“Fuck off, Ash.” But he could hear the underlying excitement in the demon’s voice. “Just tell me—will it work?”
“I don’t see why not. But all three of us have to be present. Give me your coordinates—I’m on my way.”
A minute later, Carl stood looking down on the sleeping Shera. She gave a little moan as he slipped the handcuff around her right wrist and fastened the other to the brass bedstead; he wasn’t risking her disappearing before Ash got here.
As the cuff clicked shut, she blinked open her eyes. A smile started to curl the corners of her lips, then stopped. Instead, her brows drew together in a frown, and her eyes narrowed. She glanced from his face to the silver cuff on her arm. “Please don’t do this. You promised you wouldn’t take me back by force.”
“And I won’t.” Actually, he wasn’t even sure he could anymore. She had grown stronger by the day.
She rattled the cuff. “So what’s this?”
“I didn’t want you disappearing before Ash gets here.”
“Asmodai is coming?” Her eyes widened. “You’re going to hand me over, and he’ll take me back. How could you?” Her voice rose and crimson glints flashed in her eyes. “How—”
“Shut up and listen to me for one minute.”
She did, clamping her lips together to stop the words escaping. She visibly pulled herself together, sitting up and wrapping the sheet around her breasts. Then she gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
Carl sat on the bed beside her, took her free hand, and stroked a finger along her palm. “I’ve agreed to take the sigil.”
The frown was back. “What? How?”
“Apparently, it’s the only way to remove it—if someone agrees, voluntarily, to take it from you.” He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat at the thought of handing his life over. Losing his freedom.
“And you didn’t think to talk to me about it first?”
He didn’t want to talk about it. Hell, he didn’t even want to think about it. “What is there to talk about? It’s happening.”
“And I get no say?”
“No. Hey, the way I understand it is, I have to volunteer, you just have to sit there.”
“Never going to happen. I won’t let you enslave yourself for me. You’d hate it, and you’d come to hate me.”
“Who knows what will happen? But being with you these last weeks has changed everything. I thought I didn’t do relationships—now I can’t bear the thought of being without you. And I certainly can’t live with myself if I stand by and watch you burn.”
“My choice.”
He gave a pointed glance at the cuff on her wrist. “Not anymore.”
She pursed her lips. “I’m a goddamn cat shifter. Do you really think cuffs are going to hold me?”
Shit. He hadn’t even thought of that. He pressed a finger to the spot between his eyes. “Christ, my brain’s not working.”
“No, it’s not. That’s why you’re making stupid freaking decisions. Decisions that you’ll regret as soon as they’re done. Now let me go.”
“No.” He’d hold her down if he had to.
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
She gaped at him, mouth open, but no words came out. He held his breath as he waited for her to say something…anything. Then her gaze shifted to something behind him, her eyes widening. “Crap.”
The air prickled. Carl turned slowly as a portal shivered across the air. For a moment his muscles locked up tight with tension, but he forced them to relax. It must be Ash.
The portal solidified, and four figures stepped through. Unfortunately, while they were demons, none of them was Ash.
Chapter Nine
“Shit.”
Carl swore again and jumped to his feet, standing between the demons and Shera. Christ, he was wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, not a weapon within reach. And Shera was handcuffed to the goddamned bed.
He glanced back at her. She was frowning. “Shift,” he muttered between his clenched teeth. “Shift and get the hell out of here.”
Her eyes were huge as she stared at the demons. “No.”
Panic churned inside him. Why couldn’t she do what she was told, just one time? “Goddamn it. Go!”
“Princess, what is your command?”
For a moment the words made no sense. He’d been concentrating on Shera, but now he turned back to the newcomers, and at last he recognized them. Or at least their leader. He’d been with the demons who had attacked them the night he’d met Shera in Spain.
What the fuck was going on?
Princess?
A glimmer of light.
He stepped to the side, slowly, so he could watch both Shera and the demons, though he had an idea that if anyone was in danger here, it wasn’t his little cat.
“Who are you?” Shera asked.
“I am Bevan, your bodyguard,” the demon replied. “These are my people.” He waved a hand at the three demons behind him.
“Er…” She shook her head. “Bodyguard? I have a bodyguard? Since when?”
“Since your father found out about your existence.”