Step outside the situation and imagine the best and worst possible scenarios for the predicament. Okay, best-case scenario? I’m stuck with two psychos who think it’s funny to paranormally punk a woman into believing she has made a sex deal with a demon to be matched to someone named Leander. Worst case? I’m trapped for two weeks in another dimension, which can’t be possible because those don’t exist outside of movies and video games, right?
Fake normal until the pretense becomes reality. Except I can’t. This was supposed to be “pretend,” where my friends and I got a tiny thrill and then left, not a real nightmare that will last from sleep to waking to sleep again.
I can’t stop the spiral. Fatigue and dizziness drag at me. Flashes of color spot behind my closed eyelids, and I squeeze them tighter.
“I don’t want your fear.” When the voice comes along with warmth in my hair and over the nape of my neck, I don’t flinch.
An unhinged laugh bubbles through the room—crazed and desperate. It takes a moment before I realize it came from me. Maybe Dirk the Jerk was right with one of his taunts. My curves may be fabulous, my wit stellar when it comes to gaming, and my interests vast. But I might not have a firm grip on sanity. If I don’t look, maybe the delusion might disappear.
“It seems we share a common problem,” Leander says.
I keep my eyes closed, but the weight of him, the solidness of him behind me comforts when the nearness of this stranger should terrify me. He makes me doubt what I’ve been told all my life about my size—too tall, too sturdy, too round—with his overwhelming presence. Yet he doesn’t sound as though he means me harm. No, the concern in his voice makes me think he’s caught in this trap as much as I may be.
Another giggle soaked in a sob edges out of me. “Did you sign a sex contract with a demon, too?” I wobble on my feet, and strong hands wrap around my upper arms in a hold that keeps me upright without caging me.
“I did. It’s part of the matchmaking agreement, along with promising to protect you, provide for you, never harm you—”
“Sounds like you got the short end of the bargain.” My joke falls flat, but I didn’t see any of those things listed in my requirements when I scrolled this time. No, my deal centered on sex. “I take it that you’re Leander?” Because who else could he be?
“Yes, and I’m your matched mate. While he’s a trickster, Theo’s matchmaking is flawless. Won’t you even consider the possibility that we’re meant to be together?”
Beneath the rolling rumble of his voice, there’s a vulnerability that calls to the same in me. Could my romance novels have gotten it right? What if I’m the princess of this story? “You think you’re my handsome prince?” This time my teasing comes out steady, the shake in my voice giving way to strength. I open my eyes, catching the part of his reflection in the mirror that shadows don’t cloak.
His broad shoulders, massive chest, and the shaggy black hair falling from the face of a beast. A bull’s head with giant horns and a piercing through his snout where a nose should be. Dark, fathomless eyes stare back at me. Sharp-nailed claws grip my arms.
I scream. I will never stop screaming.
4
LEANDER
Thank the gods, Meg finally stops screaming. Her piercing shriek that could compete with a harpy’s screech still rings in my skull, making my ears twitch.
My match, who Theo promised would be my fated mate? At the sight of me, she screamed until her voice broke, her knees buckled, and she toppled into my arms, unconscious. Again.
Dimensional travel alone will knock most humans out for a solid day. I can’t imagine what the shock of portal jumping combined with being tricked into a demon deal could do to such a fragile mortal. Yet she’d been fine until seeing me. How had I ever thought a match could work?
Lifting her against my chest, I seize the opportunity to study my mate up close. There hadn’t been a chance to savor the opportunity in my rush to get her away from the portal and to the safety of the labyrinth’s heart, before any enemies might follow her through. True, I’m a monster, but I’m better than most. Otherwise, the matchmaker would’ve refused to consider finding a match to save my kingdom.
The second I saw her come through that portal a heartbeat after Oggie, I knew Theo had lived up to his unsurpassed reputation. From her copper hair blazing in the shimmer of the portal to her warrior’s courage of charging through? She is fire, beauty, and light as much as I personify darkness, ruin, and disgust. If she’d been anything other than human, I would say she’s bewitched me.
Touching Meg woke ancient magic in me that has been dormant for centuries, a spark that only a true mate can provide. I feel it from the sizzle of power in my veins to the thrum of energy in the realm itself. She’s the promised mate I’d doubted I would ever find, and she could bring my kingdom back from the brink of destruction. If she can stand to look at me, to touch me, to fuck me.
Her screams at first meeting my gaze? Not a good sign for me or my people. I should’ve stayed in the shadows, except she’d seemed so scared, so fragile. A vulnerability that connected with the same that I keep buried deep. A siren’s call of temptation that I couldn’t resist, and I’ve met actual sirens who didn’t incite a fraction of the desire this woman does. She’s all soft skin and lush curves and—
“Sire,” Bess, my head housekeeper, calls from outside the door. I’m king, but she runs this castle. I could’ve locked and barricaded Meg’s room, and Bess would still find a way in within seconds. Ignoring her will do no good.
“Come in.” My rough words don’t wake my mate. A favor from the Fates, I suppose.
Bess pushes inside the room, hooves clomping and tail swishing in her partially shifted form. “I heard the screaming.”
“Everyone could hear it,” I say on a grumble that’s anything but royal, but I’ve known Bess for centuries. She’s a notorious gossip monger. The staff’s whisper network will be talking about my mate’s shrieks for weeks, long after she’s gone. Thinking of Meg leaving has rage squeezing my chest painfully tight—as tightly as I would hold on to her. I can’t let her go. And yet… “She hates me.” I gaze at my gorgeous mate, who couldn’t stand the sight of me.
“Nonsense,” Bess says. “She doesn’t know you, and the poor girl traveled between worlds today. Give her some time. For now, she needs rest.” Bess fluffs the pillows on the bed and waves an impatient hand at Oggie. “Go on, demon. No one can sleep with a menace like you around.”
Oggie arches his back and flicks his tail, padding to the edge of the bed long enough for Bess to turn down the covers and smooth the sheets. “There now. A good night’s sleep will make everything better.” She’s the eternal optimist, despite the failing kingdom, a minotaur king, and a demon who insists on remaining in kitten form. “You’ll see.”
I settle Meg against the pillows. She doesn’t belong here. I know it.
Guilt crawls through me. A better man would find a way to send her back, to have Theo release her from the contract. But I’m not a man. I’m a monster.