Friday Friends - The Demon's Mate by @samcheever

Book 1: Royals of Sheoldris by Sam Cheever

What if real love began in the pages of a paranormal novel? And what if that love leapt off those pages, and into an avid reader’s arms?

Terra fell in love with Jacobin when he was the hero in a sexy paranormal novel, but when he showed up at her door she thought she was losing her mind. Imagine how she felt to learn her fate had been scribed onto magic pages and could just as easily be erased. Would she be willing to give up everything, just to hold onto a love she never dreamed she’d have?

~~*~~

They left her alone for hours. At some point someone brought her a meal of fruit and cheeses with a dark, sweet wine but other than that she saw nobody except the two big men wearing diapers who guarded her door.

Finally, the woman who’d put her there returned, bringing the two big men into Terra’s rooms with her. And she was demanding that Terra take a bath. With all three of them in the room. Terra of course refused.

“If you do not cooperate, I’ll have the eunuchs carry you to the bath and hold you in the water as they bathe you.”

Terra glared at the demoness she’d learned was called Gemma. “I’m not going to polish myself up like a piece of fruit for that bully.”

Gemma nodded at the two men standing behind her. They stepped forward and grasped Terra’s arms, and she shrieked in outrage.

“Leave us!”

The two eunuchs and Gemma bowed low, stepping away from Terra. “Sire. We were just trying to do as you asked.” Gemma slid Terra a look of such hatred she wondered if the woman would murder her in her sleep.

“It seems my mate needs to learn some manners. I’m the one who must handle that little chore.”

Terra gave an outraged chirp. “I need to learn manners? Me? I didn’t drag you from your house and your… planet to a strange place and turn you into a prisoner.”

The demon king glared at his three servants until they left and then turned to her, his densely muscled arms crossed over his chest. Despite her anger, Terra couldn’t help noticing how hot he looked in the tight leather pants and sheer shirt that was open to the waist, showing a perfect, golden-brown chest. “You wouldn’t be treated as a prisoner if you didn’t act like a fool.”

She gave another outraged chirp and advanced on him, her hands clenched into fists. “I’m just trying to retain some kind of freedom --”

“Freedom? By chaining yourself to a low-level demon like the lowliest concubine?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know? I don’t know anything about this stupid place. They offered to help me, and I was grateful for their help. Once I got past the gate --”

Jacobin stepped closer, lowering his angry face to hers. “Once you got past the gate he would have locked you up and tried to ransom you to me. All the while enjoying your lush body for his own pleasure.”

Terra’s mouth slammed shut on an angry retort as his words sank in. “You’re lying.”

He lowered his head until his lips hovered over hers, his hot breath sweet against her face. “You know that I am not.”

Unfortunately she realized, far too late, that he was probably right. In her desperation and ignorance she’d almost put herself in greater danger. At least there, in the castle, she was under the=king’s protection. But Terra was too angry to back down. “It wouldn’t be any worse than being kept prisoner here.”

His big hands came out and grasped her arms, pulling her to her toes as he stepped closer. Terra bit her lip against a wave of lust as his heat and hardness pressed against her. “Then you shouldn’t mind that I stopped you, mate.” Without warning, he gave her a gentle shove, and she fell backward into the huge, sand-bottomed pool.

She came up sputtering with outrage, her hands skimming water out =of her eyes. “You ass! Now you’re trying to drown me?”

Toeing off his soft boots, the king reached to tug the shirt off his broad chest. “It appears I will need to bathe you like a babe, since you refuse to do it yourself.”

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