The Gargoyle's Captive (A Deal With a Demon, #3)

by Katee Robert

she’s beautiful—but hers is the kind of beauty one finds in the hellcats that haunt the succubi and incubi’s territory. Gorgeous and deadly and all too willing to eat your face off.

“You’re taking this whole thing rather well.” “I made a deal with a demon. Compared to Azazel, you’re just a dude with bat wings. Nothing to write home about.” She smirks. “Cute horns, though. Really adorable.” My horns are not adorable.

I have to fight the instinctive urge to touch them. She’s gotten under my skin in a matter of seconds, which doesn’t bode well for the next seven years.

Grace. A pretty name, light and ethereal . . . and nothing like the woman standing next to me.

Ramanu might technically be here to check on me, but they’re also here to stir the pot. That’s the last thing I need.

Far from being intimidated, Ramanu just laughs. “Darling, there’s only one person I take orders from, and it’s not you. It’s cute that you try, though.” They pat Bram on his shoulder and waltz out of the room with a little sway in their hips.

he gives Klaus vibes ☂️

“I respect you and what you’re doing here, but if you attempt to remove Grace from my home, I will cut you into tiny pieces and scatter you to the winds.”

Just the two of us left alone in the world. It’s not reality, but I stand here in the dark, in silence, and share the fantasy with her. At least for a little while.

“You’re very beautiful. You know that, don’t you?” I eye the slope of his shoulders and the thick slices of muscle moving beneath his cool skin. “Whatever creator you believe in spent a little extra time when forming you.”

His aura swirls with the magenta of embarrassment and the deep fuchsia of pleasure. “You don’t have to say things like that to me.”

“I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do, Bram. I like complimenting you. It’s the truth, and it ...

I don’t know how she manages to collar me with so few words, but I feel like she has her hand wrapped around my throat. I fucking love it.

The hold this woman has on me is borderline witchcraft.

Pleasure is a lie. Happiness is fleeting. In the end, all we have is family. I don’t even have that anymore.

right before. In some ways, looking at him is like looking into a fractured mirror. I don’t know what it says about me that I want to touch him so much, I’m willing to cut myself on the mirrored pieces.

“You love her.” I don’t feel like they’re laughing at me. “Why are you sending her away if that’s how you feel?”

“It’s because I love her that I’m sending her away. I don’t know if there’s a path forward for us through this, but there definitely isn’t if I don’t have time and space to work through this revelation. I don’t want to hurt her while I’m in pain.”

I swear I sense the moment Ramanu takes Grace from the castle. It shouldn’t be possible to feel her absence with this much space between us, but I do. I’m sure of it. I don’t know if I’m making a mistake. I don’t know anything at all.

“Yes. Be gentle with yourself while you process it. I expect you’ll feel a wide range of emotions, and none of them are incorrect.” That draws a sharp laugh from me. “Are you a therapist now, Azazel?”

I would’ve thought that by now my capacity for feeling surprise would be exhausted. And yet here I am, being offered therapy by a demon.