Page 17 of Demon's Desire
Onyx was suddenly exhausted. It took effort not to let it show. “Our conflict will never be over unless we trap him.”
Nico’s eyes widened. “Trap Lucifer?”
“Yes.” Onyx probably shouldn’t have revealed that, but whatever. Everyone else gave away their secrets. It wasn’t like Nico would do anything bad with the information, and Luc already knew imprisonment was their aim after their failed attempts.
Nico made an understanding sound. “You want to trap him as payback for him imprisoning you?”
“In part. It’s also because he betrayed us. It’s because…of a million reasons that I don’t need to explain.”
Onyx’s fire flared once more. He didn’t need Nico’s approval or understanding. How had he gotten sucked into saying any of this? He hadn’t come here to talk to Nico at all. “Tell Harper I stopped by, and text me the details for tonight. I have to go.”
Nico seemed startled by his abruptness but recovered quickly. “Sure thing. See you later.”
Onyx stormed out of the shop.
Finding a deserted alley,Onyx cast an invisibility illusion over himself. He stripped off his shirt, freed his wings, launched into the air, and flew toward Dante’s otherwise inaccessible clifftop home.
He shouldn’t have said anything about Luc. Nico didn’t really care what Luc had done to Onyx. He wanted to hear the sensational tale of the Devil’s origins, and Onyx was sick of that side of the story. He was tired of hearing how Luc had led them on a noble quest for their mates and freedom before it all went wrong.
That wasn’t how Onyx saw it.
Luc had never liked being told no. He didn’t like their parents’ authority—neither did Onyx, to be fair—and especially disliked that their seats on the council gave them power over granting him his mate. Luc’s rebellion had been personal. It wasn’t about freeing Eternals from a controlling society. Luc longed for his fated mate, but he also wanted to spite their parents and get his own way no matter what anyone said.
Ash and Dante had been heartsick, clinging to the idea of a perfect love. No one had been happy with what they had, and were quick to leave it all behind. To leave Onyx behind.
Onyx had never sought approval from the council to mate—a secret he’d kept to himself. He was younger than Luc and the others and hadn’t been restless like they had been. He’d only wanted their love, their companionship. He’d wanted Ash and Dante to treat him like a friend in his own right, not an extension of his brother.
He hadn’t wanted them to leave.
Nothing Onyx had said convinced them to stay. They saw Earth as a place of limitless possibilities. They proclaimed thebond between the four of them to be strong, but not enough without their mates. They didn’t think they were giving anything up by leaving.
But Onyx had wanted to stay, and they would have left him behind. How was that not giving something up? Was he nothing to them?
Luc would have happily left Onyx to deal with their parents’ fury once they discovered Luc had fallen. Luc knew as well as Onyx that Onyx would have been punished in his brother’s stead.
Onyx would have had no one. Even if he’d stayed and been granted his mate—which seemed unlikely after his parents learned he’d failed to prevent his brother’s fall—he hadn’t wanted to lose his brothers. A mate wasn’t everything.
So Onyx fell with them, and it was the stupidest thing he’d ever done.
Luc had hurt Onyx well before his betrayal, stealing their power and turning them into prisoners. Onyx should have seen that coming. He shouldn’t have gone. They hadn’t wanted him, and that never changed.
These days, Onyx wasn’t so young or naïve. He hated chasing people, but he still did it. Not because he hoped Dante and Ash might love him one day, or respect him as they did each other, but because he would not allow anyone to ignore him.
He was in control of who came and went from his life.
Onyx landed on Dante’s deck. The sliding glass door stood open, but neither demon was in sight. Onyx retracted his wings and put his shirt back on, striding into the house as if he owned it.
A tray of mushroom tarts sat cooling on the kitchen island. Ash must be around. Onyx popped a tart in his mouth. They were still hot from the oven and not bad considering they were baked by such an oaf.
He selected another tart.
“Those aren’t for you,” Ash growled from behind him.
Onyx stuffed the second tart in his mouth and turned, staring Ash down as he chewed.
Ash pushed past him and moved the tray to the other counter. “You can’t come in and steal things.”
“Steal? Please. Harper would have shared them with me. He can’t eat a dozen tarts by himself.”
