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"I bet Rai would never say something like that to me," she replied, her eyes meeting mine, a partial smile spreading across her swollen lip.
"Never," I breathed, because even beat up and bruised, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on.
Ty made a gagging sound, and I tugged my gaze from her over to him. "I might have changed my mind."
"About what?" Samantha asked, as she reached across the table to my plate and plucked off a fry.
"Nothing," I said, pushing my plate over to her. She could have it all, and honestly, every single part of me wanted to take care of any want she had.
She flashed me a smile before devouring every fry left on the plate. "Slow down, killer. There is more where that came from," Ty laughed as he swung open the freezer and pulled out the bag of fries and her favorite dino nuggets. She was such a child with her food choices sometimes, and the sight of the bag brought back so many memories of summers here with them. One summer she ate the dino nuggets for lunch every single day without getting sick of them.
"Oh, Ty, I knew you loved me," she squealed. She pulled her knee up to her chest as she watched him open the air fryer and make her food.
"It doesn't count. I have to love you," he replied, and she rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, but you don't have to cook for me."
"Would you like to do it?" he asked with a smirk. It was clear he was teasing her. He'd probably tie her to the chair if she tried to get up and help.
This was what I loved, their teasing relationship. For a while I had thought I was envious of it and wished I had a sister, but it was the closeness that they had that I wanted. Once I figured out that I could have that too, maybe differently, because my feelings for her were not brotherly, everything fell into place. The three of us became inseparable growing up, and when she came back from training all grown up, she was different. While she had always been beautiful, she returned with the ability to knock the air from my lungs and make my dragon try to burst free and claim her in every possible way. It was still like that sometimes, when I would slip up and forget.
But right now, I was just happy that we were together, and we found her before anything horrible happened to her. It made a sense of well-being wash over me as I watched the banter between them.
After she polished off her food, Tyler took a seat at the table, his face serious. "Sam, we have to tell Mom and Dad."
"Ty, no, I can handle this," she said.
"You can handle it so well we found you tied to a tree," he grumbled. He had a point.
"Sammy, your parents need to know that the Demon Prince isn't the only danger," I backed my best friend up, regretting it seconds later as she swung her betrayed gaze to me.
She crossed her arms and leaned back in the chair. Her jaw clenched as she stared stonily at us both. "Fine, but I don't think the Prince is the real danger. He's harmless."
A snort left my throat in a puff of air. Right, so harmless, she got naked with him. He could have killed her. That he hadn't, made me question things a little more than I should have.
"He isn't dangerous, not in the way you two think," she said, taking in both of our looks of disbelief. "He wants me to kill him."
"He what now?" Ty asked, mimicking cleaning out his ears.
"You heard me, nerd," she replied with a laugh.
"Well, you can't do that," I said, stating the obvious.
"I know. I'm trying to convince him to go home."
"Do you think it is wise to talk to the demon?" Ty asked.
I didn't want to bring up the fact that she had done much more than talk. But it was burning at the back of my throat, begging to be released, if only to see her reaction and defense of the act. She would probably lift her chin proudly and stare me down, giving zero fucks what anyone thought, including me. It was what I loved about her. Well, one of the many things I loved, but pretty close to the top of that ever-growing list.
She tugged the only undamaged part of her lip into her mouth and worried about it as she took his question seriously. "I think that if he wanted to hurt me he would have already," she answered after thinking about it for a minute.
She was probably right. He has had a few opportunities to hurt her that I know of, and he has left her intact each time. "What if he is working with the other demons?" I had to ask the obvious question.
"He's not," she replied. She sounded one hundred percent positive in her response.
"How do you know that?" Ty asked.
Her throat worked over a swallow as her eyes darted between us. "Uh—just something they said. It is why they left me alone."
