Page 86 of Demon's Desire

His mind swam with relief. He was alive. He’d been brought back from the despair of thinking Onyx wasn’t his.

Onyx broke the kiss, out of breath, his eyes burning deep blue. “Why haven’t we been doing that the whole time?”

Nico sucked in a deep breath, the taste of Onyx lingering on his tongue. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to kiss you.”

A small frown pinched Onyx’s kiss-red lips. “You read mewell. I’ve never been big on kissing. Mouths are better used elsewhere.” He trailed a delicate finger over Nico’s lower lip. “But not yours.”

“Oh, I don’t know. My mouth is pretty talented anywhere I use it.”

An evil grin lit Onyx’s face. “I have no doubt, and I’ll hold you to that. But this is something else.” He bent and recaptured Nico’s lips.

Boy, was it ever. Nico could forget himself, drown in Onyx’s lips. He planned to do exactly that, however, the floor of his shop was far from an ideal location to kiss until time ceased to exist.

What if Emmett returned?

Fear strangled Nico’s gut even with Onyx wrapped around him.

“What’s wrong?” Onyx whipped his head back, panic lining his face.

“Nothing. Let’s get out of here.” Nico disentangled from Onyx’s hold and stood.

Onyx followed, his sharp attention unwavering. “Don’t say it’s nothing. You almost died. There’s no way you’re fine. What happened just now?”

Nico ran a hand through his hair. “It crossed my mind that the vampires might come back. We should lock up and leave.”

A low growl erupted from Onyx, and the hair on the back of Nico’s neck stood.

“Let the vampires come. I’ll burn them to ash.”

Nico hauled Onyx close and buried his face in his hair, a foreign, floaty feeling filling him. “Let’s go. Fuck, I have to call Rowan.”

Onyx went rigid and pulled from Nico’s grasp. “Screw Rowan. I’ll burn him too if this was his fault.”

“Hey.” Nico met Onyx’s flaming eyes. “It wasn’t hisfault.”

“Then what the hell happened?”

Nico hesitated. He had to tell Onyx. Why was it so hard?

“I’ve been having trouble with this witch that the Valeros and I ran out of town a while back. He abused his girlfriend and was trying to set up some criminal shit, but we took care of it.”

“What’s that got to do with vampires poisoning you?”

“I have no idea. Michael broke into my place and has been lurking around. This morning, Rowan said a vampire coven he’d destroyed was back and causing trouble for him, but that had nothing to do with Michael. Then, Emmett showed up with a woman I’d seen Michael with outside my apartment and…” He gestured to the floor.

Fuck, had Michael been trying to poison him that morning, not merely get his blood to break into the apartment?

Onyx’s cheeks flushed, and Nico swore he smelled smoke. “Why didn’t you tell me someone broke into your apartment?”

“It didn’t seem like a big deal. I had it under control.”

Onyx’s eyes flared. “Under control? Did you tell Rowan someone broke in?”

“No. I passed on that Michael was in town, but Rowan’s busy enough. Besides, you protected my apartment. No one could get in.”

The break-in still didn’t make sense. If they’d planned on poisoning him, why not do it then?

“They couldn’t get to you at home, so they attacked you here.” Onyx cupped Nico’s cheeks, giving him a hard look. “Why didn’t you ask for help from me or Rowan, or anyone?”