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“He didn’t do anything wrong though,” Matty argued. He didn’t know why everyone kept acting like Nightmare had stolen him from his bed in the middle of the night and whisked him away to some hell dimension. It was Matty who’d summoned him. Who’d asked for his help.

“He came here with the express purpose of keeping you.”

Matty shrugged. “I know. He’s been pretty up front about that.”

“It’s permanent, Matteo. The bond.”

“I know that too.”

There was a long silence, and Matty let it ride. Kai wasn’t big on words unless he was with Sascha, and Matty wasn’t going to rush him.

“We would have protected you, Sascha and I,” Kai eventually said.

“Kai.” Matty waited until Kai turned to face him, his dark brow furrowed. Matty placed a hand on his arm, meeting his blue gaze. “I know. ”

Matty turned and walked over to sit on the porch steps, and after a moment, Kai followed. He barely fit next to Matty on the step, and maybe it wasn’t wise of him to be out and about in the backyard like this—where a neighbor or two could potentially see him—but Matty liked him in his demon form.

This was how Kai had looked when he’d freed Matty from his old life. Huge and muscular with his blue skin and black horns and spray after spray of blood gushing in his wake.

Matty cleared his throat, staring down at his clasped hands. Even if Kai wasn’t big on words, Matty felt like he owed him some.

“I’m so grateful to Sascha, you know. Because he wanted a friend, and that’s why you kept me.

But I used to get jealous too. Because he had you.

” Kai made a quiet sound of surprise, and Matty clarified, “He had someone who was his and his alone. Someone who kept him safe and made him whole. I wanted that so badly.” Matty nudged Kai’s knee with his. “And now I have it.”

Kai let out a harsh breath. “That demon—”

“Is everything I’ve ever wanted, deep in the darkest corner of my heart. He makes me feel safe and wanted and—and alive .”

Kai let out a growl of frustration, and Matty made one back at him.

“You trust him. I know you do.”

“And why do you know that?”

Matty waved a hand back at the house. “Because you left Sascha alone with him. You’d never do that if you thought he’d hurt him.”

“Because he’s on a leash now,” Kai said, speaking more harshly to Matty than he ever had. It was only Matty’s deep, bottomless trust in the warrior demon that kept him from flinching. “Because you’re already bonded, and he knows what Sascha means to you. I wouldn’t have otherwise.”

“If you know he’s leashed”—and for some reason, saying that out loud made Matty’s cheeks heat—“then why are you still so upset?”

Kai rubbed a hand over his face. “I’ll tell you a story, shall I?”

Demons and their stories—apparently that was a thing. Matty settled in.

“We were summoned at the same time once, Sarkaron and I. I’d been called first, by a clan chieftain who needed powerful aid in battle.” Kai’s brow furrowed. “He didn’t realize one of his closest men was set on betraying him. That man stole the Book and summoned Nightmare for his own ends.”

Kai stared off into the distance, as if remembering.

“I was guarding the chieftain when Sarkaron came for him. But there was nothing I could do to stop his shadows.” He grimaced.

“The anguish on that man’s face. The noises he made.

He took his dagger and stabbed it into his own chest, trying to dig out his heart.

That’s what killed him in the end—his own hand.

” Kai turned to face Matty again. “I saw Sarkaron’s face, lurking in the dark.

I saw the way he enjoyed that man’s suffering.

And when he’d fulfilled his contract and mine had dissolved with my master’s death—in the split second before we were pulled back to the Void—he sent his shadows after his own summoner.

The man was left a husk.” Kai met Matty’s eyes.

“There’s violence in battle, and then there’s… that.”

There was a long silence while Kai stared at him, and Matty realized Kai was expecting him to speak. Was he supposed to be horrified? “It sounds like two violent men met violent ends.”

Kai’s features twisted into a look of pure disbelief. He shifted forward on the step. “You don’t speak of it, Matteo, but we know you escaped a life where you were tyrannized by terrifying, cruel men. I did not wish for you to be chained to a terrifying, cruel demon.”

Matty straightened, narrowing his eyes. “He’s not cruel, Kai. Not to me. He’s wonderful.”

Kai only huffed, and Matty toed at the grass at the bottom of the steps. “I don’t know why he wants me,” he admitted, since they were sharing truths and he didn’t really have anyone else to tell. “I don’t know what I give him in return.”

The sigh Kai let out was weary beyond even his ancient years. “Your soul speaks to him. It’s a possessive, possessing kind of love compared to what humans are used to. But it’s powerful.”

Matty was too startled by the word love to think before he spoke. “I like powerful.”

Kai’s lips twisted into a strange smile. “I’m realizing such.”

“You think it makes me a bad person,” Matty guessed.

“No, Matteo. I think it makes you human. You’re not a damsel in distress, and you’re not a lost little boy. You’re a grown man, and you have the desires of one. You wouldn’t be the first to lust after power.”

Matty frowned, wondering if he should be offended. “That’s not a very flattering picture.”

Kai shrugged. “Because I imagine it’s not the whole picture, is it? How does his soul feel to you?”

Matty considered the dark presence inside him, that pulsing vortex that was so strange and so familiar at the same time.

“Strong,” he said after a moment, aware that maybe that specific adjective wasn’t helping his case.

“And…mysterious. And comforting.” He pressed a hand to his chest. “It’s like—like it’s no wonder I was so scared before, or that life felt so hard.

It’s a miracle I was surviving at all, with such a vital piece of me missing. ”

Kai let out another long, weary sigh, then slapped his thighs before standing. “He’s not the mate I would have chosen for you, but it’s done. I’m glad you finally feel safe, Matteo. Between you and Nix…” He let out a mirthless laugh. “Well, I’m no matchmaker.”

“Who would you have chosen for me?” Matty asked, curious despite himself.

“Some steady human, I suppose.” Kai placed his hands on his hips, looking out into the distance again as he considered. “An accountant named Benjamin, perhaps.”

Matty couldn’t help his peal of laughter. “What on earth would I do with an accountant named Benjamin?”

“Probably nothing, I see now.” Kai tilted his head toward the back door. “Come, little chick. Let’s rescue Sascha from your terrifying mate.”