“How do you know they were hunting me?” She lifted her chin with a frown.
Xander’s grip tightened as the counter groaned. “Because if I hadn’t attacked first, they would have ignored me completely.” His eyes finally dropped back to her shoulder, and she released a breath she wasn’t aware of holding. “They were hunting you, only you. Why?”
“How am I supposed to know?”
His nostrils flared, and the counter cracked. He swore in a language she had never heard, the words beautiful but harsh.
“Kyra,” he growled her name in warning. “Shadow-Veyn, especially hounds run on pure animal instinct, unless they’re commanded by their masters. Why was a Daemon’s dog hunting you?”
She looked away, seeking the stronger light in the hall. “This was stupid, I have to go back.” She went to jump off the counter when Xander stood closer, boxing her in. She felt magic tingle her fingertips, ready. “Xander, back off.” She made sure her words were strong, void of any emotion that threatened to ruin her.
“What happened?”
“You have no idea what I have to do to just survive, the stuff I’m made to do.” Her fingertips sparked, so she pulled them closer to her chest. “This was a mistake, I have to go back.”
“Like fuck you do,” he snarled. “Tell me what the fuck is going on? What sort of trouble have you gotten yourself into?”
“I’ve been given to a Daemon as insurance.”
You disgust me.
His words rebounded across her memory. She almost wanted him to say them to her again, to remind her that the choices she made to survive were aberrant.
“I agreed to be given to a Daemon as insurance,” she rephrased when his face twisted to the exact expression he had when he told her that she disgusted him.
She wasn’t sure why it bothered her so much, but her chest still clenched anyway.
“You agreed?”
No.She hadn’t technically agreed, but she hadn’t fought hard enough either. The realisation of what she had actually said hit her. She had beengivento a Daemon, creatures of pure horror. Breed with no morals, and who regularly feast on the witches stupid enough to summon them.
She had beengiven,like an unwanted pet.
“Why didn’t you mention this before?” he demanded. “This is pretty fucking important information.”
“Because they had nothing to do with those threats.” She felt his rage, the heat a pulse against her exhausted senses. “My life is what it is,” she added quietly. “There's nothing I can do about it.”
“Who promised you to a Daemon?”
“Please, I can’t say.”
“Can’t, or won’t?”
A moment passed, and then another. She thought he would have broken his jaw from the way he gritted his teeth so hard, but the silence stretched to the point she flinched when he finally broke the stillness. “Tell me everything.”
Her voice cracked. “I can’t.”
Chapter16
Xander
Xander cracked the front door, a physical crack splitting the wood. The sight of it immediately calmed his temper to a simmer, especially when Alice frowned as the break moved until the window shattered.
Shit.
“So it went well then?”
“Where’s your mate?” he replied instead, hoping his tone wasn’t as irate as he felt. Apparently it was if he went by Alice’s expression.
