Page 25

DANTE

Ollie nestled against Dante’s thigh and barely stirred once he fell asleep. His breathing evened into soft snores, leaving Dante free to watch him all night.

Dante swelled with pride, knowing his presence comforted Ollie. He wasn’t completely incapable of taking care of his mate.

He’d hated being away from Ollie the past two days, and when his phone had first rung, Dante had feared the worst. He didn’t think Ollie would call for anything short of physical danger. He’d been wrong.

If only every night could be like this, snuggled together. But that’s not what friends did. Well, maybe some. Would Ollie like to be that kind of friend? Could Dante be physically affectionate without letting romantic attachment creep in? Had it already crept in?

Ollie slept through to the morning when an alarm sounded on his phone. He jolted up, glancing around like he didn’t know where he was.

Dante grabbed the phone from between the couch cushions and handed it to him. “Sleep well?”

Ollie silenced the alarm and rubbed his face. “Yeah. I swear I blinked, and it was morning. Were you up all night?” Concern creased his brow.

“It’s fine. One sleepless night isn’t going to bother me.”

Ollie frowned, lips pouting. “Are demons like vampires and don’t need sleep?”

Dante chuckled. “Both demons and vampires need sleep. All beings need to rest, but immortals can go longer than humans without it.”

“In that case, I won’t keep you up two nights in a row.” Ollie tossed his phone on the coffee table and pulled off his hoodie, his shirt riding up and exposing his belly.

Dante looked away, unable to suppress the tingle of pleasure at seeing his mate’s bare skin.

“Aww, don’t look disappointed.” Ollie nudged his shoulder. Dante met Ollie’s gaze, and Ollie hesitated before adding, “Did you like keeping me company last night?”

Dante’s body heated as his fire flared. “Yes. I like spending time with you, no matter what we’re doing, and I’m glad I was able to help you rest.”

“Me too,” Ollie said barely above a whisper. “Um…I should get ready for work. I’ve got a full morning booked.”

“Can I make you breakfast?”

Ollie’s cheeks pinkened. “You don’t have to do that.”

But Dante wanted to. Maybe it was too much, especially considering the romantic direction his thoughts were heading. He shouldn’t indulge them. Ollie liked space. “Should I leave you to get ready as usual?”

Ollie opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it with a small nod.

Dante stood and stretched. “Have a good morning at work.”

Ollie fisted the hoodie in his hands. “You too. Have a good morning, I mean, not at work since you don’t really work. Uh…I’ll text you later. After work. Maybe we can do a fe w missions tonight.” He looked up at Dante through his lashes.

Like Dante would ever say no. “Sounds good. It’ll be a while before we run out of things to do with the new expansion coming.”

“For sure.” Ollie’s smile carried a hint of relief. “So, I’m not a dick for kicking you out after comforting me all night?”

Dante clasped Ollie’s shoulder. “No. Don’t worry. Go get ready for work and have a good day.”

Ollie’s cheeks turned from pink to red, eyes shining. “Okay. Bye, Dante.” He turned and hurried into the bathroom.

Was that longing in Ollie’s eyes, or was Dante seeing what he wanted? Even if it was, Ollie could be longing for the way things had been before, not for Dante. Maybe Ollie wished he hadn’t needed Dante by his side last night.

It probably wasn’t romantic longing.

Dante couldn’t afford to hope Ollie might want something other than what he’d said. That was a dangerous game Dante couldn’t play with his ancient heart. He might not survive it.

He left the apartment and went to the roof, freeing his wings and flexing his muscles. His phone buzzed in his pocket. Dante pulled it out and read the message.

Ash:

Where are you?

Dante:

At Ollie and Harper’s. I’m heading home now. Why? Is something wrong?

Ash:

You could have left a note. I’d ask if Harper and Ollie are okay, but I’ve already checked in with Harper.

Ash could mean through their bond or via a phone call. Dante didn’t ask. He launched into the air, aiming for the reserve across the city.

If Dante had been in tune with Ollie’s emotions, he’d have known Ollie was having a bad night. But knowing Ollie was struggling and Ollie not asking for help would have been painful, so Dante continued to block Ollie, keeping that part of their bond suppressed.

At home, he landed on the deck, finding Ash waiting, arms crossed and scowling.

“What? You’re that pissed about waking up alone one time after living in the woods by yourself for decades?”

Ash grunted. “I don’t care about being alone. I was worried. Something might have happened to Ollie.”

Dante’s demon fire flared and he ruffled his wings. If anything else happened to Ollie, he’d rip the world apart. Ollie might not be in danger of losing his life as easily as before, but he wasn’t allowed to suffer. Dante had to protect him better from now on.

Having Ollie limp in his arms once had been too much. Dante didn’t think he’d ever forget that moment, no matter how much time passed.

“I take it Ollie is fine?” Ash pressed.

“As much as he can be. He couldn’t sleep. Luc left his psychological wounds, as usual.”

Ash growled.

“Come on. Let’s do the rounds and see if we can get any further hunting whoever killed my birds, and I want to know what’s been going on in the Realm of the Damned for the last two hundred years. See if we can figure out why Luc is taking out his anger on innocents when we’re right here.”

