surprise, she hooks her arm with mine and Nikoli storms to the door, pulling it open and storming out. What pissed him off?
"Was that your doing?" I ask, waving a hand in the direction of the open doorway.
"Might have been. I didn't wear the dress he wanted me too," she explains to me. Ah, now it makes sense.
"Why didn't you?" I ask her, though I suspect the answer is simple. She didn’t want to. I like how she resists being told what to do. I like how wild she is, how untameable she can come across as.
"Because I don't like to do as I'm told," she honestly replies. She is too honest for a demon, and I have no fucking idea why I like it so much. Well, I have an idea, being that she is my mate. The perfect person for me, one who will test me and make me want to jump in front of a bullet for her all at the same time. She is certainly doing the test me part of that explanation. “Where is the party then?” She asks though she glances back to see her wolf slave, Sera, close the door behind us. We follow a moody Nick to the statue of our father where he stops in front of it, and crosses his arms as he waits for us to get to him. His eyes flicker to where Lexi and I are touching with our arms before he hides the look altogether. Big brother is a little bit jelly by the looks of it. We’ve always shared everything, but this time it is a little different than sharing a toy.
Especially because this girl doesn’t seem to want us at all.
“Watch and see, darling,” I tell her and nod at Nick. He places his hand on the head of the statue, closing his eyes and muttering the words needed to open the portal. Red light blasts out of the statue, and the next second, we are standing on the sand on a sunny beach as the sun sets in the distance. It casts pink and orange hues of light over Lexi’s hair and face, making her seem so perfect that it is hard to even look at her. She is beautiful—a real kind of beauty that you don’t find much in the world of fakes anymore.
Everything about her is real. From her feelings, to her friendships, to every smile on her lips. She isn’t trying to impress anyone, least of all me and my brother. It reminds me of my foster parents and everyone back in our childhood. It reminds me of home.
“Where are we?”
“Somewhere in California, I think. Maggie chose the place this time,” I tell her, and her eyes widen in shock. Such innocence, it’s additive. I remember when I first saw her in the courtroom, though she didn’t see me. She stood tall in front of all the demon leaders, even though her world had been rocked to its core and her parents were locked up. She was brave and fearless. Possibly even reckless in the way she stood up to the leaders and asked to see her parents.
When I heard she knocked out a Heller by simply surprising him, I was damn half in love with her. I had to talk to her, even if it cost me risking my cover by telling her my name. Nothing mattered but meeting her.
I should have known she was my mate right then. I’d never risk a mission from my father to talk to a girl.
But she isn’t any girl.
“I’m getting a drink. Don’t lose her,” Nick tells me before stomping off across the beach. I look around us, seeing a group of students dancing to some music on the sand.
“Take your shoes off and come dance with me,” I tell her and she shakes her head.
“No, even though you didn’t ask and demanded something.”
“Fine. Please, will you dance with me, Alexandria Cameron? My heart can’t take the idea of dancing without you.”
She tries not to smile, but she fails, and I find I really fucking like how she smiles. It lights up her whole face, makes her even more pretty than before. I kick my shoes off and pull my socks off, shoving them in my shoes as she slides her shoes off in a more graceful way. I grab her hand, linking our fingers which I expect her to pull away but she doesn’t. I tug her into the dancers, wrapping