Page 176 of My Monster’s Keeper

“Are they going to be okay?” I pant out, needing to put a lid on those worries before we can continue.

“They’ll be fine. I don’t want to talk about them, though,” Diablos murmurs.

I touch my lips to his. “We need to talk first.”

“Oh? Can’t we do it later?”

“No, we have to talk now.” Before I get so wrapped up in you that I forget.

“Okay, what is it?”

“There’s a rookie, a new cop. I got a message she’s going to be my new partner. It’s just strange how it all happened. Very quick and off the books.”

“What’s her name?” Diablos asks sharply.

“Becky. Becky Dawson.”

Diablos’ eyes flare with colour. “We found her. The girl from the shops, the one they left behind. Thank all the fires!”

I frown and open my mouth to ask him what, but he kisses me, and I suddenly don’t care about anything else.

All that matters is my demon and these precious moments we have together.

My back hits something soft. His wings disappear, and his face turns back to that familiar human one.

When he kisses me, I feel the heat of the flames that live inside him. It’s a heat that lives in me.

He pulls back, and smoke curls up into the air. He smiles smugly and runs a hand down my front. My clothes turn to ash and disappear.

His expression sobers. “Whatever will happen, happens. But it has been the most extraordinary time of my life with you, Hart, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

“Me either. We know the dangers, we’ve talked about it all. We’ve got this. We’ll be fine.”

He drops his forehead to mine. “Stay alive, little one. Please…for me…just stay alive. This is going to get very dangerous, but I need to know you’ll be waiting for me on the other side.”

“And you!” I growl, unnerved by his fear. “I’ll stay alive, but I need you here with me, too. Don’t you dare go where I can’t follow.”

When he leans down and kisses me, I kiss him with all the desperation in me, trying to show him without words that he is my everything now.

Tomorrow, we save the world. Tonight, I need my Diablos.

***

Diablos

I stare at the six of them. My four conscripts who are still sullenly sulking, the sassy girl who is so slight but carries all the potential to possibly save us all, and my beloved mate.

His eyes flick to me, and his lip tilts up at the side. He can sense me, of course, he can. I love that he always has that secret smile just for me.

I’m going to save this world so I can stay with him. So we can have somewhere to love.

He doesn’t know it yet, but the moment I saw him, I knew. And the mission I’d been toying with abandoning cemented in my heart the minute we met.

I’m going to save the world…for this human man.

Because he is my Hart, my love, and my mate. In my mind, he is above all, even in all the realms, mine of brimstone and hellfire, the pretty Fae courts, or the nightmarish shadows. I would sacrifice every single being in every single world for just one single minute with him.

For him.

If I am right, then shit will hit the fan. I need to keep him alive. That’s all that matters.

“Right, we’re all here,” I boom out of the shadows I’m standing in. “Let us begin.”