CHAPTER 1
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The Demigod of Seakilled Brittney cold-bloodedly.
He’d done what I couldn’t have done for myself.
I’d thought myself tough, but I was soft. I wasn’t a real killer like him, though I’d killed plenty of bad dudes in my hunter years.
I tore my gaze from the first-year’s lifeless form to Paxton, whose violet eyes met mine. There wasn’t any warmth in them, just icy determination and a hint of regret.
“Any threat to you must be eliminated,” the killer said matter-of-factly, glancing at the dark mages’ bodies littered across the ground.
He’d slain all of them to protect my secret.
But the demon prince, who claimed to be my cousin, had escaped to Hell.
He’d come back for me soon, as he had promised.
I couldn’t drive away the bone-chilling feeling in my gut. From now on I was living on borrowed time.
“What about you?” I asked harshly, eyeing the demigod like he was a rattlesnake about to bite into my flesh and pump venom into my veins.
“I’m the last person you should worry about hurting you, Buttercup,” he said, his tone cold, yet softening. “And you won’t whisper a thing about what happened here to anyone, not even to your beloved Héctor.”
An ache slithered up my spine at the mention of Héctor.
He wasn’t here. I was thankful he wasn’t the one to hear of my despicable heritage from a demon’s mouth. I couldn’t bear it if my Héctor looked at me with revulsion and enmity.
My heart broke at the prospect that he would eventually learn what I truly was and I wouldn’t be his lamb anymore. He wouldn’t want me as his mate either. A cold, bleak feeling numbed me. I decided then what I had to do. I hated being a liar, but I’d have to keep this secret from him—from Zak and Axel as well.
Livid shouts broke out everywhere. The alarm blared through the grounds of the Academy.
“I’ll take care of you, Buttercup.” Paxton’s words brushed against my cold skin. “No matter whether you like it or not.”
I had no time to ponder if that was a threat or a promise.
The Dominion sentinels arrived, their swords tight in their hands, their Olympian power pulsing in the air, ready to attack.
They must have learned that demons had breached the campus wards. It was a blow to all Dominions that the demons could enter the heart of the demigods’ territory—the Academy.
Two-thirds of the soldiers spread out to find and contain further threats. Cameron, the lieutenant I’d once booted in the chest, led a small team to check the corpses on the ground. One of them pressed two fingers to Britney’s neck to check her pulse and shook his head to tell Cameron the girl was dead.
Paxton and I kept our distance from each other, and I’d make sure that continued. His unreadable gaze kept returning to me as if he was worried I would fall apart at any second. I somehow knew he’d be there to pick me up and yank me straight.
Hadn’t he tried to make a soldier out of me ever since I’d been dragged to the Academy?
I practically sneered at his antics. When his pawn had beaten me to within an inch of my life, I’d still stood on my own feet. I’d still taken my fight to him. I wasn’t going to crack under this weight either.
I was feeling lost and cold and unfortunate. Just when I’d thought that I could settle down with my demigods, Loki, the demon prince, had had to come to my world and claim that I was his relative and the ‘Lost Princess.’
“Lamb!” Héctor’s roar reached me first.
“Cookie!”
“Rosebud!”