Page 20

OLLIE

Ollie headed straight for the couch as soon as he got home and sank into the cushions. They weren’t as comfortable as he swore they’d been that morning. Harper didn’t appear to be home, so Ollie pulled out his phone.

He stared at it blankly, not even waking the screen.

The sensation of unreality he’d had when he woke in Dante’s living room was gone, but something else had nagged at him the whole car ride across the city.

He rubbed the center of his chest, his eyes stinging. Fuck. He closed them tight, willing the gathering moisture to disappear.

He wanted to go back to Dante’s, crawl into his lap, and not feel alone.

Why was he being like this? He didn’t need Dante. Too many things had changed, and he wanted to go back to this morning or earlier that evening before he and Dante went to look at the tidepools.

But he couldn’t go back.

He opened his eyes and unlocked his phone, scrolling through his favorite social media.

The posts rolled by, blurry through his unshed tears.

Ollie scrolled and scrolled. Everything he read dragged him down.

People were mean, saying stupid things. Others were insufferably happy, everything too perfect to be believable. He hated all of it.

The apartment door banged open and shut. “Ollie?” Harper’s frantic voice called.

Ollie looked up in time to see Harper rush into the living room.

“Ollie!” Harper dropped onto the couch beside him and engulfed Ollie in his arms. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” Ollie wrapped his arms around Harper, afraid to let go. He was a total mess and didn’t want Harper to see, even though he must have already.

“I was out with Ash. Dante told him what happened, and I got home as soon as I could.”

“Oh.” Ollie swallowed. Phantom hands tightened on his neck, and he lost the will to speak.

Harper pulled back, and Ollie wiped his eyes, looking at his lap. “What can I do?” Harper asked.

“Magic me back to this morning?” Ollie cut Harper a look and forced a smile, but it felt all wrong.

Harper’s face crumpled. “I can’t. But I can make you something to help you sleep.”

Ollie sat up a little straighter. “Like a magic sleeping pill?”

“More like a potion. They’re kind of my thing.” He shrugged, a hint of something bashful in the motion. “Brewing and selling potions is my actual job.”

“You sell potions?” That was fascinating and much more distracting than Ollie’s phone. “How? Where? I have so many questions.”

Harper’s face lit up. “The shop I work at is an apothecary. It’s run by a witch, and we cater to the magic community more than humans.

It’s not a novelty shop like I told you it was.

That’s why I was so vague about its location and who I worked with.

I didn’t want you to get too interested and stop by. Sorry I lied.”

Ollie couldn’t have cared less. “How could you not lie? I’d have said you were full of shit if you’d claimed you could do magic.”

“True.” Harper’s lips twitched. “I was planning on telling you about being a witch eventually. After we’d been friends longer.

Not that I doubted our friendship would last, but since we haven’t known each other long, it seemed best to wait before revealing something so big.

” Harper’s face creased with concern. “I want you to know I wouldn’t have lied to you forever. ”

Ollie’s chest warmed. “It’s really okay, Harper. Honestly, I’d rather have waited and found out that way.”

A shadow passed over Harper’s face, his features twisting in anger like Ollie had never seen. “Of course you didn’t want to find out this way. I can’t believe Lucifer tried to kill you.”

Lucifer’s whispered words filled Ollie’s mind and tears prickled at the corners of his eyes. The warm feeling in his chest vanished. “I don’t get why he even cared about me enough to hurt me. If he’s after Dante and Ash, the whole thing on the beach makes no sense.”

Why would Lucifer think Dante loved him? They’d been hanging out, not even standing close together. Why try to kill him because of love?

As he ran through the events, something snagged his attention that he hadn’t considered before. Dante had called Ollie his mate before he’d needed to save Ollie. He’d screamed it at Lucifer.

It didn’t make sense. Ollie hadn’t been Dante’s mate yet. But was that why Lucifer had whispered in his ear and ripped him apart? If so, why did Dante think Lucifer seeing them become mates after the attack would make him leave Ollie alone ?

The sensation of blood spilling from his gouged-out throat cut through Ollie. He shuddered. “I don’t want to think about what happened at the beach ever again.”

Harper squeezed Ollie’s hand. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

At least Harper had already heard what happened and Ollie didn’t have to explain.

“Are we safe?” Ollie asked. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Dante. He did more than he should. But he needed an outside perspective. Harper was a much better judge of the situation than Ollie was. “What if Lucifer tries to come get me again?”

