Page 8

E IGHT C AMILLE

I never thought I’d be a person who goes to the gym when they can’t sleep, but after spending over an hour tossing and turning, I figure a workout can’t hurt—despite it being nearly two in the morning. Since my first training session with Noah yesterday, my muscles are a bit sore, though less so after following his advice about stretching.

My footsteps echo throughout the underground parking garage as I walk toward the private gym connected to the building. I shiver against the chill, wishing I’d grabbed a jacket on my way out, and wrap my arms tighter around myself as I pick up my pace.

I freeze and suck in a breath at the sound of a car door slamming. Whipping around, I half expect to find someone standing there, and my hand immediately goes to where the dagger Harper sent me should be. Too bad I didn’t think to arm myself to walk to the gym on the property.

I exhale a steadying breath and turn to keep walking—only to come face-to-face with Blake.

“Fucking hell,” I breathe, nearly choking on nothing.

He offers me a dazzling grin. “Not quite, love.” He cocks his head to the side, surveying my face, and a bit of his blue hair falls forward.

When did he have time to change the pink?

Now is so not the time to worry about that.

Why is he here?

“Long time no see,” he says casually, as if him showing up here in the middle of the night is completely normal. “How’ve you been?” It was only two weeks ago that Xander killed his mother and became king, though it still feels like yesterday.

I swallow hard, still catching my breath. “What do you want, Blake?”

“Me personally? Nothing.”

I stiffen.

“He wants to see you.”

Before I can stop myself, I ask, “Why didn’t he come himself?”

Blake frowns briefly. “I’ll try not to be offended by that.” He flicks a piece of lint off the shoulder of his black peacoat and sighs. “Xander asked me to come. The logistics of his new role don’t allow him to move as freely as he’d like. Since the shift of power, he has a king-sized target on his back, courtesy of your lovely little organization.”

My eyes narrow. I want so badly to snap at him that the hunter organization isn’t mine , but I bite my tongue, caught up on the whole ‘king-sized target’ comment. I can’t help the pit of worry expanding in my stomach. Xander killing Lucia and taking the throne didn’t make me stop caring about him.

I wish it was that simple.

“You’re concerned,” Blake muses, a glint of something akin to surprise in his eyes.

“I—” I clamp my mouth shut. He’d see right through my lie, anyway.

Blake steps in closer. “I’m making sure he’s taken care of. I will always make sure he’s all right, by whatever means necessary.”

My mind goes back to when Blake and Xander ambushed me in New York the last time I was here—to the moment Blake seemed dangerously human, speaking of how he cared about Xander. If I trust anything when it comes to Blake, it’s that.

“How’d you even get in here?” I ask, glancing around the silent garage.

He shrugs. “I might’ve snapped the lock on an emergency exit door. It was easier and less noticeable than breaking in through the front entrance. I was going to make my way to your apartment when I saw you come out here. Perfect timing, by the way. Saved me a trip upstairs.”

I shoot him a glare, irritation prickling along my neck at his flippant tone. “I’m not going anywhere with you. If Xander has something to say to me, he can say it himself. Have you demons never heard of phone calls?”

Blake cocks his head to the side, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “You’d like me to ask the king of hell to give you a call, then?”

Shaking my head adamantly, I finally find my voice and say, “What exactly does it mean for Xander to be king? It doesn’t seem like the type of position to come with a job description.”

Blake’s lips twitch, and he leans against the side of a car. “Well, technically , he’s not officially king yet.”

I frown. “Right. The trials.”

He waves a hand nonchalantly. “Yeah, but as soon as he passes, he’ll be sworn in by the royal guard and take the throne for realsies .”

I stare at him for several beats. These prerequisites seem like the type of thing that hunters should know about, though it isn’t something I remember from my first stint with the organization. Nor does it seem like something I’d forget had it been taught, which invites the question of why. Either there’s a reason the hunters higher up in the organization don’t lecture the trainees about the royal succession in the demon world, or they don’t have the history themselves.

“Demon got your tongue, love?”

I scowl, crossing my arms over my chest. I should tell Blake where to go—though that’s less of an insult to a demon—but I find myself asking, “So that’s what Xander’s doing now? The trials?”

“Not yet. He had to select his council first.” Blake must see confusion when he looks at me, because he adds, “His support system.”

“Oh.” I hate the pit of jealousy in my stomach. The nagging feeling of being left out. It has no place with me, and yet I can’t shake it.

“You’re looking a little deer-in-the-headlights. Shall I stop?”

I shake my head again. “What happens if he doesn’t pass the trials?”

I’m surprised when his expression softens. As if he’s concerned about what telling me will do. “Camille—”

“What happens, Blake?” I push.

He sighs. “He’ll be remanded to hell, where he’ll spend the rest of his life. He won’t be able to come topside and will patrol the deepest, most depraved parts of the underworld.”

My chest constricts as I fight the urge to look away, to hide the burn of tears in my eyes at the thought of Xander being in that position. I swallow past the lump in my throat and force out, “I can’t see him.”

