“How will that help me?”

“There is a loophole. A clause in the demon’s favor.”

A thud shook the ceiling, and the specter looked up again. “She will ride him soon. Take him deep inside her and force him to spill his demon seed into her body.”

I curled my hands into fists, ignoring the bite of my nails against my palms. “What do you want?”

“Break the chain around her neck. Break it and set me free.”

Break a chain. Sounded easy enough. “Fine.”

“Your word, bound by your honor.”

Fucksake. I needed the loophole. “I give you my word, dammit.”

His eyes glowed eerily in his spectral face. “Come closer.”

My skin broke out in gooseflesh. “Is that really necessary.”

He canted his head. “Do you want the clause?”

“Yes.”

“Then I must plant it in your mind. I cannot speak it.”

Fuck. I closed my eyes and took a step closer. Something cool and otherworldly brushed my forehead, and then knowledge bloomed in my mind. My eyes snapped open.

I knew what I had to do.

The specter whirled around me. “Up the stairs, first room on the right.” He closed his eyes. “It’s begun.”

Stomach in knots, I took the stairs two at a time. The scent of incense made my head fuzzy, so I was forced to stop to steady myself to acclimatize to it. A closed door faced me. There was light visible beneath it, and music drifted through the wood. This was the room.

I grabbed the handle and shoved the door open.

The distinctive smell of blood hit me. My mind struggled to take it all in. The strange rack to my left with leather straps attached to it, the fucked-up looking instruments laid out on a narrow table beside it. The dresser with a bowl of dark liquid in it and smudges of dark stuff smeared onto the wood.

Female moans, male grunts, and the slap of flesh on flesh hit me next. My head whipped to the other end of the room to a four-poster bed, where a feminine naked back, tapering to a slender waist, was visible undulating on the bed. It took a moment to register what was happening, but then it clicked. The woman was Annabeth, and she was riding Azazel’s cock.

My vision tunneled and latched onto her and then dropped to the man on the bed. Azazel’s eyes were closed, his lips pressed tightly together, jaw tense as if he was in pain, resisting, hurting, holding back. Blood streaked his chiseled cheeks and lashed across his broad chest in claw-like wounds. His arms were bound to the bedposts by leather ties.

Rage unlike anything I’d ever experienced coursed through my veins like wildfire, and then with a scream, I lunged. I grabbed the witch by the hair and yanked her forward. The force of my action had her sliding off Azazel and hitting the ground.

She was on her feet fast, rearing around, teeth bared at me, hands raised to cast some curse or spell, no doubt. Her violet eyes flashed with power, and she began to chant.

“What?” Azazel sounded dazed. “Fee, how are you here? Annabeth, no. You kill her, and the contract is void.”

Annabeth froze mid-chant, but I didn’t wait to see what she’d do. I turned to Azazel, naked and helpless on the bed.

Keeping my gaze above his waist, I climbed up and tried to undo the ties. Bitch had double-knotted.

“Fee …” His voice cracked.

I blinked back tears of anger. “I got this. One second.” But they wouldn’t budge. A raw sob broke from my throat. “Why won’t they fucking budge.”

“Fee, it’s all right,” Azazel said softly, wearily. “Please, just go. I’ll be home in a few hours.”

I glared down at him. “Fuck you, Azazel. Fuck you for doing this.” I grabbed his jeans from the head of the bed and laid them across his crotch to cover him.

I climbed off the bed and faced Annabeth. “Untie him. Now.”

She’d slipped on her robe and was smoking a cigarette. An emerald stone suspended on a silver chain was visible in the creamy V between her breasts.

“Let me see her out, Beth,” Azazel said.

She rolled her eyes and flicked her fingers. The ties vanished, and Azazel was free. I looked away as he dressed, wanting to give him his privacy, not wanting to see the bruises and welts that marred his body because every wound made the breath in my lungs hotter. Every moment he spent in this room naked made my temperature rise with ire.

Annabeth raked me up and down. “So, this is the Dominus you wish to protect.”

Azazel was wearing his jeans, but his torso was still bare and bleeding freely now. I glanced at the bowl on the dresser filled with thick, dark fluid. Blood. Azazel’s blood.

Her gaze flicked to Azazel. “You have two minutes. Get rid of her and get back on that bed.”

Azazel gripped my elbow and tried to steer me out of the room.

I shrugged him off. “No.”

