Page 21

T TWENTY -O NE X ANDER

“You still want me?”

“Always.”

That single word holds all the weight in the world, and I cling to it too fucking tightly as I get ready to meet Blake. I was supposed to be at his bar an hour ago to discuss the newest member of my council, but I slept through all of my alarms. Being with Camille inside a dreamscape for so long last night took more power than I’m used to exerting—and it was worth every second.

I send Blake a quick text to let him know I’m on my way, and shrug on a jacket after noticing the overcast sky outside my window. Rain is almost guaranteed on any given day. Such is living in the Pacific Northwest.

When I get to the bar, I find it surprisingly busy for a Monday afternoon. I ruffle the bit of rainwater out of my hair as I step inside and approach the bar, where one of Blake’s employees is pouring a tall glass of beer.

“He’s in the office,” she says, barely giving me a glance. She’s human and she knows the man she works for isn’t, but that’s the extent of it.

I offer a nod as I move through the patrons waiting to get their drinks. Walking down the hallway, the sounds from the bar quiet, and I tap my knuckles on the door before letting myself into Blake’s office. He’s lounging on one of the couches with his computer on his lap and a small cup of what smells like espresso in his hand.

“Nice of you to finally get your ass out of bed, you royal sleepyhead.”

My lips twitch as I cross the room and drop onto the couch across from him. I nod at the laptop. “What are you doing?”

“Well, you see, I do run a business when I’m not defending your ass.” He sips his espresso before setting it on the coffee table between us. “My accountant has been asking for a bunch of shit and wanted it last week. If I put her off any longer, she’s going to think I’m committing tax fraud or something.”

I arch a brow at him. “Such human problems.”

He snorts. “You’re telling me.” Blake sits up, closing his laptop and facing me. “What’s going on with you, though? You never sleep in.”

I scratch the back of my neck, genuinely unsure how he’ll respond to what I’m about to tell him.

“Oh, fuck. I know that look, mate. What did you do now?”

I exhale a humorless laugh. “My council is gaining another, potentially controversial member.”

Harper hasn’t officially accepted the position, but it’s only a matter of time. I may not yet have all the skills of a royal, but persuasion has always been a strength of mine.

“Don’t keep a bloke in suspense. Who is it?”

There’s a moment of hesitation before I tell him, “Harper.”

A look of disbelief crosses his features. He sits back. Rubs his jaw. “Are you sure about this?”

I nod. “You won’t convince me otherwise.”

“I won’t try. I just want to make sure you’ve considered every angle. I’m only looking out for you.”

It’s moments such as these where it’s all too easy to forget Blake is a demon. Some of his mannerisms—his genuine concern for me—feel so damn human .

“I appreciate that and I understand. This wasn’t a decision I made lightly. But with such an already complicated relationship, there wasn’t much else I could do if I wanted to continue building something with her.”

“So, you do, then? Want a relationship with her?”

“She’s…family.” The word tastes odd on my tongue and sits heavy in my chest as I replay it a few times in my head. I’ve never had anyone I wanted to explore a familial relationship with, and I can’t let this one go without attempting to make it work.

“Fair enough, mate. So long as she doesn’t get in the way of anything—your trials, for example—then I’m all for bringing the little hunter on board.”

I catch the subtle look of hunger in his gaze and exhale a deep sigh, leaning back against the throw pillows. Blake has made no attempt to mask the attraction he has toward Harper, and I don’t have any right to play the protective big brother, so I clamp my jaw shut against the warning that sears my tongue.

“Have you decided how you’ll tell the others?”

“Provided Harper agrees—”

My words are cut off by a loud crash from the bar, quickly followed by heavy footfall and screaming.

Blake and I barely exchange a glance before we’re moving, though he tries to stop me at the office door.

“You should—”

“You’re not telling me to stay put,” I growl at him, ripping the door open, and then we’re both moving down the hallway at breakneck speed.

“Bloody hell, you feel that?”

The fear. It floods the bar like a tsunami. Together with the bone-chilling screams of terror, it’s a demon’s playground.

Blake and I enter the bar, and in seconds, chaos erupts around us. Glass shatters and wooden furniture is destroyed. My first thought is hunters, but my stomach plummets a moment later when I realize it’s not members of the wretched organization.

We’re being attacked by demons.

The sharp scent of blood permeates the air, mixed with sweat as humans attempt to flee in any direction, knocking over furniture and people in their path.

Blake jumps into action without hesitation, grabbing a low-level demon off a human and snapping its neck in a brutal maneuver. I scan the room, my blood running cold as I come to the stark realization that these demons aren’t attacking to feed—this is a massacre.

Human bodies and demon ashes, litter the floor and booths. Most are dead or very close to it, their skin so pale it appears gray and their clothes tattered and bloodied.

I stalk toward a group of demons converging on the bartender, who’s attempting to stand her ground behind the bar with a knife in her grip. Her eyes are wild with fear and determination, her pulse pounding erratically as her hand shakes.

I whistle sharply to get their attention, and the three dark-haired demons whirl around and snarl at me, their mouths full of razor-sharp fangs and their eyes completely black. There’s not an ounce of humanity in these creatures. They’re here to slaughter—but why?

The one closest to me lunges forward, clawed fingernails swiping at my face. I bat him away with a brutal backhand, and he growls in pain, spitting black blood onto the wood floor. Blake’s going to have a time getting the place clean after this.

Before the demon can get up, I slam my boot into his windpipe, crushing it with ease. Those black orbs widen as he gasps for breath he’ll never get to take. I haul him upright and snap his neck, then shove him toward his cohorts.

