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“This is not your territory.” Gray moved in front of me.
I saw its silhouette in the moonlight. It was larger than a tiger, but definitely reminded me more of a cat than a canine. Its eyes glowed in the darkness, and I heard a guttural growl come from its mouth.
“Go back to your pride,” Gray ordered in a voice that brooked no disobedience. I could see his horns grow longer and his talons pop out.
“He does not look like he wants to do your bidding, Lord Sloane.” I needed to call him that a couple of times to remind myself it was his title now, and we had some protection because of it. It hurt to call him that because his father had been so awful.
“Something’s wrong with him. He’s a drixalranous, a feline predator from the mountains to the north,” Gray explained, never taking his eyes off the big cat. “Highly intelligent. They keep our deer and bovine populations in check. They never come close to the mansion, though.”
The cat kept coming, slowly, as though trying to decide when to pounce. Or as if fighting some instinct. I couldn’t tell, and it didn’t matter when the fucker went back on his haunches and leapt. My breath caught as I watched that massive predator jump through the air toward my husband.
And then he took one swipe at Gray and made his way toward his real prey.
Me.
* * * *
Liv
I pulled at the thing around my throat as I woke.
“Hey, don’t fight it. Do you need some water? How is your head? You took a pretty hard hit.”
Casey. Casey was here.
I opened my eyes and Casey stood above me, but we weren’t at Kelsey’s house in Frelsi. I knew that immediately. There was a hum that went through my veins, an unpleasant energy that I’d only felt a couple of times.
Not unpleasant. I couldn’t ever say that because Myrddin took that to mean I didn’t belong here. The first time I’d complained about how being on the Hell plane made me feel, he’d left me behind until I had enough demon blood to counter the effect.
Witches were born from Hell.
Except we weren’t. We were found on all the planes. We were natural. We could be good or evil or something in between.
“We’re at Gray’s?” I forced myself to sit up. I was in another prison, and I could feel that collar at my throat as though Kelsey had tightened it. She hadn’t, but it felt that way.
Something was building inside me, and I worried I would explode at some point.
There was a part of me that hoped I took a couple of the fuckers with me when it happened.
“Yes, we made the decision to descend early.” Casey poured water from the pitcher at my bedside. “We wanted to avoid the Profane if we could, and it was deemed better for Dean’s recovery.”
I did have a job to do, and that was ensuring my master’s son survived. I knew deep down Myrddin would want Dean alive. Dean was his only blooded child. He should be my master’s heir, and therefore it was my job to care for him. “Can I see him?”
Casey frowned, though his hand came out to help me up and off the bed.
I thought about refusing him, but spitting bile his way hadn’t worked. I needed to play him a different way. Casey could be the weak link. I was on the Hell plane, and if I could get away from Gray’s house, there would be many beings who would love to have Myrddin owe them a blessing.
“I don’t know that’s a good idea,” Casey said as I got to my feet. “Kelsey and the others just got here. I should talk to her.”
“I’m not sure how I’m supposed to treat the boy if I’m not even allowed in the same room with him.” I tempered my tone and hoped I remembered how to make my eyes wide and guileless. Although I worried the whole pitch black eyes thing would make flirting hard. “I have the collar. I can’t harm anyone, though you should understand I wouldn’t harm Dean in any way.”
“Okay. I’m going to figure out the logic. I would think you would want him dead.”
“He’s Myrddin’s son.” When he hesitated, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Was he trying to figure out how to tell me about the prophecy? “You believe he’s one of two. You think he’s one of two creatures in all the planes who can harm Myrddin. I don’t know if I buy that, but let’s go with it. Do you honestly believe my…Myrddin didn’t study that prophecy further? He’s had many demonic focuses help him in refining our knowledge of the prophecies surrounding the two.”
What had really happened was he’d burned out demon after demon searching for the right prophecy. Prophecy is a clusterfuck, in my opinion. It’s a way for the Heaven plane to mess with everyone’s heads. Myrddin can be a bit paranoid about it.
“Then I don’t understand why he wouldn’t want to kill Dean Malone,” Casey pointed out. “If he kills Dean, then his chances of the prophecy coming true are cut in half.”
