A couple of months ago Samael caught me in his tower, with one of his demons dead on the floor in front of me. He’d bonded me to him, and we’d made a deal. If I could find out who was murdering his demons— and kill them within two weeks– he’d let me free.

During that time, we’d gotten… close. Despite my hatred of Samael and everything he stood for, I hadn’t been able to help myself. We were drawn together like magnets, and at one point I’d been moments away from sleeping with him.

Then I saw the true Samael. The Samael who’d refused to release me from my bond over a technicality. After I’d saved his life, I might add.

Evie raised her eyebrow, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. “Have you seen him since…”

“I made the mistake of saving his stupid life? No. He’s been suspiciously absent from my life. But you know what hasn’t been absent? This stupid mark.” I held it up and the gold seemed to sparkle in the light. I ground my teeth. The mark on my arm proclaimed that I belonged to Samael. And each time I dropped my shields even a little, I could feel his masculine presence down the end of that bond.

“Have you thought about asking him for help?”

“He can’t help me with this. Besides, he’s a demon. What does he know about unseelie power?”

Just the word “unseelie” made me shiver. I didn’t feel half unseelie. But I’d also been magically neutered for most of my life.

“Uh-huh.” Evie’s mouth twitched and I scowled at her.

“He’s dangerous. Besides, I have a new plan. I met a witch when I was investigating the demon murders. Her name is Selina. She was the one who was able to tell me my power wasn’t all witch. I’m going to see if she’d be willing to help me find someone who can perform a suppression spell. Otherwise, maybe she can train me to keep my control.”

In the meantime, I had to accept that I couldn’t be trusted around anyone who could piss me off. So basically the entire population of the world.

Evie grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Go to Gary and explain what’s happening with your power. Apologize. He’ll understand. And in the meantime, if you can’t trust yourself to buy things from him, let me know. I can go for you.”

I smiled. This was the least awkward conversation we’d had so far. Maybe there was hope for us yet.

“Okay,” I said. “But after what I did, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll just ban me from his store.”

“All you can do is try.”

“You’re right.” And now I itched to go talk to him.