Page 34 of Demon's Bane

But I’m too restless, too antsy, still too ready to jump out of my skin. I’ve got too much pent up energy, too many worries and nowhere to put them.

Looking around the shop and trying to find something, anything, some work I can lose myself in, my eyes drift over the doorway leading into the kitchen.

When’s the last time I did a really good deep clean?

Nearly two hours later, the kitchen is sparkling and I’m completely disgusting. Sweaty and covered in grime, I don’t feel much better emotionally, but at least I’m exhausted as I trudge upstairs to my apartment.

I don’t even bother taking my earbuds out or pausing the punk rock track I’m currently using to batter my eardrums. Unlocking the door, I step inside, lock it behind me, and head straight for the bathroom.

A long, steamy shower sounds pretty damn good.

Too tired to remember I have a roommate now and should absolutely knock before I open any closed doors, I reach for the handle and push it open.

Only to freeze dead in my tracks, eyes wide and jaw somewhere near the floor.

There, standing smack in the middle of my bathroom—unglamoured and dripping wet—is a completely naked demon.

For a few seconds, all I can do is stand and stare in silent shock.

Rhett’s demon-red eyes meet mine, mirroring my surprise, and his full, firm lips fall open on a muted inhale. What looks to be a week’s worth of thick black stubble hugs an impossibly firm, brutally cut jaw and high cheekbones, the ruggedness ofit softened by a tousle of damp, midnight-black hair that falls nearly to his shoulder.

His huge frame swallows the space around it, filling my tiny bathroom. He’s white, but with a deep, golden tan, and without the glamour he’s bigger, broader, and utterly un-human.

Two spiraled, ram-like horns curl over the top of his head and two enormous black wings tuck in tight to his back, though they still nearly touch both the walls beside him. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the glimpse of a tail where it shifts behind him.

Goddess above, if I thought he was alright to look at when he was wearing his glamour… this is something else entirely.

My palms tingle like they’re aching to reach out and touch, and I clasp my hands in front of me to keep myself from doing anything I’d regret. I’m having a hard time getting a good breath. My skin feels flushed and damp, and even though I should damn well keep my eyes to myself, I am absolutely incapable of stopping them from wandering.

Across the broad planes of his sculpted chest, where both his nipples are pierced through with silver bars. To one shoulder, pec, and bicep, which are covered with tattoos that look like runes of some sort, marking his skin in lines of black ink. Down the firm ridges of his abs and lower still, to where a deep vee of muscle leads right to…

Oh, fuck. Fucking hell.

Of course he’s got a massive cock.

A cock that’s definitely getting stiffer under my gaze.

The longer I look, the larger and harder he gets. Just before I drag my eyes away and stop staring at him like such a freaking perv, I see something else. A slight swell at the base of his shaft. Something human men definitely don’t have.

A knot. Rhett has a knot.

Another wave of heat breaks over my skin and my head goes swimmy at the thought of what that would be like, what it would feel like to…

Goddess. No wonder Allie is so happy in the demon realm if all demon men are packing this kind of equipment.

When I finally meet Rhett’s crimson eyes once more, they sparkle with wicked satisfaction. I swallow hard, pulling my earbuds from my ears. I’m just about to start profusely apologizing when his lips turn up into a smirk, showing off a shocking pair of gleaming white fangs.

“Do you like what you see, witch?”

9

Rhett

My whole body hums with awareness as my mate takes in my true form.

Her wide eyes meet mine, and she swallows harshly, pulse racing in the hollow of her throat. Her skin is beautifully flushed, pupils blown wide, and when I inhale deeply, I can taste it.

Her arousal.