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The bullet went through and he simply kept pulling me back toward the house.

I tried kicking and clawing. Nothing. He was solid ice and nothing worked on him. I wished I’d thought to bring a blowtorch with me.

One crazy fucking snowman became two and then three. They surrounded me, the winds howling when they opened their mouths. One stared down at me. There were hollows where its eyes should be, but it seemed to have no trouble seeing me. When its mouth opened, I saw sharp teeth. Ice as fine as any blade. Those teeth were razors and I wasn’t sure what would kill me first—the cold that was making everything seem to slow down or those murderous teeth.

There was a pop and suddenly one part of me wasn’t cold anymore. My shiny demon arm seemed to have a built-in heater.

The snowman who had been holding my newly red arm howled, and when I looked at him, I saw those cold hands that had held me were melting like the sun was shining down on them.

“They can’t handle demon skin, Gray!” I shouted over the winds as I punched at the snow asshole with all the teeth.

He shattered the instant I touched him.

Snowman number three ran.

I struggled to my feet. There was no chance that I was coaxing my arm back to normal. I didn’t care how freaky I looked. I kind of loved the hell out of that arm. I was warmer than before, stronger. My she-wolf and I worked in tandem as another wave of the things came after us. I wasn’t afraid of them now. Now they might be strong, but I wasn’t helpless against them.

I kicked at one, thrusting him back while I shattered the second with my hand.

Up ahead, I saw Gray in the middle of an army of monsters. His fancy shirt was in tatters and he was trying his hardest, but it was easy to see he was losing.

There were big spots of red on his exposed chest where the blood had frozen on his body as quickly as the wound had opened.

“Gray, you have to change!” I shouted as I shoved my clawed hand into one of the creatures.

It shattered, sending shards of ice exploding through the air. I dropped, covering my abdomen and torso. Anything else I could heal quickly given the king’s blood inside me.

It struck me that once again, the king’s blood was boosting Gray’s. It would be days before Gray’s blood was out of my system and until then, a good dose of Donovan would bolster it, making it super strong.

But we were surrounded. No matter how strong I was, I couldn’t take them all out myself. A mountain of winter surrounded us as I made my way to Gray.

“You have to change,” I insisted, driving back one of the bigger monsters.

“No.” Gray’s eyes were shining violet, a sure sign that his body knew what it needed to do. I could see the beginnings of his horns blooming through his dark hair, but he was a stubborn man. “I don’t want you to see me like that.”

And vain. He was quite vain.

A blast of cold punched over me and I turned, taking out another monster with a swipe of my arm.

It wasn’t enough. I needed Gray.

“We’re going to die if you don’t change.” While my arm was feeling all toasty and warm, the rest of me was kind of going to shit and fast. My legs had turned a nasty shade of purple. “I’m not going to be able to walk soon, Gray. I have to get somewhere I can heal.”

His eyes closed briefly, and I could practically feel his pain. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want me to see him as a monster.

When he opened them again, his eyes were as dark as obsidians.

He changed quickly, his muscles flowing from human to demon forms with the grace and ease of someone who had done it a thousand times, though I knew damn well Gray hadn’t. This easy shift was another gift of his royal DNA, and it made me wonder what Gray had to do to constantly stay in his human form.

He seemed to change in mass, his body growing larger. The snow around him melted as his spine lengthened, shoulders growing broader. His skin shifted to a shiny red, the companion of my right arm, though even here he was more masculine. Where my scales were seemingly delicate, his formed a rough exterior it looked like nothing could tear through.

When he was done, his clothes were in tatters and I almost didn’t recognize him. I fell to the grass that was now at my feet. The heat of his transition had given us a few feet where the cold couldn’t touch us, and I sighed as I felt the vampire blood in my body begin to heal the frostbite. I hadn’t realized I’d been in so much pain. The absence was almost a weird pleasure and so was looking at Gray.

He stood over me, a dark god. His horns were curved, his body sharper than it had been before. This was Gray, the demon, and surprise, surprise—he was fucking hot as hell. Every muscle of his body was perfectly defined, every inch of him a testament to dark beauty.

His clawed hand reached down and touched my head. I could see the possessiveness in his ebony eyes as he rubbed his palm over my hair. “Mine.”

I decided it was best to agree with him until we got out of the situation. “Yep. Totally yours. And they’re trying to kill me. You should do something about that.”

He snarled. Even that was kind of hot. I can be a little perverted at times.

He looked around at the monsters circling us and his fangs lengthened. “Stay.”

His demon wasn’t big on multisyllabic words. I was cool with that as long as he was big on killing the bad guys.

I felt my arm shift and I was back to normal. Maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing in the world, but my subconscious apparently trusted the big guy to take care of us. The wind had picked up again, but the ground beneath me was still warm. Well, warmer than the snow, and it appeared to have formed some sort of no-fly zone for the creatures.

The minute one attempted to come into my circle, they melted. After two lost limbs, the rest backed off.

Gray had to go after them. He left the circle with a roar and then that snow was his killing field.

I watched as he took them all on. Even at his size, he was smaller than the frost giants. He punched out, clawing at his attackers.

I lost track of him, his body covered by more of the creatures than I could count. I struggled with my instinct to go and help him, but right before I would have joined him, he punched his way through, sending snow and ice flying all around.

He was a magnificent killing machine.

All at once, the creatures vanished, disintegrating in the wind.

“Don’t you dare change.” I shook a finger at the massive demon who had taken down Winter’s army. Despite the relative warmth of my circle, the wind was still frigid and my teeth chattered. “You have zero idea when they’ll come back, mister, and I don’t want to go through that whole transition thing again.”

His eyes narrowed on me and he took a step forward, looming over me.

