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“Uh . . . nobody died in the hotel today?” Did that count?

He rolled his head to face me and arched an eyebrow. “Was someone going to?”

“There was an incident with a gremlin, some mushrooms, and a pie.”

He blinked, but his smile grew. “I fucking love this place. It must stay shitty and broken forever.”

We chinked our glasses and toasted to the hotel, our fabulous sanctuary for the fiendish. “We could maybe fix the elevator though?”

“Yeah, for sure,” he agreed. “It’s a fucking death trap.”

“One of the back windows fell out yesterday.”

He snorted a laugh.

It felt good, the two of us. Felt like it had while we’d fixed up the hotel, just him and me, working toward something new and good. And now that Zee’s tension had fizzled away, it might be a good time to mention his contract with Sebastien.

“So—”

“I have to go back again,” he said, not needing to explain where. Razorsedge.

“When?”

“Tonight.”

An acidic burn tainted my tongue. The toxic taste of Sebastien. “You don’t have to go anywhere though, you know. He can’t force you.”

He raised his eyes, and there was that defeat. The same defeat I’d seen when Sebastien barked orders at him. He didn’t even want to fight. “If only that were true.”

“Maybe if I could take a look at your contract, I might be able to⁠—”

He laughed. “No fucking way.”

“If you could leave Sebastien tomorrow, would you?”

Zee smiled, but the rest of him remained very still as he held himself in check. Only his tail twitched. “You gotta ask?”

“Show me the contract, Zee, and I’ll find a way. I promise.”

He shook his head, ruffling his hair. “There’s no fucking point. It’s unbreakable. You think I’m the first one who’s tried to get out of it? It doesn’t happen. And I don’t want you anywhere near him or any of that shit.”

It was a bit late for that. “But I can help.”

“No, Adam,” he said sternly. “Give me your word. Don’t go near Sebastien. Stay out of it.”

I couldn’t promise that when I was already in the middle of it. I frowned into my whiskey glass, feeling guilty, and kinda defeated too. I wanted to help. I could help. Why wouldn’t he let me?

“Adam?” he growled. “Promise me.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Look at me.”

I turned my head and faced him. His serious expression left no room for smirks and glittering eyes. He braced an arm on the bar, and leaned in so close I had to look up to meet his gaze. Close enough to kiss. Close enough, it was just him and me in the whole world. I could taste my heart and feel how, whenever we came together, it felt as though continents shifted and the stars aligned.

“If you get hurt because of me, I’ll lose my fucking mind,” Zee whispered. His hands—always fluttering and gesturing—settled on my face. His tail looped around my ankle, holding tight. “Razorsedge and Sebastien are my shit, Kitten. They can’t touch you. You’re too . . . you. You’re this place. You’re the good I come back to, the good shit I need to always be here. Can you just be that?”

I kept my lips pinned shut, but nodded. I’d always be here for him. I wasn’t going to promise him I’d back off when I knew I could pry him out from under Sebastien’s heel. But if he wasn’t going to show me his contract, then I’d have to get it another way. Sebastien had already killed to prove a point. He might kill Zee, just because he could. And he’d made it clear Zee was just meat to him. But Zee was so much more. It hurt, looking at him looking at me, thinking he had to protect me, when I should be the one protecting him.