Kissed by a Dark Prince(90)

Sable rushed forwards and checked the condition of her comrade.

Loren burst into the room and froze, pulling Olivia behind him to shield her. His armour completed itself, forming claws over his fingers and his spiked black helmet, but leaving his face mask open.

He growled and drew his black blade out of the air, bringing it to him from his rooms in the castle, and mentally commanded the alarms to cease. The lights in the room came back up, startlingly bright, hurting his eyes and those of the enormous male battling in the middle of the room. The male growled at the lights and continued his fight against the hunters.

Bleu teleported to the other side of the room, his black armour in place and his eyes bright purple in the slits left open on his horned helmet.

The immense demon battling between them paid them no heed and lashed out with one meaty muscled arm, sending half a dozen hunters flying across the room. He took the human males down with ease but he wasn’t killing them. Had his brother sent the male to harm Archangel and increase the unease between Loren and the hunters?

The male was enormous, broad and thickly muscled, his torso bare and his lower half clad in tight leather trousers that matched the colour of his wild russet-brown hair. Blood streaked his dark golden skin from several wounds on his torso, some of which still had the crossbow bolts sticking out of them. He snarled, flashing large fangs at the hunters, and swung wildly again, bashing several of them together and sending them crashing into a heap on the floor.

Other hunters called out commands and the demon turned crazed red eyes on them. The dark brown ridged horns that curled from behind his ears grew and the tips of his ears began to grow pointed.

This was not good.

As it was, the male stood taller than Loren and Bleu, his formidable strength making him a threat to both of them. If the male went fully demonic, he would grow several feet taller and become infinitely more dangerous. Loren had to stop him before it happened.

Loren moved forwards, his blade at the ready.

The demon swung to face him and, rather disturbingly, the wild look in his eyes grew clear when they settled on Loren.

No, not Loren.

Sable.

She stood beside him, her crossbow held at the ready, looking tiny compared with the male but furious too. She wouldn’t back down. She would take on this demon who stood almost a foot taller and two foot wider than she was.

The demon’s horns shrank and he was savage as he shoved his way towards them, snarling and growling at any hunter who dared to get in his way. Bleu skirted the edge of the room, his gaze locked on the demon, his blade ready. Three arrows stuck out of the demon’s left shoulder, and the itchy trigger finger of a young female hunter embedded a fourth in his deltoid. It didn’t even slow the demon.

He halted two metres from Loren, straightened and preened his horns as if nothing out of the ordinary had just been happening.

“You are a hard man to find,” the male’s deep voice rumbled through the room, a dark growl, his thick accent making it difficult to understand his English.

Strange that a demon would choose to speak that language to him. It was almost as if he wanted these hunters to know that Loren was the reason he was here.

Had Vail sent the demon to kill him after all?

“State your business.” Loren swept his blade out, aiming it at the male’s throat, and tipped his head back, holding his gaze. With his other hand, he kept Olivia close behind him. She refused to remain hidden, but at least she only moved far enough to peer past him, and ended up between him and Sable.

The demon grinned. It might have been a smile. It was always hard to tell with demons. They had rough masculine features and fangs that didn’t fully retract. A smile looked like a grin most of the time.

“I was not sent by your brother.”

That didn’t ease Loren at all and he only grew more unsettled when three other demons appeared behind the male.

Bleu eased forwards and Loren could sense the arrival of more demons had set him firmly on edge. Loren held his hand out to Bleu.

“All is good here,” he said to him and then turned to the demon. “Is it not?”

The immense male’s eyes darkened to a rich shade of crimson and he nodded. His gaze darted down to Sable and then back to Loren. It did this several times in the space of a few seconds and Loren had the impression that it wasn’t because she had her crossbow aimed at him and it was unsettling him. No. The way a corona of scarlet flared around the edges of the male’s eyes whenever he looked at her, and his horns grew larger and more pronounced, said it was a very different emotion commanding his gaze to leap to her and study the little human female.

He desired Sable.

“I need your assistance,” the demon said and Loren arched an eyebrow.