I chuckled. “Crow isn’t as possessive as Tomb.”
“Shame. I was looking forward to kicking both of their asses.”
The humor seeped from my expression, and I yanked on his hair to make him look me in the eye. “You won’t actually hurt each other, will you?”
He leaned forward and sucked my lower lip into his mouth before answering. “Demons are alphas. It’s in our nature to battle. But...it’s also in our nature to fuck our mate, and that one usually wins out.”
“Usually?” I stressed.
That infuriatingly sexy smirk of his came back. “You’re going to have to keep up with the whole risk concept.”
I shook my head and slipped off him, looking down as my feet sunk slightly in the puffy clouds. “Okay, what’s the plan? We need to figure out what we’re going to do.”
He sighed and sat up, scrubbing his hands down his face. “Eager to leave so soon?”
“It’s not that. I’d stay in here forever with you if I could...and if the others were safe with me. Tomb, Crow, Cheryl, my aunt, Stiles...”
“Who the fuck is Stiles?” he suddenly asked, looking pissed.
I gaped at the sparks snapping off his knuckles. “Umm, my half-brother.”
The sparks were quenched in an instant. “Ah.”
With a snap of his fingers, we were both fully clothed again, in the same outfits as before. “Thank you,” I said.
He stood up, buttoning his suit jacket and looking just as perfect as before. “You’re welcome. Now hold your breath.”
“For wh—”
Before I could finish the words, his arm was wrapped around my waist, and that same vacuum-packed sensation of being sucked through eternity wrenched over my body. I was squeezed and pulled, nearly bursting from the inside out, and then it was over, and I was slumped against the elevator wall once again.
I reared up and smacked him on the arm. “You bastard. A little warning would’ve been nice!” I hissed.
Risk chuckled before leaning in and placing a smoldering kiss on my lips that made me forget that I’d been pissed at him.
“Better?” he murmured against my lips.
“No,” I grumbled.
He reached around and pinched me on the ass. “Liar. You owe me another gamble.”
I rolled my eyes before reaching up and straightening his tie where it had gotten wind-whipped from teleporting. “Fine. What gamble am I taking this time?” I asked snarkily.
“This one.”
Without any other warning, Risk took my wrist from where I was still fixing his tie, and before I realized what he was doing, his thumb was pressing over the charm on Spector’s bracelet.
My blue eyes flew wide. “No! We aren’t ready! We don’t even have a plan!” I hissed.
The fucking insane risk demon just grinned as the elevator jolted up, careening all the way to the top floor.
“I know,” he said with a wink, as if this was another rush that he couldn’t wait to dive headfirst into. I wasn’t sure if he was really this driven by his need to gamble or if he just genuinely was so cocky he didn’t worry. Either way, I was certain that he didn’t understand the mess he had just walked us right into.
I watched in horror as the elevator came to a stop, and when the doors slid open, a wall of Spector guards swarmed us. One of them lunged for me, grabbing my wrists and yanking me out of the way.
Risk didn’t like that.
He didn’t like that one bit.
All amusement fled his face. “I suggest you release my mate before I burn all of you in hellfire. I’ll come willingly, but I don’t think hurting her is a risk you want to take,” he growled while shoving aside the supes trying to restrain him and positioning himself at my side. He did it as easily as someone flicking off a bug. The man holding me seemed to battle with his sense of self-preservation but ultimately decided to let me go.
“I don’t want any funny business,” one of the gruff guards said while holding up his relic.
Risk laughed at the meager threat before plucking the relic from his fingers and swallowing it whole. My gut twisted with anxiety. Was he insane? That relic was going to burn a hole in his stomach.
Everyone’s eyes widened as Risk patted his stomach. “It’s like fine whiskey,” he began while leaning closer to the guard. “Burns good on the way down.”
The guards gasped and gaped, looking back and forth at one another, as if debating on what to do. “Relics only have power if you believe in the god they represent. I only believe in myself.” At that, he turned and winked at me, proving just how cocky he was.
I shook my head. Risk was fucking with them and getting off on it.
It seemed like everyone realized at the same time that they couldn’t actually restrain Risk. They started to step back, the fear they felt evident on their faces.
“Now. I hear someone would like to speak with me?” Risk said amicably. “I suggest you hurry and fetch them before I change my mind and leave with my mate.”
His arm wrapped around my waist possessively. He really was staking his claim, and very publicly too. I wasn’t sure if his territorial behavior was necessarily a good thing. Spector had already proven that they were willing to use those close to me to get me to cooperate. I feared adding to the list of people I cared about.
The Spector guards exchanged looks.
“I’m getting impatient,” Risk warned as smoke escaped his mouth in an intimidating fashion. The small space started to reek of hellfire and brimstone, an evident threat hanging in tangible strands of smoldering fumes between us.
The guards jumped to action, guiding us out of the elevator, down the hall, and toward a side room. Their shoulders were pulled back, and they eyed us warily, likely not sure what to make of this situation. They’d originally swarmed our elevator, intending to drag us back kicking and screaming, but now it was Risk calling the shots and demanding
