Page 15

Seth

We snuck out of the room after Hazel had gone to sleep.

She was tired, which was to be expected since she was still recovering, but we had plenty of energy, enough to get some separate gaming time under our belts.

I preferred gaming on the console since I can lounge comfortably on the couch, but Liam was a PC gamer complete with decked out battle station.

We didn’t mind since it gave us something to do separately together.

Technically, we had dinner very early, so I dug out one of the premade meals we got from our private chef and put it in the oven.

Like clockwork, Hazel had woken up and wandered down the stairs, following her nose, just as the baked ziti was ready.

Luckily, these meals were quite generous, and there was more than enough to go around.

There were exactly three stuffed apples in the freezer, which we put into the oven as we ate our meal. I had my stuffed, baked apple on its own, and Liam and Hazel had theirs with a scoop of real vanilla bean frozen custard.

Then, afterward, she sat on the couch next to me and watched me play video games until she started dozing off again. She must still be very tired if she could fall asleep with all the sounds of gunfire from the game. I hoped Liam and I didn’t tire her out too much.

“Oh, I think I should probably go brush my teeth,” she said after nodding off the third time.

I let her go, and didn’t even complain when she dragged the couch blanket upstairs with her, leaving me blanketless.

“She’s not in our room,” Liam complained as he started eating the frozen custard directly from the tub. “She brushed her teeth, grabbed the stuff we picked up from her place earlier, and went back into the spare room.”

Knowing him, he wasn’t going to stop until the tub was empty. I made a note to pick up more the next time we went by the creamery.

“Don’t push for too much,” I warned. “This is new and foreign to her.”

Technically, it was new to us too. This wasn’t anything like picking up a girl at Delerium and knowing she’d pretend not to know us the next time we saw each other again. And we’d only done that a few times over the years.

“But I hate waiting!” Liam stabbed at the ice cream with the dull spoon.

I chuckled. And boy, did I know it. “She’s already accepting more than I thought she would. We’ll be careful and take it slow.”

Liam sighed. “I guess.” He ate another spoonful. “Once she’s in our grasp, for real, then can we upgrade that yacht?” he asked, flopping down onto the couch next to me.

“You really want that hot tub, don’t you?”

“It should be just as nice on the yacht as it is at home, don’t you think?”

“I’m working on it. Soon.” I rested my head against his shoulder.

“We’re going to need a new home, too.”

I chuckled. “One thing at a time, Pumpkin.”

If I hadn’t met Liam, I would’ve never become the person I was now, so I didn’t mind caving to his demands. My pumpkin spice latte-loving basic bitch of a demon also had a bougie side. He enjoyed the finer things in life.

But it wasn’t just material goods when it came to pleasing him.

What he’d failed to point out about my quitting golf vs.

boating was that he pouted whenever I played but loved every moment on the water.

The only thing Liam liked about golf was lauding my wins over everyone else, which I understood; I didn’t like those people anyway.

The thing was, I’d always been a go-getter, always the top of my class.

It was who I was. But after the big fallout with my father, the man I’d tried to impress my entire life, something had snapped.

Samuel screamed that I’d never amount to anything without the WEC and without him, and then he attacked me.

Liam had stepped in, against my orders, to protect me.

He’d tried to kill Liam right in front of me, claiming that he’d been the one to ruin his perfect son.

It was a miracle I didn’t just kill my father right then and there.

After nursing Liam back to health—yes, demons could be severely injured—I’d promised that I’d give him everything he ever wanted; all he had to do was ask.

He’d said that all he wanted was me. But now, every once in a while, he’d ask for something big to keep me moving forward like he knew I needed a reason to keep going.

“I love you.” Liam cuddled up to me.

“I love you, too, Pumpkin.” And there, with Liam in my arms, I closed my eyes and wondered if I could truly have it all.

I woke up suddenly to an uneasy feeling I couldn’t explain. Intuitively, I checked my wards but found them intact; nothing had touched them. Still, as I gazed down at the demon waking in my arms in the pale moonlight that streamed in through the gap in the heavy velvet drapes, something felt off.

“What’s wrong?” Liam asked softly, rubbing his eyes in an almost human way.

“I don’t know. Something feels off.”

We were both quiet as we listened for any sounds that might explain why I was so on edge, but there was nothing except the slight hum of the magic from my wards—inaudible to normal humans and barely audible to me—and the cicadas outside.

Part of the appeal of this loft building was the park they’d put around it so we could be surrounded by green despite being in the city.

No sounds came from Hazel’s room.

“Maybe it’s nothing.” I closed my eyes again, and Liam reached over to give me a head rub.

That was nice despite the continued feeling of wrongness that seemed to permeate everything. I scanned my wards one more time. Nothing. It was probably just a dream. Though usually, I tended to remember my dreams and could even lucid dream on occasion.

I was still trying to fall back asleep when Hazel’s shrill scream had Liam and me bolting upright.

“Fuck!” Liam turned immaterial, floated out of bed, and moved right through the wall between the rooms. I almost followed Liam and only stopped myself a moment before I bashed my face. When I arrived in the spare room the conventional way, I saw the problem immediately.

There was the glow of magic at her window, and there was a shadowy humanoid form standing there, trying to look in. I recognized this; it was my father’s work.

Hazel was no longer screaming but instead had gone full attack mode, picking up the lamp and brandishing it like a weapon. She was definitely no damsel in distress.

“My home is warded. It cannot get inside,” I said, going to the window. I waved my hand over where the shadow’s face would be but got no reaction. “It can’t even see inside.”

The thing was exactly two feet from the glass, where my wards started. That was why I hadn’t felt its presence before I came into the room; it hadn’t actually touched my wards at all. What the hell was it doing here? And why didn’t it go when it realized it couldn’t see in?

Was it testing for weak spots? If it was, then it was wasting its time. My wards had no weaknesses.

No. That wouldn’t explain why it was outside Hazel’s window. This must be because Samuel had seen us at the marina today and came to gather intel. I didn’t like that he was showing interest in Hazel.

I concentrated, following my magic along my wards until my awareness was outside the window and directly in front of the shadowy spy. If the caster was still unaware of my presence, they would be soon.

I cast a counter spell, making sure to give whoever was behind it an extra shove. If I was lucky, it would be Samuel, and my father would end up being flung across his room. It served him right, trying to scare Hazel like that.

“There, Hazy Daisy. He’s gone.” I pulled the blinds closed just in case Samuel didn’t get the hint and tried again.

“Nothing can harm you while you’re inside my home.

All it can do is stand there like an idiot ,” I said those words extra loud, even though I knew Samuel couldn’t hear us either.

I took the antique brass lamp I’d paid a pretty penny for at auction from her and put it back on the side table, glad she hadn’t hurled it at the window yet.

“Why don’t you come sleep with us tonight?” Liam asked. “There’s plenty of room in our bed.”

“I really shouldn’t. I’m sorry I woke everyone.”

“Bah, I’m glad you did so I could send that thing packing. Asshole needs to learn not to fuck with us.”

“Come join us. You can sleep in the middle where it’s the safest.”

Hazel’s eyes darted to the window, and then she nodded.

Grinning, Liam gathered her into his arms and carried her back to our bed.