their expression was a perpetual snarl with sharp teeth dripping saliva. The corner of her mind catalogued their skin had gone from pale brown to a dark, chocolate. At least they were well fed at the moment.
Thank fuck they weren’t hungry. She had bigger fish to fry. Footsteps sounded like a death knell as the Daeva crossed to her side. He tossed the arm toward three eviscerated bodies.
He still clutched a knife in one hand. The red glint in the bright fluorescent overhead lights was almost worse than if the thing was shining brightly. “This is going to hurt.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “You’re as cliché as they come. I’m no stranger to pain, or haven’t you noticed.” Stop antagonizing the demon! That was advice she really should follow. Too bad her snarky mouth refused to shut the hell up.
He stopped next to the table and ran the blade down her stomach. Her shirt parted under the sharp device and a red line of blood bloomed on her skin. Her bra went with it and her breasts were exposed.
She didn’t like the way the Daeva looked at her licking his lips. “You haven’t experienced anything close to pain. I would know if you had. Roll her over.” The last was barked at the scavenger demons.
Flexing every muscle, she jerked and wiggled, trying to evade their hands. Somehow, they’d multiplied from two to six and all twelve hands were clawing her skin. Then one side of her body left the table and cool air surrounded her.
Her torso was tugged from behind. Her back bowed and her shirt was torn the rest of the way from her body. “Get off me,” she shouted. Her demands were ignored and her face was shoved into the wood.
Clawed hands remained on her calves and her arms while two of the scavenger demons moved to the head of the table. Chloe kept her focus on the archdemon. Stomach roiling, she braced herself for what was to come.
Agony unlike anything she’d ever felt made her black out. Her back hurt like a motherfucker when she came back to. It was impossible to focus on anything but the pain. How long was I out?
One shoulder lifted with the hand that pulled on something beneath the skin. Chloe choked and coughed up blood. Turning her head, she tried to see what the demon was doing. He had his hand inside a gaping wound where her wing slits used to be. A white tendon lifted when he pulled.
Bile rose in her throat. She would have thrown up if she had anything in her stomach. “Where are your fucking wings? I need your powerful essence. It will bring my Lord and Master to this realm.”
Something sharp scratched over the bone. He moved from that wound and sliced through the flesh on the other side of her body. It pissed her off that the archdemon was right about what she’d experienced. This gave torture a new meaning.
She wasn't going to survive what he was doing to her. For more years than she could admit, she’d kept her distance from everyone and everything. Her friends were mere acquaintances. Ultimately, she had no one.
Except Dante! Why had she pushed him away and denied their mating? She could have had someone to love and cherish her. Instead, she was going to be tortured without every experiencing true love.
Closing her eyes, tears streamed down her cheeks. Part of her anguish was from the pain while the other was from what she was going to miss out on. Don’t give up, little evergreen. Fight for me.
Okay, now she was losing her shit, hearing Dante’s voice. Opening herself up, she embraced the bond she felt with Dante the day she woke up on his couch. Her chest heated and some of her agony lifted. He loved her. That’s what he’d proven to her time and again during their short time together.
Where she once believed his forced mating was a burden, she now envied it. He fell in love instantly, before his mind could conjure excuses and put up roadblocks between them. It was so simple for him. Nothing else mattered but her. Her chest swelled and a warm embrace surrounded her.
Her eyes fluttered closed and she sighed. The blade lifted from her back for a second before the demon snarled and his hand grabbed hold of muscles and tendons. Forcing her mind back to Dante, she allowed herself to choose him. He was the future she wanted if she