Page 51 of Prince of Demons (Demon’s Mark #2)

“Wait…” Confusion and a gut-level hit of dread made her feet falter. “Kesh said to meet him here? That… that can’t be right. Why would he?—?”

His hand around her elbow remained firm, the gentleness of his grip waning when his steps didn’t slow with hers and she was pulled along beside him. He didn’t look at her. Didn’t answer.

“Mallorn? Why are we meeting him here?” Her voice pitched higher, the dread solidifying. She dug in her heels. He grabbed her by the arms and slung her over his shoulder.

Too late, realization set in.

Kesh wasn’t waiting inside.

“No! No, what are you doing? No! You can’t do this, please, no!”

She screamed and kicked and fought to get off his shoulder. It was no use. He held her in place with no visible effort and carried her over the threshold, back into the nightmare she’d only narrowly escaped.

It was dark inside, the air frigid against her skin.

No one sat at the reception desk this time, and as Mallorn’s long strides carried her down the long corridor with the makeshift chambers of horror lining each side.

But though the smell of sex lingered, no one occupied the fluid-stained beds inside. The brothel was empty.

“Why is she screaming?” There was a voice up ahead—unfamiliar, but authoritarian. Disapproving. “Tell me you haven’t hurt the girl.”

“Of course I haven’t,” Mallorn growled. He carried her the last few paces, then put her down on her feet in a horribly familiar room: Jimmy the Pimp’s office. “She’s just familiar with this place. No woman willingly steps foot in a brothel twice.”

Georgia immediately tried to dart back out of the room, but Mallorn easily kept a hold of both her arms, rooting her in place.

“Let go of me!” She kicked at his shins, and connected, but he didn’t so much as flinch.

He did, however, give her arms a small squeeze, as if to settle her.

It didn’t have the desired effect, but the gentle contrast to the kidnapping he’d just performed startled her enough to cast a look around the room.

There were two men in there with them. One was heavy-set, wearing a pinstripe suit she recognized as easily as she did the calculating look in his eyes: Jimmy, in his human disguise.

The other was a stranger—one with an intimidatingly tall and broad frame that somehow seemed to contain more mass than it could believably hold. A lord.

“She’s ‘been here before?’” There was dark ice in the stranger’s voice. Slowly, he turned his dark eyes toward Jimmy. “You whored a Pure Breeder?”

Jimmy swallowed and took a half-step backward. “N-no, of course not, Your Highness! I would never— There was a misunderstanding, you see. She was brought to me as payment for a debt. Once I realized what she was, of course I immediately changed any plans to work her. She’s untouched. I swear it.”

“Well. Not entirely untouched,” Mallorn grumbled.

The stranger shifted his focus to him, his black eyes narrowing slightly. “Not entirely…?”

“Prince Kesh had her. Released inside her. He would have claimed her, had I not interrupted.”

“The usurper’s brother is no more a prince than his brother is king. If you wish to live under my family’s benevolent protection, you will do well to remember this.” The lord held Mallorn’s gaze for a moment longer, then he turned his attention to her.

Instinctive fear ran up her spine the second his eyes connected with hers. They were cold, ruthless, despite the smile he offered her.

“Ah. Well. Mishaps happen, don’t they, little Breeder?

We’ll have you tested for pregnancy, and should the mongrel’s seed have taken root…

Well, there are remedies for that.” He inhaled softly, his smile tightening at the corners.

“You reek of fear, sweet one. Please try not to. I don’t much enjoy the urges it brings up in me. ”

Georgia stared up at him, the horror of his words filtering through her panic.

Remedies. He was talking about… She hadn’t even considered the possible consequences of her wild, heat-fueled time with Kesh.

Hadn’t had the presence of mind, with all that came after.

But this stranger was right—she could be pregnant.

Her knees turned soft with fear, one hand finding its way to her abdomen on instinct alone.

The lord flattened his lips in an expression of overbearing annoyance.

“Ah yes, my apologies. That was… indelicate of me. You are hard-wired to feel protective of any offspring, even if sired by a cretin. But worry not—if we do have to take unfortunate measures, you should be gestating again within your next cycle. Now, really. Do try to control your emotions. You’re making my skin… itch.”

“I… I don’t understand. Who are you? If you wanted to court me, why am I here? You could have come to the ceremony?—?”

The stranger let out a short, sharp laugh.

“Oh, my dearest girl. A courting ceremony?

Precious. No. I am Prince Aragalan, first in line to the throne of the rightful King of Demons.

And I will not be courting you. I will be bidding on you at your auction in Rome tomorrow evening. And I intend to win.

“But my family upholds traditions, and we will allow the lords who support us to partake in the bidding for the right to your womb. They may not stand a chance against me, but it’s important they think they do to secure their continued loyalty.

Keeping the lords loyal proved… difficult, once word got out that the American imposters had acquired a Pure Breeder they allowed to be courted by their supporters.

But now, thanks to our friends here,” he nodded toward Jimmy, “you belong to us. And our supporters will fall nicely back in line. Within a year, I will have a son to establish my lineage, just in time to take back the Americas from the scum who thought they could splinter our rule.”

The rightful King of Demons.

Ice-cold dread slowed her racing heart as the full realization of Mallorn’s betrayal set in.

She turned to look at him. “You’re selling me to the Europeans?

Scheming with someone like him?” She indicated Jimmy with a weak hand gesture.

“Why? You’re his Second. I don’t understand why you would do this. ”

A flicker of pain crossed Mallorn’s features, quickly smothered with anger. “You are still blind to his true nature. Your heart makes you dumb. Loyalty did the same to me. I thought him my friend. He never was. He knew my deepest yearning—knew all I wanted was a mate, a child.

"And the second he got the chance, he used that knowledge. He dangled you in front of me, in front of all his men, to tighten our loyalty when all along… you were Pure. You could never have been ours. And he used you too, too.

“He made you believe he would protect you, didn’t he?

Did he perhaps even let you believe he loved you?

The second I told you he was waiting for you, that he chose you over his family, over power, you came with me.

But the truth is, Georgia, he will never choose you.

You were never anything more than a pawn in his quest to maintain power for his family.

That is where his loyalty lies, and where it will remain.

So I did what I had to do to protect my future. My family.”

“It is a shame the American usurpers don’t understand the value of rewarding loyalty.

But, I suppose, their mistake is our gain.

You will both be richly rewarded for your efforts in bringing my family a Pure Breeder.

A mate for you, young warrior. And safe haven as well as my family’s royal stamp of approval to run your business out of Rome for you.

” Aragalan gave Jimmy a smile devoid of warmth before he turned back to Mallorn.

“Now, come along. I want the Breeder aboard my jet within the hour. We have a long flight back to Europe.”