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But the dragon had threatened him if he dared to speak to Joelle. The bastard had gone so far as to ship her to another city and wouldn’t tell him where she was or when she might return to LA. Not that he should go looking for his princess, his angel. Destiny could be a cruel bitch. He had to accept his well-intentioned rejection of the mating regardless how much it hurt. She’d only escaped the Order a few months ago, and he would bring her nothing but more misery. What could he even say if he found her?
Remember me? The scary guy who stormed into that hellhole where they’d locked you, killed a human guard in front of you, and then morphed into demon prince form complete with horns?Their meeting wouldn’t be the sort his sister would describe as a romantic meet-cute. Certainly not the kind to inspire a be-my-forever-mate proposal. Plus, he still didn’t know whether she’d been the girl from the park all those years ago.
Speaking of his sister, Alys should’ve been here over an hour ago. Where was she?
The fire elemental witch had joined the air and earth elementals. Only the water witch didn’t show, but given she looked further along in her pregnancy than his cousin Vori, he hoped she had finished her terrifying save-the-world heroics while putting out fires during the riots. The witch sisters had shown so where was his? Worry tugged at him. The last time she had failed to appear for an event, she’d been kidnapped. If she didn’t show or text in the next few minutes, he’d tear the city apart looking for her.
He rang her phone. No answer. Heading toward the door, he shrugged out of his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt sleeves, rolling them to his elbows. Dress code be damned. His supermodel cousin had taught him that in Los Angeles, formal wear could range from a five-thousand-dollar tux to the right pair of jeans. If flashing forearms would get him tossed out of the party, he’d be glad to leave, especially if it meant finding Alys.
Except she picked that second to stroll into the building as if she had the entire night to make a grand freaking entrance. Behind his sister, her hacker girlfriend tugged at her collar as though she might hate being here as much as he did. But next to the computer genius?
Alexei’s heart pounded, and his breath whooshed out as if someone had sucker punched him.
Joelle.
She was here. The woman he’d thought about every hour of every day since he last saw her. Wearing a sparkling dress, she looked like the angel or goddess she had to be. The cuts and bruises that’d covered her had gone, she’d gained curves and color, and she stared at the chandelier and studio lights as if she’d walked into a dream.
What was she doing here?
When had she come to Los Angeles?
And had she remembered him as often as he had her? Had she wanted to talk to him as much as he’d wanted to hear her voice and find out how she’d been doing? Could she be the girl from Moscow, and if so, did she remember him from a decade ago?
She turned that wide-eyed gaze on him, and he warmed at the joy he saw there—or imagined, but gods-damn, he would seize on the belief that she was as excited to see him as he was her. A heartbeat later, she confirmed his hopes with a wide grin. Healed from her injuries and happy, she looked even more beautiful than the last time he’d seen her.
“What’s up, big brother?” Alys sounded as cheery as usual, whether she tormented him personally with rearranging his archived origins research as a prank or fired a rocket launcher off the top of his SUV. “Look who we found. Funny story, thespecialmirror you lost?” She wouldn’t dare say words likemagicordimensional portalwith so many humans here. None of them would.
“Yeah,” he said when she seemed to be waiting for him to admit his mistake.
His sister beamed. “Joelle found it. She talked to our cousin—yes,thatcousin—to get to know the family, and we figured bringing her to the party with us was the least we could do to say thanks for returning it. Especially since I found her locked away in our cousin’s penthouse, forbidden to come to this fancy-dress event. Shame, since she’s exquisite when she plays dress up. Don’t you agree?”
“Locked away? Forbidden?” Alexei repeated the blasphemies on an almost growl, his demon powers ready to unleash actual unholy hell on whoever had done that to her.
“She might be overstating the truth a tiny bit.” Joelle made the accusation sound sweet. Hell, in her smile he could almost hear those magical radiant symbols that she’d hidden tonight. “I have an overprotective brother.”
“I knowallabout that,” Alys said. “Come on, love. Let’s leave these two to catch up.” His sister hauled her hacker, Nita, into the crowd. That Nita didn’t say anything but stared withhelp meeyes didn’t surprise Alexei. The woman, a demon hybrid like them, rarely left her computers or the bookstore where she worked. Normally, he might’ve taken pity on the introvert and given her an exit strategy from the party, but he wouldn’t waste a chance to have Joelle alone.
“You look well.” His voice caught, stuck on the nothing and everything currently clogging his throat.You look well?Baby demons from the pit of hell, of all the things he could say to this woman, he went with that? He didn’tdoawkward. No, he ran an empire, took care of family operations, and terrified thousands into compliance so as not to start a territorial war. Yet he’d stumbled over his first words to her in months.
He opened his mouth to add that she looked stunning, gorgeous, heartbreakingly beautiful, but found he couldn’t. Nope. Not with her smile making him speechless. Besides, he’d run out of time to make a good impression, especially when she narrowed her eyes.
“You didn’t call—not once—or ask anyone about me.” Her tone didn’t come out accusing, but the simple statement tore at his heart worse than any verbal attack could’ve. “I know that I’m not familiar with how things work, but your cousin says not even a queen would claim to bethatbusy.” A blush stained her cheeks pink as if embarrassment had caught up to her honesty either about talking to his cousin through his mirror or admitting that she had wanted him to check on her.
He hoped the last had caused that lovely rose shade. Just as he wished he could see where else that blush might’ve spread over her smooth skin.
“I asked your brother about you every time I saw him.” Though the situations hadn’t been friendly social chats—saving the city from riots and arson, planning meetings for future political alliances, a tense standoff between Alexei and the elemental witches for how the last night he’d seen his cousin had gone down. “He told me that you were out of town at an undisclosed location with no way to reach you.” He steeled himself for asking the only questions he cared about right now. “Did you want me to call you? To find you?”
“Again.”
“What was that?” He leaned into her, using any excuse as a reason to invade her space. She smelled like sweetness dipped in flowers and powerful magic. He almost expected a sizzle to vibrate from her aura, ready to zap anyone who got too close. No one else radiated that kind of energy for him.
“Find meagainsince you’ve done it before. Maybe this time, you won’t fly off.” Her voice held teasing. “Though I wouldn’t mind seeing your…” She lowered her voice to a whisper, luring him even closer. “Wings again.”
Her admission sent a jolt to his gut and lower. She’d seen his true demon prince form, or part of it at least, and it hadn’t scared her, hadn’t made her judge him to be somethinglessas the witches did? He bit back a groan. “You’re killing me, angel.”
Her gaze sparkled for a moment before her expression shifted to caution, her posture straightening, her body taking on a fight-or-flight tenseness. “Oh no. Are you okay with me using you to hide?”
“Use me anytime, but who are we hiding from?” He managed to keep his tone light despite his desire to hurt whoever had caused her to be afraid.
