Page 3 of Ridge

Before he could stop himself, he thought of Ridge. Now, Ridge was definitely a council assassin. Kael was sure of that, and he’d gotten confirmation from Tex. He didn’t know what to think about it, or rather, how to feel about it.

They weren’t anything. They weren’t friends, and they certainly weren’t mates. He didn’t know why Ridge caught his attention and why he couldn’t stop thinking about the man, but as long as he stayed away, he didn’t think it would be a problem.

“I’m Gregory.”

Kael blinked at Gregory. “I know.” He realized it was rude and felt his cheeks flush. “Sorry. Nymon and Tex have been telling me about you, so I know who you are. I’m Kael.”

Gregory held out his hand, and Kael quickly shook it. He needed to stop behaving like an idiot.

“I’ll get straight to the point since I’m sure you want to know what’s going on,” Gregory said. He laced his fingers together on top of the table and looked at Kael. “The Council wants to reach out to demons. We already know they won’t take it well if we do so ourselves, and really, I don’t think it would help. We’ve already reached out to them before, and they’ve refused to open up.”

“Well, there’s a reason we isolate ourselves in our towns,” Kael explained. “Most demons don’t like outsiders. We’re afraid of them.”

“Are you afraid of outsiders?”

“I’ve had to deal with a lot of them. Hell, I’m the outsider now. I guess I understand both points of view better.”

Gregory pointed his finger at Kael. “And that’s where you come in. You’re an outsider here. You know what it feels like. You also know what it feels like to be a demon and to live in a demon town. As someone who has both perspectives, you can explain better than most people why it would be beneficial to both humans and demons to open up to each other.”

“I suppose so.”

“Which is why the council would like to hire you. We want you to visit demon towns and try to convince the people in charge there to open up. We don’t expect them to suddenly take down the shields and welcome every human or shifter or paranormal creature who wants to move in, but we would like to have at least a dialogue between the towns and us.”

It was a good idea. Kael knew demons well enough to be aware of the fact that they wouldn’t be happy with it, though. Most of them would probably refuse without listening to the whole thing, and he couldn’t even blame them for it. He would’ve refused until recently, too.

But now, he knew. He’d seen the human world. He knew that it truly would be a good thing for a lot of demons to have the capability of visiting. If anything, they might find out they were someone’s mate. Who wouldn’t want that to happen? Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to be loved the way Tex loved Nymon?

Kael swallowed. It wasn’t only mates. Demon towns had technology and a lot of things found in the human world, but not everything, and what they did have was complicated to get. It took a lot of work and effort, and even then, sometimes it just wasn’t possible. They couldn’t just go to the hospital like anyone in this town would if they were sick or hurt. They had to find a healer, and those healers had magic, but sometimes, it wasn’t enough. Sometimes, they needed a hospital, and he didn’t want to think about how many demons had died because they didn’t have access to one. Even if they had, human doctors wouldn’t know how to treat demons. They’d never had the opportunity to learn.

“Why me? Why not Nymon?”

“Because I don’t want to go,” Nymon said gently. “Tex and I are still settling in, and personally, I never want to go back to a demon town.”

“You think I do?”

“I know you miss it. I understand why. Sometimes I do, too, but I have Tex and everything else to focus on. You don’t have a lot. I think this would be a good opportunity for you to mix both worlds. I know you don’t want to leave the human world and go back to Starhaven, so maybe this is a chance for you to do both.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be any good at it,” Kael said.

“We don’t need you to be good at it,” Gregory said. “We need someone who knows both worlds, and who better than you? You’ve been here a very short time, but it was enough to show you what you’re missing in the demon world. It was also enough for you to know how demons could benefit from a closer relationship with humans.”

“What if they don’t want to listen to me?”

“Then you leave. And I don’t want you to worry. I’ve already talked to someone who will come with you and protect you. No one will hurt you.”

Kael did want to go back to the demon world, at least for a bit, and it sounded like a good opportunity to do so. He wasn’t sure how much help he could be, but that wasn’t going to stop him from trying. “All right.”

* * * *

WHEN RIDGE SAW GREGORY’S name on his phone, he answered quickly. There was only one reason Gregory would be calling him, and it had to be about the mission. If he had something to say about it, Ridge needed to know.

“Hello?”

“Ridge,” Gregory said, sounding upbeat. “I hope I’m not bothering you?”

“Not at all.”

“Good. I already cleared it with your handler, but you can start packing. You go on the mission in a few days.”