Deal with the Demon

Contents Authors’ Note Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Sneak Peek: Claimed by the Shifters Claimed by the Shifters Stay in Touch The Mate Games Universe Also By Meg Anne Also By K. Loraine About Meg Anne About K. Loraine This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental. Copyright 2022 © Ravenscroft Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-951738-49-5 (Paperback Edition) 978-1-951738-48-8 (Hardback Edition) You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the author. Permission requests can be sent via email to: [email protected] Edited by Mo Sytsma of Comma Sutra Editorial Cover Design by CReya-tive Book Design Photographer: Wander Aguilar Model: Sam Myerson To the Spice Club mods, Thanks for all the road flares. Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside, it’s where my demons hide. ANONYMOUS Authors’ Note Deal with the Demon contains mature and graphic content that is not suitable for all audiences. Such content includes dubious consent, degradation, impact and blood play, bondage, and more. Reader discretion is advised. A detailed list of content and trigger warnings is available on our website. Chapter One ROSIE Aurora Springs, Alaska “Fake your own death, Roslyn. Save your family. Go on the run. It’ll be fine,” I grumbled as I trudged through the cold, muddy Alaskan terrain, heading toward my goal. Asher Henry, hacker extraordinaire. I snorted. “Extraordinaire, my tight rear end. I found you in less than a day.” My whole body was frozen, teeth chattering, exhaustion weighing me down. If I didn’t get to his forking house soon, I’d actually die, nothing fake about it. A pang went through my heart at the romanticized version of Gavin I held onto. Him finding my note, hoping I’d be true to my word and return to him. It must’ve worked, or the vampire would have come and stolen me away, back to the Donoghue castle. He had to know I was dead now too. Good. The sight of a house at the crest of the hill had me picking up my pace. Almost there. I stepped on a root as I continued, the uneven ground sending me tumbling into the mixture of slushy snow and mud. But I was nearly to my goal. Asher would help me. He’d make sure Roslyn Blackthorne never appeared again. Give me a new name. A new life. I reached his front door and weakly knocked, a bone-deep shiver clattering my teeth together. No answer. No lights. No sign of him. “I’ll just wait here, then,” I mumbled. “You have to come home sometime.” I lost track of the hours as I sat on his porch, curled in on myself to try and stave off the worst of the wind. I may not be a human, but I wouldn’t survive out in the elements like this for long. I’d already lost feeling in my fingers by the time wheels finally crunched through the snow. It was enough to make my heart stutter. A door opened, and a deadly voice growled, “Don’t fucking move.” I’d recognize that voice anywhere. I unfurled myself, my gaze traveling up the bundled form of my would-be assailant, gun raised and trained on me. Asher Henry, my black-hatted knight in technological armor. He didn’t know it yet, but he was about to become my hero. If I could convince him not to kill me first. * * * Asher One hour earlier That witch was going to be the death of me after all. A hiss escaped me as a burn shot through the mark she’d saddled me with years ago. A parting gift for my unfortunate misstep. I checked the spot on the back of my hand—just a small star right in the center. What the fuck? Was the thing growing? Instead of a single star, there was now a small cluster. Dread curled in my gut. What did this mean? How could I stop it? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. A loud crash behind me pulled me out of my spiral of doom. Two wolf shifters and a burly lumberjack were locked in a scuffle. I had to get the hell out of here before this turned into a full-on bar brawl. I pulled my collar up higher as I left the Tipsy Moose behind. I hadn’t even been able to enjoy my beer before those fucking Mercer twins started a fight. They had thirty other days to act like a bunch of assholes, and they chose the one night a month where I came into town for my supply run. It was my only chance to stop in for a taste of semi-normal existence, and it had been ruined by dick-swinging shifters. Fucking typical. The wind kicked up, sending the curly hair of my fake beard fluttering across the hollow of my throat and tickling me without mercy. Maybe one day I wouldn’t have to hide my identity, but as of right now, I was still the supernatural world’s most wanted hacker. That meant a life of anonymous sex, zero meaningful relationships, and way too much wig adhesive. It