Page 58 of Forbidden

“Just don’t be stupid,” he’d relented with exasperation before he started his shift. “Grab a chair from inside if you start hurting.”

Storm scoffed. “I’m fine, Wolf. I’m not giving those self-righteous assholes the satisfaction of keeping me down.”

“Good. Just be smart about it.”

“I’m always smart,” Storm said with a cocky smirk.

Wolf just shook his head and went inside.

Now, he watched the undulating crowd and wonderedwhat Ira was doing. Was he sleeping? Wolf hoped so. From the moment he arrived in Wolf’s life, he’d been going nonstop. No one could keep up the pace he’d been working. In a matter of days, he’d turned his entire life upside-down. He’d moved in with Wolf, he’d helped them find the Rink, and now he was training to be a demon hunter and renovating the Rink and dealing with visions all the while. According to Alex, humans needed time to process traumatic stuff. All of this had to be traumatic, right? Or at least worthy of processing? But Ira didn’t seem to have done any processing. He seemed quite good at rolling with the metaphorical punches, but Wolf worried he would burn himself out and it would all come crashing down around him.

He’d never been so wholly consumed with concern for another person before. Ira was all he could think about, all he could focus on. Was this what the others felt? He hadn’t even known he could care about someone like this. He’d thought love was for humans. Was that what this was? Why did itache?

“What’s got you looking so glum?” Malachi asked as he swooped onto the stool in front of Wolf. “Missing your human?”

Luke draped himself across Malachi’s shoulders, and Wolf wordlessly handed him a fresh bottle of water as he refilled Malachi’s glass. His sun-browned skin gleamed with perspiration. Wolf wouldn’t have pegged him for a dancer, but he always obliged Malachi when he dragged him out into the throng.

“Maybe,” he hedged. “Is it like this for you, too?”

“Like what? Missing him when we’re apart?”

Wolf struggled to find the right words to describe it. “Like… Everything else stopped mattering the minute you met him. Like… I’ve never really wanted anything before, but now I know what ‘starving’ means because I want him constantly. This maddening obsession with him and only him. I want to cut myself open so I can fit him inside and never let him out.”

Luke looked a little awestruck, and Malachi was smirking. “Yeah, sounds about right,” he said bluntly, and Luke’s cheeks darkened. “The only difference is I was already obsessedbeforewe’d actually met. The minute I saw him, before I knew who he was, I was overcome. I had to have him, and I would’ve done anything to get him.”

“Why?” Wolf asked. “Why is it like that for us?”

Malachi shook his head. “I don’t know. I would guess…” He tilted his head, looking thoughtful. “If it was just halflings, I’d guess it was something about our physiology. Maybe something about them calls to the part of us that used to be human. But Talon wasn’t ever human, and he seems to feel the same way. So maybe it’s just a demon thing. We find a human we like and call demonic dibs.”

Luke snorted out a laugh, half-muffled against Malachi’s shoulder. Malachi reached back blindly and patted his scarred cheek. It was a far sweeter gesture than Wolf would’ve thought Malachi capable of, pre-Luke.

“In my experience, it’s a good thing,” Malachi said, picking up his glass and standing. “Just go with it.”

Like he had any other intention. Ira was his, and he would remain so for as long as Wolf drew breath.

Another hour passed with monotonous regularity. The midnight hour neared, and Wolf expected it would be a normal night, after all. They’d been worried for nothing. Perhaps they could all resume their regular schedules after this, and things would go back to normal, at least for a time.

The door banged open, and Storm staggered inside, slamming the door shut behind him. Wolf started around the bar, alarm bells ringing in his head, as Storm turned toward them, opening his mouth and taking a deep breath to shout out over the music.

A sensation hit Wolf at once, and his steps faltered. It felt as though a bubble descended around the club, cinching tight and cutting them off from the outside world. Demons throughout the club faltered, a sea of crimson eyes searching the room for the source of the feeling. Wolf caught a glimpse of Malachi, looking stricken, and then swiveled his head toward Talon, who pushed himself to his feet, his dark eyes wide.

The window on Wolf’s other side shattered, heat and flame exploding on the floor next to him. He threw himself away from it, and the screams rose up through the crowd as they realized they were under attack.

There were human customers in here. Didn’t the paladins care?

Paladins barreled through the main entrance, drawing their blades. They wore bandanas around the lower halves of their faces, but there was no mistaking their holy blades or the rings on their fingers. The bandanas were only to hide their identities from any human patrons who might call the authorities.

Alex and Luke rushed to the VIP hall. They’d stashed a pair of swords back there in case of emergency. Wolf picked up a barstool. It had metal legs. It was better than nothing.

The club was pandemonium. Humans were running and screaming. Halflings were either trying to fight or flee, crowding the exits and windows, but none of them were actually crossing the threshold.

“We’re trapped!” someone shouted.

“They put salt on the exits!”

Fuck. Wolf was more grateful than ever that he’d convinced Ira to stay home. Some of the humans were escaping, pushing past the demons and racing right over the salt line, but none of the demons could go through the exit as long as it was in place.

Alex and Luke returned as Wolf blocked a swing from one of the holy swords. He knocked it away and slammed the stool into the human’s head, kicking the blade away when he fell.

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