Page 7 of Devil’s Promise

My stomach rolls and my head swims. I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I know it’s bad. Really bad.

Another open door comes into view, and the man carrying me angles toward it. I feel it deep in my bones; I don’t want to know what’s behind that door. Or who…

But I’m not in any position to protest as he carries me through.

It’s even darker in the room than it was in the hall, and my eyes take a moment to adjust.

When they do, I find four men sitting around a beat-up table that looks like it’s from the fifties. Even sitting, I can see these four men are as scary as the man carrying me, all of them large and tattooed.

And each of them has these eyes that are the color of gold or amber that is…

“Here she is, Angel,” the man holding me grunts, setting me unceremoniously on my feet. My ankles wobble, but I get my legs under me. I have no idea how I look, not that I care. But my hands are bleeding, my knees likely are too, and my father just yanked out a bunch of my hair.

The man at the end of the table stands.

My mouth falls open as I stare. If it’s possible, he’s even larger than the man who carried me in.

His hair isn’t spiked, it waves back from his face, but it’s the only soft thing about him, every line of him is rock-hard.

I take a half step back, but the man who carried me shoots out an arm and pushes me forward.

“You know the terms,” my father says behind me.

Is…is my father selling me? I look back at him, my eyes so wide, and for the first time in a long time, I know they’re filled with my fear. I’d get down on my knees and beg if I thought it would help.

“I do,” Angel answers, moving closer. I can barely catch my breath as he comes to stand in front of me, towering over me even in my heels. “And you know mine.”

“We are agreed then?” My father sounds well and truly pleased. Which is so very bad. I look back at him, my body starting to shake all over again.

“We are agreed.”

My father’s lips curl into a grotesquely satisfied smile. “I hear that despite your many sins, you’re a man of your word. Is that true?”

“It’s true,” the other man answers. “If I make you a promise, I’m keeping it.”

“Don’t look so sad, Promise. This is a happy day. My baby girl is getting married.” And then he lets out the kind of dark laugh that makes the hair on my arms raise.

My head whips around again to stare at the man in front of me. He can’t mean… My eyes travel up the massive width of his chest, to the thick tattooed cords of neck, and over the hard edges of his square jaw. Finally, I stop at the cold unnatural amber eyes that stare back at me.

I shake my head, my hair brushing across my back as I try to dissent. No. I can’t. Not this man.

My father’s hand digs into my hair again, the sharp sting making me reach back again, as I try to manage the pain.

“You told me she doesn’t speak,” Angel rumbles. “But I want to know. Does she make any noise at all? Will she cry?” He leans down peering into my face, his amber eyes holding mine and making me forget all about the pain at the back of my head. “Does she scream?”

CHAPTER TWO

Promise

I have to keep my lips clamped shut to keep from whimpering. I haven’t been tempted to make a sound in ages.

But today…

It’s the dead look in his eyes, for one. There is no caring, no compassion, no…humanity in them.

I’m used to my father, I know men who will suck you dry, but my father keeps a mask on his beast.

Not this man. There is no veil over his true nature.