I roll my eyes. Of course he is. “Okay, so you need someone anchoring you so you can travel. Why do you think I want to be that person?”
“Because you want out. Desperately. And I know how to escape this place without facing those pesky reapers.”
I study his face, looking for any signs of a lie. He’s said so many things that could have rung as dishonest, but I don’t have that sense anymore. That was because of my powers, and I’m useless without them. I keep watching him as the voices come closer, but nothing changes. If he has a tell, I can’t figure it out.
“Come on,” he murmurs. “There must be an important reason for you to want to go back. Why is that?”
“My mates,” I blurt. “They’re in danger because of me.”
Something crosses his eyes, something dark, primal. I don’t know what. I don’t care what. Zaki offers me a hand. “If you want to go back to your mates, I have the way. You just have to agree.”
I look down at his open palm. A deal with a demon. Am I going to go that low? “Are you keeping my soul or something?”
“Of course,” he says as a matter of fact. “We can think of another deal later on so I can free it. I don’t know, maybe I’ll want your firstborn.”
I stare deadpan at him. The voices are closer, Oreo glancing back toward them. I don’t have the time. I need to act. “Why do you want out? Tell me the truth.”
“I want the freedom of it,” he replies with no hesitation. “The Abyss has never felt like home.”
And this time, I can almost taste the truth in his words. Or maybe he’s just good at lying. Either way, I have a huge decision now. He claims to have a way out. I don’t have time to think much, not with the reapers behind me. Somehow, this demon found me, and he has the power to travel between portals here. Maybe I could agree with him, and I’d be back with my mates in the blink of an eye.
Or maybe he’s lying, and he’ll have my soul to torture for the rest of eternity. Oreo would be taken, my mates would suffer, and it would all go to shit.
I swallow hard. The time with my mates taught me to trust people, and to expect the best from them. But with a demon? I can’t be this foolish. There’s no way I can trust him. My father’s face flashes in the back of my mind. What would he think of this? What would he say to me if he knew Iwasthinking of allowing a demon into the human world? He would be pissed. Loving me or not, he would be so disappointed knowing I got this low.
Shaking my head, I step away. “No,” I say, and I watch something very similar to disappointment crossing Zaki’s features. “No, I can’t do that. I don’t know you, and as far as I know, you could bring the apocalypse with you or something.”
He sighs, letting his hand drop. “That’s the Antichrist.”
I take another step away from him. He seems oddly okay with the rejection. I haven’t seen many men who dealt this well with it. “Thanks, anyway,” I say. “Guess I’ll be going, then.”
Zaki tilts his lips, back into his lopsided smile. “I have one last argument.” And he moves, fast. He steps into my path, into my personal space. I jerk away, tripping onto a rock next to my foot and hitting the wall with my back. Surprise makes me gasp. Zaki slams his hand to the wall next to us, caging me in.
A wave of heat crashes over me. My exposed shoulder blades scrape against the rough material of the ruined wall. Zaki steps closer, and that warmth chokes me. My eyelids slam shut. Another wave of heat. Pressure grows deep inside me, making me gasp. My panties grow slick, fast, so fast I grow breathless.
Holy shit, what is this?
I tremble, the smoky scent of him making me shudder with lust. My pussy clamps down on nothing, my entire body rigid, tense. I gasp again, my nipples tightening painfully. My clit pulses, throbs with need, another wave of heat making my knees buckle. One touch. I need one touch and I’ll come apart. My head swims with desire, my vision growing hazy as I slide down the wall. Air clogs in my throat as I close my hands intofists. A needy moan escapes my lips.
As fast as it came, it goes away. I’m left gasping for air like a fish out of water, every limb of minetrembling. Zaki stands there, close but not close enough. His pupils are blown wide as he watches me with a schooled expression. His tail whips back and forth as he cocks his head.
“I could make you come so hard, human,” he whispers, his very breath making my sensitive skin prickle, “the reapers would only need to come to collect you. You’d be so out of your mind, so out of touch, there’s no way you could defend yourself. Forget running. Forget your mates. It would be as easy as snapping my fingers.”
Realization sinks into my stomach. I gape at him. “That was you?”
He grins, but it has a cruel edge to it now. “Incubus power.”
I blink, searching for the meaning of that word in my memory. “A sex demon?”
He licks his lips. “That I am. And you moaned so beautifully I would love to make you cream my cock one of these days...” He stops and stares for a moment, his pupils shrinking again. He sighs. “But business comes first.” He offers his hand again. “A deal. I’ll take you upstairs and you bind yourself to me. Or...” He smiles and doesn’t finish his sentence. I still feel the tendrils of his power snaking along the edges of my consciousness. He could take over in a heartbeat. There would be nothing left of me in moments.
This demon might break the world. I can either accept that and follow him while monitoring his actions, or I might lose both my mates and Oreo. I slide a glance at the hellhound, his big, glinting eyes on me, full of expectation. My heart squeezes in my chest. How could I put him at risk? How could I do anything knowing he could get hurt?
There’s no way I can allow that.
With a sigh, I promise myself I’ll deal with the demon problem when it arrives. Getting to my feet in a shaky motion, I take his hand in mine.
“Good,” he purrs with a smile. “Grab your dog,” he says, giving me all of a second to grab onto Oreo, hot fingers still gripping onto mine, before he pulls me into a new portal.