She had me. She had me, and she knew it.

Whereas Ruby and I had danced around her growing attraction to me and the painfully addictive things I felt for her, the beast would not. We’d been chosen, created, to be her protectors, but the beast wanted more.

It wanted all of us. All of me.

She wanted to own every aspect of me. My soul.

At least that creature cared not for whether there was some semblance of a heart left in me, beyond the useless beating thing in my chest. I wouldn’t fail her in that regard. She may have been raised human, but the girl in my arms was fire and ash through and through.

Her skin glowed like the embers of a budding flame. Hotter than a star and deadlier than anything this world could imagine, the power she kept within her was rarely present, apart from when she slept. In this state, I could feel her need clawing at me, getting beneath my skin, even more pronounced than when she taunted me.

I cradled her body close to my chest, pretending not to be affected by the way she wrapped her arms around my neck, clinging to me even in sleep. I breathed in the scent of her. The way it called to me.

“We need to move her,” Laran said.

I couldn’t admit it to them. The way I felt. I couldn’t admit it to Ruby herself, even though I knew it pained her for me to deny us both. I wanted her unlike anything or anyone that came before her.

And much as I tried to stay away, for the sake of us all, I was rapidly approaching my breaking point.

“She will need to feed when she wakes,” Allistair began. I growled under my breath at the mere thought of it because I wouldn’t be the one to do it. “Do you have something to say, Death?”

I held her closer by a fraction of an inch.

Did I have a problem?

I did.

I was far too conflicted about this. If I was doing my damn job, I would hand her over and let it be done. I would refuse her advances. I would deny the mating bond that she’s offering.

I would keep her safe and not get distracted. Not dream about the color her skin would turn after meeting my belt, or fantasize the ways she might moan for me.

I would know that the only way this could end, is up in flames.

And yet…I couldn’t walk away.

Neither could I admit any of it aloud.

Instead of answering, I walked away, carrying the sleeping she-demon in my arms.

“Hey,” the banshee screeched behind me. “What do you think you’re doing? Where are you going?”

“Keeping her safe.”

It was the only answer I could give. I didn’t want to think about what Allistair would do to her. With her. My own possessiveness did not lend to sharing, and if I took her through her first feed…I would brand every inch of her skin.

But Ruby wouldn’t want that, and I couldn’t stop myself.

Something slammed into my back and crumpled. Not a person, but an object. I turned slightly to see shards of broken glass. A lamp. And the banshee who threw it.

“You don’t get to just remove her without answers. I asked you what you were doing, because if you idiots aren’t smart, all you’ll do is piss her off and if you think I’m bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet!” Her words strayed toward a southern twang the more she got worked up.

“Calm yourself,” I replied coldly. “The transition is messing with her mind. She will be unable to think logically until she feeds. I’m moving her to a private room that is warded heavily enough for her to do so and not be a danger to the city.”

The banshee paused. She didn’t trust us, and it was somewhat admirable that she distrusted anyone with her best friend. She truly was a proper familiar. Possessive. Slightly irrational. Distrusting of anyone else’s intentions, but entirely loyal to the one who bound her.

It was the only reason she was standing after throwing a lamp at me.

“She’s not going to like this.”

“The alternative is we wait for her to wake and give her a choice, at which point she will either agree to it, or the far more likely option, her anger will again spiral and I will not be able to put her to sleep.” Allistair chose to step forward and interject with a more diplomatic understanding of the scenario. “Ruby is the strongest succubus I have seen pre-transition and she is scared to go through it. That is going to make it very difficult on her already. If she burns the city down in a rage, that will only make her more volatile and unstable. This is the best solution.”

Her eyes scanned Ruby, softening as she watched her with a weary expression. She didn’t like this, but she was out of her depth. We were the Horsemen, and this was what we were meant to do. Familiar or not, the responsibility of ensuring Ruby transitioned safely was on the four of us.

With a nod from the banshee, I turned my back on them and hoped that we were enough.

That we could do just what we’d told her we would, because if not…it wouldn’t just be the banshee’s anger we would have to answer to.