The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,12

the aisle and turned to him. "I am trying, Bel. I've been trying, but all of you refuse to let me just forget that I'm failing. You complain that I get feathers everywhere, or that I'm not moving fast enough, but I'm doing the best I fucking can, ok? I'm not a nice guy, and the truth is that I simply don't know how."

Bel's reaction was not at all what I expected. He smiled at me. "Then do not try to be nice. We like you for who you are. If that isn't nice, then do not change. Nick does not want you to be romantic. He wants you to push him. Sia does not want you to be gentle. She wants you to lead so she can follow. Ron does not need you to baby him. He is a brilliant man who passed all of us long ago."

"What about you?" I asked.

He reached up to wipe his hand across his lips. "I think that you are mighty in your anger. I think that you are very proud. I think we did not accept you into our legion because you are an easy man, but we still accepted you."

"What about you?" I insisted, refusing to let him out of that so easily.

Bel swallowed, his dark eyes holding mine. "I do not like it when you joke about us together. I do not want to feel like a joke to you. I do not want to be an excuse. I liked the man who believed he was stronger than me - and was wrong. I miss the angel who could make all of Hell tremble."

And the air fell from my lungs. "It was a long two millennia, Bel."

He stepped a little closer, looking down at me. "You are an angel. The most brilliant of them all. Do not dim yourself because you are scared others may be blinded. You are too mighty for that."

"And my mightiness made her hate me. She likes demons, Bel."

His lips bounced upwards on the corners a few times. "So you tried to make yourself gentle to impress a woman?"

"A Muse," I admitted.

He just shook his head. "How would you feel if someone did that for you?"

I'd honestly never thought about it like that. "I think I'd be pissed that they thought so little of me."

"Yes," he agreed. "You say you cannot have her, and yet you bend yourself into a knot to get some little piece. Trust your legion, my friend. We will take good care of her." And he grinned. "We will even buy tampons for her. I will let you give them to her."

"Asshole," I grumbled, pushing the cart again, heading for the registers.

He just chuckled behind me. "She lives with demons, Luke. She chased down Death. She is not scared of you."

"Yeah," I admitted. "I know. Ever think that might be why I'm a little intimidated by her?"

He just mumbled some noise that I couldn't quite decipher. So, fine. If he was going to be like that, then he could redecorate the bathroom for her. Bastard would probably even enjoy it.

4

Sienna

As much as I hated to admit it, it was kinda nice to have an entire legion of men pampering me. Without even batting an eye, these guys had all done their part to make things a little more modern in the house, and all while I was still getting dressed by the brook. By the time I made it back inside, they were involved in something else, acting like we hadn't just gone through a moderate vagina crisis. Sam had even brought in my painting and cleaned my brushes.

The only downside was that there was no such thing as television on Tyrnigg. Books, we had plenty of - but all written in Daemonic. There was, however, one thing that could keep me from getting bored while I waited for my cramps to ease up a bit. We still needed to design a system to protect the Vale and show our true bodies. Plus, there was that problem of the rune to make sure this never happened again.

So I invited Ron to head outside with me to work on that. We didn't need to be outside, but since air conditioning wasn't a thing on this world either, it was nice to have the breeze. And the space. Definitely the lack of distractions. I almost made it to the door when Nick caught my arm, silently begging me to wait.

"I don't want you to