AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Had he seriously been in the supernatural prison for a year?
The dragon studied me. “How long have you been together?”
I opened my mouth to tell the dragon it was a lie, but the demon’s—Villin’s—nose brushed the side of my throat, and my head tilted just a little in that direction. It caught me off guard enough that the words died in my throat as he all but purred into my ear, “Lie, Tater-tot.”
The nickname was enough to make me scowl, but I did lie. The threat of prison while a demon’s arms were around me was plenty to encourage that. “Long enough.”
The dragon didn’t look angry at or surprised by my answer. “Show me your hands.”
Villin lifted my right hand with his, and I tried not to gasp audibly when I saw the shimmering, swirling black markings that curled around my fourth finger and spread over the back of my hand. The way the demon was holding it told me the marks were on my palm, too.
The dragon’s face twisted in a snarl. “You know the rules, Villin.”
With that, he turned and stormed out of the shop.
I couldn’t suppress my shudder as he left, and immediately squirmed away from Villin. He released me, though he seemed like he was watching to make sure I didn’t collapse again.
The fog in my mind had vanished, and my thoughts were returning to normal. There was an ache in my stomach that hadn’t been there before—hunger, I thought—but it had been a while since I ate, so I paid no mind to it.
“What is going on?” I demanded, tossing a hand toward the door of my coffee shop. “Your name isVillin? We’re mated? And what the hell isthis?” I held up my hand, which was trembling a little, showing him the gunmetal-colored marking.
“My name isRafaelVillin, yes, we are mated, and that is a mate mark.” He leaned past me and grabbed one of our branded boxes, then opened the display case. An assload of candy went into the box quickly, without an ounce of organization, before he closed the display case again. “And now, we’re leaving.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I shot back. “That isnotenough. You haven’t explained anything. Why were you in prison? What are the rules the dragon shifter was talking about? How do we getunmated?”
“I will call the cops if I need to,” Sophie threw out, though she was about as far from me andRafaelVillin as she could get while still remaining in the front of the shop.
“My brothers and I work for the human government, so go ahead.” He took a bite of one of the truffles—a pumpkin spice one—then eyed it with surprise. “That’s actually pretty good.”
I scoffed at the obvious insult behind his compliment.
“I’ll explain on the way home. Let’s go.” He stepped out from behind the counter, striding toward the door and waving me after him.
“We are not together.” I gestured between us. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
The glow in his eyes grew brighter, and I heard Sophie suck in a breath.
My phone started buzzing in my apron pocket again—I was getting a phone call—but I ignored it.
“What’s it going to take to get you in the car, Tater-tot?” Rafael asked.
“An explanation? Answers? I don’t know.” My phone started buzzing again, so I lifted it to my ear and answered it without looking to see who it was. “Hello?”
“I just heard that adragon shifterlanded near your shop. Are you okay?” Miley checked.
“Okay is relative. I’ll call you back.”
“No, Tatum, wait—”
I hung up, but held my phone in my hand as if it could help me somehow.
It couldn’t.
The demon’s eyes narrowed. “Who was that?”
“My friend.”
“Aboyfriend?”
