“Hey,” he said, his voice hoarse. His sluggish mind found her presence by his side comforting.
“Hey,” she greeted him with a smile. She tied the gauze into a knot, then gently placed his hand on the bed.
“How’re you feeling?” she asked, rising to her feet.
“Like I’ve been hit by a truck,” Julian answered with a groan. While the demon master had suffered the occasional cut or burn when hunting demons in the past, he’d never been injured this badly before. Normally, Hineker would protect the demon master from harm during a hunt. Except this time, he’d been stopped.
Julian ignored the nagging voice in the back of his head that said it wasn’t a good sign for the future.
Holding a tube of ointment, Raelyn walked around to the other side of the bed. She tapped Julian’s right hand, ready to tend to his other injured wrist.
“Hineker can take care of that.”
“I know.” She gently sat down on the bed and placed his hand in her lap. “But I want to do it.”
He tried not to pull away as Raelyn rubbed ointment into the tender areas. Her fingers brushed up against an extremely sore spot and he hissed in pain.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I’m almost done.”
“It’s alright,” he replied through gritted teeth, the bruised areas objecting to Raelyn’s featherlight touches with sharp stabs of pain.
The door to the bedroom opened and Hineker walked into the room, impeccably dressed in his usual dark navy blue suit and matching tie. No signs of his altercation were visible.
Julian envied the enforcer demon’s ability to heal quickly. Raelyn tied off the gauze on his wrist with a knot and Julian slowly moved to sit up in the bed. The enforcer demon placed a silver tray on a low table and poured a glass of water.
“You’ll need to keep your wrists clean, covered, and dry for the next few days.” Hineker handed Julian the glass of water, along with a couple of pills. “These are for the pain.”
Julian moved to grab the glass and winced at the spike of pain from his shoulders and wrists. He swallowed the pills first, then chased them down with water. Hineker accepted the empty glass and went right to business.
“The creature has been returned to the underworld and the master is no longer a problem.”
Julian’s eyes widened in surprise, quickly understanding the implication in Hineker’s words. The only way that a demon could be returned back to the underworld is if the demon master died first.
“How did she die?”
“It was me,” Raelyn interjected. “We were fighting for the knife. She got stabbed in the chest when we were wrestling for it.”
Julian swallowed hard. This wasn’t good news. A demon had been returned to the underworld before Hineker had a chance to eat his soul. Now the demon knew who Julian was. This left him vulnerable to future attacks.
That wasn’t the only thing that worried him. Julian glanced over at Raelyn. He’d understood why Hineker had asked for Raelyn’s help, but not why she’d been involved in the rescue instead of left behind in the Range Rover.
Raelyn was returning the ointment to the table at the side of the bed when he noticed a black mark on her wrist.
Julian’s heart skipped a beat.
Oh no.
“Let me see your wrist,” he demanded.
Raelyn glanced at Hineker. The demon lifted his shoulders in a shrug, a flicker of amusement in his eyes. She pulled up her shirt sleeve and revealed Hineker’s mark on her right wrist.
Horror clawed its way up Julian’s throat.
The enforcer demon had made Raelyn his scout.
“Hineker, remove it,” he ordered.
“No.”
Julian’s lips pressed into an angry line.
“What do you mean, no?”
“I’m sorry Master Julian, but I can’t.”
“Wait, I thought you said it wasn’t permanent?” Raelyn protested.
“It’s not permanent.” Julian said, his eyes narrowed at the demon. “Which is why he’s going to remove it, right now.”
“No, I’m not,” Hineker replied.
“Unless something else happened that I don’t know about, I’m still your demon master. Which means that you listen to me,” Julian argued, hotly. “Hineker, remove the mark.”
“No. She agreed to it,” Hineker countered in an irritated tone.
Losing patience at being talked about as if she wasn’t there, Raelyn interjected.
“He’s right, I did.”
“Why?” Julian’s heated gaze locked onto Raelyn. “Why would you do something like that?”
