Page 6 of Claimed
Unease creeps through my stomach. But I lift my gaze. Up the expensive dress slacks, over the wide waist, and the tailored button up.
Azz’s solid white hair hangs to his shoulders, his skin ghostly pale. But his eyes are like midnight coals. Only colder. And not human. “I have a job for you, my dear.”
I groan internally. “Of course, my lord. Whatever you have need for me to—”
His hand flies. The blow catches my cheek, sending me sprawling onto the hard, wet floor. “I was not finished,” he snarls above me.
Face burning, I take a deep breath before slowly easing myself back upright. No other blow falls.
No. It wouldn’t do for him to damage me. Not in any way that would be noticeable.
His black eyes glitter in the torchlight. “I am sending you to the gulf on a very important mission, do you understand?” I nod as my mind jumps to grasp the details of my new task. “You will be my emissary there. Everything you do will reflect on this household.”
It always does. But I no longer allow my mouth to open and spew those words, and there is no burn to speak.
Azz beat that out of me years ago.
“There is an auction being held in Miami. There will be a set of black cases. I want those cases, Onyx.”
Another nod is my only answer.
“You will have access to my fortune to purchase them. Any bid you make, I will pay.” A trickle of surprise forces my lips to part. I shut them before he can notice. “If that fails … You will do what you do best.”
Steal, he means.
It’s what landed me here. What forced me into servitude to Azz. One lousy moment of selflessness and all I got was heartbreak and ten years off my life.
His exhale is annoyed. “Now you may speak, Onyx.”
“I would be honored, my lord.”
He snorts in a very un-demon like way. “No lies between us, girl. You find no honor in your tasks. That is why you have never been fully broken.” He appraises me when I don’t argue. If I could, I would slit his throat and we both know it. “So allow me to sweeten this deal for you.” He crouches before me, heavy muscle straining his suit. “If you retrieve these cases for me, Onyx, and you do not fuck up, I will give you what you want the most.”
His evil eyes gleam with demon power. “If you retrieve my cases, I will give you your freedom.”
My mouth goes dry and I stare at him, unwilling to hope. To pray.
I would be free.
My soul would be my own. My life to do with it whatever I wanted.
I couldlive. Really live.
He watches as the notion settles in, seeing as only a Mammon demon can just what I want. What I crave above all else. His smile is cold, sinister.
One pale hand comes up and he cups my cheek. His skin is as cold as his smile. And the chill permeates all of him. Every inch of his pale flesh. I know, as all the women in his household do, just how cold Azz is.
He slides his thumb over my skin. There is no flare of desire, no joy. Just the surety that I will experience nothing but this emptiness. The chill.
Even when I am free from here, it will follow me if I let it.
“Shall we seal this new deal with a kiss, Onyx?” he says, his voice dropping several octaves.
Disgust flares inside me, but I obediently lean forward without making him ask again.
His lips are hard, brutal over mine. But the tingle of magick upon my mouth tells me the deal is made.
All I have to do is get the stupid cases and my life is once more my own.
