Mate to the Demon Kings by Lacey Carter Andersen
16
Sharen lether sword tumble from her fingertips. She and Elaina had helped demons. They would go to the demon-realm when they died. And once there, Sharen would do everything in her power to bring her friend and Ryder back to the human world.
All she had to do was die first.
“What’s this?” the angel asked, raising a brow. “Have you decided to give up?”
She gritted her teeth and nodded.
His awful smile returned. “That was the smartest decision you ever made. Because, unlike your friend,” he looked back at where Elaina had collapsed onto the floor, blood still bubbling up from her lips, “Your death will be quick.”
Fighting every instinct inside her, she curled her hands into fists and waited for the blade to come down onto her. But behind the angel, a bright light came and went in a flash.
He turned around, frowning. “Surcy, what are you doing here? I said that I would deal with the traitors.”
The angel before him was a young woman, with long golden-brown hair and gentle eyes. Unlike the male angel, her wings were a stunning black. She curled them behind her. But even though she wore a simple tank top and jeans, she radiated an ethereal quality that marked her as something other than human.
“Oh, Frink, I simply came to watch you.”
His spine stiffened. He turned back to Sharen.
Her heart began to race once more. This is it.
A flash of steel, and a second later, the male angel’s head toppled from his body.
Sharen looked at the female angel, eyes wide. The woman held her blood-soaked blade.
Their gazes met and held.
“You’re on our side?”
The angel smirked. “A demon-hunter and an angel. Who would have thought we’d suddenly be on the side of the demons, right?”
Sharen felt dizzy with relief. And then Elaina coughed.
Racing to her side, she knelt down in the growing pool of blood around her. “Come on, stay with me!”
The angel knelt down too. “I can get her to safety and heal her.”
Even though trusting her is hard, I don’t exactly have another choice.
Sharen almost nodded but stopped. “Take her. There’s something I still need to do.”
The angel shook her head of long, beautiful hair. “Our enemies know you’re here. They’re coming for you even now.”
“One of my demons is trapped in the other realm. I have to… have to save him.”
The angel’s eyes widened.
“He doesn’t have the power to come back through, but I—“
“I can help you with that too. At least a little. I make no promises.” She reached out and touched Sharen’s chest. A golden light spread, glowing just beneath Sharen’s skin.
“That might give you enough to bring him back here, but it’ll be dangerous.”
Along with my magic in the demon-realm, we might just have a chance.
Sharen nodded. “Thank you.”
The angel didn’t say another word. One minute she was there, and the next both she and Elaina were gone.
Hurrying to the door to the room, she used her Splicer to pound the control board until it sparked and the lights died. That should stall them from getting in here.
Turning back to the portal, she scribbled the name of the portal on the dark stone, and it opened.
Ryder may be dead.
The horde may be waiting for me.
I’m risking everything for a demon who I barely know. A demon my foolish heart thinks I might love.
But do I?
Taking a deep breath, she stepped through.
