here?” Van calls as he reaches behind him and grabs Adam’s hand, pulling us both towards the demon’s den.
“One of our enemies painted red with blood?” Akor guesses seriously, still out of view.
“The pizza I ordered?” Zolroth grumbles.
Before Van can respond, Jason barrels from around the corner, taking me to the ground. His tongue begins assaulting my cheeks and forehead as his butt wags.
“Human! My human! Brains…no brains! Bad, Jason! Bad. Human! Licking human!” Jason narrates before jumping off of me and taking a giggling Adam to the ground. I’m lucky Adam’s still young enough to not understand what’s happening. I can already hear the parent-teacher conferences now…
“So your brother was saying that a classmate of yours likes to eat brains? And that said classmate will sometimes tackle him to the ground and lick him?!?!”
I don’t think I’ll be winning any parenting awards anytime soon.
Van helps Adam up, dusting the dirt from his clothes. I walk closer to the edge of the pit and peer over it.
The rest of the guys are sprawled on the numerous red leather couches, but they all jump to their feet when they catch sight of us.
“Katrina,” Raz breathes, and my cheeks heat when I remember—for the one hundredth millionth time—what we got up to last night. And what got up, if you know what I mean.
And I’m talking about a penis. I’m awkward enough to feel the need to spell it out for you.
You’re here, Kastros signs, staring up at me as if I’m a ghost coming to haunt his demon ass. Before I can respond, his leathery wings unfurl from his back and he jumps in the air, his wings flapping manically, leaving the pit, before landing on his feet directly before me.
He’s so much larger than me that my head barely reaches the bottom of his chest, but I don’t feel intimidated in the slightest. There’s so much tender anxiety in his face and something near pleading in his golden-flecked eyes. I feel innately comforted, like those strong arms of his will hold me through any storm.
And then his lips are on mine, his hands are cupping my ass, and I can feel his erection rubbing against my stomach. Way too soon—and I’m talking waaaay too soon; my horny, hussy ass could have lasted a few more hours in his arms—he pulls away from me and rests his forehead against my own. Those hypnotic eyes of his ensnare me, trapping me as efficiently as a snare in the woods would capture an unsuspecting rabbit, and I’m lost. In him, in his scent, in his presence.
Behind me, I can hear Adam giggling and whispering to Van, “He touched her butt. Butt. Butt.”
I ignore that. There’ll be time for dealing with my brother later. I need to reunite with my guys. I need to make certain that we are absolutely okay and that I’m forgiven. I sign to Kastros, Forgive me?
It’s you who needs to forgive me, he replies, before smashing me into a second hug.
“You wanker! Release her!” Zolroth snaps, shoving Kastros away so he can hug me himself. I doubt Zolroth would be able to move Kastros if Kastros didn’t want to be moved, but the giant man silently steps to the side, surrendering me to my posh materialism demon.
Zolroth’s hug is different from Kastros’, from Van’s, from Raz’s, from Akor’s. He holds me in his arms as if I’m something immeasurably precious. As if I’m a prize he won and now he’s determined to keep at all costs. It’s not bad or anything. It’s just…different.
And it causes my heart to leapfrog all the same.
“I need to talk to you guys,” I admit, before stepping out of Zolroth’s embrace and turning towards Adam. Fortunately, he’s already preoccupied with Jason on the other side of the entryway near the hall. My little brother tosses what looks like a bone, and the zombie-dog-man chases after it on his hands and feet, butt in the air. I really, really hope that’s an abnormally large turkey leg or something, or else my demons and I are gonna have a huge problem.
Turning away from the two of them, I focus once more on the murder who have irrevocably stolen my heart. I don’t know when it happened, exactly. Before my date with William Washington? During? After? All I remember is a metaphorical lightbulb clicking on inside of my head as I realized that I didn’t want to be out with William. I wanted to be with them.