“I do,” I whisper. “I need you, Tauren.” My heart pounds against my ribs as I add shyly, “But I need my sisters too. If I stay with you, you have to let me visit them. And you have to let them visit here.”
“Of course,” he says, then he smiles in that beautiful way that makes my breath leave me.
Stepping up to my side, he gently slides the plug out before reaching for my restraints. He loosens the ropes, then gathers me into his arms. “They can visit as much as you’d like them to. Hell, I’ll build them their own castle if that’s what it takes to make you stay.”
“A wing will be fine,” I laugh. “But no skulls in their bedrooms! And they’ll want their own private library, with enough romance books to fill a ballroom.”
“Done.” He kisses my forehead, grinning. “I’m going to dress you now and take you up to bed. Then I’m going to fuck you again. Do you understand, my love?”
I nod obediently. Blossom’s going to throw a fit.
Oh well…
After carrying me up to his tower, Tauren lowers me like I’m made of glass onto his bed.
“I’m going to bring you a jug of water,” he says, sliding his arms out from beneath me. “Do not move from this spot.”
“I won’t,” I giggle. The sky would have to fall for me to leave here now. Once the bedchamber door closes, I nuzzle against his sheets. It smells of crackling fires, dark chocolate, and?—
My brow furrows. There’s a smell I don’t recognise.
I sit up, inhaling. It’s not coming from the sheets. It’s a sour, powerful smell, sharp enough to make my nostrils burn.
“You were a difficult angel to find, little one. Where’ve you been?”
I gasp, whipping my head around the dark room. I’ve heard that voice before, but I can’t think where. All I know is that it’s not my husband’s.
“Who are you?” I whimper. “What do you want?”
“What I want is for your pretty sister to forgive me,” the demon says, inches from my ear, before darkness swallows me whole.
37
TAUREN
She’s gone. Why is she fucking gone? I tear the sheets off my bed, tossing the pillows across the room. I’ve checked the bathroom, the dining area, even outside my tower in case she decided to go for a walk. The guards say they saw nothing. No one’s been in or out of my chambers since I carried my wife up to bed ten minutes ago.
I drag a hand through my hair, sucking in a deep breath. It’s then that I pause. All the colour drains from my face.
It smells of soul in here. Human soul.
“Dahlia!” Power explodes from my hands, turning my bed into splinters. Storming out of my bedchamber, I grab the nearest guard by his collar. “Search the entire castle. I want every fucking demon checked for the scent of soul, and bring Kennix here,” I spit. “Go!”
The demon scurries off while I throw the door to my chambers back open and march inside.
Eyes watering, I tear through the rooms. “Please come out, sweetheart,” I panic. “If you’re hiding, I won’t punish you. I just want to know that you’re safe.”
The soul scent is faint, so it’s unlikely whoever broke in here ate my wife’s soul. It’s more likely they ate someone else’s and then came for her.
I reach my bedchamber, throwing open the doors to the wardrobe.
Souls are filling. They won’t eat hers so soon after eating someone else’s. I have time to find her.
I flip over my desk.I have time. “Where are you, little monster?”
A knock echoes through my chambers. “Enter!” I bark at the sound.
Bootsteps thunk against my floor until a black-haired demon enters my bedroom. “You called, sire?” Kennix stops, sniffs. “Why does it smell of soul in?—”