“Figuring Luc out is an impossible task.” Ash launched into the sky alongside Dante. “You still think hunting him in his own territory is the best idea? ”

Dante ground his teeth. “I’m not waiting for him to come back when it suits him. I’m done with defense.”

“Fine, agreed, but we can’t go back to the Realm of the Damned without Onyx. I need to know I can get us out again, even if we get trapped, and I can’t break the confinement magic without both of you.”

“I know.” Dante hated that he couldn’t blaze into the Realm of the Damned, fire at his fingertips, and take his vengeance. He’d have done it days ago.

But he hadn’t told Onyx his plan to hunt Lucifer in Hell and wasn’t looking forward to convincing him to get on board. Onyx hadn’t even wanted to help Dante and Ash track down the other potentially escaped demons after talking to Ren. Onyx kept insisting he wasn’t needed, but that wasn’t true.

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’s salon 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.”

Onyx pointed a slender finger at Dante. “You’re the one who came to see me about Ollie. All I’m saying is he clearly likes you. He’s probably hung up on something human and therefore trivial and doesn’t know what he wants.”

Dante’s face heated and he flexed his wings. “Ollie’s concerns aren’t trivial. I’m not going to disregard what he tells me and assume I know better. That’s not the kind of mate I am.”

“Did I say you were? Whatever. I’ll be here saying I told you so in”—Onyx looked at his wrist as if he had a watch—“a month tops. ”

“I’ll look forward to it. And since you’re so supportive of Ollie and me, you’ll be happy to help avenge him. Won’t you?”

Onyx opened his mouth and then snapped it shut, eyes narrowing.

Ash stepped up to Onyx’s desk. “We’re hunting Luc down. This time, he’s gone too far. He can’t keep hurting our mates and escaping.”

Onyx’s eyes widened and he leaned forward in his chair, posture no longer relaxed. “What are you planning to do? What do you mean hunt him? You can’t kill him.”

“He almost killed Ollie,” Dante growled.

“But he didn’t.” Onyx leveled a piercing stare in Dante’s direction. “Ollie lived. Killing an Eternal—or demon—is punishable by death.”

Ash huffed. “And who’s going to punish us? The council?”

“Yes, the council. That’s literally the point of their existence.

They may have damned us, but they haven’t written us off so far that they’ll let us break the ultimate rule.

” Onyx turned from Ash to Dante. “I know what Luc did is unforgivable, so let’s trap him alone in a prison like we planned. Isn’t that worse than death?”

Isolation would be torture, but Dante shook his head. It wasn’t enough. Why not torture, then kill the swine? “Killing an Eternal’s or demon’s mate is also punishable by death. He has to pay.”

“But Ollie didn’t die,” Onyx said as if he were trying to explain something to a small child. “We can’t cross this line. Even after everything, some rules shouldn’t be broken.”

“I know he’s your brother,” Ash began.

“Fuck off, he’s my brother.” Onyx snarled, standing abruptly. “He’s dead to me, but I’m not killing him.”

“Why, so you can see if he’s changed in another thousand years?” Ash scoffed.

Onyx’s cheeks reddened and a hint of smoke tinged the air. In one fluid motion, he grabbed a paperweight from the desk and threw it against the wall, glass shattering.

Dante growled. Fuck, he wanted to throw things too. Trash this pretty office. Tear the building apart until nothing was left. Luc deserved to die. He needed to feel what it was like to be ripped apart.

But Onyx had a point.

Dante wanted righteous anger to blind him. If he’d been able to act the moment Ollie rode away in that car, he’d have killed Luc, consequences be damned, and lost his own life as a result. But he couldn’t go to Hell and back without the others. He’d waited to act because he wanted to come back.

Ash supported him. Luc had almost killed Harper. But fuck, Onyx had logic on his side. Attempted murder wasn’t the same as murder. And just because the council looked the other way at Andras’s death didn’t mean they’d do the same if the Fallen started killing each other.

Dante gripped the desk and shoved it to the side, sending it crashing into the wall. Onyx’s eyes widened, nothing standing between him and Dante.

Dante closed his eyes. “He’s right, Ash. Damn this stupid world. He’s right. If we kill Luc, we’ll be the ones committing the unforgivable offense.”

Ash swore, his spiced smoke mingling with Onyx’s, heating the air.

Dante opened his eyes.

“You can’t take care of your mates if the council kills you,” Onyx said, and the growing tension snapped.

“No,” Dante agreed, bitterness so thick in his veins that his blood probably tasted foul. “But we’re still hunting Luc. We’ll go to the Realm of the Damned and punish him, even if he gets to keep his miserable life. ”

Ash rumbled in agreement.

“Nope. I’m not going.” Onyx shook his head. “Next plan.”

Ash stalked forward until he and Onyx were chest to chest. “We can’t keep sitting around, letting Luc’s actions go without response. Who knows what he’ll do when he decides to turn up next. Your mate could be his next victim.”

Onyx blinked rapidly, stepping back and bumping the wall. “I don’t have a mate. You can drag me into whatever shit you’re planning in this realm, but I’m not leaving. I’m never going back. Now get out of my fucking office.”

Dante grabbed Ash’s arm, pulling him away. It was best to leave. There’d be no changing Onyx’s mind today.

Fire burned in Onyx’s eyes as he shooed them out the window.