“Because I want to help you.”
“Raelyn,” Julian said, frustrated. “Hunting demons isn’t a game.”
“Well, actually it is,” Hineker mumbled.
“Hineker,” Julian growled at the demon. “You’re messing around with her life here.”
The enforcer demon’s limited patience snapped. “You’re acting like a stubborn child.” He pointed back and forth between the two humans. “She loves you. You love her. Now, figure out how to make it work.”
The demon turned and walked out of the room, leaving two shocked humans in his wake.
◆◆◆
Raelyn broke the silence first.
“He told me.” She sat down on the bed and began to trace random patterns on the blanket.
Unease crawled up Julian’s spine. This conversation had only just begun and he already didn’t like where it was going. But one thing he’d learned about Raelyn in their short time together was that she wasn’t one to give up on something very easily. He ran his fingers through his hair.
“Hineker told you what, exactly?”
“About you. Why you keep trying to push me away.”
His brow furrowed. Normally, Hineker didn’t meddle in his personal life, especially when it came to women.
Why was he doing so now?
Julian shook his head and shifted to stare at the wall. He didn’t want her to see the look of indecision on his face.
“Whatever he said to you, it was wrong.”
“I don’t think it was,” she countered.
“Raelyn,” Julian said her name with a sigh.
Everything he’d ever feared was coming to life.
He could hear the empathy in her voice as she spoke. “Hineker said when your father died, it broke your mother’s heart. That the grief drove her insane and it tore your family apart. He said you refuse to let someone you love suffer the same fate.”
Julian inhaled slowly.
Damn, Hineker really did tell her.
He moved to look at Raelyn’s pretty face. He saw the love and concern reflected in her China blue eyes and felt the wall erected around his heart begin to crack. They had a physical attraction and chemistry that was off the charts, but there was something more. He could sense it and he wanted it more than anything else. Never had he seriously thought about a relationship with someone before. He had always focused on his job as a demon master and accepted his fate.
She had unlocked something in him that had been dormant and he was hungry for more. He opened his mouth to speak but she silenced him with a raised hand.
“No, let me go first. Look, I know this entire situation is crazy. How you’ve stolen my heart in such a short time I don’t know, but in that moment, back at the barn when I saw you tied to that chair, I realized something. I don’t want to live my life without you.” Her southern drawl thickened with emotion. “You make me feel special. With you, I feel like my weird abilities can actually do something, that I can do some good.”
She smiled slightly as the words continued to tumble out. “You don’t have to keep doing this alone. I can help you. I’ve proven that I can. I know that I can, if you’ll let me. You’re mine, and I’m yours. Period. I know we barely know each other but I want to give us a try.”
She laughed weakly. “The big question is, do you?” The look of hope and uncertainty on her face ma
de his stomach clench into knots.
Julian rose from the bed. His bruised and battered body complained about the action, but he needed to move, to think. He slowly began to pace.
“I don’t think you realize what you’re asking for. The work I do with Hineker, it’s dangerous.”
Julian remembered his mother, the broken heart she suffered after his father died. It drove her to madness, until she’d eventually killed herself. He stopped and brushed a strand of hair away from Raelyn’s beautiful face.
“I couldn’t handle it if anything happened to you.”
She grasped his hand before he could pull away and pressed it against her cheek. “These past two weeks, I was miserable without you. When Hineker showed up and said that you were captured, I knew that I had to help find you. I know we don’t really know each other, but that doesn’t make my feelings any less valid. I’ve fallen in love with you.”
The honesty in her eyes made him tremble.
He’d gotten a taste of what life was like with her and he’d selfishly liked it. He wanted to be with her. He loved her too. What he had with her, it mattered to him. For too long his life had been filled with emptiness. She’d shown him that his life could be something else. It could be filled with love.
“I live in New Jersey. Your life’s here in Tennessee.” He tried one last time to give her a chance to walk away.
