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I knew he could hear me. He would have heard me approaching half a mile back and would be sitting and waiting, unable to get my scent as I was downwind. But now he would know it was me, and he could come and meet me halfway. More than halfway, he could cross more ground on four legs than I could on two.
The gray wolf approached, and I didn’t flinch or slow in my stride. He came straight at me, moving majestically through the grass, crashing through the undergrowth where the edge of the field met the woods, hours outside of the city. If he wanted to, he could move with such stealth that even a demon would have difficulty knowing he was coming, but this wasn’t about stealth. Dante had already told me I wasn’t welcome, and I was risking my life by being here and his if he were to be seen as sympathetic toward me.
Front paws collided with my chest, knocking me off my feet, and as we fell together, Dante transformed back into human, naked and pinning me down, his long fingernails digging into my shoulders. My forward momentum had done nothing to save myself from being knocked over, and Dante bared his teeth at me, growling and snarling, his face making the last shift back into human as the gray fur disappeared.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he roared.
“I have a favor to ask.”
Dante snarled again. “Our truce was temporary, and I trusted you to stay away when I asked. You’ve betrayed that trust. I should kill you.”
“No.” His eyebrows flickered at my response before settling back into a deep frown. “Not death, that’s not what I ask of you. I want you to destroy my mark.”
His grip on my shoulders eased only slightly. “Why?”
“I should have done it years ago when I first found you. I’ll never be going back to Hell, so I don’t need it. If I can’t live on Earth, I’d rather be dead.”
Dante’s gaze shifted to my chest, where concealed beneath my windbreaker my mark lay, hidden until I drew on my demonic powers to bring it to the surface. The mark of the pentagram etched into demons’ skin allowed us to move between worlds—Hell and Earth. When a demon was banished from Hell, the mark would be destroyed, torn from the body, and the demon would not be able to return to Hell. If you died once your mark had been destroyed, you remained dead.
“It’s a painful process.”
“I know,” I said, holding his eye contact. Dante and the others would have to literally tear the skin from me, creating five cuts, and in their wolf forms, shred the pentagram apart.
More scars to add to my collection.
I no longer cared.
We stared at each other for a long time. Meanwhile, three other wolves approached, the remainder of the pack—one black, one white, and one reddish brown. They were the only ones near enough to this city to meet even semi-regularly before they returned to their solitary lives and territories. I couldn’t see them through the darkness, but I heard them approach, could smell the dampness of their fur, and if they shifted their silhouette, were barely visible in my peripheral vision. But I dared not tear my gaze from Dante. He was the main threat right now, and whatever past we had meant nothing, based on a flimsy understanding and respect, which I had destroyed the remainder of when I came here against his wishes.
“I don’t know if I can do that for you,” Dante finally said.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s a favor, as you said. We cannot be seen as friends. I took a risk allowing you to be around us in the first place, but that has to end. If I don’t fulfill my duty…” He trailed off, but I already knew.
As a human who traded his destined place in Hell for a life as a werewolf, the deal would be broken if he didn’t take care of demons and transitional souls as he was meant to. A lifetime on Earth as a werewolf was nothing compared to an eternity in Hell, and he had opted to give up this life to save his soul.
I was a risk to him.
I tilted my head toward the nearest wolf. I couldn’t see who it was, but I suspected it was Bane. “I’m sure your friends would appreciate the opportunity to tear apart a demon.”
His words were minced with another snarl. “We don’t do this forfun!”he roared at me.
Making him angry would not help my cause, but I felt this was my last chance, and I wouldn’t be able to get this close again. If I tried to come back, they would take me down before I even came to the edge of the wooded area.
Dropping my tone, I grabbed his wrists. “Dante, please.”
His eyes changed, turning yellow for a moment. The irony wasn’t lost on me. A demon in natural form had yellow eyes, and it was usually the first thing to change when we lost control. But instead of black slits for pupils, Dante’s were round like that of his wolf form.
He sighed heavily and looked to his side. Bane had approached, the large black wolf close enough now to latch his jaws around my neck. Bane’s head inclined, barely a noticeable movement. Still on top of me, Dante gained my eye contact again. “Would you like to be unconscious? To avoid the worst of the pain.”
I shouldn’t.
I deserved the pain.
I should take the punishment to remind me how weak I really was, that I wasn’t a true demon, denying my instincts as I did. I wasn’t human. I was instead a monster living amongst them, punishment I deserved for corrupting Tate and hurting Jacob.
Punishment for the fact I wanted to get closer to Jacob when I should have known better.
