Page 105 of Demon Demands

We found Pete sunbathing at the edge of the garden, the top of his head tucked under a bush to keep the light out of his eyes. He was snoring quietly as he enjoyed his nap in freedom instead of being cooped up in the stables. My heart clenched at the thought of how much happier he’d be when he was free to roam on my property.

Leaning my back against the belly of the lounging pedmar, I propped my left foot on my right thigh as Hyde moved around me to watch. With this much of my body touching him, I didn’t need to put my hand on him to pull his magic. Honestly, I didn’t know what kind of power Pete held, but it felt strange as it coursed through me.

I placed my thumb on the arch of my foot, beside my hellhounds initials, and pushed a tiny amount of Pete’s signature magic into my skin. The pad of my thumb glowed a brilliant red as it heated, and when I removed it, a perfect P bubbled up, healing into another tracking brand.

“Pete,” I called out to the sleepy pedmar. “I’m gonna put a tracking mark on you. It might pinch.” He tossed his trunk in the air in acknowledgement, chirping lazily at me.

Wanting my mark to be hidden on him, I chose the spot where his thigh touched his underbelly. His skin sagged just enough in the area that someone would have to lift the flap to find his tracker.

I pushed my power into him, and he didn’t even flinch. Healing the brand, I marveled at the soft texture it left in his leathery skin.

My hounds held the same trackers, but theirs were between their front left leg and chest, hidden in the armpit area. That was what I called it, anyway; I wasn’t sure that dogs had armpits, but the logistics weren’t that important.

Hyde bounced on her toes giddily. “Me next.”

“Let’s go back inside. I need to mark the guys too, and I’d rather do it all at once.”

The moment we were back in the kitchen, I sat at the bench under the window, and Hyde plopped down beside me, tossing her foot in my lap. I pulled my right foot into my lap as I wrapped my right hand around her ankle. Tugging a fraction of her power into me, I left a tiny diamond on the arch of my foot, right next to my mates.

“My turn,” she mumbled, watching as my thumb heated against her foot. “Why your right foot?”

Healing her as soon as it was done, I answered with a shrug. “I put your mark with my mates. Dolyn will go on my left, and then I’ll have seven on each side.”

Motioning for the guys to sit down so I could move from one to the next easily, I marked them quickly. Every one of them hissed or cussed as I left my tiny skull brand on their feet. York laughed at them so hard he had tears streaming down his cheeks.

I let them suffer through the burn for a few minutes before I decided to put the whiny assholes out of their misery.

“A little pinch, and they all want to cry. It’s like you’ve never had a paper cut or a skinned knee. It can’t hurt that bad.”

“Virgin Patsy’s,” Hyde remarked to me. “The whole lot of them.”

“I think you mean pansies,” Novak corrected.

Briggs ran his middle finger up and down the center of his forehead. “Shut up, Novak. You’re not helping.”

“No. I meant what I said,” she reassured him.

“Listen, Hyde,” Novak began, wrapping his arm around her slim shoulders. “When you get to Earth, I’m gonna show you this unofficial online dictionary…”

“I know what Urban Dictionary is, and I’ll tell you a secret,” she whispered conspiratorially. “Sometimes you have to read more than just the top definition, and sometimes there are pages of them to go through.”

She patted his chest placatingly. “It’s okay if you didn’t know. I wasn’t calling you guys scapegoats, a line of coke, or an old lady. But you definitely helped me get my point across.”

My vampire furrowed his brows and bit his lips as he thought back over the conversation. “How?”

I coughed, trying to cover my amusement. “By continuing to be the butt of her joke, or should I say the hymen.”

Novak threw his hands in the air. “What joke?”

Hyde glanced at me, smirking. “My point exactly.”

25

York

Sunday Mid Morning

I watched Sloane’s hounds play with Lira’s pack in the large expanse of a yard at the palace, letting my mind wander for the first time in days. My time at the camp still played tricks on me if I wasn’t careful. I knew I needed to talk to my mate about it, but I wasn’t ready to relive the memories.