Chapter 17

Chapter

Seventeen

~ Dante ~

“ R emind me why you keep doing this?” Luna asks as she focuses her power, morphing my features until I’m unrecognizable. She’s hazy in my memory, her features a little blurred, but she’s still unmistakable with her fire red horns. “This is the third night,” she points out. “I’m pretty sure you’d know by now if she’s your mate.”

I stare at my reflection in the antique mirror across from us, and Kai’s face stares back at me. Not Dante’s. “I’m not paying you to ask questions,” I drawl.

“You’re not paying me at all,” she quips back, and my lips quirk into a smile.

“Yeah, the smile doesn’t work the same when you don’t have your face anymore,” she teases. “Maybe I should leave you like this permanently. Then, at least, the females in this city would be safe from you.”

“And deny them the joys of Dante?” Noah chips in from where he lounges across the room. “Where would be the fun in that?”

“There would be less broken hearts for one,” Luna points out, waving her hands again as she fixes my lopsided eyebrow.

“Their hearts will heal when they find their fated mates,” I point out. “Then I’ll be easily forgotten.”

Luna shrugs. “Maybe, but anyway, stop skirting the question. Are you going to tell us why you keep doing this?”

I stare back at her quizzical umber eyes. Luna’s a pretty demon with thick auburn hair and red horns, but we grew up together, and she’s always been immune to my charms. It’s probably why we get along.

“He’s still afraid to show his face after the princess kicked his ass during the tournament,” Noah answers for me through a mouthful of cheese.

“Says the demon who was out within the first five minutes,” I counter, pinning Noah with a stare. “I would have made it to the end if Zoran hadn’t caught me by surprise and knocked me out.”

“Mhmm… See I told you, being invisible isn’t all that,” Noah says, stuffing his mouth full again.

I turn my attention back to Luna, and the shapeshifter watches me carefully. “You’re playing a dangerous game, you know. If you’re not the princess’s mate, you shouldn’t keep visiting her. If she finds out that I’ve used my shaping abilities on you, it’s not just you who’ll be in trouble. I get the feeling she won’t be happy to hear she’s been deceived.”

“She’ll never know,” I reply seriously, because Luna’s not wrong about this being dangerous. “And this will be the last night, I promise.” I don’t point out to Luna that the magic she’s been using on me has made it harder to detect whether Princess Blake is my mate. Luna’s shaping abilities not only disguise my appearance and scent, but it’s made my senses duller. Knowing the princess would be well aware of my reputation, the first night I visited her, it seemed an interesting experiment to go in disguise. I’d thought it would be an uneventful dinner, but enough to satisfy my curiosity about the formidable female I’d witnessed breaking demons during the tournament. To my surprise, even with my dulled senses I found her company to be refreshing. There was more to the princess than I’d previously thought, and I was driven by the need to find out everything about her. A difficult task considering for most of the dinner, she seemed to prefer comfortable silence. But tonight, will be the last night. Luna is right, and if the princess isn’t fated to me, I’d be an idiot to continue.

Luna stares at me for a moment longer, but when I still don’t explain myself, she throws her hands up in the air and joins Noah on the lounge. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Dante,” she says. “For once, I think you’re going to have to accept that there’s at least one more female in this city who’s out of your reach.”

Standing, I stride closer to the mirror and fix my tie. “We shall see.”

I breathe in Blake’s alluring scent as she finally relaxes, giving in to sleep. So perfect. It had never felt like this with the others. When I’d bedded demons in Seral, the moment of bliss was fleeting and the emptiness I always felt after the act left me wanting to chase the high again. I wanted to find those brief moments when I could truly feel alive.

But with Blake, just to have her sleeping in my arms fills me with a vast pool of warmth that is deeper than anything I’ve felt. I know she still doesn’t think she can have us. Not in the way she wants. The rumors that circulated after her last lover’s departure have been more damaging than I expected. I breathe in again, thinking about how her scent haunted me for so long. It’s been so long since I first tasted her. Since Blake walked into that dining room and demanded that Kai take her. That I take her, and even the magic Luna had placed on me couldn’t stop me from seeing who the princess was. My fated mate. My princess. Mine to bond with. Mine to protect.

