Page 57 of Blood and Sin (The Infernari)

The man stared at me for a little longer. “You sure about that?”

In response, I walked into Asher’s arms, wrapping my little ones the best I could around his broad torso. The infamous hunter’s arms came around me, pulling me into him. I would’ve assumed Asher would be awkward when it came to giving a small child affection, but there wasn’t any hesitation on his part. He was a natural at it.

He stood, picking me up with him.

Wrapped up in the arms of an Infernari killer.

My decision suddenly seem like a poor one. I pressed my forehead into Asher’s collarbone, wondering if I made the wrong choice.

I’d find out soon enough.

The man reluctantly left us, his shoes crunching against the gravel as he walked away.

As soon as he was far enough away, Asher dropped me.

A human child would’ve tumbled into the ground, hurting themselves along the way. I landed in a crouch.

The ass.

Asher’s upper lip curled at the sight. “Don’t pull shit like that again on me,” he threatened.

“You need to be nice to me,” I said. “I can still scream.”

He folded his arms and looked down his nose at me. “You’ll get whatever I give you.”

I mirrored his stance, folding my arms. I knew full well how absurd I must look. “Then this is what it will be like at every—single—stop.”

We stared each other down, Asher working his jaw as though he tasted something bad in his mouth.

My stomach chose that moment, of all times, to growl, somewhat diminishing the ferocity of my threat.

Food, right.

That was the whole point of this stop. I wasstarving. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d eaten. Now fixating on my hunger, I gazed longingly past him at the convenience store, then looked to him for permission.

His eyes took on a calculating glint.

“How would you like one of those?” He pointed to a large picture mounted in the windows that showed some kind of charred meat, glistening with oil, nestled inside a puffy, flaky bun, covered with red, yellow, and green sauces—ahotdog, if my memory served me correctly.

My stomach rumbled again, and I nodded, trying not to look too excited.

Humansdidhave a way with food.

“Yeah? You want one? Just makes your mouth water looking at it, doesn’t it?”

“Not if you’re going to dangle it in front of me like that,” I snapped.

“Tell you what, I’ll buy you one of those, and whatever else you want in that store...ifyou agree to cooperate from now on.”

My eyes narrowed. He was tricking me, of course.

Never make deals with humans.

“That means no more throwing tantrums,” he began listing off on his fingers, “no more changing into little girls, no more trying to kill me, and no more trying to escape, you understand?”

“Why in the world would I agree to that? Those are all my favorite things.”

“There’s another portal in Central America. That’s where I’m going. You need to get there, too, because you need to go home. We’ll get there faster if we cooperate, and...” his throat worked through a swallow, “...I’ll let you sit up front.”

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