Page 97 of Demon Demands

I made it to Sloane before I could blink. Vaughn was right; she needed to calm down before she hurt herself. But I felt like I was the only one of her mates that was brave enough to approach and help her in the state that she was in. It was maddening.

Reaching my hand out as I called her name, I moved slowly. “Trouble? Sloane?” I spoke as soothingly as I could manage while cupping her cheek. It burned like hell, but I knew I’d heal. “Mon Coeur.”

She pried her eyes open and gazed at me. The flame on her cheek fled, leaving my burned hand touching her heated skin. Relief flooded me as the fire began to recede down her face and neck.

Sloane picked up her hand and placed it over mine on her cheek. As she touched me the flames disappeared from her hand leaving hot fingers in its wake.

Slowly, the hellfire dispersed, leaving her naked in front of me. She took a deep breath as she looked into my eyes, and I watched as the lightning faded away from their gorgeous depths. Midnight storm to black, vivid red, and then the beautiful multicolored irises that always drew me in.

She pulled my hand from her face to study it, wincing when she saw my burned flesh. It was healing, but not as fast as other injuries would on a vampire.

She glanced back up at me, tears brimming the corners of her eyes.

“I’ve hurt you,” she stated so sadly that it cracked my dead heart open.

“No, Mon Coeur, you were hurting yourself. I knew you would never hurt me, so I reached through your flames to bring you back. I’ll heal, don't worry.”

Sloane exhaled softly, disappointment at herself plain to see in her posture. I couldn’t stand to see her upset because there was a small burn on my palm, but seeing that emotion from her at all was more terrifying than her rage.

She’d just killed hundreds of demons on her own. We’d witnessed her destruction on more than one occasion. We’d seen such a range of emotions from her, shallow and deep, but I’d never expected to see… tears.

I snatched her to me, wrapping my body around her, but she pulled back to look at my hand again. She met my eyes as a cool sensation began to spread across my palm. The burn was gone in seconds, leaving fresh pink skin behind.

She leaned into me, winding her arms around my waist and laying her head on my chest over my heart. If the organ wasn’t motionless, I'd swear it was beating faster than hummingbird wings.

Her chaos sang to me on a soul-deep level, intertwining with all the dark and wicked parts of my being.

Over her shoulder, Palmer dropped the shield, and everyone began heading our way. I’d never seen the mage look so exhausted. He dragged his feet as he walked, rolling his head like his neck was stiff.

Briggs had a wide slit in his magical shifts-with-him pants, and a thick pink scar ran down his thigh as his body continued to heal. He had a round bruise on his cheek, but otherwise he appeared in good shape.

Stone, Vaughn, and York seemed unharmed, but the druid was favoring his left leg. Stone was missing the tip of one of his horns.

As the first drop of snow touched my nose, I knew Vaughn was trying to cool everyone off. He was using his power when he should be trying to conserve his energy, but I still raised my face to the sky to savor the moment.

The First Legion had vanished after Palmer removed his barrier, and I wondered if they’d spread the news of just how powerful the Third Devil was. Sloane’s parents and grandparents hadn’t moved from where they stood huddled together, whispering to one another.

“It’s all over, Trouble,” I murmured, hugging her closer to me as I brushed her hair away from her face.

“For now,” she whispered.

Her arms loosened around my waist a fraction of a second before her legs began to collapse beneath her from exhaustion.

I scooped her into my arms, cradling her against my chest as Vaughn came bounding over with a shirt in his hand.

Jack grinned at her, glancing around at the damage she’d done. “Is that blood on the floor, or are you just happy to see me?”

Trouble chuckled weakly, rolling her head back to view her best friend. “Both, bitch. You gonna help me clean the rest of this crime scene up or nahhh?”

“Or nahhh,” Jack smirked, waving his hand to the right. “Grim is… what the fuck are you doing?” he asked his boyfriend.

“You know,” Grim called out as he skipped across the sand. “Just frolicking around as I collect the leftover souls of our enemies. I think we’re going to need one big ass case to display all these in, Dolyn. One that has a mass exodus plaque on the front.”

“Yeah, I’ll add the date and location for you,” the nightmare joked before setting his sights on Sloane.

She sighed as he stepped closer, peering down at her with concern creasing his brow. “You went supernova on us. We need to catalogue that,” Dolyn quietly admitted to my mate.

“Mmm,” she hummed. “That was different than the previous times, but I’m not up for testing today.”