Page 50 of Deranged Demons

“I’m not being carried like an infant,” Alaric grumbles.

I plant a hand on my hip. The urge to tell him to stay behind is on the tip of my tongue, but without him, we can’t seal the fated mates bond. Without him, I won’t be able to unlock my power. It’s bad enough that Prince Callan is still resistant to the idea, but I thought I’d gotten through to the assassin. Our fates are entwined, whether he likes it or not.

Nate crosses his arms. The shifter is wearing the clothes of a dead alpha we passed on our way here, and it’s strange seeing him without his midriff showing. He tips his head toward Alaric. “I’m with him. Cats aren’t meant to fly.” His gaze slides to Prince Callan. “Besides, I’m not puttin’ my life in his hands.”

Prince Callan’s eyes darken. “Now, I think that’s the smartest thing you’ve said so far.”

I roll my eyes and turn my attention to where Dante has been silently observing us. “And what about you? Anything you want to complain about?”

His dark eyes glimmer with amusement, and hetaps his chin with his finger, his expression becoming thoughtful. “Mmmm, no I’m more than happy to be air lifted over these walls if it means lessening the time until I’m between your thighs.”

My cheeks heat, my body warming at the thought of him between my legs again, and the other guys glare at him.

“Oh, now that’s a reply worthy of a fated mate,”Shade swoons.

“What?” Dante says to the others with a devilish smirk. “Some of you might have convinced yourselves you don’t want this, but I’ve tasted my princess, and I’ll happily spend my life making her scream my name.”

“Fucking demons,” Alaric growls and drops the leather satchel he’s been holding before pulling out the two swords at his sides. Cracking his neck, he doesn’t even spare me another glance before he strides forward and steps out onto the bridge.

I don’t try to stop him. If he’s not willing to be carried, this is the only way across. Still, my breath catches in my throat as I watch him take one step after the other. He moves carefully, his gaze sharp and alert, and his steps light despite his large size.

“Bastard has balls,” Dante comments.

Nate only waits a moment before he starts stripping off his clothes. When he’s fully naked, he winks at me. “When it’s my turn with you, I’ll make sure you forget his name and only remember mine. See you on the other side, gorgeous.”

Dante smirks wickedly. “Something tells me she’ll want to forget more than that when she’s with you.”

Shade’s laughter fills my head, and Nate glowers at the demon before turning to Prince Callan. “Here hang on to these, will ya,” he says and shoves his clothes into the prince’s hands. Before Prince Callan can complain, Nate’s body is shifting until he’s a giant cat again.

Prince Callan narrows his eyes as Nate nudges me with his nose, and my face flushes as a deep rumbling sound vibrates in the cat’s chest. Then Nate turns from me and starts crossing the bridge, his paws silent on the decayed wood. His long strides bring him closer to where Alaric is already halfway across, and for a moment, I think nothing bad is going to happen. That is, until the black water starts bubbling, and something large moves under the surface.Ah, fuck.

“I do hope you weren’t expecting them to live,” Prince Callan says unhelpfully as he drops Nate’s clothes, letting them fall to the ground.

“They aren’t just my mates,” I point out as I pick up the clothes and bundle them in my arms. “You’re bound to them too, and if they die, we all lose.”

Dante mutters a curse like he’d been purposely trying to forget that part, and he reaches for his sword at the same time as I do.

The bubbles reach the bridge, and I launch into the air as four giant tentacles spear from the water, rising up on either side of the bridge. “Run!” I yell at Alaric and Nate.

Alaric slices through a massive, wet tentacle aimed for him, leaps over another one, and rolls before cleaving into a third tentacle that swipes toward him. Nate roars and slashes at a tentacle with his front paws, but one of the other tentacles moves away from Alaric and goes for the shifter, wrapping around my mate’s torso and lifting him high into the air. My heart lurches as he struggles and the tentacle rushes downward, smashing the shifter’s body against the bridge. Nate roars again, his fangs sinking into blubbery flesh as he’s lifted back into the air. The tentacle swings from side to side, but it doesn’t loosen.

Two of the other tentacles rush at Alaric again, and he dodges away from one, only to be picked up by the other.

“No!”Shade laments in my head.“Tentacles aren’t meant to be scary! Books have taught me they’re for good times!”

I have no idea what she’s on about, and I don’t ask as I rush toward the monster with my sword brandished before me. Swooping down, I slice through the massive tentacle holding Nate, severing the circular suckers as I cut clean through the flesh. The detached tentacle loosens as it falls, and Nate jumps back to the bridge, landing on his feet. Something screams below the water, and huge bubbles rise to the surface as the water ripples.

Using his blade, Alaric cuts himself free, but another tentacle is quick to wrap around him. It winds around his body, pinning his arms to his sides, and heshouts something that I can’t hear over the din of the creature’s cries.

Four more tentacles spring from the water as Prince Callan launches into the sky, flying lower toward Alaric. Two tentacles go for the archangel, and he uses wind power to batter away a tentacle that rushes his right side. The tentacle rears back in the air, but another comes from behind and slams into him with enough force that it sends him careening downward.Dammit.I angle down to try and catch him, but the prince flaps his wings, steadying himself and rising just before he hits the black water.

“Blake!”Shade’s shrill warning is in my head as she flaps high above me, not willing to get close to the monster. I turn to see Alaric’s still struggling against the tightening hold of a tentacle, his face reddening. Nate is pacing at the other end of the bridge, but he doesn’t move to help.

“What the fuck? Does he not get that if one of us dies, it’ll suck for all of us?”

I pivot, soaring toward Alaric with my sword, and this time it’s Dante who bellows a warning right before the water explodes. A wave of water sprays into the air as the head of the massive monster rises from the moat, huge milky white eyes fixing on us as its massive maw opens revealing a set of razor-sharp teeth.

Merciful Lady Fate, the creature is large enough it could swallow us all whole.

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