Page 98 of Demon Demands

Briggs twisted his head to acknowledge Dolyn. “You keep tabs on all her powers? Palmer’s gonna jizz himself.” The shifter shook his head as our resident nerd elbowed him in the stomach.

“Call me a curious bastard,” Palmer muttered as he studied Sloane. “I really want to know what she’s capable of.”

“Don’t we all,” Jack commented sarcastically as he watched their parents’ hushed conversation. “When do you think they’ll stop hiding shit from us and just tell us the truth?”

“When we corner them and force their hands,” Sloane surmised. “Before all of this shit started, I’d been doing some research. You know there’s two s—”

“Yeah,” Jack interrupted, pissy and gruff. “I know there are two missing, and I have an idea of which ones we were given.”

“Care to share with the class?” Dolyn questioned.

Trouble shivered in my hands. “Guys, can we talk about this when I’m not naked and being carried? I’m feeling a little vulnerable right now and it’s giving me hives.”

Hyde gave a sobbing laugh, wiping at her cheeks as she took the shirt from Vaughn’s hand and jerked it over Sloane’s head.

Grim appeared properly terrified. “Hyland Drake, are you—”

“I’m not crying,” Hyde sniffled, glaring at the reaper. “I just got blood in my eyes.”

“Here’s your bag. There should be pants in it,” Dolyn grumbled, turning his head away as if he just realized Sloane didn’t have clothes on.

“You mean the bag with the armor in it that you changed without my permission?” she sassed, some of her usual fire returning.

“I fucking hate it when you do that.” Dolyn snarked, staring skyward, but he couldn’t hide his smile. He’d been worried about her too.

“What? Act like a paying, unsatisfied customer?” she popped back, giving the nightmare-incubus the same disgruntled expression that her grandfather used.

“We’re both full of complaints these days, D. You could have given this bag to me earlier. Then maybe I wouldn’t be naked.”

“I got held up.” Dolyn grouched, shaking his head at her as he forcefully flattened his mouth out.

“Oh,” she replied, her voice and her eyebrows raising simultaneously. “Was there a traffic jam on the interstate? Car troubles?”

“Bitch.”

“Fucking asshole.”

They both threw their heads back, cackling at each other. Sloane wiggled in my arms, ready to stand on her own, and I gently eased her legs down, supporting some of her weight in case she was still feeling weak.

“There’s that love hate relationship,” Hyde commented to Jack absently. The hellsteed nodded in agreement.

Dolyn’s laughter ended in a sigh as he asked, “But what are you going to do now?”

Grim groaned. “We’re going back to the palace before some of us decide to take a nap right here.”

Sloane and Jack both snorted, glancing at one another as they said, “Shots?”

“Can we go now?” Hyde questioned impatiently. “I have sand in unmentionable areas, and I’d really like a shower.”

* * *

After traveling through the Void to get back to the palace, we all split up. Everyone wanted clean clothes and showers, most of Sloane’s mates opting to sleep instead of drink. I didn’t want to do either. I wanted to eat.

Stone met me in the hallway leading to the kitchen, and once we reached our destination, we found Jack, Grim, and Dolyn sitting at the table. They had already pulled out bottles and shot glasses, all lined up in the middle of the table, waiting to be consumed.

Jack handed me a small, dark bottle that was shaped similarly to a glass Coke bottle. “Drink me,” was written on the side in Sloane’s curly handwriting. But I was still leery, so I sniffed the opening. The last thing we needed was for me to trip balls as hard as Vaughn did. No thanks.

Grim chuckled at me. “Franklin brought it. It’s from Lo.”