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For a second there, though, his muscles twitched with the impulse to follow her. And do what? Drag her outside, shove her in a cab, and send her home? She wasn’t his daughter. And even if she were, it wasn’t his place to shake some sense into her. Not like she was a child.
That was some fine reasoning he had there. Logical. Now if only the writhing knot in his stomach would get the memo and fuck the fuck off.
Grumbling, he poured another patron a drink, his eyes scanning the room. A peal of giggling laughter drew his gaze to the section titled Lust, where Rose got up from some demon’s lap, stumbled, and tumbled right back down onto him. The demon said something, grabbed her around her waist, and slung her over his shoulder in one smooth move as he got to his feet.
Tallak tensed.
More giggling from Rose as the demon carried her toward the exit. Another demon, apparently the guy’s friend, strolled after them while Rose slurred something, caught Tallak’s eye, and waved at him. “Bye, Tallak,” she called out.
“Fucking hell.” Tallak threw the dish towel on the bar, hopped over with one hand on the top, and stalked after Rose and the demons.
They’d just stepped outside when he caught up to them.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he growled.
The demon carrying Rose stopped and half turned. His buddy faced Tallak, annoyance in the lines of his human-looking face.
Before the guy could say something, Rose chimed in. “Having fun,” she said in a duh voice, addressing him in Fae. “You know, the thing you told me to do?”
“By letting some random demons carry you out of a bar like some pillaged maiden?”
Rose’s face went hard.
“I don’t know what the fuck kind of language you’re speaking,” said the demon carrying Rose, “but if we’re done with this chitchat, we’d like to go someplace a bit more private and get down to business.”
“Rose.” Tallak ignored the guy. “You’re a witch. About to leave, alone, with two demons. You’re drunk and don’t have backup. Do you have a death wish?”
Something raw and dark shadowed Rose’s features for a second, there and gone again. Then she rolled her eyes and said in English, “Relax. They’re my friends. I’ve been seeing them for a while. They’re not going to hurt me.”
The demon carrying her snorted and gave Tallak a once-over. “That what got your panties in a twist? She yours?”
“No,” Rose said with a pointed look at Tallak. “He’s a friend of the family, and he’s going back to work now so I can have some fun. Aren’t you?”
Tallak flicked his eyes between Rose and the two demons, the knot in his stomach souring his blood. “Yeah,” he said eventually. “Whatever.”
Rose gave him a beatific, drunken smile and two thumbs up as the demon carrying her turned and walked on. His buddy was just about to pivot and follow them, when Tallak slammed into him.
Shoving the demon against the wall with his arm under the guy’s throat, Tallak produced the knife he always carried and let the tip of it make contact with the demon’s junk. His buddy carrying Rose had already rounded the corner and was blissfully unaware of Tallak’s heart-to-heart with his friend.
“If she’s not home tomorrow,” Tallak said, his voice deathly quiet, “safe and sound and in one piece, I will find you, and I will kill you.”
The demon choked, his eyes bulging. “Who are you, her daddy?”
Tallak moved the blade a tiny bit farther into the dude’s crotch. “What I am is very skilled at tracking down other demons and ending them. Harm one hair on her head, and I will kill you in a way that would make a skinner demon vomit. I am a hæmingr, I can shapeshift into any form, and when I kill an otherworld creature, I take on their powers and auras, too. You’ll never see me coming. I will have killed so many different demons and absorbed their powers that I’ll slaughter you in a variety of demon ways while I make sure you’re alive long enough to feel it all. So.”
The demon gasped for air.
“Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes, all right, man! We’re not gonna hurt her!”
“Good.” Tallak let him go with a push.
The demon scrambled to get away from Tallak and ran after his buddy and Rose.
Tallak stared after him for a moment, his breath coming fast, the knife still in his hand.
And that fucking knot still in his stomach.
