Abby’s gaze darted from one fight to the other. Aidan fought against the other demon. The demon was good and held his own against Aidan’s moves—he’d made it this far for a reason.

Alrik seemed to be slowing down, his movements not as fast as they’d been when he started. Not that she could blame him, after an hour of full-on war she’d be exhausted let alone still able to fight.

The demon Alrik had fought fell to the ground screaming as the black hands covered every inch of him. Finally, he screamed, “I’m out!”

At once the hands stopped then slithered back into the ground through some invisible force.

Now only four were left. She knew this would happen the second this all started. It would come down to Alrik and Aidan, two strong and passionate men.

Abby bit on her fingernails, tearing them as anxiety built.

Then suddenly something completely different happened. Aidan said something; it was too soft and faraway for her to hear, but all the fighting stopped.

Huh?

The two demons and Aidan shifted, turning towards Alrik. Abby stood, her eyes flaring at what she saw. Those cheating bastards!

All three turned on Alrik and jumped. She screamed as he went down to the ground, the floor shaking with a boom. She could hardly see what was happening through the flurry of fists, jabbed knees, and head-butts. She just saw it was all happening to Alrik.

Before she knew what she was about, she ran down the stairs and flew to the mass of fighting men. The sound of flesh hitting flesh grew louder. She heard shouts coming at her and knew they’d try to stop her, but she couldn’t stop. They were killing him.

Heart in her throat, she ran as hard as she could. Without any real plan, she reached the group. Aidan must have sensed her, or heard one of the demon’s yell something for he pulled back. Little did he know he just made himself a target. Abby jumped.

His arms came around her in a protective way to shield her from hitting the floor, which meant he landed on bottom. Good. She wouldn’t be surprised if her eyes glowed red right now with how angry she was. She was pissed the fuck off.

They were lousy, no good cheaters!

She sat on Aidan chest and leaned down low to hiss in his face. His eyes darted to her mouth. He didn’t look scared. He looked...pleased. She planned to rectify that in two seconds.

With a quick move, she grabbed his long hair in her hand and slammed his head back down. Then she did it again and again. She put every ounce of strength inside her into it and when she pulled back, breathing hard, she saw his eyes closed but the pulse still beating at his neck. Unconscious, but not dead.

Her head slowly turned to her left. Alrik lay on the ground, clenching his ribs and looking like he was fighting the urge to curl into a ball. His face was busted from his eyes to his nose to his mouth. Yet, she swore she saw his lips lifting into a smile.

The two other demons stood now looking warily between her and Aidan.

“Get her off the field so we can finish this,” her next target said. He planted his foot on Alrik’s neck and pushed hard. She heard Alrik’s gasps for air a second before he pressed his hand back against the foot. Abby shook with rage. She felt close to how Carrie felt in that Stephen King movie after pig’s blood had dropped on her. She’d reached the last straw.

All at once she called her magic. Her skin warmed, fingertips turned hot, and she swiped one hand at the two demons towering over her demon. They flew back as if a missile hurled into them.

She didn’t stop there. Demons charged in after her but she could have been floating above them on a cloud with how much power surged inside her. There was no trying to conjure her magic or learn how to utilize it. She just did it.

Her hands pressed out in a ‘stop’ motion and all the demons, every single one of them, froze in mid-step. She didn’t realize that what she’d just done was incredible and took so much power to do. All she focused on was getting Alrik and her out of here.

She held her hand out to Alrik and he looked at her with an odd look on his face. Still, he took her hand but wouldn’t let her pull him up. Instead, he jumped up and somehow managed not to sway. His knees started to buckle so she wrapped one arm around his waist to help steady him. He looked at her with that strange look again...almost like she was the crazy one. As if.

Then, without further ado, she and Alrik walked out of the arena with her power keeping the men in check. She didn’t even look back. She had everything she wanted right in her arms--a crazy ass demon who wanted her to commit murder. It wasn’t normal, it might not even be right, but she wanted him something fierce.

In the great hall, she let Alrik go so he could grab a sack of supplies. With a harsh groan, he slung the bag over his back, grabbed his two swords lying in a pile of weapons, and then grabbed her hand. Warmth swelled inside her, but this time not from the magic still coursing through her body like wine.

Hand in hand, they walked out of there.

Abby couldn’t hide the goofy smile on her face. Looking up at Alrik, she blasted him with that happy smile. He blinked and she swore his lips twitched though she couldn’t be sure with all the swelling and blood caked around his mouth.

“I win this round.”

This time she couldn’t mistake the sound of his laughter; deep, low, and sexy. She laughed with him and together they left the castle and headed south once more.

“Let’s stop here for the night.”

Alrik hid his pained wince by turning his head to the side. He didn’t want to appear weak to her. His body felt like it’d been pummeled with hammers. It took every bit of his willpower not to collapse to the ground and pass out. But he couldn’t do that. She’d done the impossible back in the rogue demons’ castle and gotten them out of there. The magical power she’d shown was incredible. For the first time since stealing her, he finally knew she could kill his mother if she harnessed her power. If anyone could do it, it was the human witch Abbigail.

“Here, sit down,” she said, her face drawn in worry.

He shot a dark look at her command but she only rolled her eyes. If she thought that helping them out of a tight spot one time would put her in charge she was sorely mistaken. Although, something did change back there. Maybe it’d been between them the whole time, but when she stood up for him with her eyes glowing, her body ready to fight, he’d felt...good. He’d even felt proud of her.

“Don’t think just because you helped out back there that you can order me around, Abbigail.”

She got in his face or tried to the best she could considering he had at least a foot of height on her. Suddenly her hands shot up to his hair and she brought his face down. So surprised was he at the action that he didn’t pull back. He just stood there stunned waiting to see what she would do. Her gaze softened searching over his face, and then she leaned in, wrapping her body against his with a sigh.

The ache in his chest became too much to bear. Not even he had the strength to turn away from her when she was in his arms.

Alrik leaned down and crushed his lips against hers. The pressure hurt his lips but he couldn’t have passed up the moment for anything in the world.

His heart felt too tight in his chest as if it were expanding. Why didn’t she pull away? He’d kissed her once before but he’d hardly left her any choice. Besides, she had been so surprised by the first kiss that she just accepted it. But not now; now she knew better and still her wet tongue darted out to lick at his lips. He’d seen the desire in her eyes before. She actually wanted him.

Her lips were soft and warm beneath his. A breathy sigh fell across his lips as she licked her tongue across his bottom lip.