I take another deep drag. I’m probably overreacting. He likely wandered off the property chasing a bug or something. Or he has gone to visit another grave. He’ll be back soon.
I suck in some more smoke. He will be fine. He is an incredibly powerful demon. Nothing is going to happen to him. He can look after himself.
I’m pacing the room now. He doesn’t remember how powerful he is. He gets scared. He has panic attacks. He doesn’t understand how the modern world works.
For fuck’s sake! My fist collides with the wall and the sharp pain clears my mind. I’m going to have to find the vampire and get him to hunt Gray down again.
Then, once Gray is home, I’m going to implant a tracking chip under the little shit’s skin so he can’t do this to me again.
I’m whirling to face the basement door before my mind registers that it is opening. Gray walks calmly in. He smells of blood and death. Is he hurt? I can’t allow relief to surge through me until I know he is unharmed.
He hands me something. I look down at it and blink. It is a decapitated head. My gaze runs over the twisted features.
“Nikolai?” I ask.
Gray nods. He is unhurt. A little blood-splattered, but none of it is his. He hasn’t left me. He merely popped out for a little hunting trip.
My little demon has brought me my enemy’s head.
My thoughts stutter to a halt. My heart quickens. My soul sings. I feel as if I might burst. What a wonderful, incredible gift. Glee, delight, pride and joy are flowing in my veins.
I grab a fistful of Nikolai’s hair so I can hold him with one hand. With my other I reach out, grab Gray and pull him close. My lips smash into his and I kiss him deeply and thoroughly.
He presses himself close to me and kisses me back with hunger. He is melting in my embrace. Turning pliant and soft. Submitting to me, not because I’ve intimidated him into doing so, but becausea deep primal part of himself, sees a deep primal part of me, and rolls over. Accepts my dominance. Trusts me to lead. It is exhilarating.
I break away from the kiss and snatch a gasp of oxygen. Gray’s lips are swollen, his eyes wide and dark. His cheeks flushed. It’s an effort to keep my brain online. Right now, all I want to do is ravish him.
“What did you do with the body, Little One?”
“Fire,” he says calmly and clearly. No whisper or rasp. The sound of his voice is melodic and pure. I could listen to him all day.
“Are you sure? All of it?” I ask.
“Yes.”
My heart skips again. “Sorry, Little One. I need to be sure. Police are annoyingly good these days. Their science has caught up with magic in some areas.”
Gray nods his understanding. His dark eyes flash red for a moment, and then a mental image flows across my mind. A house burned to charred rubble. The neighboring houses allow me to identify the smoldering heap as one of Nikolai’s abodes.
Yeah, forensics ain’t going to be able to do shit with that. I grin down at Gray.
“Perfect.”
Relief flows across his face, and then he gives me a tentative smile. It is too much. I lean down and claim his lips again.
Killing Nikolai is a dramatic solution, and quite possibly not the best one. And I could have ended him myself, if I had decided on that course of action. But that’s not the point. Gray cares enough to want to give me a gift. He wanted to help. All without me asking.
And it means he is well on the road to recovery. He is coherent and lucid enough to grasp the problem and figure out a solution, and brave enough to leave my side and carry it out independently.
My lover is a ferocious little demon who is willing to kill for me. It’s perfect. He is perfect. I’ve never been happier.
I drop Nikolai’s head to the floor, where it falls with a dull thud, so I can hold Gray with both hands. Still kissing him passionately, I walk us to the bed. The back of his knees hit the edge and he falls back onto the sheets, with me over him.
I prise my lips away from his. “Is this okay, Little One?” Beds are still not his favorite, but I think he trusts me now.
He nods and yanks me back down for another kiss. I grin against his lips. My little demon really is soft for kisses. It is utterly adorable.
I make quick work of his clothes, and now he is laid out naked before me. As he should be. Covering up his divine body is a travesty. Such beauty should be on display always.
