I turned my chair to face the middle of my desk and folded my hands together on the wooden top. “Emma. Look at me.”
She raised her face to me, and I ground my teeth together as I saw the pain in her usually bright green eyes. The dark circles beneath them suggested sleepless nights. I knew she’d been having nightmares and when I went to her last night, she had settled. Before she woke up, I left and returned to my bedroom. I didn’t get a good look at her face as we left our home and headed to work.
“Sir?” she asked, her voice meek.
Sir? Not Dimitri or even Mr. Volkov?
“What happened?” I asked. Rage and the need to kill Mia built in me until it threatened to spill over. But first, I wanted to hear from Emma’s lips what had happened when they went to lunch together. I knew the little bitch Mia had ill intentions toward Emma. Why else would she want to be alone with my mate?
Emma’s eyes shuttered, closing me off from seeing what she was thinking. Her expression remained blank, and she said, “We ate. Nothing happened.”
I steeled myself, preventing myself from leaving the office and killing Mia. In time, I’d wring her slender neck until the spark in her eyes disappeared. “Sunshine,” I said, “I can tell when you’re lying. Now, let’s start over, and you’ll tell me the truth this time. What. Happened.”
Her throat tightened as she swallowed hard and looked away. “We talked about some hard topics.”
“Like?”
Emma slid her hands beneath her thighs and shifted in her seat. “I don’t want to talk about it right now, sir.”
I lowered my eyebrows and frowned as she returned her attention to her laptop. Tears glistened in her eyes, and she tried rapidly blinking them away.
My inner demon peeled back his lips in a snarl.“Let me out.”
“No,” I snapped inside my head.
“I’m tired of this no-talking bullshit, Dimitri.”He growled and pushed at the barriers that confined him.“She needs to be comforted, and if you can’t do that, then I will. Now, let. Me. Out.”
“She doesn’t want to talk about it, and you’ll fucking respect that,” I snarled.
“Since when do you respect anything? Our mate needs us, and I need you to stop being a goddamn idiot. If you don’t let me out, I’ll force it.”His lips curled further back in a sadistic smile.“Your choice, asshole. Are you going to be a good little demon, or are you going to continue to be an idiot and force my hand?”
I ignored him and turned back to my laptop.
My demon cackled.“Fine. I’ll do it myself.”
The change happened so quickly. It was as though he had punched through a paper barrier he’d allowed me to assume was a brick wall.
The lights in the office flickered until they snapped off. My shadows slithered along the walls and windows like they had minds of their own. They blocked out any sunlight, closing Emma and me off from the world’s prying eyes. The change happened so quickly that Dimitri’s clothes ripped away from my bulking body. I snarled, still annoyed with Dimitri for his stupidity. Emma’s sharp inhale had me looking at her. Even though it was dark and she couldn’t see me, I could make out every detail of her.
“Dimitri?” she whispered with a tremor in her voice.
I stormed across the room, my sights set on my little mate. Using the shadows, I locked the office door so no one would interrupt us. I crouched before Emma, who reared back as she noticed my glowing red eyes.
“Demon?” She reached toward me until her soft fingers brushed where my nose should have been, then trailed to my lips.
I wanted her to keep touching me. I also wanted us to be alone in the dark, but my little mate stunk of fear, and I couldn’t have that. Without taking my eyes off her, I withdrew the shadows covering the windows. Sunshine filtered into the office and bathed my mate in light, brightening her green eyes into the most beautiful emerald stones. I wanted to hoard her away from everyone.
Emma’s glimmer of fear melted away. “Demon.” She set her laptop next to her on the couch. “What are you doing?”
I leaned forward until our faces were centimeters from touching. Her warm breaths puffed against my mouth, and I licked my lips, briefly brushing hers with my tongue. “V’ns’kah,” I growled.
Emma’s eyelashes fluttered. “What does, what does that mean?”
My peeled-back lips pulled further into a sinister smile. “Do you really want to know, little one?”
She hesitated before she nodded.
“It’s in demon tongue, meaning my mate, my heart.”
