Page 57 of Demon On Deck

“How DARE you touch my mate!” Evren bellows, shaking the benches in the courtroom. Matt is desperately trying to claw Evren’s hand out from against his throat with his free hand, kicking his legs wildly and getting nowhere.

He reminds me of an old cartoon where the character has run off a cliff and is still running until they look down, say “Uh oh,” and fall. If we weren’t in the middle of a crowded courtroom packed with law enforcement, I’d laugh.

“Cheated. Me. Out. Of. Money. Lying. Bitch.” Matt gasps between each word, making sure to punctuate lying and bitch.

Which was real fucking dumb.

Evren lowers Matt so that they’re eye level before roaring—a legit battle cry, take no prisoners, kill them all, roar—into Matt’s face.

Matt whimpers, trying to fold in on himself as Evren applies pressure to his hand.

“Do you know what happens when a male disrespects another’s mate in my culture?” He snarls. “Things worse than death.”

In this moment, I know two things for certain. First and foremost, I am deeply and irrevocably in love with the demon currently defending my honor like a knight in a fairytale. And second, I am a dirty skank because I should not be this turned on by caveman behavior.

Matt thrashes wildly, now trying to punch Evren with his free hand in addition to kicking in Evren’s general direction. “You can’t touch me,” Matt shrieks, or attempts to shriek, as he’s still struggling a bit for breath.

People have started to gather back inside the gallery to watch the spectacle. I’m slightly surprised the judge hasn’t called order and demanded Evren’s arrest. One of the court officers, a harpy, has been standing by watching and keeping the crowd in check. With more people filing in to see what the commotion is about, though, he begins to move along the edge of the crowd.

“Evren,” I say, gently stepping up beside him.

He doesn’t respond, continuing to snarl and stare death daggers at my ex-husband. It’s like he’s disconnected from the here and now and is on a totally different plane, one where he gets to flay my ex for daring to talk bad about me. It’s like his primal demon nature has short-circuited the rational part of his mind.

A little delighted shiver runs through me, but I push it aside.

“Evren,” I say again more forcefully. This time, he makes a huffing noise. Annoying, but at least I’ve somewhat got his attention.

“I need you to put him down.”

Evren huffs again, applying pressure to Matt’s hand, making him yelp.

“You’ve got to put him down, Evren. I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me.” I try to reason.

Matt picks this moment to chime in and say, “Listen to her, you fucking feral freak show. I’m gonna sue the fu⁠—”

How in creation I was married to this idiot is beyond me. No time to mull that over, though, as Evren has caught Matt’s other hand mid swing and is slowly closing his fist around it. I can feel the heat radiating off Evren’s body, and I’m not entirely positive, but I’m fairly certain that can only mean his demon nature is breaking through. Which means my ex is about to become a kabob. And as appealing as that might be, I’d like the love of my life not to go to prison.

I reach up and place my hand on his forearm, where the sleeves of his shirt and jacket have ridden up and exposed the skin. The moment our skin touches, he snaps his focus to me.

“Honey,” I say gently, “I need you to let him go.”

Evren stares at me with eyes blazing with fire. “He hurt you,” he growls.

“I know, but you stopped him. I’m okay now, and he can’t hurt me anymore.”

Evren glances at Matt as if assessing any imminent threat to me.

“Please, Honey, let him go. So you don’t get in trouble, and it’s my fault.”

My demon knight turns his focus back to me and unceremoniously drops Matt into a heap on the floor. Free of Matt, Evren turns to me and takes the arm Matt had a grip on, running his massive hand down the length.

“Are you hurt?”

I shake my head. “Sore. It might bruise, but I’ll be ok.”

Evren turns to where Matt’s crumpled body lies on the floor, gasping for air.

“I should have scorched his hand for touching you.” He growls, half turning as if to pick Matt back up and do just that.