“Yes, but you’re telling me you two are immortal? Without becoming vampires?” Nico’s eyes bounced between Harper beside him and Ollie across the table.
Ash pointed a menacing finger. “Hey, don’t get any ideas.”
“No ideas.” Nico’s mouth thinned, eyes raised like he was praying for patience. “I’m not after immortality. Just looking for clarity. I don’t know anything about mates, remember?”
“Well, there’s only two of us in this realm, so that makes sense,” Harper said kindly. “And we definitely aren’t vampires. No drinking blood here.”
Ollie’s cheeks flushed and he hastily had another sip of beer.
Dante slipped an arm around his shoulders and tugged him closer. Ollie seemed to have a thing for biting, vampire or not. It was adorable.
Ollie pressed against Dante’s side, closing the last bit of distance between them. Dante barely resisted purring out loud. He loved being able to touch Ollie and indulge his urges to physically comfort his mate.
Ash eyed them from across the table, a wide grin appearing. Dante hadn’t mentioned the shift in his and Ollie’s relationship, though Ash and Harper’s convenient disappearance from the apartment last night likely meant Ash overheard enough to put it together.
“Do you know many vampires?” Harper asked Nico. “I can’t say I’ve met a whole lot.”
“A few.” Nico shrugged, spinning his glass in circles on the table. “I’m close with one of the city’s older vampire covens. And a couple of my friends are in a hybrid coven.”
“Hybrid?” Harper leaned forward. “Witches and vampires don’t always form separate covens? I mean, my experience of witches has been pretty limited to certain factions, but still. I’ve never heard that.”
“You’re not totally off base. Hybrid covens are rare,” Nico agreed.
Eventually, the conversation strayed away from magic, most of the back and forth staying between Harper and Nico, with the occasional comment from Ash. Ollie was uncharacteristically quiet. He didn’t even speak up when Nico started talking about the arcade that used to be next door and how he got into gaming because of it.
“Come up to the bar with me to get another round?” Dante muttered in Ollie’s ear.
He nodded and followed Dante out of the booth, bringing the remainder of his drink.
Dante leaned against the bar in the corner farthest from the register and the bartender, hovering near a few seated customers. “Would you like to get out of here?”
Ollie perched on a stool. “No. It feels mean to abandon Nico with Ash. I know he’s got Harper, but still.”
Dante chuckled. “Ash likes Nico plenty. He told me on the way over. They’ll be fine.”
“If you say so.” Ollie ran a hand through his hair, attention traveling from Nico to Dante. “I’m really sorry I blew it with the secret thing.”
“Don’t be. It was my fault, and I doubt there’s anything to worry about with Nico.” If anyone had to find out, heseemed like the safest option. Ash wouldn’t trust him for no reason, and neither would Harper.
Ollie didn’t seem in a hurry to agree. Dante laid a hand on his shoulder. “Is not knowing demons were a secret what’s bothering you?”
“A bit. I wish I hadn’t been blindsided, but I get why you didn’t mention it. You can’t tell me everything at once.”
“I’ll still keep you better informed. It’s been hard to know what to share and when. I never wanted any of this introduced to you this way.”
“I know.” Ollie squeezed the hand covering his shoulder.
“There’s something else.”
Ollie’s lips twitched in a smile. “You’re getting good at reading me.”
Warmth radiated from Dante’s core. “It comes with getting to know you.”
Ollie’s dimples flashed, then disappeared. “I’m having trouble getting my head around everything. Hearing you talk about mates in The Herb Emporium freaked me out. You came here to find your mate—to find me—and then waitedforever. It’s so much bigger than I realized.”
“I know, and I let it seem less daunting for a reason. The weight attached to finding my mate has always been there. I’m used to it. I didn’t want a long history to put pressure on you. Finding you is a miracle, not only for me but for other demons too. It means our search isn’t a lost cause. But finding you is also the most natural thing. The significance doesn’t have to weigh us down.”
Ollie hunched over the bar, leaning on his elbows, and turned to look at Dante from beneath his lashes. He was silent for a long moment. “I’m glad you didn’t tell me everything right away. I’d have run scared. Maybe it seems like I did anyway, but it would have been worse.”
