Page 59 of Demon's Heart

The three of them had to stand together.

Dante circled the reserve, checking all the birds’ nests. Most were empty this late in the morning, so he scanned his flock’s minds, checking for anything out of the ordinary.

Other than Ren leaving her magic, none of the trouble had occurred around the shearwater nests. The murdered birds had been found farther down the coast, and as with the last several weeks, nothing was out of the ordinary today.

Since the deaths, Dante had instructed his birds to stay in a large flock and not venture off in smaller groups. He disliked altering their behavior this much but couldn’t risk more dying.

Too bad his safety measures meant they were getting nowhere. It didn’t seem like the attacker would target the large flock, and Ash had no way of tracking them without a sense of their magic. Hopefully, Ren found something soon.

After scouring the coastline again and finding nothing, Dante turned to Ash. “Shall we head to the gallery?”

“Yeah, let’s make Onyx’s day.”

Dante suppressed a sigh. “Try not to piss him off on purpose. You need his help, remember?”

Ash veered off toward the city without responding.

After a quick flight, they landed on the gallery’s roof. Dante paused. “Maybe we should give him a call before barging in.”

“So he can slink away? Not a chance. If he wanted to keep us out, he’d have woven it into his protective spells.” Ash walked to the edge of the roof and climbed down the ladder.

Dante followed through the window into Onyx’s empty office. Voices echoed in the hallway beyond, followed by footsteps.

Onyx opened the office door, his pleasant smile dropping at the sight of them. “Oh goodie.”

Ash ruffled his feathers, tail flicking. “Good morning to you too, Onyx.”

Onyx curled his lip. “Can you put those things away? There are humans around.” He gestured to Ash’s wings.

“I don’t see any humans.” Ash made a show of inspecting the room. “And even if there were, they wouldn’t be able to see me. I only allow you two past my illusions, which you know I haven’t dropped yet.”

Dante wanted to smack Ash upside the head. This was exactly what he’d asked him not to do. “We aren’t staying long,” he assured Onyx.

“Then spit it out. Why are you bothering me at all?”

“It’s about Ollie—” Dante began.

Ash cut him off. “I hear you were asking about Ollie. Harper told me you wanted to know where he worked.”

Onyx opened and closed his mouth. “Of course he told you. Super.”

Ash arched a brow. “Was it supposed to be a secret?”

“No.” Onyx stalked around Ash to his desk and flopped into his chair, attention turning to Dante. “I went by Ollie’ssalon yesterday and had my hair trimmed. Thanks for noticing, by the way.”

“Your hair looks impeccable, as always.” Dante couldn’t actually spot the difference.

Onyx put his nose in the air. “Thank you. All I did was reintroduce myself. It wasn’t a big deal. Ollie didn’t seem to mind. I had to make sure he had my number since you all insisted Harper needed it. Got to keep all the mates on the same page. Maybe we need a group chat.”

Warmth spread through Dante. He shouldn’t have been surprised Onyx took the initiative with Ollie. He wasn’t as uncaring as he liked to act. Though it had been a while since Dante had seen evidence of Onyx’s softer side.

“So what about Ollie?” Onyx asked. “Have you got him up to speed on mates? He seemed a bit clueless, asking if I have one like mates grow on trees to be picked at will.”

Dante scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m getting there. He knows we’re fated, but I haven’t burdened him with the saga of failing to find our mates for thousands of years.”

“And you’re still ‘friends?’” Onyx made quotations with his fingers.

“Yes, Onyx. I explained this already. Please don’t make me repeat myself.”