Page 20 of January Blues
Thenowmorefamiliarfeeling of the weight of my wings brought me out of sleep. I felt Toth stroking my hair as we lay wrapped up together, blanketed by my silky feeling wings.
So maybe it was ridiculous to go from having a silly crush, to jumping the man’s bones as soon as we were alone, to then accepting to bond as his mate, but I had pledged to live my life for me. With no fear of what others thought of me. I’d lived my first eighteen years under the weight of my parent’s disapproval and refused to do that again. I was me. Cody Valentine, half demon, half witch. Whatever that meant for me, I knew that I’d figure it out with my mate, Toth, and my best friend at my side.
Just thinking of Damon had me tense. Toth’s fingers stilled. “Everything alright?” His voice was a low rumble that did delicious things to my insides.
“Um, yes? Just thinking about Damon.” I wanted to face-palm as soon as the words were out. Toth surprised me by laughing.
“If you’re worried about his reaction, I’m pretty sure that he already knows. Your phone has been buzzing for a little while now.” He reached out from under my wings. With a thought, I parted them for him. It was only then I noticed his were gone.
“I need you to teach me how to put all this away.”
“All what?” he asked as he handed me my phone.
“Wings, horns, tail.”
“Ears. Black eyes.”
“Not the pretty skin like you have, though.”
“No, that’s just your witch nature.”
Was I ugly or weird looking for a half demon? I stiffened at the possibility. Was I going to be an outcast among demons, too?
“Cody?” Toth shook me a little. “You look beautiful. I swear it. I’ll help you learn to put them away. It isn’t the most comfortable feeling in the world, but you get used to it.”
“Do I look strange? Am I hideous? Will other demons hate me?” My voice wavered, tears ready to spill over.
“What? No! Before your demon side was revealed, I thought you were gorgeous, but seeing the other part of you just blew me away. I am so grateful that fate has paired us together. You are still you, just with the extra parts. The other demons will be jealous of me.”
“Jealous? Why?”
“They will value your magical strength. You are more powerful than any demon I know. They will mourn their chance to woo you.”
“Are you teasing me?” I heard the tremble of tears in my voice.
“Not about this. You are perfect.” His words were sure and confident.
I noticed then that my tail was still wrapped around him and was stroking his bicep. “Sorry, I don’t know why I feel so out of sorts today.”
“You’ve had a big change. Check your phone so it’ll quit making noise.”
Smiling at his grumpy face, I unlocked my phone, seeing a series of messages from Damon.
Damon: I’m assuming that you are fine since you haven’t checked in.
Damon: If I don’t hear from you in thirty minutes, I’m checking the cameras.
Damon: Nice wings, sweetness. That answers a lot of questions.
Damon: Damn. Nice ass *wink emoji* *drool emoji*
Cameras? He had cameras in my apartment? Since when? I handed my phone to Toth, determined not to keep any secrets from my mate. He chuckled, seemingly not surprised at the lengths that Damon would go to in order to protect me.
“Those cameras were a nightmare to get around.”
Huh. I’d almost forgotten that he was the one responsible for the nightmares and issues that I’d been having. Why couldn’t I be mad at him over it? Was it the bond that we had? Or just the half-assed way he went about it? “Toth?” His eyes met mine. “All the things that you did…”
“What do you want to know?”
