CLAIMED BY MY DEMON BOSS

eamed through

dge. Sleepily, I patted the floor until my fingers found

00

of the world slept. It was als

t, at one in the morning, every single night. He'd never explai

s shot

no, n

that I'm not sure the soap even touched my skin. I pulled on my black dress, grabbed my sho

d to my lateness could cost me my

my mother's medicine bottles stood in a neat row. Some were half empty. One was nearly fin

up with a boss who worked like

to my shoe on the second floor landing, and ran out in

of Knight Industries, my lungs were

as I slapped my card against the scanner and slid into the elevator.

One minut

od, thank God," I w

im, and at the far end stood the black double doors of the CEO's office.

someone standi

wo

aist, her lipstick was the exact red of a fresh wound, and her white coat was the kind of expensive that didn't have a v

aff. And she's not here t

my mismatched earrings to my scuffed shoes

id putting on more red lipstick and it irritates me because it's a

At one in the morning,

pecting anyone according to his schedule

soft and cold and le

it were a joke she'd heard a hundred times. "I

ly as I could. "But if you tell me your name, I can book you

hed across her face, and

betrothed. Our families arranged our marriage before you were old enough

pped to my sho

ffee order, his flight schedules, his mother's birthday, and the names of the t

"I'm sure you're very important to him. But rules are

the temperature of the room dropped.

said before I could stop myself. "At

A tiny, dangerous s

ave a sharp tongue." And then

storm. Whitney's shadow stretched across the wall behind her, and it wa

lose enough that I felt the wind of its wings. I stumbled back with a yelp as a bat s

ere again, in human form, smoothing

xplanation: a trick, a hologram, I'm still asleep and

slow. So fragile. You see something you don't

ised o

really are." An Invisible f

bag tore off my shoulder, and the world tilted. The marbl

going

ed my ey

en...N

n or sound, then

ped out of my folder floated halfway to the floor, its corner bent. Whitney stood

m from the air conditioning. Not

against my waist. Warm. Strong. Hol

ght stoo

as though he had come out of his office in a hurry. His eyes were the c

ted his other hand and snapped hi

e lights hummed again. Whitney gasped, and my heart came bac

hand stayed at my waist for one second l

," I whispered.

y moved to the woman across the room, an

, like a blade being drawn slowly from its sheath. "

second. Then she lifted her

to see you. This human l

echoed in my he

t of my

be.

ow

d in their frames. Whitney's red lips trembled, and she looked at

hat only I could hear. "I promise you that, littl

med to the elevator. The door

led over the

trembling so badly I dropped the same page twice.

li

ed. "Y-yes,

and it wasn't concern. The fire had faded from his eyes, leaving

ything," he a

"I... I'm not sure

e touched his lips "Go

n the middle of the hallway with my heart racing and

ass through this, I need th

one at the office joked about. He was the Ki

ing to cost me far more t