Page 14 of The Demon King's Unruly Mate

Jasmine and embers.

My body responded instantly, heart rate spiking, skin flushing hot. I froze, every muscle locked tight. For a moment, I thought I’d finally cracked, that my brain had conjured her scent from nothing but desperate longing.

Then Talia’s voice cut through the room. “Where is my mate?”

CHAPTER FOUR

TALIA

The building wasn’t much to look at. A nondescript warehouse conversion on the outskirts of Silvermist Falls, it bore none of the grandeur or imposing architecture I’d grown accustomed to in royal residences. Nothing declared it housed the future king of my people, not even a handwritten sign.

“This is it?” I asked Griffin, who stood at my shoulder like the ever-present shadow he was.

“According to our intelligence, yes.” His voice remained steady, betraying none of the exhaustion I knew he must feel after five days of tracking. “Shall I announce you?”

“No need.” I smoothed down my tailored jacket and straightened my spine. “I believe I can announce myself.”

Five days. Fivehellishdays of tracking my wayward mate while fielding questions from courtiers and soothing the anxieties of clan leaders who feared what Kaz’s absence might mean for our fragile new alliance. Five days of enduring my father’s thinly veiled disappointment at my inability to ‘control my mate.’ Five days of pretending the burning ache beneath my skin wasn’t slowly driving me insane.

I’d spent the first day waiting for Kaz to return, assuming he’d merely stepped out to clear his head. By the second day, I’d realized he had no intention of coming back. By the third, I’d deployed my network of informants to track his movements. And now, after following a trail that led from the abandoned Kadhan compound to this unremarkable building, I was finally close enough to sense him through our bond.

The relief was immediate and infuriating. My skin cooled, the persistent headache that had plagued me for days eased, and the knot in my chest loosened. My body recognized its mate was near, even as my mind seethed with indignation.

I pushed open the door without knocking.

The interior was as unimpressive as the exterior suggested: an open floor plan with a handful of doors leading to offices and a small kitchenette, while the far wall stood too close to the entrance not to conceal extensive warehouse space behind it.

Three pairs of gold eyes stared back at me, their expressions cycling through shock, confusion, and suspicion. I recognized them from my files. Zane, the tall one with the shaved undercut, straightened from where he’d been removing weapons from a crate. A slimmer male, Malak, stopped typing mid-keystroke. And Rava, the princess-turned-runaway to escape my brother’s clutches, narrowed her eyes at me from across the room.

But Kaz wasn’t among them.

“Where is my mate?” I demanded, letting authority infuse my voice.

The silence that followed was absolute. Malak and Zane exchanged loaded glances before Malak asked very blandly, “Mate?”

He hadn’t told them.

The realization knocked the righteous anger right out of me. I’d spent the journey to Silvermist Falls imagining Kaz boasting to his clan about claiming the throne and bringing togetherthe feuding lines. I’d pictured him smug and self-satisfied, celebrating his victory while I dealt with the political fallout.

Instead, he’d kept our mating a secret. Even from his sister.

What did that mean?

Movement caught my eye, and there was Kaz, frozen in a doorway. His dark hair was disheveled, as if he’d been running his hands through it. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, revealing corded forearms marked with old scars. His gold eyes widened at the sight of me, pupils dilating.

At least I wasn’t the only one affected.

Then his focus flicked to his clan members, and I saw something I never expected from the leader of the fearsome Kadhan mercenaries: uncertainty.

He shot me an almost pleading look, as if asking for discretion. I arched a brow, folded my arms across my chest, and waited. Let him explain. Let himsquirm.

“Kaz?” Malak’s deceptively neutral voice broke the standoff. “Something you forgot to mention?”

Kaz stepped forward, jaw tight. “Talia and I were mated five days ago. By order of King Adron.”

By order. As if I were a package delivered to his doorstep. I bit back a scoff.

“So, you just... got mated?” Zane asked, incredulous. “Without telling any of us?”

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