Page 74 of Jagged Souls

“If you give me a boner, Vay Vay is going to kill me.”

I slug him in the arm, the circulation in my limbs having come back.

“Nice touch with calling the demon back,” Maddox says as we watch the werewolf get strangled. He gestures to him. “Cullen Rogers is a fucking cunt,” he says, giving the pride demon his name. A token of thanks, a payment owed. “Did you know he used to bully me as a kid because thisone timeI pretended to be his crush, took him on a date, convinced him to let me tie him up, blindfolded him, and covered him in chocolate sauce, then released a bunch of fire ants onto the bed?”

Okay… Maybe he didn’t desecrate Maddox’s body to get back at me…

Varius’ youngest brother takes a step forward, his dark eyes blazing bright as he stares into the werewolf’s bulging, bloodshot, desperate eyes. “Die while reliving that memory, you steaming pile of shit.” He turns to me, his face serious. “He used my fabric scissors on paper.”

I open my mouth, then do a half-shrug and light shake of my head. “Yeah, okay. I mean that’s fair.”

“Right? He deserves this every day of his life.”

I roll my lips in, wanting to laugh despite the pain of it all. But if I laugh, it’s going to turn hysterical. Then I’m going to break down and cry.

His eyes softening, Maddox squeezes me on the shoulder. “You’re going to be okay.”

Hourglass finally stops struggling. He hangs limp, his neck bleeding from Maddox’s spine having cut into him.

“You survived,” he continues. “Now you’re going home.”

I survived…

My throat closes as I stare at him. Did he see the video too?

Desperate to change the subject, I gesture to his dead body. “How are you… Is that even you?”

“Uh huh. Hurt like a bitch too.”

“What?” I shake my head, so fucking lost. Shapeshifters can’t make duplicates of themselves. “How?”

“You know how there’s a snake that pretends to have a spider on its tail? Well, I did that but in reverse.”

That does not clear anything up at all. “What –”

My head jerks at the sudden blur of motion streaking towards the demon prince. It barrels into Pride, tackling him off Hourglass and slamming him into the floor.

I fully expected it to be Antonio, but this thing’s fur is as white as paper, with dark-red veins running through it. His muscles are even bigger than the prince’s. He looks like a gorilla on steroids and has a crown of horns atop his head. He throws a fist into Pride’s face, and the ground shakes.

“You fucked my mate!” he roars.

“You didn’t claim her,” Pride snaps as they roll across the body-littered floor, trading blows.

“She’s had my mark on her since she was three!”

“Then you should’ve made it bigger.”

“What the fuck is going on?” I shout at Maddox, unable to make out what they’re saying.

“Fuck if I know,” he says. “I don’t speak Eknor. That’s a rage demon though, so could be an assassination attempt. Or they could be the best of friends.”

I notice the cuff melded into the newcomer’s arm. They are moving too fast for me to make out the image, but I do not need to see it to know who he is. There’s one prince for every type of eknor demon, and they all rule Sin together. “He’s the Prince of Rage,” I say.

“Assassination attempt then?”

“Hopefully,” I reply just as they roll into the circle of runes and disappear back to Halzaja. If the rage prince kills him, then that would solve one half of my Lou problem. There’s still the baby to figure out, but –

My thoughts die under a crashing wave of guilt and envy.