Grabbed by the Guard (Sombra Demons #6)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

GLAINE

I f there is one thing I have learned over my existence, it is this: when the opportunity presents itself, take it.

It’s how I rose up the ranks to become head of Duke Haures’s guard. Same for when I think that I could be toiling away in the stuffy school of mages for a rare quirk of my birth; born with the mystical second pair of horns but also the tell-tale eyes that mark me as a soldier, I could’ve been educated or trained. I chose the sword over a tome, and for seven centuries now, I’ve never once regretted that choice.

No. I’ve had but one regret, and once I find the one true mate meant for me alone, even that will be a memory.

It must be.

She must be.

But, no. I have been given another, even rarer gift: a second prophecy. And while the seer made it clear that the terms of the first haven’t changed—that I am destined to find my mate only for my female to inevitably deny me—I have hope that, with the second one, I can overcome that.

Even now, I remember it and cling to what I believe it must mean…

In chains of gold and magic bound,

You linger close, yet far profound.

To win the heart you hold so dear,

Release the spell that chains you here.

For love’s true love is not in grasp,

But in the freedom you grant at last…

Centuries ago, it was Lucian who saw the first vision and warned me that I would be denied. As a soldier, it was easier to accept the clear and precise warning; as Glaine, it was even easier to dismiss it because I couldn’t see how any chosen female would deny me.

The second prophecy was given to me by Damien. Damien who loves his riddles, and who added a warning of his own: that even when one of his riddles seems straightforward, it isn’t, and if Duke Haures hadn’t commanded him to read my future in particular, he would’ve been content to let me continue in my centuries-long search for my one true mate.

That search ends tonight. At least, I hope so. Following my former fellow soldier’s lead, I will risk it all to find the Grimoire du Sombra .

It is in the human realm. Sammael stole it himself, telling Duke Haures he would return it before reading the Verus Amor spell to see if he was destined for a human mate. Something told him he must be—though, when I asked if he had met with the doppelseers, he denied that —and since I met his Hope myself, he was right.

All I’ve ever known—courtesy of Lucian’s first vision—was that my female was fated to be born off-plane. For so long, I believed that meant I would find her in another demon realm. Soleil was my first choice, then maybe Brille Rouge. But in the decades since Duke Haures secreted his human mate to Mavro, with only his guard and a few of his inner circle knowing that Duchess Susanna exists… I’ve wondered.

Am I also meant to be mated to a mortal?

The scroll with the matefinder spell has long been lost. The only way to discover if a demon’s one true mate is a legendary human is to wait and see if we’ll be summoned by her, dragged through a portal, and brought to the human world. It is one of Duke Haures’s most fiercely enforced laws that Sombra demons cannot go to that world otherwise…

Ah. But I am no regular Sombra demon. I am one of the duke’s most trusted guards, and though I do not have the ability to open portals off-plane myself, I am one of the only demons who have been to the human realm and can navigate there.

The Grimoire du Sombra is still there. After Sammael found his human mate and decided to hide in the shadows of her home on Earth, he lost possession of the spellbook. He admitted as such to the duke while I was standing behind his throne, but Duke Haures didn’t seem to mind.

After all, the book has human magic of its own. Destined to move on to the next mortal female so that she can eventually find the Sombra demon waiting for her in my world, I grumpily settled down to wait and see how many decades that would take until I might have the opportunity I seek.

Mere cycles. That’s how long it took. Mere cycles before the spell summoned another demon I was familiar with: Dagon, Duchess Susanna’s personal bodyguard.

Dagon knows where the grimoire is. He must. And though I risk rousing the hunter’s protective instincts, approaching him while he is so newly mated with his mortal, I have no other choice. Once they’re fully bonded, I will have no excuse to check on them.

Once they’re fully bonded, the magic in the spellbook might disappear before I can get my claws on it…

A young mage burrows his own feet claws nervously into the ash. We’re on the edge of Mavro, where the capital’s blue moon and garden oasis give way to the red sky, fire pits, and ash fields that make up most of our shadowy realm. He’s in his solid demon form, purple eyes downcast as though afraid to offend me.

I stand tall and proud, wearing my red-skin and onyx horns proudly. I’ll have to fade to my shadows once I pass over to the human world; for all that I am risking, I will not risk breaking the duke’s first law. For now, I show off my larger size and green soldier’s gaze so that Morgath doesn’t forget who is asking this favor of him.

“The travel spell is primed,” he announces, and I glance down at myself, already noticing the golden runes beginning to hover over my deep red forearm. “Shall I come with you?”

If it was Sammael asking, yes. For centuries, Sammael served as Duke Haures’s head mage while I led the guard. We often went to the human world together whenever the duke had cause to send us. Sammael would open the portal, and if I needed him to conjure the enchanted chains that marked a demon as the duke’s prisoner, he was there to do so. If not, he waited back in Sombra to trigger the transport spell that would return me home.

But though I leave this eve on the pretense of checking on Dagon and his human mate, Duke Haures did not order me to go. If he did, it would be Loki—Sammael’s student, and the former rogue who joined me when I had to take Sammael himself into custody—that was responsible for the chains.

Loki is in Nuit. His human mate is carrying his spawn, and he only leaves her side when the duke commands him to.

The duke didn’t command him. In fact, the duke has no idea that I’m taking this trip—though the moment that I do, he will sense it.

