“Good call.” Tino stares up at the sky. “I’d rather rest up before we fly again.” He turns his sultry gaze to me. “That okay with you?”
“Yeah.” I notice right away that his energy is a little off. “Are you okay?”
“Totally. Let’s go.”
The three of us run through the countryside, making it to town in just a few minutes. A smile pulls at my lips. “It’s a postcard.”
“I like it here,” Mac says. “It’s quiet and the locals are chill. Food’s good too.”
Tino smacks his lips. “I could eat.”
I lick my own lips as his heady wave of gluttonous desire reaches me. “Mm. Yummy.”
“Did you say something?” Tino asks.
“No. Let’s eat.”
A few hoursand several pounds of fried meat and potato dishes later, the three of us return to the hotel. Mac is in an adjoining room, so there’s only a door between us.
Tino clasps Mac’s shoulder as the two stand in the doorway between rooms. “Do you want me to keep the dagger with me?”
“No,” Mac says, his forehead scrunching as he clutches his bag to his chest. “I got it.”
“Fine. No shenanigans,” Tino warns his wayward brother.
“None.”
Tino sighs as he closes the door and turns to where I’m perched on the edge of the bed.
“It’s not bad.”
He smiles, his shoulders dropping. “You’re exactly what I need right now. Take my mind off this mess, huh?”
“Happily. What happened in the hoard room?”
Tino crosses the space, sitting beside me and taking my hand in his. “I’m worried about him, Xaze. He’s got a lot of demon shit down there. What if they all come after him at some point?”
“Oof, that’s not great, but honestly, most demons won’t put that much effort into it. I was driven to chase him because…” The words fall away as I struggle to find an explanation. “The ring is meaningful to me.” Hey, lame, but it’s all I got.
“That’s not a normal reaction for a demon?”
“Nah. I mean, they’d be pissed, but most of them probably didn’t notice. Unless it’s something important, like a magic dagger, it’ll be centuries before they even realize something is gone, and by then they won’t remember the interaction. In fact, little insider knowledge here, but most artifacts are things we stole from humans or other supes first.”
Tino chuckles, his shoulders dropping even more. “That makes me feel better. Thanks.”
“My pleasure, deliciae.” I brush my fingers under his chin. “You sure are a pretty dragon. Truly magnificent. I guess I should’ve known based on what the man looks like.”
Tino’s eyes heat and flash into slits as a puff of smoke billows from his mouth. I lean in, sucking the smoke into my own mouth and holding it there.
“Fuck,” he whispers. “Let me see you, Xaze.You.Your true form.”
His request startles me. “Are you sure?”
“More sure than I’ve ever been about anything.”
My brow crinkles with indecision. Part of me knows he’ll accept me, but it’s so rare that I willingly let it out, and never in front of someone I want in my bed.
“Come on, gorgeous,” he says. “I want you to be yourself with me.”