“If we do this, you’ll have to come back with me. You’ll have to move in. You’ll be helping me hunt demons. Your life and mine will always be in danger.”
He didn’t want to let her go, not after a conversation like this. But the choice had to be hers.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.
His mind wanted her to say no, but his heart begged her to say yes. He held his breath, awaiting her answer, unable to decipher the look on her face.
“Anywhere you are is where I want to be,” Raelyn said.
Her words made his heart soar while his head swirled with uncertainty. He couldn’t promise her that it’d be easy. He couldn’t promise that they’d work, but he wanted to figure out a way. He wanted to give it a try too.
His life was destined to be short already. He didn’t want to miss out on any more time with someone special in his life.
He didn’t want to be without her.
“I was miserable without you too,” he admitted, running his thumb against her cheek. His heart pounded inside his chest. He’d faced down more demons than he could count, but nothing scared him more than the thought of committing to a relationship.
He stared at the woman sitting on the bed. She was beautiful and special. She was willing to risk her life to be with him.
It was time for him to be brave and leave the past behind. Just because it happened to his parents, didn’t mean that the same thing would happen to him.
He took a deep breath.
“I don’t know where this will go or if I’ll be any good at it, but I want to try.”
He cradled her face between his hands, falling into the depths of her eyes. His next words came from the heart.
“I love you,” he said.
He angled his head downward and kissed her with a slow sensual touch. Her mouth was mesmerizing. He felt her arms wrap around his waist, pulling him in close until there was no empty space between them. They kissed for what felt like an eternity, their tongues meeting again and again, until he pulled away, the muscles in his arms and legs feeling weak and heavy. The tiredness and sleepiness from the pain medication was taking effect.
Raelyn lifted the covers back and patted the mattress. “Come here and get some rest.”
Grateful for the invitation, Julian returned to the bed. Raelyn lay on her side next to him and propped one hand underneath her head, while the other one stroked up and down his arm. He felt his body relax, comforted by her gentle touch.
“I love you too,” she whispered.
Her words made his heart do a somersault inside his chest. He knew this had happened fast, but it didn’t make it any less real.
He lived a weird life.
But she was weird too.
Maybe they could both be weird together.
Author Acknowledgements
This book would not have happened without the help of the following people:
J. Deerwood, my life partner and invaluable developmental editor, who always pushes me, in the nicest possible way, to make my books the best they can possibly be. Babe, you really are the best thing.
Kelly Hogate, my incredible copy editor, for polishing up my words and making my story even better.
Britta Nagy, my marvelous, artistic friend, for brainstorming with me on Julian’s demon mark and being as excited about this book as me.
To my little sister, Kiddo, my books are proof positive that with enough hard work and dedication, you can make your dreams come true.
To my good friends Ankita, Rachelle, and Shania, for your unwavering support and encouragement when I’ve needed it.
To everyone who read, reviewed, or talked about the book, thank you for taking a chance on me.
About the Author
Lisa Deerwood is a research scientist who loves to write. Over a 15 year career as a professional writer, she’s written more than 500 commercial pieces. In 2017, Lisa published her book—Shopping Brake: Proven tips to stop shopping wrong, and start shopping right for a wardrobe you love—as a way to share the results of more than a decade worth of research into shopping addiction, while also providing a how to guide on shopping, organizing, and managing a wardrobe that you’ll love. Lisa shifted gears in 2020 to write fiction, specifically action packed paranormal romance. Demon Aura is the first novel of her signature series The Demon Games.
Lisa holds a Master’s of Science in Biology, with a Molecular Biology concentration, and currently lives in the United States with her husband and cat who does tricks for treats. When not working on the next book, she can be found riding horses, sweating at the gym, and yelling at inanimate objects during the hockey season.
Other Works by Lisa Deerwood
The Demon Games Series
Demon Aura
Non-fiction
Shopping Brake: Proven tips to stop shopping wrong, and start shopping right for a wardrobe you love
Demon Aura Page 26
