Page 16 of The Demon Prince

Clearing his throat, he leaned back on his palms. The scratchy texture of her blanket abraded his hands. Her scent drifted up around him, so pretty and light. It eased the squeezing pain in his chest and soothed the desire to toss the bed aside and grab her. “I did break into your room.”

“Why are you here?”

“If I knew that, I don’t think I’d be here, pet.” He wished he knew. Oh, he wished he had an answer for why he was sitting on her bed, terrorizing her. “I thought you might have the answer to that.”

Another soft snort. “I don’t even know who you are.”

His eyes flashed as he looked back to the mirror, back underneath the dark softness that hid between his feet. “Is that so? You don’t even have a guess?”

A small shift, perhaps as though she was trying to get even further away from him. “Whatever guess I have comes from a place of madness.”

“Ah, and evil. A darkness that haunts the land with long reaching claws and red eyes.” He let his powers flex through him, those eyes glowing as they surely had when he stood outside her window. Even his claws grew longer, although those were buried in her mattress right now. “Guess, pet. I wish to hear you say it.”

She swallowed hard, and the click of her throat was a sweet release. “I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“Saying the words makes this feel less like a dream and more... reality.” The way she paused before saying the word made him wonder if she thought this wasn’t actually happening.

“This isn’t a dream, Katherine.” He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees so he was slightly closer to the mirror. “I’m right here, sitting on your bed while you are cowardly hiding underneath it.”

“I’m not hiding,” she hissed.

“Oh, did you have a plan?” He raised a dark brow. “You were perhaps going to burst out and attack me? With what weapon?”

To his utter shock, she threw something out from underneath the bed. A knife from the kitchen skittered between his feet, sliding to a halt just out of his reach. Moonlight played along the rather dull edges.

He chuckled. “Did you think that would really hurt me?”

The soft little growl from underneath the mattress went straight to his cock. “I didn’t know who you were for certain. And if you were Jackson, then I intended to stab you in the thigh and refuse to stitch you back up.”

He bared his teeth in the mockery of a smile. “Who’s Jackson?”

Oh, the jealousy that burned through him showed in the sudden tension of his shoulders and the long claws that elongated through his fingertips. He saw her hesitate. He could feel the nerves that made her freeze.

But she didn’t back down from him. His pet wouldn’t do that, after all. She was too perfect for him.

Instead, he heard her confidently reply, “Not anyone you need to know about, Gluttony.”

It made him want to scream. He would feast upon anyone who tempted her away from him, and he suddenly didn’t want to continue having this conversation with a shadow underneath the bed. But hearing his name spoken in those raspy tones? Ah, it was more than enough to soothe that angry wound.

Lunging upright, he spun toward the bed and reached a long arm underneath it. Claws caught on the back of her shirt, tangling her in his grip even as she struggled like an angry kitten.

“Come on, pet,” he said with a laugh at her hisses. “Let’s hear you say that to my face.”

ChapterSeven

She thought perhaps she should have fought a little harder. But considering he grabbed her by the back of the shirt and yanked her out from underneath the bed like a kitten, Katherine rather thought it was a better idea to not fight at all.

She dangled in his grip for a few moments, hanging there staring at him and wondering what he intended to do with her. It gave Katherine a few moments to really look at him up close.

Until now, she’d only seen him from the window. The distance had made him seem significantly less intimidating. She’d thought his form was slighter than she’d expected, thinner, easier for her to fight back.

This was not necessarily an intimidating man in front of her. At least, in theory. He stood there, lean and long and all too handsome. But with her eyes open, not pretending that she wasn’t looking at him, all she could see was how powerful he was.

Those red eyes stared back at her with too much interest. Fangs glinted where they poked out through his lips and made tiny divots on his full bottom lip. Not a single strand of hair was out of place, although she had no idea how that was even possible considering how much he’d moved just to get her out. Claws scraped along her back, not enough to be a threat, but more as a warning.

He was so clearly inhuman. Not even remotely close to anything she’d ever seen, and she’d been a few feet from kelpies before with their frog like skin and fanged mouths.

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