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ASH

Ash strode briskly away from the coffee shop. What was talking to Harper supposed to accomplish? Had he really expected Harper to give him a shot at anything?

The tattoos on his back itched, wings begging to come out.

Harper clearly didn’t have any lingering good feelings. Ash’s obsession was completely one-sided.

The rejection should have been a relief. Harper feeling nothing supported the fact that they weren’t mates. Of course they weren’t mates. This should be comforting news—not even news. It should be a comforting confirmation of what he had expected.

It only made Ash feel alone.

But Ash liked being alone. It usually relaxed him. His hunting lodge was his favorite place in the world. Why did the reminder make him want to crawl out of his skin?

He found a deserted alley behind a nearby building and walked down it, casting an illusion over himself before removing his shirt and letting his wings free.

Ash launched into the sky. He’d wasted enough time following Harper around. Maybe some space would allow his need for the young man to die down and be forgotten.

Not that he could leave Harper alone completely. He still had no idea why Harper moved around his neighborhood like he was a wanted man. Ash would still protect him even if nothing more would happen between them.

Even if they weren’t mates.

He flew over the city and landed on Dante’s deck, where he found Onyx sunning himself on a lounge chair, wearing nothing but a tiny swimsuit. He still didn’t have his wings or other demonic features out.

Onyx gave Ash a cursory glance. “You look extra pissy today.”

Ash grunted and walked off, not in the mood.

“Excuse me?” Onyx got up and followed.

Ash didn’t turn around. “Excuse you, what? I don’t have to respond to your annoying little jabs.”

Onyx didn’t say anything, only followed Ash into the kitchen. Ash ignored the infuriating demon and warmed himself a mug of blood, hoping it would get rid of the restless energy buzzing through him.

Onyx got himself a mug, and Ash reluctantly passed him the blood bag.

“Where’ve you been?” Onyx asked in a forced-casual tone, like he was trying too hard to seem like he didn’t care about the answer.

Onyx hadn’t left Dante’s house as much as Ash had expected. He’d figured they’d barely see the blue-haired demon, but he almost hadn’t gone out at all.

“Scanning the city,” Ash replied before draining his mug.

Onyx raised a brow. “Isn’t that what the birds are for?”

“I’ve been doing my own tracking.” This was true, even if it wasn’t what he’d been doing just now. Ash wasn’t telling either of his brothers about Harper.

Ash had a knack for tracking. He’d planned to use his ability to find Onyx before he heard he was in Shearwater Landing. Ash had always been able to track his closest friends more easily than anyone else. Years spent in the presence of one another’s magic would do that. But he hadn’t been able to get a whiff of Luc’s magic.

“Do you think he’s getting close?” Onyx asked, setting his half-drank blood aside.

Ash shrugged. “I haven’t detected anything helpful.”

Onyx’s eyes widened.

Ash expected to have picked up at least a hint of Luc’s presence if he were heading toward Shearwater Landing. He shrugged. “It’s possible he isn’t in the area yet.”

Ash wouldn’t be able to sense Luc’s magic if he were too far away. He needed a characteristic to latch onto to track anyone, like a sense of their magic, knowledge of what they looked like, or a fairly good idea of where they were. But even if Luc were outside the city, Ash should have been able to detect a general direction to follow until he got close enough to latch onto Luc’s magic and find him.

Had it been too long since Ash had been around Lucifer to get a hold on him, unless he was close?

“Do you think he’s up to something else before coming for us?” Onyx asked.

“He could be.” The idea was worrying. Ash assumed Lucifer would track them down immediately. If he wasn’t coming for them right away, whatever else he was up to had to be important, and nothing important to Lucifer was good.

“I don’t like this,” Onyx muttered, more serious than Ash had heard him in a while.

“Me either.”