Page 10 of Deranged Demons

The giant’s cheeks puff, his right eye twitching, but he turns to Theon again. “Isincerelyapologize,” he says this time.

Prince Callan nods and smiles with approval. “And now the princess. You insulted our future queen, and you’d better hope she’s merciful.”

The giant’s eyes flare wide. “B-but, no I didn’t mean?—”

“She’s half angel, is she not? Do you wish her harm?”

The giant stutters, realizing his mistake. “N-no, of course not.”

My own cheeks burn. I’ve never associated with the angels, and I just assumed they would detest my mixed blood just like the demons.Was I wrong?

“Whoa. In the human realm angels are always portrayed as being placid and kind,”Shade comments.“But this guy is giving off some serious badass vibes.”

I don’t know much about the human realm beyond my most basic studies, but ‘kind’ isn’t the word I’d use to describe angels. From what I’ve heard, they’re just as brutal as the rest of us, though they do tend to frown on injustice.

The giant cries out again, and I’m guessing the archangel prince must be inflicting more pain because the giant’s expression quickly changes. “Stop,” he begs, his rough voice cracking. Turning his gaze to me, he blurts, “I deeply apologize your highness.” He slides his gaze to King Dalton, then back to me again. “I misspoke. I swear, I meant no disrespect.”

For a moment, I think I glimpse the hooded male with the gray eyes watching from somewhere amongthe group of giants, but he’s out of sight again a second later.

My heart pounds as I feel the weight of the golden crown on my head, and all gazes turn to me.Well, that’s just great. I guess it’s back to rule number one of being a demon royal:Never show weakness.

“Go put pressure on his broken leg and do that staring thing you love,”I tell Shade.“I’ll send some friends to join you.”I don’t want her in harm’s way, but at this point I’m sure the giant wouldn’t dare hurt her.

“Aye aye, captain,”she chirrups back and launches from my shoulder. She flaps her wings, rising high into the air as I tap into my power and send out the mental call. Energy rushes through me making my body tingle, and I look up, waiting until dozens of crows fly through the high up window that I always leave open. They fly around Shade, matching her movements, the birds curving around the ballroom and swooping down until they reach the giant. One of them perches on his head, while the others stand on his limbs and on the floor around him. Shade lands directly on his broken leg and hops around. She’s not heavy, but even that pressure makes him grunt. To his credit, the giant doesn’t move to shake them off.

Shade stops to stare the giant in the eye, and the other crows do the same. His face pales.

“Want me to caw?”she asks,“or do we need to peck him bloody?”

I scan the ballroom, taking note of the tenseexpressions around the room.“I think cawing will be enough.”

She opens her beak to caw, but that’s all it takes. The giant flinches and blubbers another apology. Satisfaction goes through me. I discovered early on that crows make monsters superstitious. They say when a crow caws it means something ominous, like an impending death. Now all I have to do is ask Shade to caw in the right situation, and monsters start falling over themselves in fear. I’d think it was pathetic if it wasn’t so damn handy.“Perfect. That will do.”

When the giant continues letting out a stream of apologies, I make it a point to sigh exaggeratedly. “Enough. I accept your apology.” I could take the giant’s life for his disrespect, but then we’d have a mess to deal with. “Let’s get on with the party!” I say, making a show of flicking my hand as if it’s a commanding gesture to my crows even though I don’t need to, and on cue, Shade flies to my shoulder while the other crows fly back out through the high window.

“Great work,”Shade says, peering out at the alphas.

“That was all you.”

The band starts playing again, and the alphas resume chatting and mingling with one another. Happy that the situation is resolved, Prince Callan gestures to an archangel with electric blue hair and tan skin. The archangel moves toward the giant, and when he reaches out his hand, the giant’s leg heals, the bone moving to its rightful place and the skin smoothing over. It’s well-known that giants don’t heallike demons, and I watch in fascination as the giant is made whole again.Huh. So angels can be kind.

The giant is quick to jump to his feet, and he doesn’t so much as look at the archangels as he returns to his group, careful not to brush past anyone else.

With the drama over, King Dalton gestures with his hand, and the guards along the walls move back into their usual standby positions. I can’t stop staring at the archangel prince. Prince Callan is nothing like I expected, and honestly, I’m a little impressed. I knew the prince was powerful, but I didn’t know he was honorable. As though he can feel my stare, he turns my way, his golden hair flicking over his eyes. As our gazes lock, his entire face transforms, his captivating smile entirely at odds with the violence swirling in his penetrating eyes, and I find I can’t look away.Oh, boy.

“Dance with him first,”Shade urges.“Something tells me he’s going to smell real good.”

Fuck, I hope she’s right.

Chapter

Five

~ Nate ~

Imaneuver through the crowd, moving past the other alphas as they jostle one another in the ballroom. An archangel stretches his wings in front of me, unknowingly blocking my path, and a brown feather floats to the ground as I step around him. The urge to take a bite out of one of the archangel’s pretty wings has my teeth turning into fangs, but I force myself to behave. I’m not here to cause trouble. Besides, from the sounds of things, someone else already has that covered.

Up ahead, I soon see who’s causing the commotion. A giant shouts a string of curses from where he remains on the floor, nursing his badly broken leg. The sickeningly handsome PrinceCallan stands over him, watching the giant with a calm expression as he orders him to apologize for whatever he must have done.Glad I’m not that fucker.

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