My temples throb with pressure, and the constant screaming as people attempt to flee and end up fighting for their lives isn’t helping. Taking inventory of the demons still standing, it’s immediately clear how severely outnumbered we are.

I bite back a snarl, shooting forward to grab the other two demons before they can reach the bartender. “Unless you’d like to end up like your friend, get the fuck out of here.” I don’t relish killing my own kind but I won’t stand for this senseless brutality.

The older of the two spits in my face, and I see red. Rage whips through me like a tidal wave, and I lose control of myself in an instant. I meet his gaze as I slam my fist through his chest, wrapping my hand around his warm, beating heart.

And then I rip it out of his chest.

He gasps and gargles for a few seconds as he collapses, then goes completely still.

I hold his heart in my palm, watching it twitch as my lips curl into a cruel smile, and I offer it to the other, slack-jawed demon. “Hungry?”

His face pales, and he sputters out, “N-no.”

I shrug. “Too bad.” Moving too fast for him to escape, I shove his friend’s heart against his lips, forcing the organ into the demon’s mouth even as he thrashes, attempting to get away.

I vaguely notice the bartender bent over, vomiting into the sink. With a sigh, I drop the mangled heart and snap the other demon’s neck, wiping my hands on my pants.

“On your left, mate,” Blake shouts over the noise. Though, it’s quieted significantly, considering most of the patrons are dead. Music still plays over the sound of ragged breaths and unsteady heartbeats, but the sense of a battle ending seeps into the room—and we mostly definitely didn’t win this one.

I turn just in time to be on the receiving end of a sucker punch to my jaw. I snarl at the female demon with ice-blond hair and sharp cheekbones. She has otherwise normal features, so she’s a higher pedigree than most of the low level demons we—Blake mostly—have taken on here.

“Traitor,” she snaps, rearing back for another attack.

“Lovely to meet you too,” I bark, snatching her fist before it can meet its mark. I hold it in a grip that would crush a human’s, and she grits her teeth. “Care to explain who’s responsible for this attack?”

Despite the discomfort in her features, a smugness fills her gaze as her deep red lips curl into a cold smirk. “He will never allow you to ascend the throne.”

My brows lift, and I cut a glance over to Blake. The demons he was facing off with have stopped trying to fight. The ones left standing converge on where I’m standing near the bar, and Blake is at my side in a blur of movement.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Blake demands, his jaw sharp enough to cut glass.

“Xander Kane is a traitor to our kind,” one of the males shouts in a deep, jagged voice. He has smears of black blood across his face, dripping from his lip and a cut above his eye, courtesy of Blake. “He committed an act of treason that will not be ignored.”

Ah, so these must be what’s left of Lucia’s fan club. Excellent.

“The royal guard—” Blake starts.

“Has been compromised. That much was perfectly evident when they dismissed Marrick’s claim to the throne.”

I school my features into a mask of indifference, but shock crackles through my veins like electricity. Lucia’s psychotic lover—and Francesca’s father—has always loathed me. It comes as no surprise that he’s threatening my reign, though I can’t say I expected him to make a play for the throne.

“If Marrick is so enraged by what happened, where is he now? What’s taken him so long to act?” I pose the question to no one in particular. “Should he take issue with my ascension, he is welcome to make that known to my face.”

The eldest demon of the group cackles. “What do you think this was, boy?” He steps forward, shouldering past two younger demons. “This was merely a taste of the carnage Marrick will bring should you continue your pathetic attempt at ascending. We all know you’re too human to rule. Give up now, and save us all the wreckage that will ensue should you refuse.”

Blake laughs harshly. “If Marrick wants a war, you tell that prick to wage it himself. Sending a horde of low-level demons and you lot is as amusing as it is pathetic.”

The demon’s eyes narrow, flicking toward Blake before returning to me. When they meet mine, dark arrogance glimmers in them, making my back straighten.

“My mistake. I wrongfully thought you cared about the hunter who shares your blood.”

Blake snarls at the same time I lunge forward, grabbing the demon by the throat. Evidently, word has spread about my relation to Harper.

“Let me be very clear,” I say in a low voice. “You—”

“Don’t bother with your threats,” he wheezes out. “It’s very simple. You are going to abdicate the throne to Marrick…or he will very slowly, very painfully end the life of your sister. Of course, he’ll only kill her after a long period of torture until every bit of her pathetic human mind and body is broken.”

My fingers dig into the bastard’s throat, breaking the skin. Black blood drips down my hand, and his breathing becomes shallow as I lean in. “If Marrick wants a war, he’s fucking got it. No one threatens what’s mine.”

When a few of the other demons step forward, Blake growls deep in his throat, his eyes going black as he moves with lethal grace.

I hear his heart beat faster as he attacks without mercy, snapping necks left and right.

Something came over him at the threat of Harper’s life. I can’t say I fully understand it, but I certainly share the sentiment. That said, I want to be smart about retaliation. We’ll plan an attack Marrick won’t see coming. He’ll find out soon enough exactly who he’s dealing with.

I’m not the half-human teenager he used to know.

I am a king .

“Leave here now,” I say in a low, hard voice, shoving the demon away from me. “If I see your face again, I’ll rip it from your skull.”

He looks as if he’s going to keep fighting, but a subtle glance around the room makes it clear he’s the one outnumbered now. With one last snarl in my direction, he disappears through the space where the bar’s front door used to be. Now it sits in a broken mess on the floor, ripped from its hinges.

I step over bodies to approach Blake. His expression is grave, his face smeared black with demon blood.

He exhales deeply. “What’s your plan now, mate? What are we going to do about Marrick?”

My lips curl into a slow smile as my pulse settles into a normal rhythm. I meet Blake’s gaze. “ I’m going to fucking destroy him. ”