Page 39 of Drawn to the Demon Duke
Haures…
In the seconds before I’m about to lose consciousness, my life really does flash before my eyes. I think of Mom. Of Mindy. Of Amy.
And then, my soul crying out to his, I reach for Haures.
When the pressure on my throat releases mere moments before everything turns black, I have a moment where I think that I skipped the whole unconscious stage. That I went straight to Heaven or something because, suddenly, there is Haures.
Ferocious and glorious, his blue eyes blazing in fury, his white hair streaming behind him beneath the gold moonlight…
He’s here. My mate is here.
The howl of rage he lets out brings me back around. I’m not dead. I’m gasping, on my knees, sucking in breath after breath, rubbing my neck. I’malive?—
But that crazed seer won’t be for much longer.
It’s the bond. I can sense Haures’s fear that I was hurt, anger that I was left vulnerable, and that same rage that one of his people tried to harm his mate. As the demon duke, there was nothing else to do. He’s judge, jury, and, in this case, executioner.
He doesn’t ship the seer off to the shadows. He doesn’t retrieve Glaine for the sword, either.
Instead, picking the seer up by the throat, dragging him off of the cobblestones where he must’ve thrown him after ripping him away from me, Haures does exactly what the rogue demon did: he wraps his hand around his throat and squeezes.
Flames burst from his fingers. Gentle flames, delicate flames, that lick at the seer’s flesh. I can’t imagine they would really hurt a demon who calls this world home, but the moment his eyes fade back to purple and he sees that he’s both facing off against Hauresandthat my mate’s hand is on fire?
The seer starts to beg. To please. To demand mercy.
In response, Haures only squeezes infinitely harder until the seer’s entire body is engulfed in the slightly transparent flames.
Releasing him, the seer hits the cobbles with a loudthud. He doesn’t stop-drop-and-roll or do anything to put out the flames. As though accepting his fate, he just curled up at Haures’s feet.
His expression is terrible. “You tried to harm my mate. I’m not that merciful.”
He clicks his claws together. I hear a softpop, gasping when the seer… he… he’sash.Like,justash.He doesn’t even burn all the way. With a burst of Haures’s magic, he turns my attacker into a pile of greyish-white ash and nothing else.
As soon as he has, wild eyes search for me. “You called me through our bond. I felt you needing me. Thank the gods I reached you in time. But did I? Tell me, Su… tell me you are unharmed.”
My throat’s gonna hurt like heck tomorrow, but I’m alive. Hesavedme just like he promised he would. “I am.”
“Good.”
Not quite the response I expected, but okay?—
Whoa.
“Haures? Haures!”
My demon mate just crossed the distance between us, hefting me up, swinging me around, searching for somewhere else to place me once he was done. I figured back on my boots, away from the pile of ash, would work… and then he tilts me back with his impressive strength, laying me out on the cobblestones surrounding the fountain.
“Apologies, Su,” he says, “but… the gold moon… and almost losing you… I cannot help it. Your mate requires his female.”
I see that.
And, know what? I’m a-okay with it, too.
My close brush with death might’ve just made me screwy. Nearly being choked to death… I don’t know. I shouldn’t beso turned-on by the fact that my mate just barbecued another demon for me, but he’s right. Something about the gold moon had me fantasizing about Haures all afternoon, and if that’s what he needs to blame this sudden desire on, sure. Let’s go with that.
Still I can’t help but tease him. As he works single-mindedly to get my skirts out of his way, I say, “I thought dukes don’t say sorry.”
“No. I said that aduchessnever apologizes. But a demon duke will do anything to get to his mate’s sweet cunt.”
