Page 48 of Deranged Demons

My brows lift, and I stare at him in surprise. “Well, maybe you said the oath wrong.” I pause thoughtfully. “Wait, are you saying you haven’t been with anyone since you made your oath? How long ago was that?”

His jaw clenches.

“Well, shit. No wonder you’re so grumpy.”

The thick muscles across his chest tighten, and I tense. “If you were going to kill me, you wouldn’t have saved me from your pals out there.”

“Maybe I just want you to suffer first,” he replies gruffly, tightening his hold on my wrists.

I think his idea is to intimidate me, but all it’s doing is turning me on even more. I’m guessing he must feel the same way, because he presses his hips against me, and strain pulls across his features.

I smirk. “Give it up, assassin. Because whether we like it or not, Lady Fate has plans for us.”

He breathes heavily. “I was sent here to take your life.”

“Yes, well, it’s the giants who are being difficult with the negotiations. Instead of sending you to do their dirty work, maybe the royals of Rostof should get their heads out of their asses and actually have a realistic conversation with King Dalton. I mean, don’t you ever say ‘no’ to them?”

He frowns at me like I’m speaking gibberish. “No.”

I smile sweetly. “Then I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

“You’re the demon princess,” he whispers like saying it out loud is blasphemy.

“And you’re an asshole,” I reply. “So it looks like we both lucked ou?—”

Before I can finish, he smashes his lips to mine, and the kiss is rough and possessive, and it sets my body on fire. Cool mint and chocolate fills my mouth, sweet and bitter, and mouthwateringly delicious as his tongue pushes in, stroking and demanding that I respond. His hips press harder against me, and every other thought empties from my mind, replaced by the desire to have more of him. Need races through me. A need so strong it’s almost painful. Ineedhim.

Using my power, I yank my hands free and push him with enough force that he falls with his back flat to the floor. Before he can get up, I’m on him, my knees sliding to the sides of his hips as lust wars with the hatred in his cool and calculating gray eyes. He’s so big between my legs, and I enjoy the feel of him beneath me. His large hands reach behind my back, and when I grind against him, the growl that comes from him is a feral, guttural sound that turns my insides to liquid.

“Demon enchantress,” he curses as he peers up at me, and there’s a tortured look in his eyes. “After all these years, this is a test to finally break me.”

I can’t blame him for believing that. He’s right about this not making any sense. If he wasn’t my mate, I would kill him in a heartbeat and I’d enjoy it,too. But he is, and I rock against him as I arch my back, enjoying the hard press of him between my thighs. When I look down, the hate is gone from his eyes, the emotion drowned by a desire so intense, all I can think about is having him inside me. Filling me and riding me until I’m too exhausted to move.

Before I can think about giving in and wrestling the assassin out of his clothes, he curses and breaks his hands free from my hold. His grip tightens on my back, and he rolls us to the side right before Prince Callan crashes through the ceiling. Debris and dust shower around us, and Nate climbs through the window in his shifted form, followed by Dante who wields a giant ax. Shade is the last to enter, and she soars straight for the assassin, pecking at his face furiously as she frantically flaps her wings. He lifts his hand to protect his eyes and grumbles another curse, but he doesn’t harm her.

“Shade, stop!”I send to her, but she keeps going.

“Tell me you’re all right!”she squawks in my mind, and my heart clenches at the panic in her voice.

“The assassin saved me,”I tell her quickly, trying to ease her worry.“And as much as I appreciate the support, you can stop attacking my mate now.”

She pecks him a few more times before flying to the closest windowsill and tucking in her wings. Her feathers are still ruffled as she paces.“Well, you’d better tell that to these three before things get out of hand.”

I lift to my feet, facing the glowering males who are positioned around the room, and the assassin does the same. Dante’s face is the picture of wrath as his tailflicks and he stares down the Drozac, and Nate roars, his mouth stretching wide as he bares his fangs like he’s imagining crushing the assassin’s head. Prince Callan’s normally perfectly smoothed hair is tousled and unruly, and stress lines are tight across his face.

My lips curve into a smile. “Aw, you guys care about me,” I croon happily. Either that, or they simply care about keeping me alive, but I let myself believe the first option.

Dante’s chest heaves up and down, and he assesses the way I’m instinctively standing in front of the assassin. Slowly, the anger in his eyes starts to dissipate. “So, I’m guessing this is the other mate you were telling me about?” he says coolly, though there’s still a deranged look in his eyes that’s making me feel all hot and bothered. Then again, that might be because my mates are around me all looking incredibly delectable right now. Or maybe, it’s because we almost just died, and I’m so damn relieved to see them alive.

“Yup,” I say with a ridiculously giddy smile.

“The Drozac assassin,” Prince Callan says with disgust, but the assassin doesn’t look the least bit affronted by the contempt in the archangel’s voice.

“He saved me from the giants,” I say, and it feels weird to be defending a member of the Drozac. “I mean, I would have just killed them when I woke, but uh, thanks,” I add, turning to the assassin. Despite his relaxed stance, his alert gaze doesn’t shift from my mates.

When the others keep acting hostile, I shoot them a stern look until one by one they slowly lower their weapons. Nate hisses and paces before changing back to his non-shifted form, his body molding and changing, and the thick spotted fur disappearing.

Behind me, the assassin’s brows lower as he watches them follow my command. “Guess I’m not the only one who’s lost my mind,” he comments. “They act like your pets, just like your bird.” He gestures with his head to Shade.

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