His face was pale, but his eyes flashed dangerously. “You need to go. Now,” he bit out. “Dammit, Fee. We need the amulet.”

“Fuck the amulet. If this is the price, I don’t want it.” I locked eyes with Annabeth. “I invoke clause 136 and assert my claim.”

Her top lip curled, turning her beautiful face into something ugly and frightening. “Jasper!” She scanned the room. “You bastard. Show yourself.”

The specter. She was calling him, but he didn’t come.

She stubbed her cigarette out in an ornate ashtray on her dresser and focused on Azazel. “You told me you didn’t have a soulmate, Azazel.”

Azazel frowned. “I don’t.”

“Nice try,” she said to me. “The prior claim clause can only be activated by a soulmate.”

I took a deep breath because once I did this, there was no going back. Once I did this, he’d know the truth.

I grabbed hold of my top and yanked it down, stretching the neck of my T-shirt to showcase the mark. His mark.

“I am his fucking soulmate.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Annabeth’s expression smoothed out like glass at the sight of the mark. She stood taller and looked down her nose at me before transferring her epically cool gaze to Azazel.

“The deal is off,” she said. “Take your useless blood and your pointless seed and get out of my house.”

But Azazel was staring at the mark on my chest. He reached out reverently to touch it. My skin heated beneath his fingers, and the mark grew darker.

I wanted to say something, anything, but my mouth was the Sahara, and my heart was beating in my throat.

“Fucking get out!” Annabeth screamed.

Azazel didn’t even flinch. He wrapped his arm around my waist and steered me from the room. We made it to the foyer before the specter, Jasper, blocked our path.

“We had a deal.” He glared at me. “We. Had. A. Deal.”

Shit. The necklace. I pulled out of Azazel’s embrace. “I have to do something.” Before he could stop me, I ran back upstairs and into the bitch’s room.

She turned to me in surprise, and I grabbed hold of the amulet around her neck and tugged hard.

Her scream of shock was accompanied by a crack like lightning. The chain broke and fell to the ground. The house shook in its foundations, and then laughter filled the air. Cruel and malevolent.

Annabeth stared at me in horror. “What have you done? You stupid, stupid—” Her head twisted to the side with a sharp crack. And then she crumpled to the ground.

“I’m hungry, demon,” Jasper said. “Hurry and leave before I forget your aid.”

Oh, fuck. Oh, fucking hell. I turned and ran.

Azazel barely made it off Rue Mort before needing to be supported by Nox and me. He was weak, hurt. She’d had him for almost two hours with all those torture devices. How many more wounds did he have?

Nox had thrown his jacket over Azazel to hide his fucked-up state, but even then, we caught a few odd looks from human passersby.

“So wasted,” Nox said loudly, and garnered a few knowing glances.

It hit me that they didn’t notice his horns. Funny the shit the human mind would gloss over.

“What happened?” Azazel asked. “What was that sound like lightning?”

I filled him in on the specter, and we made our way down the regular street. The fog was gone, the air was crisp and clear, and so was my head. Shitting hell, what had I just done?

“I think I might have fucked up.” I bit the insides of my cheeks.

“It doesn’t matter,” Azazel said.

I looked across at him. “You’re an idiot, you know that? Why would you let her … Urgh.” The image of her on top of him, using him, made me want to resurrect the bitch and kill her myself. “Nothing is worth that.”

“Your life is.” He was silent for a long beat. “Why didn’t you tell me about the mark?” he asked softly.

“I was scared. I didn’t know you. I wasn’t ready.” So many reasons that didn’t seem to matter any longer. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t bind to you. It’s too dangerous.” He said it flatly.

My heart sank. A few days ago, this news would have been a relief, but now it felt like he was leaving the dance before we’d had a chance to tango. But he was right. This was about Lilith. My being bound to him would put a spotlight on me, and without the protection charm, I was toast. It was logic. A logic I should have considered weeks ago, but it hadn’t occurred to me.

But now, when I wanted a connection with this enigmatic Dominus who made me feel safe and off-kilter all at the same time, the knowledge that I couldn’t carved a hollow pit inside me.

I nodded and caught his eyes to let him know I understood, but there was conflict raging across his chiseled face. Longing and fear and something indecipherable. I wanted to ask him what it was.

But with Nox here, it wasn’t possible for us to speak freely. He’d already heard too much and probably drawn some pretty accurate conclusions about what had taken place in the house.