Page 2 of Demon's Desire
Onyx stood, his demon fire flaring within. “Excuse me. I didn’t invite any of you here. You don’t get to close my gallery whenever you feel like it.”
“I thought you wanted me in on this.” Nico turned his warm gaze on Onyx, whose inner fire burned to the point of pain.
“What would I want with you? You’re no one but the witch who discovered my identity without my consent. Nothing going on here concerns you.”
Nico’s brow furrowed. The guy was annoyingly handsome with his brown skin and captivating dark eyes, his face soft and inviting like he was begging for your secrets. Onyx liked the look of his rough, stubble-lined jaw a little too much.
Onyx curled his lip at Nico’s sheer size. Another tall menace. The group had too many of those—everyone but Onyx and Ollie—and Nico’s thick build didn’t help. Onyx was sick of men who acted like being big was impressive.
Nico stood like he had authority. Over what, Onyx couldn’t imagine. Handsome or not, his presence made Onyx’s nerves itch.
“Things concerned me the moment hordes of demons entered the Human Realm,” Nico said as if the exodus from Hell was dire news. To him, it probably was, but that wasn’t Onyx’s problem.
Onyx marched from behind the desk, gaining on Nico until they were almost chest to chest. He pointed his nose in the air imperiously. Onyx wasn’t looking up because he was short; he was posturing.
He fixed Nico with a flame-flecked stare, his magic rising to the surface. “I didn’t give you permission to be here, so why don’t you go be concerned about demons somewhere else?”
Nico swallowed, and Onyx tracked his bobbing Adam’s apple. The witch was nervous. Good. An overpowering waft of citrus and earth filled the air, and electricity zipped along Onyx’s spine.
That was odd.
Nico cleared his throat. “Sorry to bother you. I’ll see myself out.”
The waver in his voice was disproportionately satisfying. At least Nico wasn’t stupid.
“No, wait.” Dante moved to block the door. “Weinvited you. Onyx, we need to talk, including Nico. Can’t you behave?”
Onyx’s cheeks flamed, and fire threatened to erupt from his fingertips. “I’m not the one being rude.”
Harper appeared at Onyx’s side, reaching out and lightly brushing his arm. “Please, Onyx. It’s not Nico’s fault he found out your identity. It’s mine.”
Onyx deflated. He didn’t want to hate Harper and needed to stop fucking up with him. “It’s no one’s fault. It’sfine. Whatever. Just tell me why you’re invading my gallery and then leave me alone.”
Harper flashed him a small smile, and Onyx’s gut twisted. He hadn’t exactly succeeded in being nice. Harper was too sweet to him.
To Onyx’s surprise, Nico spoke first, his nervousness banished or at least hidden. Onyx would need to work on that, keep the man off balance. Scaring Nico the night they met had been the most thrilling thing he’d done in quite a while.
As an immortal, you had to chase any high you could. It was the only way to keep eternal life interesting.
“I need to tell Rowan what happened in the Realm of the Damned,” Nico said. “The magic world has to know that demons returned to Earth en masse. Shearwater Landing has to prepare if more demons are settling here. We can’t wait much longer, or we risk people being caught off guard and lashing out.”
“What good is telling a vampire who owns a strip club?” Onyx crossed his arms and glared at Nico. “Getting the word out is a lot more complicated than telling your buddy. Not that the public needs to know what happened between Lucifer and the three of us.”
“I don’t even know what happened between you and Lucifer,” Nico said patiently. “All I know is demons escaped confinement. After a thousand years without demons, the world is going to change. The balance of power is going to shift, and I don’t want it to blow up.”
“We can take care of getting the word out.” Onyx turned away, wishing there was clutter around, anything to busy himself with. “You and your stripping vampire friend don’t need to get involved.”
“Rowan doesn’t dance at the club. At least not often. But hedoes need to be involved. His coven is well placed to spread the news and powerful enough to help us control how this goes.”
“Then we’ll talk to him.” Onyx spun back around, making a shooing gesture. “You can go.”
Ash lumbered forward. “What is your problem today?”
“You’re my problem every day, Ash.”
“We need an introduction to Rowan,” Dante cut in, trying to keep the peace as usual. “He can help, but he doesn’t need to know all our identities or personal troubles with Luc. Onyx, you can go with Nico to talk to him?—”
“Me?” Onyx didn’t know who to glare at. Dante, Ash, and Nico were all pissing him off. “Why don’tyougo? You love shmoozing.”
