Persephone doesn't move or drop my hands from her chest while she waits for my reaction.

Does she expect me to freak out or relax and go with the eccentric flow?

Cocking her head when I stay silent, her eyes grow wide. "Coffee?"

My head nods jerkily.

Sympathy flashes across her eyes. She tosses her head toward the counter's chairs. "Sit. Relax while I make us coffee. Ezekiel and Damon can prepare lunch while we talk. And yes, your catuca can cook. He's had to make his meals for many years."

I don't know why that thought surprises me. For some reason, I thought he had servants and maids doing his cleaning and cooking. To know he's done it all these years is shocking.

Sitting, I watch in fascination as objects move around the kitchen. Ezekiel and Persephone stand back, letting me observe Damon's invisible actions. Food is brought out and sliced. Eggs are cracked, and bacon is placed on a tray before being slid into a cooker.

"What is that?" I nod at where the bacon is.

Persephone chuckles before making us coffee. "It's a crisper. You fill the trays with meat, which will crisp in less time than frying one batch of bacon in a pan. It comes in handy when you have eight boys eyeing a plate of bacon."

My eyes widen in horror. "Eight boys?"

Snorting, Persephone places a steaming cup of coffee in front of me. "Damon says you like it sweet. And yes, Ezekiel and I have eight boys living at home with us."

"And three girls," Ezekiel adds. "Don't forget our daughters; our sons certainly don't," he grumbles.

Raising a brow at her in question, she rolls her eyes.

"Females are in short supply when it comes to sex demons, Leah. For every twenty males, only one female is born. For Ezekiel and me to have three is a blessing." She sits next to me, taking a sip with a sigh. "Now, before you freak out, I want you to know age here is just a number after eighteen. Supers live for an extremely long time, Leah. Demons even longer. Which is why when I say my thirty-eight sons have a tendency to be overly protective of their three sisters is an understatement."

I spit out my coffee as her words sink in. "Thirty-eight sons?" I squeak. Horror fills my womb. Does Damon expect me to birth that many children for him?

I think I'm going to be sick.

"Hey, hey. I said demons live long lives, Leah. Ezekiel and I have been together for over twenty thousand years. Forty-one children is not a lot in the grand scheme of things." She wipes up my mess with a wave of her hand.

When I don't respond, as I'm mentally freaking the fuck out, she cups my face. "Speak. Do not hold in your questions or your fright. Whatever you need to know, ask it. We want nothing to separate you from Damon. Misinformation or freakouts will do that. Now, what has you frozen, Leah." Her eyes switch between mine, searching.

"Will he..." I can't say it. Just the thought of going through labor that many times has my bones shuddering in fright. I'm already a heavy-set female. I can't imagine how my body will look after that many pregnancies. It's not like I have a supers body where it naturally heals itself. "I'll grow old and die before I hit a hundred. I'd rather not spend the next forty years round and uncomfortable," I mumble, not daring to look at the demons in the room.

The front door opens and shuts before Persephone replies to my freak out.

Irel and Elea step into the room, casing it.

"Too much information in one go?" Irel asks, her eyes narrowing at me.

"I'm human, not a demon."

Elea snorts. "Of course, you're a human, Leah. That is until you complete the mating bond with Damon. Then you will be both. How do you think humans mate with supers? If supers had to watch their soulmates die at such a young age, they'd go insane. I've been with my human male for nine hundred and twenty-nine years. And if I do say so myself, he looks mighty fine for nearing a thousand years." She tosses me a wink, blowing my mind.

A thousand years old...

A.

Thousand.

Years.

Old.

"Damon, you might want to calm your catuca. She looks to be having a mental break," a voice shouts.

The world becomes blurry, swaying, and boisterous. Loud noises make me flinch.

"Mine," he growls against my ear, kissing my skin searingly. I'm spun in the chair, my face shoved under his chin. Thick arms wrap around my waist, cocooning me against his warmth. "Mine."

Hearing Damon's voice eases the tension in my body. I don't know how he does it, but I crave it.

"You didn't tell me she can hear him," Persephone says softly. "You know what this means, right?"

"I do. We all do. But Leah doesn't need to know right now. Hearing we have forty-one children was a bit much for her. Though, I do believe you forgot to mention how old you were first, my love." Silence fills the room after Ezekiel talks.

Damon holds me, rocking us side to side until my heartbeat slows and my body sags against his. When he goes to pull away, I whimper. "Don't go." My fingers swipe through the air when they naturally reach to grip his back. Squeezing my eyes shut, I mentally scream.

He's here. I can feel him against my face, his hands rubbing comforting circles on my back, and his breath against my face. I can hear his heart beating and smell his spice and fire. And yet, every time my body meets air instead of flesh, a sickness seeps into my soul.

What if this is all a dream? What if I'm still in Derrek's home waiting for our wedding day? Could this be a result of hitting my head or being attacked? Is there something I'm missing?

What if Damon didn't save me? What if he planted those images in my head to trick me into leaving Derrek when, in fact, he is the monster?

"Safe," he growls a new word. "Mine. Safe." He repeats over and over with a constricting tone, hammering it into my skull.

But am I really safe?