Chapter 335: _ Battle With The Demon

Chapter 335: _ Battle With The Demon

~Axel’s Point Of View~

Five months ago, I would’ve killed a witch on sight.

Now, I’m holding one’s hand like we’re allies in some twisted scavenger hunt to track down a demon who won’t stay dead.

I miss the old days. The world made sense when my enemies wore it on their sleeves and didn’t pretend to be cinnamon-scented best friends baking cookies in my wife’s kitchen. Back then, peace was a fantasy and María José was just... mine. Entirely, absolutely mine. And now?

Now she’s pregnant with twins. My twins. And there’s a demon who wants her. As a husband and father-to-be, I’m restless. My wife and I often fight. Yes, we are not perfect. Our marriage has its thorns, but I’d say we were doing well, considering the other marriages I’ve seen.

Like my mother and father’s, where, sometimes, you’d wonder if there was ever any love between them except for compromise. Or my brother and his wife’s where you’re so sure they never loved each other.

Camilla wouldn’t have ever thought she’d live the rest of her life as a man’s punching bag, but that’s what she was now; Álvaro’s little physical and emotional unleash.

He lost a council proposal? His annoying Camilla was the perfect venting human machine.

The day doesn’t smile on my brother? His wife’s body will tell its tale. However, Camilla has had it coming. She deserves her ugly fate. Let her suffer the same way she’s made María José suffer. Hence, I turned a blind eye to her suffering. It was none of my business. My family and I had enough on our table as it was.

Ever since the physical battle between Álvaro and me, he had been keeping his distance from my wife... as it should be. Yet, I knew I could protect her from these little problems. The more pressing one, I was failing woefully.

Ignacio... he—needs to be gone. Gone forever.

I clenched the steering wheel until my knuckles cracked. The witch beside me, Lucía, is the high priestess of the Madrigal coven. She shot me a look, her rust-colored robes flowing like smoke around her.

"You’re grinding your teeth again," she said, her voice smoky and observant.

"I’m imagining Ignacio’s head on a pike," I replied.

She chuckled. "Well, lucky you. If your wife agrees to my terms, we might just get your wish."

That shut me up. The terms... the part that made María José wrinkle her nose and whisper, "Axel, nunca aceptes un trato sin saber el precio." Never make a deal blind.

But what was I supposed to do? Sit on my hands while the demon breathed down her neck and whispered obsessions into her dreams? Every night I heard her whimpering his name in her sleep, not out of love, but out of fear. Every day she woke up saying, "I think I felt him today." Every hour, I watched her hands flutter over her belly, protective and paranoid.

I would do anything to make her feel safe again. Even if it meant selling a piece of my soul.

"You’re too quiet, Beta," Lucía noted. "Don’t change your mind now."

"I won’t," I muttered. "Let’s just get to the wing. You said you’d give her something."

"I said I’d give her what she needs. Not the same thing." She smiled.

I grunted and pushed through the hallway, passing two guards who immediately straightened at the sight of Lucía. Everyone still half-expected witches to hurl frogs or curses. Understandable. Three years ago, her people burned my grand uncle’s lungs from the inside.

Now they were our last hope.

We reached the suite at the far end of my quarters. The one I’d had specially renovated for María José’s pregnancy. Thick soundproof walls. Security enchantments. Private medical ward. And now, apparently, demon-infested.

I opened the door and my whole body shook.

She was wrapped in a towel. Wet. Scared. Backed against the dresser like a trapped deer. Her hair dripped down her shoulders, trailing water along her collarbone. Her eyes were wide and pleading

And right in front of her, standing too close, too flushed, was Mateo. Mateo, her best friend. Mateo, who smiled too much and touched her elbow like he owned it. Mateo, who never once triggered a damn warning.

Mateo... who was grinning now, lips pink, breath heavy, guiltless.

"Axel," María José whispered, finally seeing me. Her voice cracked. "Axel, please."

What? I couldn’t believe my eyes. My wife... look at her. Look at the state she was in. Oh, my heavily pregnant wife. Look at the fear in her eyes, the vulnerability she wrapped around a towel.

And... and...

I moved before I thought. My body jerked forward, growling as rage tore through my spine like wildfire. The air shimmered with my fury. Lucía stepped behind me, her hand raised.

"What’s going on?" I demanded.

I already knew. But I needed to hear it.

"Lucía," I snapped, not taking my eyes off Mateo who was now smiling like we were playing a childhood game. "Tell me."

Lucía’s voice was low and deadly. "That’s him."

María José’s knees buckled.

Mateo, no Ignacio, laughed cruelly. "Well. Seems the charade is over."

I was on him in seconds. My fist collided with his jaw, knocking his head sideways, but the bastard didn’t even flinch. He took the blow and looked back at me with eyes that glowed faintly gold.

"I could’ve killed you both months ago," he murmured, licking blood from his lip. "But I loved her. I loved your little fairy tale. It amused me. She’s mine, Axel. She will never and can never be yours."

I knew it. I had always known there was something off about that bastard. Fuck me for not trusting my instincts. Damn all this!

"Get away from her," I hissed, placing myself between him and María José.

He tilted his head. "But I was just saying hello. Can’t a man greet his wife?"

H-His wife?! I lost it.