Page 15 of My Demon Desire
Reis's eyebrows arch, making his horns move too. He pushes open the door and I follow behind him.
"Annalise," he yells, but there's no fucking answer. The human woman is nowhere in sight. The window was sealed with Reis's magic so she couldn't have opened it and if she had, why bother closing it after herself?
Reis whirls around to face me, his expression dark with anger, his eyes blazing with fury. "Where the hell is the human?"
"W-what… she…" I stammer, the ale burning a hole in the back of my throat.
Not waiting, he grabs me by the back of my neck, hurling me down onto the stone floor, his boot presses into my back. "How could this have happened? You were supposed to be guarding her."
"I swear, I don't know how she could have escaped," I blurt, and spittle flies from my mouth from the extra weight I put on the words. "Didn't know she was gone."
"Fuck you. I'm not interested in your excuses." His words are fueled with anger and he presses harder into my spine. "Where is she?"
Twisting, I throw him off me and leap on him, knocking him down. Rage surges through my veins and blots out everything else.
I punch him in the face twice before he slashes at my throat. His claws miss, but rake across my chest, leaving deep gouges in their wake. Stinging pain has me hissing out a breath as blood pools from the wounds, staining the stone floor.
"Shit," I yell and pull back from him, both of us heaving. "It was Kaden."
Reis jumps up, glaring at me. His claws are extended and he's ready to gut me open.
"Listen. I only left my post once. Kaden offered to let me go—"
"Have a drink," Reis finishes for me, giving me a disgusting look.
"How was I to know he'd let her go?" Blood trickled down my chest. "You're the one who demanded we bring her here and for me to guard her until you decided you would relieve me. I'm fucking starving and you didn't even leave me a tankard of ale to pass the time and my thirst." Should've known better. Kaden's a bastard and only thinks of himself.
Reis throws a fist into my jaw and pain splinters up my jaw. "If anything happens to her, I will fucking kill you myself."
"What's the fucking deal, Reis? She's a puny human."
His shoulders tense, then he lets out a breath. "I don't know. There's just something about her I can't explain."
"Like what?" I've never seen Reis this riled up over a female before. "You think she could be a spy for the queen?"
"Maybe." He scrubs a hand over his face. "We can't rule out that possibility. But my gut says there's more, something we're missing."
"Like a human sent from her world to find out our weaknesses?"
He lets out a single chuckle. "No idea. But until we have answers, we must find her, and quickly. Her escape could mean trouble for us."
"And our kingdom." The queen likes to punish any and all she thinks might be part of a conspiracy and we've too many people counting on us to try and buffer her anger.
"Let's go," Reis says, his voice hard.
I nod, the anger still coursing through me.
"We will find her. And I will make Kaden pay for this," I vow, my voice low and menacing. "Nobody fucks with me and gets away with it."
"Bring your tracker fae," Reis points out. "Don't let me down again. The human is out there somewhere and we need to get her back before this mess becomes any bigger than it already is."
Reis strides from his room, barking magical spells as he heads down the corridor. The magic collides into my chest and heals me. Yet he doesn't take away all my pain. I'm left with my brooding thoughts of how good it is going to feel when I kill Kaden for this and a sore jaw.
I jog to keep up with Reis, the anger in my chest burning through me.
"Kaden," Reis shouts.
A groan sounds from the kitchen and I push past Reis to find Kaden sprawled out on the table. The scent of ale is so strong it curdles my stomach.
