Page 20 of Unholy

The lock clicked, and the door opened slowly.

This might be his favorite version of Luke yet, barefoot and wearing soft plaid pajama pants. He was shirtless, his red-toned skin browned by the sun, his short hair askew. Dark hair peppered his chest and trailed down his stomach, the relaxed muscles of which flexed on every inhale. There was a pillow crease on the side of his face. His whiskey brown eyes were wide and confused, making him look soft and vulnerable, and it took everything Malachi had not to reach for him.

“Malachi?” he rasped sleepily. “What are you doing here?”

Malachi checked his watch. “It’s not even eight, sweetheart. Did I wake you?”

“Um.” He pushed his fingers through his hair, sending it into even further disarray. “Maybe. I had a long day.”

“Oh.” Maybe he wouldn’t want Malachi to stay, then. He’d noticed the defeated curl of his shoulders earlier. Perhaps he should’ve tried his luck another night.

“How do you know where I—no, never mind, I don’t know why I asked,” Luke said.

Malachi smiled, hoping it looked charming and roguish. “Can I come in?”

Luke’s chest rose with a breath, and his mouth opened—but nothing came out.

Malachi waited. He could be patient.Sopatient, especially with Luke looking so delectable, so soft and inviting.

While he debated with himself, Luke’s gaze fell to the styrofoam box in his hands. “What’s that? Is that your takeout box from the diner?”

“Yeah, it’s for you.”

“For me.”

Malachi blinked at him. “Yeah. I ordered it for you. You ran out before I could give it to you. I was just returning it.”

“No, you ordered it foryou. You just didn’t eat it.”

Malachi rolled his eyes. “No, I ordered an exact copy of whatyouordered so you’d have an extra meal to take home.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re mine. And I take care of what’s mine.”

Luke couldn’t hide the shiver that rolled through him, and Malachi dared to hope. Had the chink in his armorwidened enough for him to weasel through? Once he was in, Luke was never getting rid of him.

Licking his lips as though his mouth was dry, Luke stepped back and breathed, “Come in, Malachi.”

Malachi barely dared to breathe as he stepped across the threshold, feeling the shimmer of power as the wards parted like a curtain to let him pass.

His apartment was modest, a small living room on the right, a kitchen with a breakfast bar on the left, and the bedroom through a door beyond the kitchen. The whole apartment smelled like tap water and soap, cedar and citrus, like he’d showered recently and the scent had wafted through the entire place.

“Hungry?” Malachi asked, but he was already opening the container and putting the burger in the microwave. He dumped the fries in the air fryer to crisp them back up, and Luke hovered by the fridge, fidgeting as though he didn’t know what to do with himself. When was the last time he had someone in his apartment, taking care of him?

“What if I don’t want to be?” Luke croaked suddenly, his whiskey brown eyes wide and pleading.

Malachi turned to face him. “Don’t want to be what?”

“Yours.”

Patient, he would be patient. Luke would be his in increments, if only he took his time, and one day he’d be his completely. “Do you want me to leave?” he asked softly. “Say the word and I’ll go.”

Luke looked lost. “No,” he said plaintively. “I don’t. And thatscaresme. Letting you be here is risking everything for me, so why don’t I want you to go?”

The microwave beeped, but neither of them paid it any mind.

“I thought Talon was an idiot,” he declared. “What kind of dumbass goes and latches on to apaladinof all people? Humans throw themselves at us every night at In Extremis. I find it tedious, but if he wanted human companionship, there are plenty to choose from thataren’ttrying to kill us. What made that one so special? I didn’t get it—until I saw you. Ever since then, nobody else compares. It’s like the rest of the world has gone dark and you’re all I can see. I don’t think there are any prettier humans than you. I don’t think there are any stronger ones or smarter ones or better ones. You’re all I can think about. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want me. I’ll be your shadow until the day you die, because everything else is just noise.”

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