didn’t reach her eyes. “No, and to keep them from telling me themselves, I’ll just assign them. Oops. The yeti seems to have wandered away from his snow.”
Cole emerged from behind the frozen demons, a loud growl in his throat. His furious gaze locked on Reagan, his fur a mess of black and red. He’d taken some serious hits, but they didn’t seem to matter as much to him as his clear dislike of Reagan.
“This has got to be awkward,” Reagan said as Cole passed her, his growl deepening. The demons still hadn’t moved. “You said you were going to kill me when next you saw me, and instead, you got saved by me. How embarrassing.”
“The vampires took off. Get back to the van—let’s go,” Devon yelled, striding toward them quickly. “Steve, change.”
The lion, who’d been rolling on the ground, trying to put out the last of the flames, shifted form before patting his head and chest profusely. He pushed himself up to standing, burn marks over half of his body.
Devon nodded hello at Reagan as he reached them. “Thanks for coming.” He spared a glance at the frozen demons as he slipped his arm around Charity. “What magic is that?”
“The icy kind. Smells weird, right?” Reagan waggled her eyebrows, and it was clear from the crease between Devon’s brow he didn’t understand her either.
“You have those demons under your control?” he asked, his hand resting on the small of Charity’s back.
“Yup. I was just communicating with one or two before squeezing them into nothing.”
It wasn’t nothing. It was a squish of goop and globs that erupted from the tops and bottoms of those invisible grips.
Charity didn’t get a chance to ask Reagan how she communicated with demons without speaking, let alone why Roger or Devon would trust someone who could communicate with demons without speaking, because Steve was making his way over. The sirens blared louder.
“Reagan, good to see you.” Steve’s nude saunter was, amazingly, not ruined by his pronounced limp. “Did you dump that vampire yet? I want to show you what real passion feels like.”
“Let’s talk and walk, Steve,” Reagan said. “You can still walk, right?”
“I’d rather be lying down and letting you do all the work.”
“Of course you would. You’re a shifter.” She smirked at him and jerked her head toward the vans. “I’m still with him, yes. Sex is always amazing, thanks for asking. He’s rich as hell, too. Good observation. Don’t you worry, though—just as soon as things fizzle out, I’ll go for a ride on that big dong of yours.”
Despite the urgency of the situation, Steve’s smile pulled a chuckle from Charity’s lips.
“So you noticed,” Steve said, his eyes twinkling.
“Hard not to. It swings when you walk.” Reagan got into the van.
Steve winked at Charity before he followed her.
“I’m not sure what’s worse,” Charity said, looking in at the sea of skin. “My magic, which I can’t control, or your magic, which forces you to brave seatbelts when you’re naked.”
“You better not buckle those seatbelts,” Rod hollered back as Devon pushed in after Charity and shut the door. “I don’t want your junk all over everything.”
“This is why you’re single,” Andy said, fatigue lining his words.
Charity knew how he felt. With the adrenaline from the battle wearing away, she had nothing left. Her eyes drooped as she sat there, barely able to hold up her head.
“Don’t fall asleep yet, fae.” Reagan’s tone was laced with warning, more serious than Charity had ever heard from the woman. “Your journey has just begun, and from here on out, it’s only going to get harder.”
Chapter Ten
Steve wanted to lean his head back and get a little shut-eye himself. He’d taken some serious hits from those demons, which hadn’t acted like the demons he was used to battling. These were sturdier, somehow. And what was with all the fire? One or two usually had some sort of smoke or fire, sure—it came with the territory—but not a whole fleet of the assholes. It had made for some very annoying and frustratingly painful burns. One of those things had nearly singed his balls off! That was foul play.
“What kind of read are you getting on this situation?” Devon asked. Steve had to admit that the kid was really coming into his own. Protecting that fae was bringing out the true alpha in him, something Roger had apparently seen from the beginning. And strangely, Steve was cool with following the kid’s lead. He hadn’t once wanted to push back.