Touched by Fire (Demons of New Chicago #1) - Kel Carpenter Page 0,53

again, the careful calm she’d emulated before now gone.

The alpha looked between her and Lucifer.

The demon groaned. “Do I have to do everything myself?” he asked to no one in particular. I was starting to wonder if he was talking to a voice in his head.

Lucifer gave Nathalie a sharp glare, his eyes glowing once more. “Stop scaring him with the show. Put your hands behind your back.”

The wind stopped at once. Nathalie’s hand dropped, and she turned, presenting her wrists with a dazed look.

“You. Other guard,” Lucifer said to the one at my side. He’d smartly kept his mouth shut and not moved. “Hold her securely. Or do you need to chop your hands off because they’re useless?”

“No, sir.” The guard stepped behind me and grabbed my wrists firmly.

“Finally! Someone that understands how to take orders,” Lucifer said, throwing his hands up. “Anders, get this mess cleaned up. And you”—he turned to me once more, his cold fingers wrapping around my throat—“I was going to kill you. I debated having you rip yourself apart, a very apt punishment for betrayal, is it not?”

I pressed my lips together, trying to keep myself from saying anything that might get my tongue ripped out. He smirked, his hand loosening. “But your smell . . . it’s familiar. Divine. You’re not going anywhere until I figure out why you smell like my atma.”

Shock ran through me.

This couldn’t be happening.

I couldn’t be two demons’ atma.

I couldn’t even be one.

Yet, here was another demon, claiming I was their soulmate. It appeared that somewhere along the way, the universe just decided to fuck me in every way possible.

Lucifer smiled coldly. “I like you better this way. Now go to sleep. I don’t need you overpowering anyone on the way.”

“The way to where?” I asked, fighting against the instant urge to sleep. I stifled a yawn.

“Sleep,” Lucifer commanded again. Darkness was falling as the last of his words reached me. “You’ll see when we get there.”

And then it was silence.

“Piper.” My name was whispered from across the void. Deep. Husky. Full of want and desire and something else. Something that made me shiver.

“Ronan?” I questioned. Shadows swirled in front of me, forming the demon. Instead of a suit, he came to me in sweats that hung low on his hips. His skin was slick with sweat, making the contours of his shirtless abdomen glisten. His brands pulsed with dark power. Markings that I didn’t truly understand hugged both sides of his abs and ran across his broad chest. Both arms were covered from wrist to shoulder, creeping up the thick column of his neck.

I swallowed. My mouth felt dry.

“It’s early,” he mused. “You usually sleep at night like the humans, unless . . .” His voice trailed, and dark fire flashed in his eyes. “Did you use your power? I didn’t feel it.”

He could feel it?

That was possible?

I grimaced. “Is that a side effect of the blood-exchange as well?”

“No,” he said. “It’s a side effect of being a demon of great power. I can feel the fluctuations in your world easily because so little magic exists here compared to my own.” Ronan took a step closer. “But you didn’t answer my question,” he said softly. “Did. You. Use. Your. Power?” He enunciated every word softly, but it was not kind.

I glared at him, unamused by his alphaholeness. I’d grown up among shifters and vampires. Incubi. Warlocks. Fae. They were all the same in that. He didn’t scare me.

“What’s it matter if I did?” I said, choosing to not answer his question and instead see if I could get more information out of him. Ronan’s nostrils flared. He didn’t like my tone. Well, I didn’t like his.

“If you did, and I didn’t feel it, that means you’re in trouble. While you can run from me all you like, I don’t want others butting into my game. You’re mine. Mine to chase. Mine to claim. Mine to protect.”

“I don’t need your protection,” I said.

“But you need me to chase?” he asked darkly, amusement flitted through his features. “To claim?” My skin flushed.

“That is not what I meant.”

Ronan snorted once. It was an odd thing to see. A demon acting so human, especially after watching Lucifer. He was anything but.

Ronan took a step back, letting me breathe. He circled me slowly, examining me from all angles. “I know you don’t need my protection. Perhaps what I feel is closer to possessiveness. After so long of searching and failing so far