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“I don’t . . .” he sighed. “I don’t want anything, I just . . . I don’t want to be alone.”

“Alright.” I stepped back and let him in. “If you don’t mind me falling asleep. I was out looking for you and⁠—”

“You were?” He turned, wings sweeping the air. With just the light spilling in through the window, I only saw him in silhouette, and although he was always impressive, his whole demeanor seemed smaller somehow. His wings were hunched some, and his horns bowed.

“Of course, I was worried. And look, about Reynard, it’s nothing like she wrote in that article. It’s just a misunderstanding.”

His wings drooped some more. “May I sleep with you?”

“What?”

“Not like that. I know you don’t want to fuck—unless you do? Never mind. Forget it. I’ll go.”

“Zee, wait.” I caught his arm as he tried to push by me and escape again. “Of course you can stay.” Something had happened, something bad. He was trying to hide by keeping the lights off, but I could smell it on him. Blood and violence, thunder and lightning. I wasn’t letting him walk away a second time when he clearly needed company. He’d even brought me the cat figurine, assuming he’d need to pay for comfort.

I huffed, trying to harden my own heart. “I’ll make up a bed on the couch.”

“Right. Yes. The couch.” He looked at the couch, and even in the dark, I sensed his disappointment. “Do you mind if I use your shower?”

“Sure.” I put the little cat figurine with the others, on their shelf, then fixed up a bed on the couch while he showered. Then with nothing left to busy myself doing, I climbed into my own bed, rested my head on the pillow, and listened to the sounds of water pouring over him.

How did he fit his wings in the shower? Was he squished inside the cubicle, or did he vanish his wings to wash up? I wasn’t quite sure how that worked—how his wings could be there, but not. Like, where did they go when he made them disappear? Did they detach? Were they floating somewhere between realms? That seemed unlikely. And painful.

I dozed, my head full of the mystery of Zee. He wasn’t nearly as bulletproof as he made himself out to be, or how everyone assumed him to be because he was supposed to be a big, scary demon.

Someone had hurt him again. That someone was going to get a severe talking to, if he ever told me their name.

The bathroom door opened. “I tossed your bloody clothes from the floor into the laundry hamper.”

I snapped open my eyes. I’d forgotten about the clothes. Would he ask what had happened in Runo? Would I have to . . . silence him?

The couch springs creaked. “Goodnight, Adam.”

“Night, Zee. And . . . I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too.”

My pounding heart quietened, and after a little while Zee’s soft, puffing breaths suggested he’d fallen asleep. I sighed, and closed my eyes.

Day one at the SOS Hotel hadn’t been the smoothest of openings, but against the odds and the critics, we were all still alive, and the hotel wasn’t a pile of rubble. I smiled. Despite the little setbacks, it felt good doing a good thing—helping the Lost Ones. And above everything else, I was finally safe.

And so was my secret.

CHAPTER 5

I woke slowly, wrapped in warmth, drifting in comfort, and opened my eyes.

Zee’s face was an inch from mine, his closed eyes fluttering from dreams. That warmth and comfort came from the weight of demon limbs shrink-wrapped around my body, and his tail looped around my leg.

That was his tail, right?

When I’d allowed him to stay, I’d explicitly said on the couch. Not in my bed, and not wrapped around me.

His soft breaths puffed against my cheek. His mouth was soft when not sprung into a grin, and those sharp little teeth were hidden away. His tousled, two-tone hair poked out at all angles. Mercy, he was adorable.

And . . . this was awkward.

If I tried to move, he’d wake up. And if he woke up, he’d have a whole lot of colorful things to say about this unfortunate situation, most of them undoubtedly sexual. To make it worse it was morning, and there were parts of me already standing to attention for some inexplicable, biological reason. It didn’t mean anything that I was hard, just that . . . it felt really, really good to be held.