Blake pushes away from the car, stepping into my personal space, and grabbing my wrist when I go to move away. “No?”

My pulse spikes with panic at the way Blake’s eyes darken. They don’t go black like I’m waiting for them to, but the grimness in his expression is still unsettling. “People will immediately wonder where I am and look for me. I can’t leave the city,” I insist.

And I’m definitely not ready to see Xander. Our last encounter is still too fresh. Too painful.

“Right. Because you’re so busy with hunter training,” he taunts in a low voice. “What happened to never going back to that life?”

Xander must’ve told him about my past. It shouldn’t surprise me, and to be honest, it doesn’t. Not really. I don’t love the idea of Blake having any information about me, but I suppose there are more consequential things to worry about right now.

“What happened? ” I echo incredulously, pulling my wrist free from his grasp. “My boyfriend turned out to be a royal demon and literally became the king of hell in front of me!”

“He did that to save your life.”

“You think I don’t know that? That I don’t think about it every day since it happened?”

His eyes narrow. “And your first instinct was to rejoin the hunters?”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” I snap, resenting the tremble in my chin. “Now, if that’s all—”

“What should I tell him?” he asks, raking a hand through his hair. His tone is back to casual, any trace of a serious expression gone from his face. Talk about emotional whiplash .

I open my mouth to say, what? I have no idea. I wasn’t prepared to see Blake, much less send a message to Xander.

“Nothing,” I finally say, my heart beating so hard I feel it in my throat. “Just…take care of him.”

He nods. “I’ll be in the city for a couple of days, so if you change your mind, you know how to reach me.”

“Go to a cemetery and draw a pentagram in the dirt?”

Blake lets loose a surprised chuckle. To be fair, the dry remark came out of nowhere. I have his number saved in my phone, so I don’t bother changing my response.

Without another word, Blake walks in the opposite direction, and I continue toward the gym. When I steal a glance over my shoulder, the demon is gone.

Exhaling a steadying breath, I use my building fob to unlock the door to the gym, slipping inside and stopping dead in my tracks when my eyes land on a shirtless Noah doing bicep curls across the room.

Fuck.

What if he heard me talking to Blake?

What if he’d caught us in the garage?

My mind spins with what-if scenarios that make my anxiety spike, but then he glances up, catching my gaze in the mirror and looking shocked to see me.

“What are you doing here?” The words tumble from my lips before I can stop them.

“I could easily respond to that with some hilarious quip, but then you’d call me an asshole.” He sets the weights down and turns to face me. “I want it on the record that I took the high road in this instance.”

I fold my arms over my chest as he approaches and deadpan, “How big of you.”

The corner of his mouth kicks up. “I didn’t expect to have a late-night workout partner.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” I offer, uncrossing my arms and pocketing my keys.

Noah nods, his eyes roaming over my face as if he’s searching for something there.

“What?” I ask, suddenly feeling squirmy under the weight of his gaze, especially when I’m fighting to keep mine from dropping to his bare chest.

Wait, what?

The mental ping pong from Xander to Noah throws me off kilter, and the surge of conflicting emotions does nothing to ease my anxiety.

“Nothing,” he murmurs, and I realize then how close he’s standing when his breath skates across my cheeks, making heat bloom in them.

“Why are you here so late?” I ask, unable to stand the brief silence.

“It’s the only time I know for sure I’ll have the place to myself.” Amusement flashes across his features. “Well, usually .”

“Right,” I mumble, going to step back. “I can go.”

Noah moves swiftly, catching my wrist and holding me in place before him. “That’s not what I meant.”

My breath catches, my gaze dropping to where his fingers wrap around my wrist. “I, um, I’m not really in the headspace to train. I think I’m just going to go back upstairs.”

When I go to pull back, Noah doesn’t release me.

My eyes fly to his, where I find concern mixed with a hint of suspicion that kicks my pulse up.

“Noah—”

“What is going on with you tonight?”

I immediately shake my head. There’s no way I’m going to tell him about seeing Blake. Certainly not about thinking of Xander every minute I’m awake, my only reprieve from him being when I’m asleep. “Nothing.”

“Bullshit,” he says, though his voice isn’t harsh. He’s worried about me, which has the risk of leading to questions I really don’t want to answer. Except I know he won’t let it go.

Before I can consider what a terrible idea it is, I’m on my tiptoes, planting my mouth on his.

Noah stiffens…and then he’s kissing me back.

Noah is kissing me.

The crisp, sandalwood scent of his cologne overwhelms me as he buries his fingers in my hair and I drape my arms over his shoulders. My eyes fall shut of their own volition, my mouth moving with his and my heart lurching when his other hand curls around my hip and tugs me against him.

Shit, shit, shit. What am I doing?

I tear my lips from his, gulping down an unsteady breath as I blink quickly and back toward the door. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I shake my head at a stunned-looking Noah before spinning around and fleeing the gym, my cheeks flaming and my stomach heavy with guilt.

