“No.” Luc clenched his fist. “I can prove it’s not bullshit. If I were hunting you, you’d have been back in the Realm of the Damned months ago. I’ve known where your house is all along, Dante. On the clifftop within the protected nature reserve. I saw through the illusions hiding your heavily guarded sanctuary as easily as I saw through your invisibility all these years.”
Dante’s mouth dropped open.
Luc didn’t stop. “My plan to release the demons from Hell was set. Had been for a century. I rebuilt Hell to mimic Earth in preparation, so we could all adjust, and came here to find you three, to reveal my plans and offer you a chance to structure a new society with me. As I said before, I intended to hold onto your magic—hold onto the threat of reimprisonment. I was still scheming when I first showed up.But I wasn’t hunting you.”
Ash raised a brow. “Then you were stalking me for what, fun?”
Luc’s gut twisted. It was all coming out. “No. It was far from fun. Seeing you three after two hundred years affected memore than I expected. I was angry. Lonely. And pissed off when I saw you spending all your time with some witch.”
“Harper is not some witch.”
“I know, Ash. He’s your mate. But you know what? Harper claiming he was your mate was the first time anyone had uttered the wordmateto my face in over a thousand years. No one dared mention our failed quest once I locked everyone in Hell. And when Harper did, I snapped.”
Ash seemed stunned, Dante and Onyx too.
Luc’s fire wrapped around his miserable heart, and his voice rose. “I took out a millennia’s worth of rage on your poor mate because he had the audacity to tell me something I didn’t want to hear. There was no way it was true. I hated Harper and you, Ash, for bringing the reminder to the forefront.”
Luc heaved a breath, his chest tightening. His tail flicked back and forth, wings begging for the open air, but he stood and faced this.
“I stewed over your claim of finding your mate for weeks, alone in that cursed place where I’d imprisoned everyone. Being there after returning to Earth set my senses into overdrive. The wrongness clawed at my insides. I couldn’t take it, and the second I fled back to Earth for relief, I found Dante playing mates. But this time, it wasn’t rage that sent me spinning. Hope broke through, and it fucking broke me. Hope, when I knew better, wasn’t something I could endure. The only way to be sure was to kill Ollie and force Dante to see the truth. To see the truth for myself. And I’m sorry. Not because Dex loves Ollie and everything is ruined, but because intending to kill him to get answers was my most selfish act. Despicable. There’s no excuse and there will be no forgiveness, but Dex is my mate regardless.”
Dante’s nostrils flared. “You’re right, there will be noforgiveness.”
Onyx closed his eyes, his expression tight. Was he disappointed? Surely he wasn’t surprised by Dante’s stance.
Dante went on. “I don’t care if Dex is your mate. I won’t convince him to hear you out, and neither will Ollie.”
“I don’t expect you to.” Couldn’t Dante see that wasn’t why Luc had explained? At least Dante wasn’t arguing against them being mates anymore. “Please, don’t tell Dex. I hate that everyone knows he’s my mate except him. I need to be the one to explain, if he ever wants to hear it. This needs to be worked out between us.”
Dante shifted his weight, uneasy perhaps? “Fine. That is your right. We can’t hinder your connection without breaking an ultimate rule.”
Ash and Onyx both nodded.
At least they believed Dex was his mate. Not that it mattered when Luc would never bond with Dex. Maybe it was best if Dex never found out. The knowledge would only cause further harm.
Luc spread his wings. “Now that’s been cleared up, and you know I wasn’t stalking Dex to get to you—that I was never hunting you—I take it our truce stands?”
The three exchanged a heavily loaded glance. At last, Ash said, “It stands.”
Luc launched into the sky.
10
DEX
The universe hated Dex, so of course, he had work Monday morning. He’d usually have the day off, but one of the team was out sick. Ollie suggested Dex call in sick, too, but Dex couldn’t do it. Wallowing wouldn’t help.
The morning rush would do him good. No need to feel sick over kissing the Devil when there was coffee to brew.
“Office Daddy is back,” Justine whispered as Dex frothed milk.
He rolled his eyes. “Shush. What if he hears you call him that?”
“He won’t. He’s at the back of the line.” Justine handed a customer their muffin with ahave a nice daybefore turning back to Dex. “I swear, he’s going to ask you out. Today’s the day.”
Luckily, Justine had to serve the next person, who seemed to be ordering coffee for their entire office, allowing Dex to finish making this latte in peace.
He shook out his wrist before moving on to the next order. Everything ached as if his bad night’s sleep had beaten him up.
