Isaac nodded, mock-serious. “Do I strike you as the type who takes shit from anyone?”
Shadrach glared. “Don’t make jokes. The club used to be safe for the Sentinels, because we were in good standing with Lilith. I don’t know how they’ll react to you, but you can expect them to be suspicious. I expect everyone there now is loyal to the bitch. Anyone with any sympathy for us will have either cleared out or kept their mouths shut to stay off her radar.”
“I’ll be fine,” Isaac said. “I can handle a few demons.”
“What if paladins show up at the club?” Shadrach asked.
“They won’t show up unless they have some reason to suspect I’d be there,” Isaac said. “Which they don’t, because I’ve never been there before.”
“You’ll text me if you need me to get you out,” Shadrach said.
“Yes.”
Shadrach’s fingers tightened on his shoulders. “If I don’t hear from you in an hour, I’ll go in there and kill everyone.”
“No, you won’t, because that would undo all my hard work,” Isaac said calmly. Why was Shadrach making such a fuss, anyway? He knew Isaac was a paladin. He’d gotten the drop on Shadrach before. Surely he didn’t think Isaac wouldn’t be able to handle himself in the club without him for a few hours.
Unless he thought Isaac was going to run off or betray them. It was, admittedly, something he’d done before.
“Do you not trust me?” he asked as it occurred to him. “Do you think I’ll screw this up or run away again?”
Shadrach stilled, meeting Isaac’s eyes. After a moment, his expression softened. “No, killer. I don’t think that.”
“Then what?”
Shadrach smiled crookedly, so painfully handsome that it hurt Isaac to look at him.“I almost lost you once already, and there was very little threat to your life then. I thought you’d just chosen not to be with me. Being without you for even that short time was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. Willingly letting you walk into danger tests my resolve. You humans are so fragile.” One of his strong hands slid up Isaac’s shoulder to brush the side of his neck, where his pulse was strongest. “Your life-blood is so dangerously close to the surface at all times. One wrong prick, and down you’d go.”
Isaac leaned in, his voice soft. “On behalf of my people, fuck you.”
Shadrach’s smile sharpened.
“I’m not fragile,” he promised, draping his arms around Shadrach’s shoulders. “When I get back later, I’ll prove it. I’ll show you how much I can take.”
One of Shadrach’s arms curled around his lower back, crushing their bodies together. “Promise?”
“Yeah.” Isaac shivered as the delicate touch on his throat hardened into something dark and possessive. “But right now you have to let me do my job. And remember that I’ve also had your blood, which makes me even lessfragilethan usual.”
Shadrach leaned in, baring his teeth.
“No marks,” Isaac said. “I don’t want any halflings asking questions about where they came from.”
Shadrach growled, a rumbling note in his chest that vibrated Isaac’s sternum. It was an entirely inhuman sound, and not one that should set his blood aflame the way it did. Instead of a biting kiss—as Isaac had expected—he was treated to a slick one instead, Shadrach’s tongue pressing inside his mouth to taste him thoroughly.
The world swirled around them, pockets of shadow and color blurring past. Isaac closed his eyes and clung to Shadrach, letting the demon take his weight until everything came to a whirling stop.
Blinking his eyes open, Isaac grimaced. “I’m not a fan of that.”
Shadrach chuckled. “Sorry.”
They were in a darkened alley in a familiar part of the city. This was Sector Thirteen, as the paladins knew it, and near to In Extremis. The moon was hidden behind dark clouds, and thunder rumbled in the distance.
“You’ll have to walk from here. If I go any closer, some of the demons might sense my presence.”
“Okay.” Isaac moved to extricate himself, but Shadrach’s grip tightened instead. He ducked his head, inhaling Isaac’s scent like a drug.
“If they harm a hair on your head, I’ll string their guts from the rafters of that fucking place,” he snarled in Isaac’s ear. “You’re mine, and I hate that I can’tshow them.”
Isaac shuddered. The notion of being owned by a monster shouldn’t be so appealing. It was impossibly hard to pull away—not just because Shadrach’s grip was unrelenting, but also because his body wanted nothing more than to press closer and rock against Shadrach until they were both sated.
