Page 51 of Unholy

When Malachi got home,he found Luke sitting in the hall outside his door, playing a game on his cell phone. He spotted Malachi before he reached him and stood.

Malachi handed him a key—he’d stopped at a hardware store and had a spare made for his apartment. He gestured wordlessly, and Luke fitted it into the doorknob, his eyes softening when the door opened. Malachi ushered him inside.

“That one’s yours,” Malachi said, closing the door behind them and locking it.

Luke turned toward him at once. “Mal, what’s happening?” he entreated.

Malachi’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, and the words wouldn’t come. Their little bubble of happiness had finally burst, and reality was colder and crueler than ever. What if Luke broke things off? What if Malachi was forced to go back to watching him from afar, because Luke wanted to stay with the guild? Why would he choose Malachi over his life’s work? Alex said he felt called to do the right thing, and wasn’t the right thing protecting the innocent? Luke was too good to choose Malachi. He would have to say goodbye, and the idea of going back to a Luke-less existence hurt worse than the pain of Hell.

“Mal? You look weird. What’s going on? Tell me.”

Malachi kissed him, deep and slow, savoring his tasteand heat. He fully intended to press for more, to strip him down right there by the door, but Luke gently pushed him against the wall.

“Tell me,” he said again, soft but insistent.

He blew out a breath. “Okay, okay.” He licked his lips, stalling, if only for a moment. “The paladins have been watching some of the halflings. Including me.”

Luke’s face went blank.

“I don’t know how long they’ve been following us, but that’s probably how they saw us at the diner. Wolf said they’ve been outside the club for a month. If they’ve been following me for that long?—”

“They would know about us,” Luke finished.

Malachi nodded fretfully.

Luke didn’t speak for a moment. His hand slid down Malachi’s arm, curling around his and leading him to the living room. He sat down hard on the sofa, and Malachi followed gingerly.

“They don’t know about us,” Luke said decisively. “They can’t. There’s no way they would still be letting me walk around if they knew. They already questioned me just for being seen at the diner with you. If they knew I’d been voluntarily spending time with you, they’d have had me excommunicated already.” He frowned. “I don’t know why Sloan wouldn’t have told me he was having some of the halflings watched. I haven’t heard anything about this, and that doesn’t spell anything good. Who has he tasked with this, and why isn’t anyone talking about it?”

The knot in Malachi’s stomach didn’t relent. Maybe Luke was right, and they’d managed to avoid detection. Or maybe they’d been letting him walk around freely on purpose for some reason. Gathering intel by tracking his movements orwaiting for the right time to strike. He couldn’t tell if he was being paranoid or not. All he knew was that he couldn’t risk Luke getting hurt for him.

“Maybe you’re right,” he offered tentatively. “It does change some things, though.”

Luke’s brow furrowed. “Yeah, it does.”

Malachi fidgeted, pressing closer and laying a hand on Luke’s thigh. “We can do whatever you want, okay? If you want to be extra discreet, we can. If you think we should…”Stay apart for a while, he tried to say, but the words dried up in his throat. He didn’t want to be apart, not even temporarily. The thought of going any amount of time without seeing Luke, without touching him, caused him physical pain.

Luke studied him softly. “If I think we should… what?”

Malachi’s hand tightened into a fist. “If you think… we should…” He stopped again, ducking his head. “I don’t want to.” It sounded petulant even to his own ears.

“You don’t want towhat, baby?” Fingers carded into his hair, and Malachi’s stomach fluttered. Luke had never called him that before.

“I don’t want to be apart from you,” he said, raising his head to meet Luke’s eyes. “I don’t want to separate, not even temporarily. You’re mine and I’ll kill anyone who tries to take you away from me.”

He took a breath to say more, but Luke cut him off with a kiss. “I didn’t say anything about splitting up. Have you been expecting me to say that? Is that why you didn’t want to tell me?”

Malachi leaned in, letting his sturdy human take his weight and tucking his nose in the curve of Luke’s neck. “Yes. Hawk says you feel obligated to protect the innocent. He saysyou care about what you do. And he’s right. Any idiot can see why you do what you do, why you continue to make yourself fight when you don’t want to fight at all.”

Luke leaned back with a sigh, reeling Malachi in after him. Their usual positions were reversed, with Malachi cradled by Luke this time. He turned sideways, slipping one arm behind Luke’s back and snuggling against his chest.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Luke admitted. “I’ve been thinking about… giving them my resignation.”

Malachi tipped his head back to look up at him. “You can do that? Youwoulddo that?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “Most people keep fighting until they can’t, but we’ve had some who were too injured to keep going. They have jobs in HQ doing other stuff now. We’ve never had anyone who left, but as far as I know, there’s nothing stopping me from turning in my ring and voluntarily leaving. I’m considering it. You’re right, I don’t like fighting. I do feel obligated, because fighting is my only skill-set. But the guild’s doctor pushed me toward early retirement after the attack.” He stroked the scars on his jaw, and Malachi leaned up to kiss them. “I wasn’t ready then, because I had nothing else. But now I have you. So maybe now I’m finally ready for something more than killing. And I don’t want to be an administrator. If I’m going to stop fighting, I want to leave the guild for good so we can be together.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to regret this later.”

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