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“What about the ones who hurt him?” I asked.
Alexei met my gaze and his eyes were hard. Alexei often seemed stoic, but I wasn’t sure I’d seen him this coldly furious. “They paid off the damage to the car, apologized for the trouble.”
“Take care of your own,” Connor said grimly, and Alexei nodded.
“None of them needed caring for. Not with the privilege they had. But yeah. That was the attitude.”
“Is that when you left?” Lulu asked.
“It was the last time,” he said. “I was gone nearly two weeks before they found me. I’m still not sure how, but wouldn’t be surprised if a Conk ratted me out. I happened to pass by the maintenance worker’s house when they hauled me back. He was outside playing with his kids. Didn’t look defeated. Still bruised, even two weeks later, but carrying on.” He shrugged. “I figured he was as good a model as any. So I decided that’s what I’d do.
“I got through school. Did a little damage to the assholes on the way up when I could, of course. I knew the name, the degree, would serve me in the long run, even if I hated it then. So I learned to stick it out. Take the lessons I could.” His cold smile went absolutely feral. “I saw to it that the local district attorney—he was friends with the maintenance worker—got a whiff whenever one of the assholes pulled something. They all left with criminal records their parents couldn’t expunge.”
“You learned to handle yourself,” I said. “And to takes steps when you could.”
He looked up at me, nodded. “I learned about loyalty. And hot sauce.”
Silently, Lulu got up, went to the bar, and spoke to the waitress. When she came back, she was bearing another small bottle of red sauce.
“Eat up,” she said, and took her seat again.
It wasn’t exactly a proclamation of love, but it sure sounded like a beginning.
***
We all went back to the town house. Lulu stayed over sometimes if Alexei was there, and Alexei stayed over sometimes if Lulu was there.
We still had old magic to understand and Pack interlopers to manage, but Rose was safe, or so she said, and I hadn’t been clawed by ghouls, so I considered the night a raging success. I wasn’t going to think any more about demons until tomorrow.
Connor started a fire. He and Alexei reclined on the sofa. Lulu and I sat on the floor watching the flames roil, and let the heat soak into our bones.
When the fire began to burn down, Lulu yawned with both arms over her head, then rose. “I’m going upstairs.”
She walked up the stairs, where the town house’s guest rooms were located.
Alexei cleared his throat. “I’ll go check on her,” he said, and followed quietly.
“ ‘Check on’ covers a lot of ground,” Connor said with a smile when the guest room door had closed on them both.
“I don’t want to think about what ground they’re covering, thanks. I want to enjoy this fire and the absence of ghost ooze in this room.” And since I was feeling warm and relaxed, I smiled at him. “And possibly a prince.”
He stretched his arms on the back of the sofa, and his grin was as wicked as they came. “Any particular prince?”
I rose and walked toward him, his gaze on mine growing hungrier with each step. I stopped just outside arm’s reach. “Do you have a look book?” I mimed flipping pages. “That way, I can choose the one I want.”
“A dangerous game,” he said, a growl beneath the words, and stood up.
I grabbed his shirt, tugged him forward until our bodies were aligned. A wicked grin slowly lifted his lips.
“I’ll take this one,” I said, and nipped his bottom lip. Not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to remind him who and what we were.
He kissed me then, tangling his fingers in my hair. The kiss heated, evolved, until desire rose and we were both nearly panting from want.
And remembering we weren’t the only ones alone in the house, I grabbed his hand, and pulled him toward the stairs. The master bedroom was on the third floor, and we hustled like we were being chased.
I beat him to the bedroom, turned around, and grinned. “I win.”
He stepped forward, all arrogance and swagger, and looked down at me. “We’ll see about that.” It was a prediction... and a dare.
