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“I’m going to take a bath.” Melchom didn’t wait for an answer before he was turning on his heel.

Dave hated himself a little more because he stood there, frozen still, watching the way the muscles in Melchom’s back rippled. He fantasized about the ink and the way that strength would feel wrapped up around him—in a consensual way, and in a parallel universe when the demon wasn’t the absolute worst.

CHAPTER 6

MELCHOM

Are you losing your touch, Daddy Melchom?

“Oh, shut up.” Melchom was never in the mood to deal with the minions, and that was especially true now.

Reading Dove’s thoughts so clearly with only a door between them wasn’t helping him, which was a new thing. He wasn’t one to care about humans’ feelings and emotions, but…

Melchom shook his head. He was being stupid.

We like the human. It’s a pretty gift.

What did they want in exchange?

“Nothing.” Melchom furrowed his brow.

Hell got gifts from time to time that weren’t meant to be in exchange for anything else, but it was still rare. Combined with what Astaroth had been saying, and the fact that the human’s best friend had sent him…

Melchom shook it off. He’d just been off his game all day. Dove just nonchalantly playing with one of the most erogenous parts of his body and almost binding them had thrown him, too. Who the fuck approached a demon and thought, I’m going to caress his very obviously sharp horns? Dove had no sense of self-preservation; that was a given. Melchom thought he’d find it amusing—something else to use against him—and he did, but… It infuriated him, too. Not to mention he would’ve been Hell’s laughing stock for a year—at least—if he hadn’t stopped him in time, before any bond could even begin to form.

Why don’t you share your gift?

We want him too.

“When have I given a fuck about what you all want?”

Melchom sighed. He’d thought a bath—and even the distraction the minions provided—would help him get out of it.

If anything, it was only souring his mood further.

“Who are you talking to?” The voice was shaky, but it was closer than he would’ve given his human credit.

Melchom sighed. “Broadcasting to all the minions listening in takes more energy, and they can’t get inside my head.”

He paused. Why had he said so much?

This day was a fucking disaster.

Ignoring the splash of water he left on his wake, he got out of the tub and yanked the bathroom door open.

“You’re—” Whatever the human was going to say, he bit his tongue.

Your gift is horny for you?

How are you going to feed off him now?

I told you all he was going to be a waste of time.

Melchom shoved the human back into the bedroom and closed the door to the bathroom. He wasn’t going to bother with answering the minions.

“I’m what?”

Naked.