Page 16 of Prince of Wrath

The deal we had struck was worthless if Ben was allowed even a glimpse of happiness.

“Who says he isn’t miserable? Have you seen the price of cocaine in this town?” Seere picked at his cuticles, either ignoring me or determined to send me into a rampage.

“If I could, I would kill you right now. You asshole.” I moved toward him with my hands miming strangulation.

“You’re such a tease.” His eyes panned over me, and a masochistic smirk spread over his face. “You know I like it rough.”

“What are you going to do about this?” I flung an arm out.

“Nothing.” He shrugged.

“Nothing? Nothing?” My anger was unraveling me. “You’ve broken our agreement. I gave you my soul in exchange for his life in ashes. Yet here he is, unpacking a truck full of crap into the house next to mine.”

Seere wagged his finger at me like I was a child having an unwarranted tantrum. “I haven’t broken our agreement at all. He lost everything and is miserable. But unless you want me to kill him, there’s nothing I can do about a rat who found its way to shore from a shipwreck.”

“I don’t want him dead. I want him to be begging at my feet for forgiveness.” I flopped onto the nearest sofa with my face in my hands. “You’re pathetic.”

“I do wish you’d say that again, but dressed in leather while tightening a vise around my balls.”

I looked up at his pleased expression. “You’re going to go over there and do something. Keep your real promise to me without any of your fucking demon loopholes.”

“I won’t be doing that, but what I will do is let you take your anger out on me.” He leaned over me and braced his hands on the back of the couch, caging me in. “I love how feisty you get when you’re mad. My little flame could burn the world down with that anger.”

I huffed. “Useless fucking demon.” I got to my feet, pushing him away. “Fine.”

He chuckled. “Is this your way of giving me permission to follow you to bed or to kill him?”

I ignored him and marched to my bedroom closet.

Seere appeared in my doorway just in time to watch the largest piece of luggage I owned bounce heavily on my bed. I turned to my dresser, opened the top drawer, and scooped everything out of it. Socks. Panties. Lingerie. Bras. I dumped everything into the suitcase, turned to the next drawer, and repeated the process.

If Seere wasn’t going to fix his mistake, I was going to leave the city.

The state.

The country!

Anything to get away from Ben and the demon gawking at me.

“Sloane,” he called, but I was already gathering dresses and slacks from my closet. “Sloane. Stop.”

“No!” I shouted back at him. “No. I won’t. I’m not going to stop until I find some fucking island somewhere you won’t be able to find me. Some tiny blip of an island that only fishermen and birds know. If that’s what it takes to⁠—”

Seere wrapped his hands around my shoulders and shook me hard enough to stop my rant.

I looked up at his stern expression. Hot tears had welled in my eyes, giving his face a blurred halo and reminding me that at one point, he had been an angel. He must have been so beautiful. Now, he was brutal. He was staring down at me like he was ready to devour me whole. He always gave me that look when I’d pushed him too far and he was ready to remind me that he did, in fact, own me.

“You can start over every single day. Move to a new city. Move to a different country if you like.” His face was a breath away from mine. “Distance won’t silence the voice in your head that’s always searching for me in the dark corners.”

A hand smoothed up the nape of my neck while the other slipped to my waist, bringing my hips against his.

“Because I will be in every shadow.” The hard length of him pressed to my belly, and the hot surge of danger, fear, and weakness filled my core.

“I can’t do this again,” I whispered.

“I can.” His eyes darkened with the depth of his voice. “I could spend lifetimes chasing you to every hidden pocket of this plane and all others.”

The tears I’d been holding back finally broke free, making trails of my own emotional betrayal obvious. I took a deep breath to chase off the rest.