Page 12 of The Demon King's Unruly Mate

No. I wouldn’t involve them. This was my burden to bear. My obligation to the crown. To Talia.

The thought of her sent heat curling through my gut. I closed my eyes, but that only made it worse. Without visual distractions, I could feel the ghost of her touch on my skin, tastethe sweetness of her mouth, hear the little gasps she made when I?—

I forced my eyes open and stared at the file. Leona had been away at university until recently. That’s where I needed to start—who she knew there, what connections she might have made outside the watchful eyes of her family.

My fingers absently drifted to my wrist, tracing the marks Talia’s fangs had left during our claiming. The skin was healed now, but I swore I could still feel the imprint of her teeth. The mate bond hummed, a constant reminder of what I’d done. What I’d taken.

What I’d run from.

The clock on the wall ticked over to the appointed hour. Time for the meeting. I gathered the file, tucking it away in a drawer. I’d return to it after we’d settled the immediate business of establishing our base.

The conference room was really just a cleared space with a table thrown in the middle, but it would do. Malak, Zane, and Rava were already seated when I entered. I took my place at the head of the table, spine straight, passing a look over each of them in turn. Leader mode activated.

“Status reports,” I said.

Malak leaned forward, fingers steepled. “Barebones digital security will be operational by this evening. I’ve established firewalls and proxies to mask our activities. Local networks have been mapped and access points identified. I’ll have us ghost-level invisible to standard surveillance in no time after that.”

I nodded. Malak’s ease at a keyboard was always a comfort. Like clockwork, he delivered exactly what was needed.

“Physical security is shit,” Zane cut in, blunt as always. “Main entrance has standard locks, easily picked. Windows on the east side are vulnerable unless you count ‘painted shut’ as a feature.Rear exit alarm is outdated. Anyone with basic training could breach this place in under two minutes.”

“We’re more likely to be killed out in the field than in the lobby during business hours,” I deadpanned.

Zane grunted. “Still.”

“Put together a list of what you need,” I told him. “Priority items first.”

A leader who doesn’t listen to what his people need is just a dictator with delusions.

The remembered words were just one of the many lessons my father had drilled into me before the ambush that took both my parents seven years ago. The entire Kadhan clan—not just this ragged bunch of misfits—had been mine to lead ever since.

It’d gone startlingly well. I’d kept us profitable, and most importantly, independent. Our crews operated across the globe, taking on the jobs others couldn’t handle. Even the ifrit families who publicly sneered at our ‘mercenary blood’ privately slipped us contracts when their own security forces failed. The Kadhan name commanded respect throughout the monster world, our reputation built on centuries of uncompromising standards. No complications, no loose ends.

Until Javed.

Rava flicked a folder to each of us. “I’ve compiled profiles on local businesses we should establish relationships with. The apothecary run by the witch up in Grimstone might be useful for specialized supplies, and there’s a vampire-owned overnight security firm we could partner with for certain jobs.”

“Beneficial to have friends in town,” Malak agreed. “Especially since we’re essentially moving into Rava and Zral’s backyard.”

“Finally, some honesty about your spying. You always were my favorite, Mal.” Rava threw him a sickeningly sweet smileand scratched under his chin like she would an adorable animal. “Stay sweet, and I’ll keep sharing my toys.”

I should have smirked at that, kept them on track, contributed something useful to the conversation. Instead, my mind drifted again. Talia would be waking alone in our bed by now. Would she be angry? Relieved? Did she regret what we’d done?

Did she taste ash on her tongue and think of me?

“Kaz?” Malak’s voice cut through my thoughts. “I asked about our timeline for full operations.”

Shit. I’d missed half the conversation.

“We’ll settle in over the next week, bring more and more of the routine shit online here,” I said, hoping it was a reasonable response to whatever had been discussed. “Aim for new contracts by the end of the month.”

Malak and Zane exchanged a look that had me gritting my teeth. They knew me too well—knew when I wasn’t fully present.

“We’re done,” I said curtly, rising from my chair. “Get to work.”

I retreated back to my office and slumped against the door. This was pathetic. The clan needed their leader focused, not mooning over a mate he had no business claiming.

Distractions cost lives in our line of work. I’d learned that lesson the hard way when I missed the signs of Rava’s discontent. I’d been too busy with contracts to notice my own sister dropping her college classes and hatching a scheme to prove herself in Silvermist Falls. If I’d been paying attention, she never would have felt the need to go rogue. Never would have ended up in Javed’s crosshairs.

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