But as she was coming apart in my arms an unknown force attacked me. A cold vice clamped around my throat suffocating me, the dark power squeezing my life force, and it wasn’t until I’d turned invisible that I’d managed to slip free of its hold.

Fuck, watching the princess, my princess, search for the demon she knew as Kai had me wanting to show myself again, but I’d had to break through Luna’s shapeshifting magic to use my own power, and if I revealed my true form I didn’t know how she’d react. I was also certain that someone or something had tried to kill me, and that the source of the magic was close to the princess. So I remained quiet, waiting until the princess left the room before returning to my clan house, and I’ve spent the time since trying to discover where the unknown power had come from.

It was only my lack of restraint that had me violating the rules and bringing humans to my house, and in turn, luring the princess to my home. Each time, I’d hoped she might realize who I was. That somewhere deep down she’d see I was her fated mate, but Kai’s death had made her even more wary, and I still hadn’t discovered where the threat in the palace was originating, so I’d waited.

I think about that night over and over as Blake sleeps, finally getting the rest she needs. Eventually, Alaric, Nate, and Prince Callan slip out with Shade, leaving me to watch her. I know they’re going to distract themselves while she sleeps, because though Blake doesn’t seem to believe it, she’s all we think about. My cock has been hard since the moment she entered the room again, and my balls ache just thinking about everything I want to do with her. But she needs her rest, so I don’t move as she sleeps soundly beside me, and the others left. Shade was reluctant, but all I had to do was comment about how upset Blake would be if her mates got themselves into trouble, and the bird was following after them.

I stay beside Blake for hours until she slowly starts to rouse. Yawning, she blinks blearily up at me and stretches.

Smiling, I tuck her hair behind her ear. “Feel better?”

“You’re still here,” she replies, and I frown. I think about all the females and males from my past. I’d always left straight after being with them, and it never occurred to me that I should stay. But with Blake, I never want to leave her side.

“Of course,” I say, admiring her tousled dark hair and puffy cheeks. “Where else would I be?”

She shrugs. “How long was I out?”

“It’s hard to say. Hours, probably.”

“Hours?” Her eyes snap wide, and she peers around the room. “Where are the others?”

“Exploring. You needed sleep, and they needed a distraction,” I drawl.

Her expression flattens. “Exploring? This is because I went out without them, isn’t it?”

I chuckle. “Actually, I’d say it’s because they didn’t know what to do with themselves while you were resting.”

She grows thoughtful, and her gaze goes to the open space that overlooks the rebel city below.

“It’s beautiful down there, you know,” she tells me, and there’s a faraway look in her eyes.

“As beautiful as our depraved city back home?”

“In its own way,” she replies, and then the smile falls from her face. “You know, if the witches attack while we’re gone, Seral might not look the same when we return.”

I think of my clan and my friends. Of Noah and Luna, and the other demons. “King Dalton has stopped the witches before,” I tell her, thinking back to the great war.

Sadness enters her eyes, and her words are soft when she speaks. “He won’t be able to do that this time.”

Her comment surprises me, and I want to ask if this has something to do with the announcement of the king’s unexpected retirement, but now isn’t the time. “Let’s just work on getting out of this place and back to Seral, shall we? If we get out of these cuffs, we can bond, and with the five, uh six, of us having heightened abilities, surely we’ll be able to take on this King Celzar.”

She sighs heavily, rolling onto her back. “I don’t think Prince Callan and Alaric have changed their minds about bonding.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. There’s a difference between words and actions, princess.”

“Well, right now Alaric and Prince Callan’s actions say they’re not sure what they want,” she counters.

My lips twitch, and I comb my fingers through her hair. “The Drozac assassins are taught to live on a diet of hatred and pain, but it’s obvious Alaric’s already coming around. As for the archangel…there’s more to him than he’s letting on. He was just as upset at the idea of being away from you in that prison as the rest of us.”

She raises a brow, clearly not believing a word I’m saying.

