Page 18 of Stolen by the Gargoyle (Gargoyles of the Underworld #1)

I thought I could resume my life as though nothing had happened.

As though I hadn’t met Nazzar, First Commander of the Underworld.

But every day that passed since he brought me back home without him made me ache.

I never thought it was possible to miss someone you’d only known for a few days, and while I hadn’t grown used to having him around, I missed him.

Fiercely. And I found myself daydreaming about what he wanted, the vision he’d painted, and all that we could have been, if I’d only asked him to stay.

Hurt was such a strange thing. I wanted to hate him; I almost wished that I could. He’d professed to want me above all others, but he’d dropped me off, left, and hadn’t come back.

The more hopeful part of me wanted to believe that he would keep his word. That he would be back to whisk me away again and upend my life, make me dizzy, confused, and wanted all in the same span of breath.

It wasn’t until he’d flown away and I fell back into my routine that I realized how boring my life truly was.

I was reminded of why I wanted adventure in the first place.

Because sometimes, routine was safer. It was safer to live through predictable patterns, knowing what was coming a day from now, or the next, or the next.

It was easier than facing the unknown. Than standing before a storm, unsure if you’d be swept away and if you did, where you’d end up.

But hiding in the shadows was no way to live.

And I was sad that it took me so long to realize that.

The most exciting part of my life had been when Nazzar had taken me.

When I’d outrun demons and watched him fight and kill for me.

While life in the Underworld was something I still wasn’t sure I wanted–at least, not in that cave–I did know that I wanted the unpredictability that Nazzar brought with him.

I wanted Nazzar.

I wanted the demon gargoyle who had stolen me away in the middle of the night and promised his body, heart, and soul.

He was nowhere to be found, though.

Months without someone really put things into perspective.

“I mean, maybe he’s busy doing First Commander of the Underworld things and that’s why he hasn’t come back,” I muttered to myself.

The TV was on in front of me, a KDrama meet-cute playing that I was only half-paying attention to.

“Maybe he had to go to battle or something for the Lord of Death or whatever. But if he did have to go to battle and didn’t come let me know, that’s pretty fucked up.

” I picked at a loose string hanging from my fuzzy sock.

“What, demons don’t own phones? He can’t pick one up and call me?

” I scoffed. “I mean, I didn’t give him my number or anything so that could be why, but if he really was as interested as he says, he would have gotten it from someone.

” I sighed and leaned back against the cushions of my broken couch.

The couch Nazzar broke under his weight.

“Maybe he found himself a new wife to take down there with him and doesn’t remember me at all. ”

“That is not true.”

I screamed, jumping up and sending my bowl of popcorn flying against the voice in front of me. The bowl shattered, popcorn rained down, and when it cleared and my heart settled, I found myself staring at a very stern-looking Nazzar.

“Nazzar!” I pressed my palms to my chest, blinking rapidly, trying to make sense of what was happening. It’d been so long since I’d seen him, but my body responded to him immediately. My heart began pounding, and every other part of me quivered with just his nearness. “You–you’re back.”

His brow was narrowed as he looked down at me, his big, thick body a force to be reckoned with. How someone as enormous as he was could move so quietly, I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t even heard him come in.

“It is not true,” he repeated.

“What’s not true?”

“I have not found another wife,” he stated plainly.

“Oh.” I cleared my throat, embarrassed that he’d heard my musings at all. That hadn’t been meant for his ears. But, to save face, I tilted my chin up a fraction. “Well, why not?”

He appeared confused. “Why not?” His wings spanned out, making a creaking, whooshing noise.

A growl rumbled from somewhere deep in the depths of his chest and he stepped forward, close enough that the brush of his naked thighs pressed against my body, igniting something that had been dormant since he’d left me.

“Because I have not forgotten you , Dolores.” He reached his hands out, those black claws gleaming, and cupped my cheeks so I couldn’t look away.

“You are branded into every part of me, Dolores Villanueva. I told you before that you were mine from the moment I laid eyes on your smile, and I did not speak those words lightly.” He leaned down, crouching low enough that our foreheads touched and his horns pushed into the spirals of my curls.

I breathed him in, his campfire scent like a balm I didn’t know I needed.

“I know I have been away for many months, but I vowed to you that I would come back for you and I am here now.” His lips skimmed across my own, a soft touch, barely there, and he made me want to chase it.

“And I am hoping with all that I am, that you will allow me to show you something.”

Nazzar’s clawed thumb brushed against the upper curve of my cheek. I hadn’t realized I was crying until he swiped the tears away and leaned back.

I wanted to admit that I was hurt he’d stayed away for so long. The more he stayed away, the more I wondered, a niggling and ugly insecurity in me, if he didn’t want me anymore.

But he was here, and just his presence, his words, pushed aside all of that and gave me the confidence to stand in front of him, taking his hand in my own.

