Page 43 of Ruthless Monsters

There’s a knock at the door, and we all turn as Waylen pokes his head into the room. “Mason, Eliza wants to see you. She says it’s urgent.”

The prince’s body goes rigid, and there’s reluctance in his eyes. “I’ll be right there,” he replies, and when Waylendisappears from the room, Mason turns to me. “I need to tend to this. Will you join me, my mate?”

Instinctively, I want to say ‘yes,’ but it wouldn’t make sense. “It would look strange if we all turned up to your private meeting. Go and do what you need to do. We’ll still be here.”

When he continues to hesitate, I add, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to be doing any more exploring on my own.”

At that, he finally relaxes. “Even if you did, I trust you would be fine, but times are uncertain and sometimes individuals do unexpected things.”

“It’s fine,” I reply. “I probably should try to rest more, anyway.”

He nods, seemingly satisfied with that, and he kisses me stupid before exiting the room, leaving me a grinning, near panting mess.

“So she’ll listen to him,” Alaric grumbles as the door closes.

Ignoring the assassin, I start toward the bed, and Dante moves with me, dropping onto the mattress before I can.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“You didn’t think you were sleeping on your own, did you?” he drawls. Before I can protest, he pulls me down, and tucking me against him, he wraps an arm around my body.Sweet Lady Fate my demon smells good.Unlike earlier when I had laid there alone and unable to shut down, now sleep claims me easily. Despite the desire that has me wanting to climb my demon, my eyes flutter closed, and as warmth rushes through me, the tension in my muscles finally eases, and my body calms. Before I drift off, I hear Dante whisper, “I’ve got you, princess.”

Chapter

Seventeen

~ Dante ~

“Remind me why you keep doing this?” Luna asks as she focuses her power, morphing my features until I’m unrecognizable. She’s hazy in my memory, her features a little blurred, but she’s still unmistakable with her fire red horns. “This is the third night,” she points out. “I’m pretty sure you’d know by now if she’s your mate.”

I stare at my reflection in the antique mirror across from us, and Kai’s face stares back at me. Not Dante’s. “I’m not paying you to ask questions,” I drawl.

“You’re not paying me at all,” she quips back, and my lips quirk into a smile.

“Yeah, the smile doesn’t work the same when you don’t have your face anymore,” she teases. “Maybe I should leave you like this permanently. Then, at least, the females in this city would be safe from you.”

“And deny them the joys of Dante?” Noah chips in from where he lounges across the room. “Where would be the fun in that?”

“There would be less broken hearts for one,” Luna points out, waving her hands again as she fixes my lopsided eyebrow.

“Their hearts will heal when they find their fated mates,” I point out. “Then I’ll be easily forgotten.”

Luna shrugs. “Maybe, but anyway, stop skirting the question. Are you going to tell us why you keep doing this?”

I stare back at her quizzical umber eyes. Luna’s a pretty demon with thick auburn hair and red horns, but we grew up together, and she’s always been immune to my charms. It’s probably why we get along.

“He’s still afraid to show his face after the princess kicked his ass during the tournament,” Noah answers for me through a mouthful of cheese.

“Says the demon who was out within the first five minutes,” I counter, pinning Noah with a stare. “I would have made it to the end if Zoran hadn’t caught me by surprise and knocked me out.”

“Mhmm… See I told you, being invisible isn’t all that,” Noah says, stuffing his mouth full again.

I turn my attention back to Luna, and the shapeshifter watches me carefully. “You’re playing a dangerous game, you know. If you’re not the princess’s mate, you shouldn’t keep visiting her. If she finds out that I’ve used my shaping abilities on you, it’s not just you who’ll be in trouble. I get the feeling she won’t be happy to hear she’s been deceived.”

“She’ll never know,” I reply seriously, because Luna’s not wrong about this being dangerous. “And this will be the last night, I promise.” I don’t point out to Luna that the magic she’s been using on me has made it harder to detect whether Princess Blake is my mate. Luna’s shaping abilities not only disguise myappearance and scent, but it’s made my senses duller. Knowing the princess would be well aware of my reputation, the first night I visited her, it seemed an interesting experiment to go in disguise. I’d thought it would be an uneventful dinner, but enough to satisfy my curiosity about the formidable female I’d witnessed breaking demons during the tournament. To my surprise, even with my dulled senses I found her company to be refreshing. There was more to the princess than I’d previously thought, and I was driven by the need to find out everything about her. A difficult task considering for most of the dinner, she seemed to prefer comfortable silence. But tonight, will be the last night. Luna is right, and if the princess isn’t fated to me, I’d be an idiot to continue.

Luna stares at me for a moment longer, but when I still don’t explain myself, she throws her hands up in the air and joins Noah on the lounge. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Dante,” she says. “For once, I think you’re going to have to accept that there’s at least one more female in this city who’s out of your reach.”

Standing, I stride closer to the mirror and fix my tie. “We shall see.”

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