In Sombra, Duke Haures can sense everything .

I only hope that I can explain myself. That I go in search of my mate, and if I happen to retrieve the grimoire for his grace in the meantime…

It is a flimsy excuse. Duke Haures made an example of Sammael, putting him in chains after he stole the Grimoire du Sombra for himself. Demons aren’t supposed to meddle in human magic, but all I see is a male who took the chance and who, after his mate went to great lengths to convince Duke Haures to release him from the dungeons, is now happily bonded to her.

There is nothing I won’t do to finally have a mate of my own. For all the centuries of service I’ve offered the duke, he must understand that.

But that doesn’t mean that I will drag Morgath into my desperate madness.

“No. Once the portal is open, leave a path for me to return. That’s all I need of you.”

“Of course, sir.”

I clap him on the shoulder. “Thank you.”

Morgath looks startled. “Um, well. Yes. You’re welcome, sir.”

I decide to not comment on his discomfort. Instead, I nod and back away, waiting for the shadows to gather and create the portal for me to jump through.

I know my reputation. I’ve earned it. I’ve been loyal to Duke Haures since I came to serve under him, and that loyalty has a price. He took the throne and the crown from our previous ruler two millennia ago, back in the time before I existed, but there have been more than a couple of uprisings in the centuries since I trained as a soldier.

I’ve squashed them. I’ve devoted my entire existence to serving the duke, but it’s time that I once again look toward the endless centuries in front of me.

I am alone. I am lonely . Though many other demons wait just as long as I have to find their one true mate—or even give up the hunt, settling on any demoness who will have his essence—I’ve only grown more and more determined of late to have mine.

With every human-demon mating that the duke has sent me to warn, I’ve begun to suspect that, when Lucian said my mate would be found off-plane, he didn’t mean in another demon world. He meant Earth, and that’s where I am going now.

Heading through the shadows, letting the travel spell guide me toward the essence of Dagon—the last Sombra demon who would know where to find the Grimoire du Sombra— until I’m standing on the odd slick flooring that tells me I’m inside one of those oversized human dwellings.

Two things happen at once: I immediately shift from my solid demon form to my shadows, and I gasp when a sudden realization hits me at the same time as my heart thuds and my cock… for the first time in a long time… my cock starts to harden beneath my shadows.

I came to the human realm in search of Dagon and information on the spellbook.

I came for the book itself—and, instead, my body comes alive as I recognize that the one I’ve hoped for… the one I’ve longed for… she is here.

As my cock continues to stir, my claws curling so that the points disappear past the edge of my shadows, finding meat there to pierce beneath it… as my breath catches and the shadows in front of me are aglow with green as my eyes blaze… as I feel drawn out of my hiding place, an invisible tether tugging me forward even as I dig in my heels… I am stunned that I could ever mistake my attraction to another female as the beginning of a mate bond.

All I have is the echo of my mate’s essence and her scent on the still air, and that’s enough. I would kill for this mortal. Immortal as I am, I would die if she asked it of me.

I would do anything… anything but release her from this fated tie that I never expected to be as powerful… as all consuming … as it suddenly is.

I’ve wondered what it was about these human females that made decent and honorable demons seem to lose their minds. Why Malphas was willing to take chains to protect his odd creature, or why Nox did take them for many, many cycles. How a colorless, fangless, fragile female was strong enough to turn a rogue demon into a mage again, restoring the purple to his gaze and the sanity to his essence.

And Sammael… educated, learned, powerful Sammael… who spent cycles as a phantom rather than release the sliver of a bond that kept him tethered to a human female he could see but not touch until he found a way around the human’s magic…

In a flash, I understand it all. I understand the lengths they have all gone to to claim their mates, and why Duke Haures would go to war with any plane that might even hint at taking offense to a former mortal being Sombra’s duchess.

I would do all that and more for a female I have not yet set eyes on.

But she is here. I sense her. Somewhere in this strange den is my mate. I have no need for the grimoire now, or to confront my fellow demon and demand its whereabouts. Most importantly, I’d rather not confront Dagon at all. He is a hunter. It won’t be long until he senses there is another Sombra male near his mate, and whether he is bonded or not, he will be fiercely protective of his female.

I haven’t even laid eyes on mine yet and my phantom horns itch to ram against any male that might come between her and I.

Will I challenge Dagon? It is unseemly, especially for a member of Duke Haures’s guard. For centuries, I told myself just that when I wondered why I never challenged Apollyon. But as my cock continues to stir against my shadows, pulsing, thickening, growing hard as I sense my mate and ready myself for her… let all the hunters in Sombra stand in my way and I would cast them aside to reach the one my essence calls out for.

It belongs to her. It always has, and though I might have been hasty in trying to give it away over my long existence, I am grateful that I have it to offer to her now.

I have no doubt that she will accept it eventually. That is what human females do. Unlike a demoness, who will recognize a demon as her one true mate and eagerly take both his essence and his cock, the mortals need to be coaxed into understanding their fate. I will have to woo her. To show her how she will want for nothing with Glaine as her mate. To pleasure her and mate her and make her mine.

And I will do that in Sombra while hoping that, this time, she will not deny me…

There is no other option. I belong in my realm. My mate belongs with me. Though I am not a hunter like Dagon, I will join the other shadows in this room and when the opportunity presents itself, I will take it.

If I have to?

I will take her .