unexpected nerves. “Y-yeah. I’m fine now, thanks.”
He nods once. “Then report to my study in fifteen minutes.”
He marches back over to the door, pausing by it for a second. “I’ll replace that.” And then he’s gone.
Alaric chuckles again, watching me from the corner of my eye. “Looks like you’re ‘just partners’ with the prince, too, huh?”
Chapter 14
Lilith Thornblood
The literal Prince of Hell, sole heir to the Stormfire Pack, is not someone I want to get on the bad side of. I haven’t forgotten our first meeting, or how he told Caspian to watch out for me. The look the prince gave before he left Alaric’s room sends another shiver through me. I knock on the future alpha’s door.
“Come in,” he calls out curtly.
I turn the metal door knob and push the heavy wooden door open. I shut the door behind me before turning around to glance at Eziel’s private study. It’s a cosy room with thick red curtains lining the three windows and a massive desk that takes up most of the space. The desk is empty other than a spinning red crystal that doesn’t stop moving and a pile of books in a straight line.
In fact, I don’t see any dust anywhere or a single stain on the dark-wood floors.
“Sit down,” he commands from his throne-like seat behind the desk.
The only other seat is opposite him and just a simple plastic chair that seems like it’s seen better days.
It squeaks when I sit, and an awkward noise fills the room. I clear my throat and smile at him. “I want to apologise for what happened with the wendigo. I made a mistake.”
“Yes, you did,” he states, linking his fingers as he rests his elbows on the desk. “Why did you jump off that roof?”
I look up and meet his sharp green eyes. Sharp and passionate eyes. I just wonder if it’s a passion for violence or death. It’s not romance, that’s for sure. “Because I knew the wendigo would escape, and I wanted to capture it.”
“It?” He leans back. “Do you not think demons are real people? They are not ‘its’.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” I counter. I need to clear this up. “I believe demons, like every creature in the world, have the choice between being evil and good. That wendigo was evil.”
He tilts his head to the side. “For demons, the choice is much harder. The demonic blood is like an addiction. An addiction begging to be freed, no matter what the cost is to humans or their morals. Demons who choose to be good, as you put it, are fighting a battle within themselves every single day.”
“That’s why they are free and not hunted,” I reply.
“The job of hunters is to capture demons who leave Hell to kill humans. Every pack has its promises it made to the Crescent Mother when they were created hundreds of years ago. And our hunters must be the best. The very best. Or humans would soon be dead and wolves not long after them. It’s a careful balance.”
“It has been for many years. It’s why I wanted to be a demon hunter.”
“But you cannot fight well enough to beat a wendigo, a simple level-three demon. You have no basic knowledge of demons, from what I’ve seen, and overall, you are failing,” he tells me, his words cutting deep because he is right. “You’re almost as bad at being in a team as Caspian is.”
“I’m well aware our team-building needs work,” I reply.
He laughs and stands up off his seat. Eziel walks around his desk as my heart pounds. “That is an understatement. “I’m half tempted to kick you both out of the trials.”
Panic flares through me. “Kick me out. Not Caspian. It’s not his fault I’m shit at fighting and following orders,” I quickly say. “Please. This is all he wants, and he is a good guy under all the assholeness.”
“Assholeness?” Eziel repeats my made-up word before chuckling.
I can’t believe I just said that word in front of the Prince of Hell. He must think I’m a total donut.
“How unusual you are.”
We drift into silence, then he says. “I’m going to personally train you. Every day. It’s going to be painful, but you will be the best hunter I’ve seen by the end.”
The blood drains from my face. “Why would you do that?”
“I see your potential. You threw yourself off a building to catch a demon.” He leans against the desk. “Not many hunters would go to that extreme for