Page 40 of How Not to Date a Demon

“You’re really shitty at hiding stuff,” she said, her laugh choked out. “You kept leaving your shirts in the trash after you… changed. Where your wings ripped them. I thought I was going crazy.”

Galen’s eyes fluttered shut, chest heaving with a painful breath. “No, Maeve. I’m just… a fucking idiot.”

“You were chanting. To the puppies. And their eyes glowed.” She lifted her head, pinning him with a knowing glance. “They’re not normal puppies, are they?”

“No,” he admitted. “They are going to guard the gates of Hell when they are old enough.”

“Like Cerberus? The three-headed dog from Greek mythology?”

“Yeah!” he said. “How’d you—”

“I searched Google for answers, Galen! Like Google was going to tell me you were a demon. But I knew something was up. I even—” She choked her words off, eyes wide, and dropped her head back into her hands.

Was that a blush on her cheeks?

“Maeve, what’d you do?” he asked, biting his cheeks at the smile threatening to curl his lips.

“Nothing,” she lied. Her voice was small, and Galen sighed, letting her keep her secrets for now.

“You’re not crazy. There was something up. Me being a shit demon, for one,” he added, aiming for levity.

“Are you evil?” she asked finally, voice softer than he’d ever heard it.

It scared him.

“I don’t like to think so,” he answered honestly, softly, and hoping with every fiber of his being she believed him. “I was born this way. I’m not a human who went to Hell and became a demon. That’s not how it works. I… Can I show you?” She wouldn’t look at him, and it was killing him.

“Show me what?”

“Hell. It’s not what you’ve been envisioning your whole life.”

“What?” Maeve asked with a shout and drew back from his touch. She finally met his gaze, but there was fear in her eyes. “I don’t want to go to Hell!”

“No harm will come to you. I swear,” he promised. “Hell’s not all that bad.”

She dropped her gaze to her lap with a sigh. “There’s no going back from this, is there? Now that you’ve told me your secret, do you have to kill me?”

His chest seized at the thought.

“Absolutely not,” he answered, his voice almost a bark. She shrunk back into the recliner, and he lowered his voice. “Nothing will happen to you. I swear it. Not here, and not in Hell. It’s not all fires and lakes of lava. It’s not what you’ve been told, not what all the mythologies in the world could touch.”

“If it’s not dangerous for me to know, then why were demons excluded from the Big Reveal, huh? Vampires, witches, werewolves, sure, fine. But demons were never mentioned.”

He sighed, wringing his hands together. “We thought demons might be a little… much, for the human population. What with Hell and all.”

“Can’t say I blame you there,” she muttered, gaze flicking to her feet and back up.

He watched the spark of interest flicker to life behind her eyes.

“So you’re… a prince of darkness?” she asked. “You’re important there?”

“Not to toot my own horn, but yeah, kinda. Though that is Lucifer’s preferred title, so for the love of everything, don’t call me that around him.”

The blood drained from her cheeks. “I have to m-meet Lucifer?”

He stared at her. “Who else would marry us?”

“M-Marry? Is this a proposal?” Her gaze was wider than ever.