Page 104 of The Devil and His Ghost

“Stop looking at me like that,” I hissed.

His breath teased over the flesh of my exposed neck. Delicious goosebumps unleashed along my body, and I practically melted into the warm, familiar feeling of him while he leaned in closer to me.

“Like what?” he questioned, his lips grazing my throat as he spoke.

I could hardly catch my breath as my heart hammered in my chest. “The way you used to. Like you want to ruin and love me all at once.”

His fingers ran through the ends of my hair, and he chuckled lightly. With his other, he grabbed my chin between his thumb and bent finger to turn me toward him. His handsome face with its sharp, golden eyes, flawless skin, lush lips, and strands of black hair falling across his forehead was inches from mine. The fanged smile he wore made the pulsing in my body grow.

“Once I started looking at you like this, I’ve never stopped. I just hide it so you don’t notice. But I’ve never stopped wanting you, and I never will.”

His mouth drew closer with the threat of closing over mine. My lips parted with a shuddering breath and an unconvincing warning of his name. I couldn’t pull away, too lost in how I’d missed his closeness. My head slanted, and our lips became separated by a mere breath.

“Did you call us here just so we could watch you make out?” Perseus asked blandly.

I gasped and quickly yanked my face out of Xander’s grip, staring at my lap as my face heated to dangerous levels.

“Perseus,” Harper admonished.

“I really hate you sometimes,” Xander announced gleefully to his best friend, though there was ice laced into the expression.

I finally peered up through my hair to see all the members of the rock band here, along with their girlfriends. The vivacious Addie wasn’t here this time, but our table was still plenty full. Harper and Perseus sat across from us while Zagan, Iyla, Dante, and Serenity packed in around us. Coldin sat at the end of the table and leaned back coolly in his chair.

The three Incubi—Zagan, Perseus, and Dante—shared a look before fixing their gazes on Xander. Zagan opened his mouth, but the words that came out didn’t sound like words at all. My eyes widened, and the girls at the table mirrored my shock as they listened to their partners and Xander converse among each other in a language that sounded part growls, snarls, and archaic.

“Woah,” Iyla squeaked while staring at Zagan.

Zagan’s pierced lips quirked up in a smirk, and he looked down at her. “I can tell how hot you found me just then.”

Iyla’s cheeks turned a dusty pink. “I didn’t know you could speak …” She trailed off and waved a hand helplessly.

Dante growled another archaic word before realizing how futile that was. With a roll of his eyes, he said, “Just call it the language of demons.”

Xander draped his arm around my shoulder and asked cheerfully, “Can my Incubi friends tell me if Kendyll’s attraction to me ramped up, too?”

“No,” all three men answered flatly.

I grinned triumphantly and held my chin high while Xander frowned.

“But,” Perseus began with a smug smirk fixed right on me, “that’s probably because she’s already so into you, it’s impossible for her interest to grow any larger.”

Xander and I traded expressions.

“So what’s up?” Zagan asked Xander. He leaned his tattooed forearms on the table. “You said you needed to talk about something with us?”

Xander nodded. “There’s another Mischief demon at the haunted hospital we’re working at. He’s made it his hide out, and he’s … strong. He has hundreds of ghosts. Kendyll and I want to free them.”

“What if they chose to be with him?” Perseus questioned. “They could be there because they enjoy getting used in mischievous or even malicious schemes.”

“These ghosts don’t want to be there,” I stated firmly. “They were screaming and crying for help. Besides, what normal ghost would choose to be a prisoner, a captive, like that? I certainly wouldn’t, and I can’t imagine any other sane person would, either. Ghosts should be free if that’s what they want to do with their afterlife, not bound and attached to a demon.”

Perseus went uncharacteristically still with his red-and-black eyes firmly locked on my face. I realized that my words were probably offensive to demons, but I stood by them. No spirit should have their afterlife claimed by a demon with no say in the matter, especially if it was a demon like the one who ran Mountview. I had no doubt that the demon in question tricked and trapped the many ghosts.

Iyla cleared her throat to dispel the weird tension now hovering over the table. She stood and passed a look between me, Harper, and Serenity. “Why don’t the four of us go dance? We can let the guys discuss their demon things.”

I wanted to hear their plan for dealing with the Mischief demon, but I trusted Xander to handle that. Besides, stepping away from the weird energy now covering the group sounded great.

As the girls and I left to move closer to the dance floor, I glanced back. Xander stared at the tabletop, a vacant expression on his face. Pain tugged on my heart, because even though he gave nothing away, I could practically see him cracking on the inside like the splintering of porcelain. And my words, as always, had been the hammer to that fine ceramic.