"Fuck," I grumbled. "This is freakingridiculous."
I tend to agree.
Shut it.
Amazingly enough, the demon prince didn't have aresponse to that, and I went back to ignoring him while I made toast.
Mal showed up a few minutes later and I practicallylaunched myself into his arms, ignoring the grumbling demon prince when Malpressed his lips to mine. I wrapped myself around Mal and he sank onto thecouch holding me against him.
I lost myself in the press of our lips, the dance ofour tongues, and the feeling of being absolutely desired that Mal alwaysmanaged to convey to me.
When I finally came up for air, I still didn't releasehim.
"Miss me?" He smiled, amusement dancing inhis eyes, blackened with lust.
"Yes." I reluctantly climbed off of myvampire and Ezra sighed in relief.
I'm a better kisser, you know.
It's not a fucking competition, and no, you're not.
Yes, I am.
Fine, whatever.I hoped he wasn't about to jerk me away into that blank space just to prove hispoint, but fortunately, I remained firmly in my own thoughts.
Aaron cleared his throat and I jumped, startled. I'dforgotten about him. "Oh, hey, mate. Want breakfast? I'm making toast."
Mal gave me a horrified look and headed for thekitchen.
"Is that what the burning smell is?" Sabianlaughed.
"Okay, so Mal's an amazing cook. Fine. I'll haveyou know I make a damn good pizza."
"We're sure you do, Chris, but somehow you'refailing at toast." Mal unplugged the toaster, which was, admittedlysmelling a bit burnt. Maybe I'd accidently used the bagel setting?
I put my hands on my hips and glared at Mal.
"Sure, breakfast would be great. I have to godeal with the insurance company and all that crap this afternoon. Are we stillworried about them coming after me?"
Yes, Ezrasupplied.
"Yep, take Sabian." I glanced at the incubusand he nodded agreement.
"Okay," Aaron accepted the assignmentreasonably easily. He was accepting all of this pretty well, actually.
He likes you.
Wait, what?
You've caught his interest and he likes you. You'regetting quite the collection. Angels, demons, vampires. What's next?
I didn't reply. I'd been trying not to go there in mythoughts about Aaron, but now I had to wrench my thoughts back to the present.
"Mal, are you busy today?"
"No. I told Olivia I wasn't available for a bitand she is fine with watching the store. I thought after we went by yourrestaurant, we should start looking for the occultist."
"Yeah, let's catch that twatwaffle, and get allof this over with."
You'll miss me.
Will I?
He didn't reply.
Chapter 17
Price
Mal grabbed my arm before I could crash into the wardsaround my restaurant.
"That might actually cause you harm. Let's nottest it."
I hugged my arms to myself and tried not to flinchaway while Mal traced his finger along my forehead in some sort of symbol andmuttered under his breath. Since it looked like I was well and truly suckedback into the occult life, I was going to have to get Mal to give me lessons. Iwas good, but it certainly never hurt to learn from someone better.
"Okay, you should be good now." Mal turnedand headed into the restaurant.
Hesitantly, I followed. Mayhem trotted along in frontof me. The comforting smell of garlic, dough, and marinara hit me and I relaxedmy shoulders a bit. I was safe here and this was familiar and comforting, despitethe way my life had turned on its head.
It occurred to me, as I watched the hellhound trotalong, that we had never invited Mayhem into anything except my house. Howdoes he get through the wards?
Canines, felines, most other animals, and children donot have the same rules regarding wards as most everything else. It is a matterof their innocence and how it interacts with the magic. Well, felines simplycan't be bothered to acknowledge or care about wards. There are wards that cankeep hellhounds out, but they are fairly specific. Unless someone is expectinga hellhound, it likely wouldn't occur to them to use it.
So, in the case of wards, hellhounds are dogs.
Essentially.
Huh.
"Hey boss, what's up with the glasses?"Billy asked when I wandered back into my office.
I stuck with the drunken bender story. "Do nottry to drink Mal under the table." I groaned and clutched my head. "Itis not possible."
Mal chuckled. "You held your own pretty well."
At least he could play along with the small lie.
"Okay, well, you up for looking at some designs?"
"Sure, Billy. Whatcha got?"
I spent the next couple of hours catching up onpaperwork and approving some designs for the new branding. Ezra was ratherhorrified, which made me that much happier about the turn my shop decorationhad taken. Mal was pleased and we texted Aaron a few of the pictures and gotSabian and his approval, as well. Well, Sabian's, anyway. I wasn't sure howAaron felt about any of this. I needed to get him alone so we could have a talksoon.
∞ ∞∞
"Okay, something is bothering you," I saidlater when we were driving back toward my place. We had taken Mal's hybrid. Hewas driving one handed, and I took his free hand and threaded my fingersthrough his.
Shut it, Isnarled at the demon when I could sense him squirm in protest.
"What makes you think that?" Mal glanced atme before returning his attention to the road.
"You've been way quieter than normal."
He took a breath that he didn't really need, and Iknew I was right.
For a few minutes I wasn't sure he was going to reply,but once we were back in my driveway, he twisted in his seat to face me.
"I nearly killed you," he said. "It's upsettingme."
Well, at least he was direct.
"Mal, I knew what I was doing. I had backup tokeep me alive. If I hadn't, I'd have figured something else out."
"Would you, though?"
I blinked. He had a point. "Well, I mean, Iwouldn't want you to accidently kill me, anyway. I'd probably try to avoidputting you in that sort of circumstance. I'd be dead and I'm sure it wouldfuck with your head a little bit."
He raised his eyebrows "A little bit?"
"A lot?"
"Yes," he admitted. "You accidentlykill people when you first become a vampire. It's almost unavoidable. And I'vekilled a lot of