I practically sprint through the garage, not stopping until I’m in the elevator going back to my floor. I pull my phone out of my pocket, willing my hands to stop shaking as I fumble through a text to Harper.

I know it’s late but I need to talk to you.

She hasn’t answered by the time I reach my apartment, so I resign myself to pacing the living room. My head doesn’t stop spinning even as my pulse slowly returns to a somewhat normal pace. Pausing in the middle of the room, I can’t help but lift my fingers to my swollen lips.

Fuck. Me.

Pressure unfurls in my chest. It’s brought on by the dark tendrils of guilt that the kiss even happened, but more so that I enjoyed it. It was meant to be a distraction. I was desperate and panicked. I didn’t want Noah pushing me and then spilling about Blake coming to see me. There would’ve been zero chance of me convincing Noah to not report that to the organization. And considering what Blake told me about the council and the trials, Xander has enough to deal with.

I shouldn’t be worried about that. I’ve tried not to care. But I…can’t do it. I can’t just turn off what I feel for him because he broke my heart.

I fucking wish it was that easy.

I drop onto the couch and grab the closest pillow, pressing my face into it and groaning.

Tonight has been an utter shit show. Why couldn’t I have fallen asleep and avoided seeing Blake and kissing Noah?

My phone buzzes, and I shift to pull it out, relief flooding through me when Harper’s name fills the screen. I answer the call, but she speaks before I can get a word in.

“What happened?” Concern is heavy in her voice, and I immediately feel bad for my text.

“I’m okay,” I rush to say. “I mean, I’m not, but everything is fine.”

A beat passes before she asks, “What the hell does that mean?”

I take a deep breath, then spill my guts about kissing Noah.

“Ohhh.” She drags out the word. “I understand why you’re freaking out, but to be completely honest, babe, I don’t see a problem. You wanted to kiss him. You’ve wanted that for nearly a decade.”

“Correction—I wanted that. Nearly a decade ago.”

“Right, well, whatever. It happened. Do you want it to happen again?”

I know the answer in my gut, yet I can’t help but think of how my life would be different if I were in love with Noah instead of Xander.

“Did I lose you?”

“No, I’m here. You know, just spiraling about my life choices,” I grumble, pulling at a loose thread on the pillow in my lap.

“Speaking of…I kind of saw Xander.”

My stomach drops and clenches at the same time. It’s an odd mix of sensations that makes me wince with discomfort, sitting upright. It takes me a second to find my voice. “What happened? Why did you see him?”

It’s Harper’s turn to sigh. “Well, Blake—I’ve since made it my mission to ruin his life if it’s the last thing I do on this earth—snatched me off the street and dragged me to see Xander. Because apparently texting or calling didn’t occur to either of them. I don’t know. At first, I was livid—scared out of my mind, too, but I think I did a decent job of masking that with anger. But then, Xander and I actually had a decent conversation.”

I sit in stunned silence for a few beats. “How do you feel about it?” I much prefer talking about Harper instead of what happened in the gym.

“I’m torn between wanting absolutely nothing to do with him and being somewhat curious. You know I’ve always wanted a sibling, but the king of hell is definitely not what I was expecting. Talk about a painfully ironic example of ‘be careful what you wish for.’?”

I chuckle at her dry tone. “Maybe it’s not something you need to figure out immediately?”

“Yeah,” is all she says, her tone distracted.

“Well, since you shared that you saw Xander, I guess I better tell you that I saw Blake tonight.”

“Hold the fuck up. What? ”

“Uh-huh. He’s in New York.”

“I’m on my way. I’ll kick his ass straight back to hell for bothering you.”

A faint grin curls my lips. Harper will never stop having my back, even from a different state. “He came to tell me that Xander wanted to see me. Actually, he came to bring me back to Seattle, apparently. Though he didn’t snatch me off the street and force me to go with him, so I’m not sure what Xander actually told him.”

Harper curses. “Don’t get me wrong. I miss the crap out of you and want to see you so badly, but I’m glad you told him off and that he didn’t pull some shady shit on you like he did to me.”

“You and me both,” I say around a yawn. “I should go and try to get some sleep. You should, too. What are you even doing up right now?”

“Late-night training session and then a bunch of us went for drinks.”

“Keeping busy, as always. Hopefully, you can take a break to visit me soon. Do you have Thanksgiving plans?”

“Is your dad cooking?”

I laugh. “I haven’t talked to him about it yet, but probably?”

“Then I’m there,” she says without missing a beat.

“I see how it is,” I tease. To be fair, my dad’s cooking is amazing, so I can’t fault her.

“I’ll book my trip soon and send you my flight details. Until then, keep me posted on all of the things, yeah?”

“You, too.”

After we say goodbye, I haul myself off the couch and drag my ass to bed. Burying myself under the covers, I curl onto my side and pray the exhaustion clinging to my muscles will allow for sleep to take me before my thoughts can spiral all the way out of control.