Page 21 of January Blues
“I guess… I think it’s a little strange that I don’t feel angry at you. I should, but I’m not. For a couple of weeks, I felt horrible, but it was more of an annoyance than anything else.”
“There’s only so much I can say. They tasked me with making you depressed enough that it would affect your performance at work. I just... couldn’t bring myself to harm you.” He shrugged, his face blank. “It wasn’t just the magic protecting you. I couldn’t—“
“I guess that’s why I’m not angry.” He looked confused. “I could feel your inner conflict,” I explained.
“We don’t have to worry about the contract with–”
“Austin. The contract has to be with him. He’s the most likely person since he stands to gain the most out of it.” While I’d never really liked the man, it was horrifying to think of the lengths he’d go to in order to get a job. It didn’t make sense.
“Right. It’s void since we are bonded.”
“Void?”
“Bonding is a higher magic than a contract. My magic is ours now, so it cannot hurt you or be used against you. Unfortunately, my master still owns me. We’ve got until the end of this month to figure out a way out of that contract. As long as he doesn’t realize the one with Austin is void we should be okay. We can pretend it’s still in progress.” He stopped for a second. “There’s more to what they tasked me to do. I’m unsure of what I’m able to say. They wanted me to—“ His words cut off abruptly.
I wracked my brain for a full minute until it came to me. “Date me?” Toth’s eyes lit with pride, though he didn’t move to acknowledge my words. “Get me all wrapped up in you so I was neglecting my work?” I could tell from his expression that it wasn’t quite correct. “First, they wanted me scared, depressed, so I guess they wanted me to fall for you, then for you to break my heart?” While I voiced it like a question, I knew he wouldn’t be able to answer. He pulled me closer, smoothing my hair. “I guess with a broken heart, I’d be vulnerable to everything else, then fuck up my promotion.” I wriggled out of his arms. “Speaking of work, what time is it?” I found my phone with another text.
Damon: Tick-Tock, sweetness. Better get to work!
“Fuck! You better try to help me get rid of all this so we can head in.”
“I can’t go into work like this!” We were in Toth’s car, it was roomier than mine, which was useful with my current predicament. “I have horns! And black eyes! I think someone is going to notice.”
“At least the wings, tail and pointy ears are gone,” Toth attempted to console me.
“I know. Thank you for helping me. I’m just frustrated.”
“Understandable.”
We were close to running late, having wasted what little time we had with me having an epic meltdown over my inability to get rid of these extra appendages. I’d seen myself in the mirror as part of Toth’s coaching. I looked cool as a demon. Yet all my admiration did nothing to help me fold them away.
Toth was a patient mate and teacher, explaining the principle of wrapping them in our magic and folding them into a pocket inside us which worked on my ears easily enough. My tail took a bit longer. I was kind of attached to it. Somehow, it felt like it had a personality of its own and it was totally obsessed with our mate. Not that I could blame it. Toth was handsome in both forms. He’d slept with his wings away, but had left everything else to show me the process. He instructed me to feel the magic working.
His suggestions had worked until we had gotten to my horns that stubbornly wanted to stay out. Nothing we tried worked in the short time that we had. Unless I wanted to be late, we had to go.
With his magic, Toth had cleaned his clothes from our date after a super quick shower. He dressed as I rinsed myself off, then he used his magic to fix my hair around my horns as I put my clothes on. Having a mate, and one with magic, was pretty cool. I could have used my own, but I didn’t want to risk letting my wings back out by mistake.
We arrived at the office with minutes to spare. I couldn’t bring myself to unbuckle my seatbelt and sat there taking deep breaths to stem my panic. Toth reached over, kissed my nose, and clicked my seatbelt free. “It’ll be fine. If it’s not, it will still be fine, because I’m here to protect you.”
I looked my mate over, noting his purple horns and solid black eyes. He’d decided to out himself as a demon, too. In solidarity. Fate had really blessed me with him. Affection rose inside me, filling me with enough joy to squash my fear. It was too early for thoughts of love, but I knew that would follow. He was perfect.
“Let’s do this then.” I finally said.
I began to sweat at all the looks that we got as we approached the building, catching several people stopping to stare at us open mouthed. Toth must have felt my fear, as he took my hand and laced our fingers together. “I’m here, Cody.”
Hand in hand, we entered the building and approached the reception desk where Jacqueleen was standing answering phones. She ended the call abruptly when she saw us. “Cody? Is that you?” I couldn’t get a read on her emotions.
“Hey, Jacqueleen. Um… surprise? Seems my dad is a demon.” I gave a super awkward chuckle.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught one of the security guys on his radio. As we stood there, more security joined us. “Um… I don’t know what to do. We have a strict no demon policy here.”
We did? Since when? “Oh.”
A call started ringing. “That’s the direct line. I have to get this, Cody. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. We’ll just wait here.”
Jacqueleen cupped a hand over her mouth and talked quietly into the phone. The call took seconds. “Ms. Hunt will be down to speak to you in a minute.”
