Page 45 of Demon's Mate
“I’m happy to help.” Ash let his growing affection for the young man break through his usually hard facial expression.
He pulled out his phone and they exchanged details.
Ash wanted to offer more. He planned to watch over Harper as much as possible, and as soon as he left, he would protect the whole building with his strongest shield.
Not that he could tell Harper this.
Harper wouldn’t want Ash spending all his time hovering around—that behavior only made sense in the context of mates—and vampires didn’t have the ability to cast protective spells. Almost all of a vampire’s magic was caught up in maintaining their immortality, with the exception of the hypnosis-like illusions they could cast on anyone they made eye contact with.
Ash had to assume Harper was up to speed on the realities of vampires and not give himself away until he was ready to tell Harper the whole truth. Having a fated mate was a lot for a human to get their head around, even one aware of the magic world.
Harper might not know demons were real, given so few were in the Human Realm. Just because a human was aware of magic didn’t mean they were familiar with magical history and demons having given birth to the original witches. Knowledge of the existence of mates was even rarer.
Ash needed time for all the pieces to fall into place. There was a lot to unpack and rushing wouldn’t serve him.
He wanted to ask Harper out on a date and make it clear he was serious about getting to know him, but now wasn’t the time. Harper had been through a lot and still seemed shaken.
“Would you like me to stick around?” Ash couldn’t help asking, even though he suspected Harper needed space. He didn’t want to go. It was much nicer watching over Harper from in here, where they could talk, than outside.
Harper averted his eyes. “No, I’m okay, and it’s probably best if you aren’t here when Ollie gets home.”
“Who’s Ollie?”
“My roommate. He was at the club with me that night…” Harper’s cheeks bloomed with color. “Anyway. He doesn’t know about magic at all.”
“Right.” That was good to know. “I’ll leave you to it, but if you need anything, please call.”
Harper’s pink cheeks flushed a darker red. “Thanks.”
Ash let himself out, locking Harper’s front door behind him. There was no one in the hall, so he took a moment to reconstruct the protections he’d broken to get inside, only repairing what was there before rather than enhancing the spells, just in case any of Harper’s enemies inspected the dwelling.
That done, Ash headed up to the roof. The place was starting to look a little too familiar.
He rendered himself invisible and got to work protecting the building with everything his demon magic had to offer, then he masked all his spells in a web of illusion. He couldn’thave his extra protection giving his presence away, and the spells he cast were much stronger than anything a witch could produce.
This way, any witch walking by would think the building was normal and completely exposed, similar to what Dante had done to his house in Old Town and his new one on the hill.
Dante.
Ash wasn’t looking forward to talking to him. What would giving Dante more hope do? Just because Ash found his mate didn’t mean Dante would. Ash hated that he’d found what Dante had never stopped believing in. Ash didn’t deserve it compared to his brother.
Fate was cruel that way.
Though he didn’t want to leave Harper, Ash stripped his shirt off, leaped from the roof, and spread his wings. He soared high over the city, heading to Dante’s house.
Harper would be fine on his own for a few hours. Ash doubted he’d be going out again today. He didn’t seem to leave his apartment much as a rule.
Ash growled and beat his wings faster. He hated that Harper was in serious trouble and uncomfortable leaving home, but Ash couldn’t fix it if he didn’t know what was happening.
At least Harper would be safe in the apartment. Ash would get back to him as soon as possible, but he needed to check in with Dante and Onyx. The lack of any sign of Lucifer was more worrying by the day.
“Anything?” Dante asked as Ash flew in through the wide open doorway, landing in the living room. He obviously assumed Ash had been out trying to get a read on Lucifer’s location.
Ash didn’t correct him. He shook out his wings. “No, nothing.”
“Are yousureLuc left the Realm of the Damned?” Onyx called from where he lay on one of the large sofas.
“Yes.” Ash bristled. “I know what the confinement magic feels like. No demon has breached it since we left.”
