Page 104 of Bedeviled

Kane’s grip tightens, and a strange vocalization comes from his throat.

“Don’t,” he warns, his wolf riding his voice. Quieter he adds, “If you run, I will chase you, and I will bite you. And then you will be the one lying in the forest in a month as you take on your first shift.”

My breath hitches as I imagine what he’s saying. He doesn’t sound all that against the idea.

Again, I stop wiggling.

We’ve only just crossed the boundary line when Kane groans, his grip on me tightening as the sound evolves into something more primal. He seems to force himself to set me down.

“Fuck,” he breathes.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just fighting with my wolf.”

“Just go back,” I insist. “I’ll be fine from here.”

Kane doesn’t, however, make a move to leave. “During the last Sacred Seven, you were terrified of being on pack territory. What changed between then and now?”

“I already told you, Sybil needed me.”

“She could’ve killed you,” he says, a growl entering his voice. He runs a frustrated hand through his hair, and I desperately try to ignore the fact that the man is naked from head to foot. “I assumed you were well aware of that risk, especially based on your reaction to me on Samhain.”

My cheeks heat when I remember the way Kane had lain on me, nothing but a flimsy layer of material between his body and mine. How nervous I had been about him biting me.

“I warded myself tonight.”

“You warded yourself?” Kane steps in close. “And you thought that would be good enough for a freshly turned lycan undergoing their first shift? I know you are strong, Selene, but you’re far out of your depth here.”

Only that pup would think you were incapable of handling a violent situation, Memnon says across our bond.

I was wrong, assuming how much Memnon had overheard or how jealous he would get.

You’re wearing my ring, sleeping in my bed, and regularly climaxing against my cock and my mouth. What is there for me to be worried about? he says now.

My cheeks heat.

“Besides,” Kane adds, his words interrupting my conversation with the sorcerer, “I thought you didn’t want to be around us, Selene, when our shifts were close. Or was that just me?”

It’s just him, Memnon supplies, oh so helpfully. Clearly he’s now fully invested in this conversation. Maybe he is jealous after⁠—

Kane lunges for me, tackling my body to the ground. I grunt as my head smacks against the packed earth and my teeth clack together.

What in the Seven Hells?

A large object collides with us a moment later, throwing the lycan off me.

I’ve barely managed to orient myself when a dark shadow falls upon me. The protective ward I placed on myself earlier must’ve disintegrated because sharp claws sink into my skin as my attacker pins me in place.

I scream at the sensation of my skin shredding, my back arching from the pain as my eyes rise to meet a pair of slitted pupils.

Demon.

Demon? Gone is Memnon’s mirth. His voice carries that terrible intonation, the one that usually precedes unfathomable violence. Only he’s Goddess knows where, and I’m here, pinned down by said demon.

The creature’s eyes are fixed to my neck, its lips drawn away to reveal its gumline and sharpened canines.

My magic thickens in my veins, throbbing most intensely at my palms, where it gathers.