presence.
“Kain left her for me to protect. I will care for her as I see fit. Father.” The last word was tacked on in a somewhat more demure tone when Kirigan lifted his unsettling gaze from her to his son.
“Indeed you will.” The hot finger finally moved from her chin, and despite how annoyed she was with Kesh, she was pretty thankful for his protection at that moment.
When he placed a hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her back a step and out of his father’s dark aura, she breathed a shaky, and embarrassingly audible, sigh of relief.
“Any news of Kain?” she asked.
Kirigan pursed his lips and finally stepped away. He headed toward a small wooden table hosting several bottles of expensive-looking liquor.
“Yes. My connections have managed to locate him. He is being held in a secure location up in Manitoba—far into their territory. Extracting him will be… challenging.”
Selma stared from him to Kesh. Hope surged in her chest, but Kirigan’s pause made her guess there was more to it than what he let on. “Challenging?”
“Nothing for you to concern yourself with, my dear. We will find a way.” He poured a measure of whiskey and sipped it calmly before turning back around. “However, there is one thing I would discuss with you.
“It’s a curious thing, really. My connections also said that one of the Prince’s lackeys was killed the night they took my son. Only he wasn’t killed by Kain. He was found several miles away, by the side of the road with scratch marks on his arms as if someone had tried to defend themselves against him. Someone small and weak.
“And, as if this wasn’t puzzling enough, his head was scattered across the road. As if it’d exploded. I believe you know him—Marathin. Marathin Hershey, your Procurer, according to the records.”
Oh.
Fuck.
Selma gave him a nervous glance before she steeled herself. Somehow she doubted that even the demons trying to protect her would take kindly to knowing what kind of power had awoken in her after her run-in with Bealith. Nor the demon world in general, judging by how they treated the women they called Breeders.
“Is that something you would happen to know anything about, little one?”
Kain’s preferred term of endearment for her spoken by this frightening creature startled her for a moment, but she still managed to stick out her chin in defiance.
“I have no idea what happened.”
Kirigan’s lips curled in the smallest hint of a smile. “Do not try to lie to a demon, Selma. You will rarely deceive them.”
Selma did her best to keep her gaze firm, though she pressed back into Kesh’s strong chest for support. “I’m not lying. I’m scared and worried about Kain.”
The older demon’s smile turned a little sharper at the corners. “You mistakenly believe your scent is the only indicator of your deceitfulness. You are young and inexperienced, and there is little you can do to hide a lie from a demon my age. It’s painted in the tensing of your jaw, the slight dilation of your pupils. My sons may be stricken by your pheromones, and easily manipulated by the call from your sweet little cunt, but you will not find me so easily distracted.”
Her mouth fell open at his sudden vulgarity, but that wasn’t the cause of the fear curdling in her stomach. No, that came down to his eyes—those dark, soulless eyes that seemed to swallow all light that touched them bored straight into hers, demanding her surrender. It was as if she was staring into the depths of madness, realizing that just below the surface there were true horrors to be found.