Harper gripped Ollie tighter. “You’re perfectly safe in the apartment. I’ve been protecting it with magic since I first signed the lease.”

“You have?”

Harper nodded. “I cast a protective spell before I moved in and was enhancing it regularly the first few weeks I lived here. My family isn’t in a cult.

They’re a coven who worships the Devil, and I finally escaped their control the day I came to live here.

Hiding from them took a lot of powerful magic. ”

“Oh my god.” Ollie gaped at Harper.

“I can tell you the whole story some other time. The reason I brought it up is because my spell is still protecting the apartment, even though my coven has been dealt with. And Ash cast an even more powerful protection on the whole building. The other demons strengthened it too.”

Ollie glanced around the room as if he might be able to see magic now that he knew it was there. “So Lucifer can’t get us at home?”

Harper shook his head. “He’d have to break the demons’ spell first, and Ash would sense if someone were trying to do that. But I don’t think Lucifer will go after you again.”

“Why not?” Why was everyone so sure of that ?

“He’s hunting Ash, Dante, and Onyx for betraying him and escaping Hell. Lucifer doesn’t care about witches or humans, as far as I know.”

“Then why did he hurt me?” Ollie hated how his voice broke on the question. How could this all happen for no reason?

“He hurt you to hurt Dante,” Harper said like he hated to admit it. Like he worried it would upset Ollie.

“But why would Dante care? I mean, he’s a good guy and would care about anyone getting hurt, but it’s not like I’m his boyfriend.”

Harper’s brow furrowed. “You’re Dante’s mate. Lucifer must have noticed something about you two like he did with Ash and me. He was stalking Ash and kidnapped me to see why Ash was so obsessed with me. Lucifer didn’t care about me personally either. It was all about Ash.”

“Dante isn’t obsessed with me.” Ollie’s heart rate spiked. The situations weren’t the same. He and Dante were friends.

“No, he’s not obsessed, but it sounds like Lucifer is trying to figure out what Ash and Dante are doing with us.

He didn’t believe I was Ash’s mate when I told him and didn’t believe Ash when he backed me up.

It sounds like Lucifer didn’t believe Dante either, but Dante said Lucifer knows it’s all true now that he witnessed your bond. ”

Ollie still didn’t get it. He hadn’t been Dante’s mate until after Lucifer attacked.

“You’re safe, Ollie. That’s the most important thing.

Lucifer knows we aren’t lying about our mates.

He isn’t going to attack us the same way now that he understands the reality of the situation.

And Ash and Dante will go after him. He won’t win.

” As if Harper could tell Ollie was as lost now as when they started talking, he added, “Why don’t I show you how I strengthen my protection spell and explain how the protective magic works? ”

That might actually help Ollie feel more secure. He could worry about understanding the details of the conflict with Lucifer later. “Okay, but what about when I’m not at home?”

Harper gave him a reassuring look. “Dante can find you through your bond. He’ll know if you’re in trouble like Ash can with me, so even if you aren’t shielded everywhere you go, Dante will always know if you need him.”

“He can track me?” Ollie’s heart climbed into his throat. “He didn’t tell me that.”

“All I’m saying is, in an emergency, you won’t have to worry.”

Ollie got that, but it didn’t make Dante tracking him okay. That was creepy stalker shit. The exact kind of thing Ollie needed to stay the hell away from if he wanted his independence.

“Hey.” Harper bumped his knee against Ollie’s. “I know this happened way too fast, and you and Dante weren’t together before, but having a mate is amazing. I’m so happy for you two.”

“Thanks, but Dante and I still aren’t together. We aren’t a happy couple to congratulate. We’re friends. He did this to save me. It’s not the same as you and Ash.”

Harper’s eyes widened. “Oh, um, sorry. I didn’t realize… Do you not like Dante like that?”

Ollie ran a hand through his hair. He hadn’t told Harper about his relationship issues or what happened with his exes, and now didn’t feel like the time to bring it up.

“I like Dante—I’ve been crushing on him—but we’re friends.

I told Dante more wasn’t an option weeks ago. He gets it and said it was fine.”

Harper looked momentarily confused before recovering. “If Dante gets it, that’s all that matters.”

Ollie couldn’t help feeling like he was missing something.

It was probably that he hadn’t known about magic and all this crap until a few hours ago, yet it was all normal to Harper. Ollie would probably feel like he was missing a lot until he figured out all the rules in this weird new world.