“Okay,” I whispered. “I’ll go with you.”

No words were spoken after that. Nazzar merely swept me into his arms and then we were flying, hurtling through darkness and space until we touched down in the Underworld. Only… this wasn’t the Underworld I had come to know.

He hadn’t brought us back to the cave that had been my prison and my home for several days. He’d brought me to a…

“A beach?!” My gaze swept across the warm sand and the bright ocean. Palm trees scattered along the edge of the bank and from where I stood, I could make out creatures splashing in the water to cool off. “Are you serious right now? The Underworld has a beach?!”

My feet touched the ground and I all but sank into the incredibly soft sand. I suddenly felt too hot in my fuzzy socks and pajamas, but a gust of wind blew a spray of salt in our direction, cooling my warm face.

“Yes,” Nazzar said from behind me. “But that is not what I wanted to show you.” His hands came down on my shoulders and steered me away from the sight of the beach, turning me so I was looking up a slope of sand and at…

“Woah.” My mouth dropped open at the sight before me.

A house. A big, two story house with curving steps that led up to a set of wide, double doors.

It was a beachside, Mexican style house with walls that were painted in a bright rose pink and a thatched roof shaded by enormous palm trees.

The doors were painted white, the windows circular and thrown open.

There was even a garden with roses and shrubbery that must have been alive with magic, because there was no way they would have survived this heat…

“Come,” Nazzar ordered, giving me a gentle nudge towards the house. My knees nearly buckled beneath me, but I managed to follow him up the steps.

Once there, I noticed a demon standing by the front door and I froze.

The creature was short and rounded, with a lumpy nose and small horns that flickered like a lighter. It wore a pink apron with dozens of little hearts.

“This is Forstoff,” Nazzar introduced. “He is here to attend to anything you may need.”

Then the demon–Forstoff–bowed low at the waist and replied in a chittering, demonic language.

“That will be all, Forstoff,” Nazzar dismissed him, and Forstoff walked away.

“He was wearing an apron with hearts.”

“Indeed,” Nazzar murmured.

“Nazzar, what is this?” My arms flailed around. “I’m so confused.”

Instead of answering, he took my hand in his and pulled me into the house. The inside was even better than the outside. Bright colors and tile covered every inch in an eccentric combination that I found myself falling in love with.

It was fully furnished, with couches and chairs, plant holders and golden chandeliers. The deeper Nazzar pulled me through the rooms, the more I choked on my own wonder. Everything was a dream, from the thick wood of the dining room table, to the kitchen, and the bathroom!

“Is that a jacuzzi?!”

Nazzar didn’t respond. He walked confidently towards the bedroom, showing off the king sized bed… No, that wasn’t a king size. That was bigger. It was huge, big enough to fit Nazzar’s frame.

And the place had electricity!

“Nazzar, what is this?” I finally turned to him, tilting my head up to meet his hopeful gaze.

“You told me you had needs,” he began. “When I took you, I disregarded your needs and wants. I have been in the Underworld for so long, I did not realize just how different we were, despite having followed you for many days.” He ate the space between us, reaching for my hands.

“Your unhappiness broke something in me.” He pushed a curl behind my ear.

Gentle–always so gentle. “My brothers and I learned loneliness and we sought brides to stave it. Our traditions are to prove that we can provide and protect, and it fills me with great shame to know that I harmed you instead. So I came back and created this for you, to gift you your comforts and favorite things. I went to the human realm to steal my bride, and when I found you, you stole my heart. I vowed months ago that I would go back to you and make you my wife. So here I am, Dolores.” He knelt before me, but even kneeling, we were hardly at eye level.

Still, my heart beat an erratic rhythm at the sight, and what it meant.

“If you forgive my transgressions and find me worthy of you now, would you let me steal you? Would you let me make you my wife?”

I tore up from the inside. Every single cell, every molecule, every part of my being disintegrated at the power of raw honesty in his voice.

At all the things he said. So that was why he’d stayed away so long.

He said he wanted to heal the harm he’d done and had made good on his promises.

He’d built something for me, with my favorite things and in my favorite colors, because he’d listened.

Nothing had ever felt so shattering before, and I knew I needed to reach out and grasp it before it slipped through the cracks of my fingers.

My hands lifted slowly to cup his face and slide over the rough edges of his contours. They slid up, to the base of his horns, and wrapped tightly around him.

Nazzar groaned, jerking forward as the breath left his body. Magic flared purple beneath his skin.

“Nazzar,” I whispered. “I forgive you,” I told him, sliding my palms up and down his horns slowly.

“The truth is, I forgave you a long time ago.” I released his horns and he groaned, the sound one of protest, and I tapped his chin, tilting his gaze up to mine.

“And my answer is yes, Nazzar. Yes, I will be your wife.”