Page 26 of Demon Touched (The Demon Syndicate #2)

Nova

N ova had gone through the laptop and got a few names, but it wasn’t a lot. Then she’d gone and applied at the bar while Zane spoke to the Pacific Coven. He’d also gotten a few hits to buy motorcycles in cash which he would handle during the day.

With Zane’s list of witches from the coven they’d been able to track down each and every one of them relatively quickly.

They’d worked until the sun started lightening the horizon – more hours in the night thanks to the approaching winter.

Nova had to admit, things were moving along a lot quicker now that she had help from someone who didn’t have the same shortcomings she did.

She was still worried about Dex, but was too tired to do much other than fall asleep the second she’d been able to shower. When she woke up, Dex wasn’t there, and there was nothing on her phone from him.

Maybe he’d been busy dealing with Agmos.

Nova rubbed the sleep from her eyes and tried to figure out what planet she was on. A knock on her door had her rolling off the bed and standing despite how groggy she was. She grabbed one of her knives as she opened the door.

“I brought coffee,” Zane announced. “And bagels.”

Her eyes were too tired to look any higher than his chest. Nova turned and went back to bed, leaving the door open. Maybe she should just go back to sleep.

“The sun will be down in an hour,” Zane told her, closing the door behind him. “I’m surprised you just woke up.”

“Did you ever go to sleep?” she muttered, burying her face in her pillow.

“I slept for a few hours.”

After months of sharing the same bed with him, this didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable to her, and Nova had honestly seen him in various compromising positions thanks to training.

Hunters learned very quickly how little privacy they had when working together. The best way she could think of to describe it was like…a squad of soldiers or marines. Things just got…intimate, and fast.

“You don’t even have a fucking table. Why didn’t you get a bigger apartment?” Zane muttered as he climbed up onto the bed with her. He sat with his back against the wall and set the coffee on the nightstand like this was all perfectly normal.

She supposed it was to some degree.

“Get your shoes off my bed.” Nova rolled over to face the other wall and pulled the blanket over her body. “Why are you even here?”

“Should we split up, or work together tonight? Do you want to train before or after? And why are you so tired?”

Because Dex had scared about ten years off her lifespan and then hadn’t texted her for the rest of the night.

“Too many questions.” Nova wished she could get some actual fucking sleep, but she’d had nightmares again.

Thankfully the binding on her back had held up.

“Okay, train before or after patrol?” Zane didn’t even sound bothered as he pulled the bagels out of the bag. They’d been partnered together a lot, so he was used to her and her morning crankiness.

“After.”

“You said the witches were stealing magic, so we should track them together. Hopefully we’ll actually figure out which ones tonight. Are you hungry?”

She was, but eating sounded too exhausting.

How sure was she that Zane wouldn’t tell the council she’d been compromised? Having a personal relationship with a member of the Grim Corp would make the council suspicious about her reports.

Nova really didn’t think Zane would tell them about her and Dex, but he might if he felt upset about the way she’d ended things with him just to start a relationship with someone else barely a month later.

She rolled over and stared up at the other hunter who was casually sitting cross-legged on her bed with his shoes off and his back against the wall as he ate. It reminded her of the university so much Nova almost felt like they’d never left.

“Are we friends?” she asked.

He stopped mid-chew to look down at her in surprise. “Seriously?”

“I don’t have friends,” she reminded him. “I don’t know how it works.”

Zane swallowed and took a sip of his coffee. “I thought we were for a while now. It’s why they call it ‘friends with benefits,’ Nova.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “That’s not what we ever called it.”

The way he snorted his coffee shouldn’t have been so funny, but his eyes started watering and the pretty-boy hunter suddenly seemed shy.

“Yeah, I consider us friends. It’s why I was pissed when you ghosted me.” Zane shrugged and reached for her coffee. “If that’s all you want from me now, then I’m cool with that.”

It seemed pretty straightforward, but it usually backfired when she took that people at face value. They always said one thing and then did another.

Nova took the coffee from him but didn’t sit up just yet. “I’m seeing someone.”

This time he did choke. “Like, as in dating?”

That was a complicated question.

Sitting up, she shoved her messy curls back and drank the black coffee, remembering a dozen other mornings just like this one.

Zane had been too good to her. He hadn’t deserved the way she’d treated him.

“I’m sorry,” she admitted. “You know how I am. I honestly didn’t think this would ever happen.”

Surprisingly, he didn’t seem upset. “So, why did you think it would work between us then?”

“I wanted a partner and don’t hate you.” Nova sipped her coffee as she considered him. “We meshed well together and you were good at sex. It seemed like enough.”

His blue eyes went wide and he laughed so hard, she snatched the bag and glared at him.

“This isn’t funny,” she grumbled as she pulled out her bagel. “I’m being serious.”

“No, you’re right,” Zane snickered. “It’s fucking hilarious. You had zero romantic feelings for me and somehow that was enough for you?”

“I like you.” She shrugged. “I just…I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”

He seemed to mull that over as they ate and Nova was relieved he wasn’t being an asshole about all this. Most guys usually had such fragile egos, but for all his posturing and attitude Zane was a pretty secure person.

“I know things changed for you when your sister died,” he said softly.

“You told me how you felt and why from the very beginning, but I was kind of an idiot and fell for you anyway. I guess I thought maybe I could help you reconnect to your emotions, but I should have known it wouldn’t work out when things didn’t ever change between us. ”

Hearing that confession made her flinch. Nova stared down at her bagel and felt like an asshole.

“You might not have helped me the way you wanted to, but I promise you did,” she said softly. “You were my first real friend since…everything happened.”

Now that she knew what a friend was supposed to be like, she could see Zane had been that person for her – never asking her to be more than she was and just accepting her as-is with very little question.

It reminded her a lot of Dex, but there was something different with him. Nova had no idea why or how. Maybe because he was her reflection? She didn’t know, but Dex had…woken her up.

That’s what it felt like—like she was seeing everything through a TV screen rather than in person. The only thing she’d truly felt awake for before him was hunting. Zane would have facilitated that life for her, but she wouldn’t have ever felt the emotions that Dex stirred up in her.

“Hey, I’m happy to be friends with no sexual benefits,” Zane told her. “You’re a weirdo, but I like that in a person. You keep things interesting.”

Nova ate her bagel, relieved that he was just leaving it at that.

How should she deal with the rest of the mission? She had demon magic and apparently other witches could sense it. How was this going to work?

Maybe she could dampen it somehow while hunting them.

“So, who is it?” Zane asked, crumbling up his wrapper and checking the time. “Anyone I know?”

Nova finished her coffee and she almost felt like a person again. “No one you would know. They’re not a hunter.”

“I hope they’re helping you reconnect,” he said quietly. “You deserve to be happy.”

Did she though?

Nova sighed and slid back under the blankets. “We should hunt as a pair. It’s safer.”

“Hey, don’t fall asleep!” Zane jostled her with his foot. “We have a lot of work to do.”

“Five more minutes and then more coffee please.” Nova closed her eyes, fully planning on taking a nap. “Then I’ll tell you everything I learned about the witches.”