Ely nodded, happy that he and Aethan seemed to click, and her heart squeezed with happiness for her mate, who’d never known what true friendship was all about.
“When your heart lives outside your body,” Aethan’s low voice drifted to her. “It’s damn terrifying.”
“As I’m starting to learn,” Nate responded.
Echo cast her a covert glance and said quietly, “They don’t seem to understand we feel the same way about them.”
CHAPTER38
“Becareful out there at nights, Ely,” Nate said the moment they reformed in the alley near the garage later that evening. Night cloaked the place with a dense black, broken by the building lights. The freezing air had their breath escaping in a vaporous mist.
“I always am,” she murmured, pushing her hands in her pockets.
Nate shoved back a swathe of inky hair slipping free of his tethered ponytail to frame his gorgeous face as he glanced about. Somewhere in the distance, the cheery sounds of a Christmas jingle played. Ely knew those tunes because Kira played them often.
“Remember, I’m at the garage if you need me, a mind-link away.”
“I know.” She let his protectiveness slide because she would have said the same thing had he been going off on patrol. “And you be good,” she teased. “No feeling up the body of the Charger.”
He cast her an amused sideways stare. “Why? When I have a living, breathing dream with me now, a dream I want to take right here, against this wall, and remind myself I’m one lucky bastard.”
Her heart fisted at his words.
“What’s stopping you?” she taunted, aware she was provoking him. But how could she resist when her mate looked like something out of an erotic fantasy? He didn’t bother with a coat since he didn’t feel the cold and would be working at the garage, and he looked delicious in a black tee, jeans, and biker boots.
He slowed his steps. She looked back, arching an eyebrow. And the next minute, he had her against the wall, his hips pressed against hers. Even though she wore leathers, she could feel his hard cock between the V of her thighs. He sucked her lower lip before kissing her, his tongue finding and sucking hers in a deeply carnal kiss. He slid his hands up her torso and under her breasts to hold her against the wall, and her breath caught, desire stirring.
“Next time, wear a skirt,” he said against her panting mouth. “Then sinking into you will be a damn sight easier.”
She stifled a moan and scoffed, “Not in some cold, stinky alley.”
“Hell, Ely,” he groaned. “Reacting to your baiting isn’t good for me or healthy for my dick.”
“C’mon.” She smiled, hooking her arm through his and tugging him out of the alley. “I’ll walk up with you and say hi to Aba—”
Icy prickles cascaded down her arms. The Gaian weapon inked on her biceps stirred, alerting her to peril. “Trouble.”
“The garage!” he growled.
They both dematerialized, reforming a second later behind the garage workshop near the huge dumpsters and a small lot. A horde of demons fought a lone figure. Aba.
Though he fought fast, his blows deadly with the dagger he wielded, he bled from several slashes. But those asses weren’t so thoughtful, using perilous hellfire bolts, hitting the walls, the sounds like thunder booming as debris exploded. Damn curs!
They would have humans calling the cops to report this.
Nate dove into the scourges, fighting with his bare fists, evading their blows. Hell, he fought in death fights, so she wasn’t surprised he knew every move there probably was in any fight category.
Her Gaian weapon moved in agitation. Staff summoned, she spun and found the two sneaking up on her. They grinned as if high on some trippy narcotics, apparently believing she was an easy target.
“That little stick?” one taunted, revealing his fangs. Blood demons.
In preternatural speed, she moved, weapon spinning, slicing him and his pal across the chest in one blow. Staff split in two, she hurled the deadly glaives, and they jammed in their throats. They gurgled and grabbed the blades, lurching backward, trying to remove them, but couldn’t.
Damnfossers. Always underestimating her.
Weapons recalled and palmed, she blurred forward, wheeled around, glaives swinging in a deadly arc. Heads fell. Blood gushed. The demons fell to their knees. She didn’t bother watching them deflate and vanish; she spun to the rest of the horde Nate battled singlehandedly.
Where was Aba?
