The Demon King's Claim

"I will never be your mate!" I scream, backing away from him, my eyes blazing with disdain and disgust.

"You don't have a say in that anymore, darling." Lucerys mutters, closing the distance between us, as he backs me against the wall, his crimson eyes boring through me, lips curling into a sneer. "Fate has put us together. Nothing will change that."

"Not if I can help it." I snarl back.

*****

ARIELLE.

I hate demons.

I've spent my entire life healing the wounds they leave behind, watching my people bleed after every raid, and venturing dangerously close to their realm for the herbs that can save them.

So when I find a wounded demon near the Veil, I should leave him to die.

Instead, I save his life.

And discover he's the Demon King.

Worse...

He's my mate.

Luceyrs is everything I despise-powerful, arrogant, ruthless, and determined to claim what he believes fate has given him. He says our bond is necessary to save his throne, his kingdom, and perhaps both our worlds.

I refuse to believe him.

I refuse to become a demon king's political pawn.

And I refuse to surrender myself to a bond that could change who I am.

But Lucerys's power is becoming unstable, an ancient evil is stirring beneath the Demon Realm, and his enemies are closing in around the throne. The longer I resist him, the closer his kingdom comes to destruction.

Then I discover that the power flowing through my blood may be connected to the Demon King himself.

And suddenly, our bond isn't the only thing tying us together.

I may be the one person capable of saving Lucerys.

Or the one thing that finally destroys him.

Because fate may have chosen me for the Demon King...

But it never said I had to choose him.