I’d promised him.
He was depending on me.
A demon landed twenty feet ahead in a crush of rock. Debris hurtled in every direction, screaming as it was ripped from itself.
I had a lot in common with that stone.
I halted, and fury rippled over me in tandem with the dust dragged forward by my slipstream. Fury and shock too. I’d run through any number of scenarios where my mate-intended cornered me after the match. I’d expected him to storm the Pinnacles after the game. Was it idiotic that I’d never expected him to actually come down here during a fight?
He was the demon king.
He never didanythingthat called his power into doubt, and a mate-intended who’d ditched him three years ago…shehad definitely called his power into doubt.
His boots were gleaming, lending to the air that he was untouchable. Did he know there was dirt down here?
The dust and debris settled, and the male unfolded from his crouch in the rocky crater. His shoulders heaved, and his lips were white as he stretched to his full towering height.
His hair is different.He’d cut the black strands short again.
My chest tightened at the sight of the ink-black symbols covering most of his torso. The demon king was made for war,made for fighting. Made to conquer—and not just land. He was made to conquer everything, including minds and hearts.
In two huge steps, he was out of the crater.
I studied his gray eyes from the depths of my hood. His eyes had changed to the same color as mine the day we’d met. Though my gray eyes were rimmed in a ring of black, blazing crimson surrounded his—the same color of his scales and magic.
He’d professed to having saved me that day when we first met.Fucking liar.
He hadn’t lied about one thing, though. The change in his eye color meant we were intended to be immortal mates. If only both of us still agreed on the matter.
His shoulders were still heaving.
I could guess why he appeared out of sorts. The last time we were together, I’d ridden him like my life depended on it. I’d ridden him like I was saying goodbye to the only male who could ever give me sexual gratification. Because Ihad been. That night he’d looked at me with awe and wonder and something akin to love in his eyes. I’d poured every bit of love I’d ever thought that I felt for him into that act. I’d poured it all out forever.
Hours later, I’d hatched my plan to escape.
The demon king must’ve thought back on that night one thousand times, wondering if I’d planned to run even as I fucked him like my life depended on it.
“Yes,” I told him.
The slight flicker in his red-rimmed gray eyes asked me what the fuck I was talking about.
I tilted my head. “Yes, I was thinking about my escape the entire time I fucked you that night.”
The nearest demons laughed and turned to spread the whispers through the crowd.
The king’s jaw tightened.
I took a step to the right.
I had to circle him. Hysterical laughter almost got the better of me then.Circlethe demon king? Was I a fool now? Like he hadn’t planted himself in my path to stop me getting to the checkpoint.
Despite the hopelessness of the situation, I had expected to feel much more fear in this moment of reunion. Seeing him hadn’t shaken me from my goal one bit.
I had to reach the checkpoint.
“Why have you returned?” His gaze tracked me as I took another step.
I arched a brow. “This and that.”