“Perhaps if you let us act more like your fated mates,” I drawl, my fingers trailing lower and brushing against the side of her right breast. “I’m more than happy to lead by example.”

Her lips part at my touch, her skin warming in response, and desire ripples through me.

“You’ve heard the rumors,” she whispers. “If I accidentally kill my mates, we won’t be able to seal the bond. And, I’ll have to live with that loss.”

“We’re your mates. None of us will die because of you,” I assure her.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“Trust me, you don’t,” she insists. “There’s something wrong with?—”

My lips find hers, because I can’t let those words keep tumbling out of her mouth. That lie. She tenses, but I devour her mouth, my tongue tangling with hers, and slowly she softens. I pull her closer to me, and my tail wraps around her thigh, squeezing tightly, and reminding her that she’s mine. By the time our lips part, she’s breathless and panting, and her golden eyes are bright with desire. So incredibly beautiful.

“It’s you who doesn’t understand, princess,” I tell her, my heart pounding faster. Because this is the moment I’ve dreaded. I made a mistake, but keeping this from her was never the answer. “And it’s my fault you don’t.”

She pulls her head back to stare at me. “What are you talking about?”

I steel myself and finally let myself admit the secret I’ve held on to for so long. “You didn’t kill me that day.”

“Kill you? Do you mean in the tournament?” she asks, puzzled.

I think of the deadly tournament the king made us fight in, and how I’d been knocked unconscious that day. “Not then,” I say carefully, my finger trailing up and down her side. “In the palace.”

I can see her mind working as she tries to understand what I’m telling her, and I stare into her golden eyes, guilt squeezing my chest. “I’ve got you, princess ,” I repeat the phrase Kai uttered, wondering if this time it’ll trigger the memory. Seconds pass, and I can tell familiarity is tickling at the edges of her mind.

I go on, “It wasn’t your fault I almost died. There’s a power in the castle. Something reached out when you were coming apart in my arms. A dark magic that’s unlike anything I’ve experienced, and it wasn’t until I’d turned invisible that I’d managed to slip free of its hold.”

Her face drains of color.

I run my hand over my horns. “I wanted to tell you the truth sooner. When I saw you searching for the demon you knew as Kai, fuck I wanted to tell you, but I’d realized you were mine, and I couldn’t risk it. Not until I knew where that dark power was coming from.”

Her mouth opens, closes, and then opens again. “So, I never killed Kai?”

“No.”

“But you can’t shapeshift,” she rasps, and before I can explain she connects the dots. “Luna,” she croaks. I’m not sure if she’s angry or relieved.

“I wanted to discover who you were without my reputation ruining things,” I explain, though it sounds so stupid now. “Be honest, if I’d gone as myself, would you have agreed to a meeting?”

She purses her lips, proving my point.

“I promised myself I’d stay away from you until I discovered the threat,” I say. “But I knew you were mine, and it was driving me mad. So, I came up with excuses for you to visit me.”

“Wait. You violated the rules, bringing humans to your home so you could lure me there?”

I smirk, not in the slightest regretting that part. “I only have so much control, princess.”

“Unbelievable,” she mutters.

“The thing is, it can be hard to function when your mind is constantly filled with thoughts of the only female you’re destined to spend your life protecting and pleasuring.” My fingers brush against the side of her breast again, and she shudders.

“You should have told me,” she says. “Did you find out where the power is coming from?”

I frown, hating my answer. “No.”

She nods like it’s the response she was expecting, and she peers up, scrutinizing my face. I know she’s imagining his features. Kai’s, that is. “His horns were longer,” she says, a wicked grin slowly tugging at her lips.

“Were they now?” The corners of my mouth tease up, because we both know that isn’t true.

Her gaze trails downward, and she bites her bottom lip. “Also, I’m pretty sure his cock?—”

I silence her words with my lips again, and for the first time since that night when I had a different face, she doesn’t hold back. I’ve got you, princess, the words vibrate through me as true today as they were that night in the palace.

My hands slide to her ass, and she breaks the kiss, lifting to straddle me. She doesn’t say it, but as her golden eyes look down at me, I know what she’s thinking. In a way, I just set her free.