Page 64 of Demon Demands

Hyde cupped her hand around the back of her ear while mocking Vaughn’s slightly English accent. “Oh, he had a heart attack? Well, of course he did, darling. He was seventy-four.”

She stopped to fake sniffle. “Do you- do you think we could continue this conversation at a later date? I’m terribly distraught over my loss. I simply adored Chester, and I don’t know what I’ll do without him.”

Palmer cackled as Hyde flapped her arms around, pretending to swim in her fake inheritance. “Gods, yer a vicious little thing, aren’t ye?”

Hyde was a vicious bitch, but she was my vicious bitch. She was going to be my regent, rule the Underworld in my absence, and I felt like she was perfect for the job.

Once her education was complete, she’d be even more of a force to be reckoned with than she already was. She couldn’t be swayed, they couldn’t appeal to her inner soft spot. What you saw was what you got.

I’d left her presents on her bed in the guest room of the palace. One glittering pink box with one-of-a-kind Louis Vuitton heels. And one sealed pink envelope with her senior year class schedule in it, along with a list of required classes for her college career.

The plan was a long-term plan, requiring Stone and I to run the Underworld for the next few years, but Hyland Drake would make the best regent a Devil could ask for.

She was unpredictable, unassuming, and naturally held all the grace that a leader needed. When I chose my advisors and council members, I wouldn’t make the choice with myself in mind, I’d make them for her.

17

Briggs

Thursday Late Night

After our night out in Baton Rouge, I decided that I loved going to the bar with Jack and Grim. The guys had missed Jack and Grim’s antics from our time in the speakeasy, and I hoped that they’d be up to the same shit. I was already pondering words to force into Jack’s conversations. Watching Sloane cut loose and dance was just the cherry on top.

Barbie was killing me, though, chipping away at my control little by little. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to fuck her smart ass mouth in the middle of the bar for everyone to see.

I definitely did.

But I knew that there would be no holding the bond back. It crawled under my skin every single time she touched me, the urge to seal myself to her growing wilder the longer I fought to keep it contained.

My wolf had never been so restless, pacing in the confines of my mind, a feral beast just waiting to break free. I needed him to chill the fuck out. There was plenty of time for mating, and the human side of me wanted more.

I wanted that unbreakable bond that came from knowing someone inside and out. More than just sex, I wanted intimacy.

Sitting with my brothers and new friends, taking another shot of something Jack called sunshine, I studied my mate from across the bar.

For a woman who had everything, there were still some things she couldn’t do. Things I could do and teach her to do.

Cooking was a passion of mine that I wanted to share with her. I’d cooked for girlfriends in the past, but I hadn’t ever cooked with one or spent the time teaching anyone about what I loved to do.

Was Barbie my girlfriend?

That felt like too casual of a title to give someone that I was supposed to be with forever. And how long was forever for me, anyway? A usual shifter lifespan of three or four hundred years or… longer?

I had dozens of questions, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to ask them or not.

I needed to stop drinking before my inner thoughts spewed from my mouth without my consent.

Water. I needed water.

Standing from the table, I ambled over to the bar, feeling thankful as fuck that I wasn’t too tipsy to keep my wits about me.

There was violence in the air, like with any seedy bar, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to pinpoint the origins.

A group of demons in the far corner were making a raucous, laughing and jeering at each other as they pointed at the females around them.

A couple argued near the entrance, hands swinging wildly as they attempted to yell over the other.

One large gray demon plowed through the crowds, his shoulders stiff and his eyes set in a hard glare.