I’m sure to most people he would have been a completely terrifying monster that would haunt their dreams and shit, but I saw Gray behind those demonic eyes and he didn’t scare me. “Don’t you growl at me. You know I’m right.”

He growled anyway.

I growled back. “Pick me up and get me out of here, Gray. You’re going to be faster since you’re at least a foot taller than normal, and it doesn’t look like the weather is bothering you now. And stop the whole self-pity thing. Have you looked at yourself in a mirror lately? You are the hottest demon I’ve ever seen, and you’re all muscly, and I have to admit the fangs do something for me.”

I swear that demon preened. He also reached down and picked me up. He brought me high against his chest. Despite the razor-sharp claws, I was cradled as tenderly as he would any baby.

Though I don’t recommend handing a baby over to a demon. Many demons find babies quite the tasty treat. That’s my point. Even in his full-on demonic form, Gray was still able to care, able to be kind, able to love.

He was so warm in this form. I sighed and cuddled close, feeling his body heat begin to sink into my bones. So warm.

“Love you,” he said through his fangs. “Take you back to Marcus now.”

And he was able to sacrifice. No one could convince me Grayson Sloane was a true demon. He turned toward the giant gate we’d driven through.

That was when I saw Jamie walking across the yard. My brother. I smiled. He would have loved to watch Gray take out a hundred snow monsters. I was simply happy he wasn’t freaking out at the sight of me in a demon’s arms.

Gray took a step back.

“Hey, it’s all right,” I said, trying to soothe him. “It’s Jamie. It’s fine. We can all get out of here now.”

He shook his head and clutched me close. “Not Jamie.” He changed, his body flowing from demon to human again. I felt it as I seemed to drop about a foot, and then Gray’s human arms were holding me tight. “That’s not Jamie, Kelsey.”

“Oh, but it is, brother.” Jamie’s body moved toward me, but it wasn’t his voice. A British accent flowed from my brother’s mouth. “It is very much his body. How about that, Hunter? Did I find one you won’t kill?”

Matthew. Gray’s brother had possessed my brother’s body. Jamie was still inside there. Somewhere deep inside his own body, Jamie was likely screaming and trying to get out.

“Please,” I said.

Gray held me close. “I’ll get us out of this. I won’t let him kill Jamie. I promise.”

I shook my head but before I could protest, Gray looked to his brother.

“You know what I want,” Matthew said.

Gray went still. “I want a contract.”

And just like that Gray decided to become their prophet.

Chapter Nineteen

I couldn’t help but watch my brother. Matthew. It was still hard to think of him as Matthew. Jamie was sitting right there. He was dressed like a refugee from the nineties in a flannel shirt and faded jeans. I wanted to reach out and touch him, to assure myself that my brother was alive.

Then he would turn the right way and the light would catch his eyes. They would flash a nasty red and I would remember.

I couldn’t lose Jamie. Not like this.

Gray studied the contract, his head shaking. He’d been provided with a pair of slacks and a new dress shirt since he’d ripped up his clothes during his change. He hadn’t utterly destroyed them, but he’d definitely had a Hulky vibe with the rips and tears. Now he was back to looking sleek and in control. Yeah, appearances can be deceiving. “Simpler. I told you. I’m not signing anything that has duties or rules concerning my life here on the Earth plane.”

His father stared down at us. “You’ll sign whatever I want you to sign or the boy dies.”

Jamie…Jamie’s body stood up. “No, he won’t, Father. Gray has agreed to take the drug and try to transition. He won’t agree to anything beyond that and he doesn’t have to.”

“Do you forget who is in charge here?” Winter asked.

Matthew shook Jamie’s head. “Not at all, Your Grace, but I still have to watch out for my brother’s interests. I agreed to do this because it puts him in a position of power. You seek to take not only his power away, but his life here on the Earth plane. Have you thought about that, Father? If Gray spends all his time in Hell, how will he give you the grandson you require?”

Sloane’s eyes pinned me for a second before looking back at his elder son with a sigh. “It’s a nice word I call rape, son. Ms. Owens’s consent isn’t needed. Despite what certain politicians will have the idiotic public believing, a woman’s uterus doesn’t give a fuck if she welcomed the sperm or not. She can come with us willingly or not.”

“Then kill Jamie now. Kill me now. Kill Kelsey now,” Gray said, his voice bleak. “I won’t rape her. I won’t force her to go to Hell.”

“Then we’re at a standstill, son.” Gray’s father was completely unmoving.

Gray’s head dropped. “If I consent to go with you, Kelsey and her family must be left alone.”

“No.” I couldn’t let them change Gray and then haul him back to Hell for me.

Before we could argue, Jacob chuckled. “How little you people know. You’re all fools. Has no one asked why I’ve walked this plane for millennia? I must. My powers draw from this plane. You could force the dark prophet to go to Hell, but good luck with getting any sort of reliable prophecy out of him once he’s there.”

“Why are you still here?” Winter snarled.

Jacob’s eyes turned grim. “To bear witness, as I always do to the world’s great events. Tonight is a turning point. The trouble with a prophet is you can’t control him. You can set him loose and hope for the best, but he will do as he wishes. Lucifer is insane if he thinks simply creating a thing means he controls it. After all, he rather started that trend.”

“He’s my son and I can control him,” Sloane shot back.

“Really? It doesn’t seem like you can control the other one. Perhaps if I kill his host, we can clear things up,” Winter said.

Sloane’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you touch him. My son is right. We’ll only kill the boy if an arrangement can’t be made. Grayson, I agree to your terms. Kelsey and her family are off limits if you sign this agreement and accept your place. You’ll still have the years left to you. I can’t promise you anything after that. Prophet or no prophet.”

My mind was running through the possibilities. If Gray couldn’t work this mojo they wanted in Hell, it would be hard for them to enforce his contract. This could work in our favor.