Jerking away, I settle farther down the bar.
“Luna, I don’t know how you go about your day to day with this heathen,” I call up to her and cross my arms over my chest.
She gives a humorless laugh. “It’s like living with a toddler with a penchant for touching your butt and driving you to your mental brink on a daily basis. Remember when I mentioned I wanted a pet after seeing Pom Pom and Midnight? This one needs to be rehomed, preferably in the hellish variety.”
A small smoky mass dances across the demon’s shoulders, and I watch as it seems to travel across his body and down to where his hands rest on his thighs.
“What is that?” I ask. “Some kind of demon magic?”
A soft smile I didn’t know he could make forms. I don’t like humanizing him or thinking he’s able to have genuine emotion.
“Something like that.” He sifts the black fog through his fingers, and it flashes the outline of a figure quicker than I can track. “Is that all you had to say? No other questions for me? Or did you want to bond, unlike you and your pink-haired friend.”
A tug in my chest at the mention of Ava has me resisting the urge to go to her. Sleeping next to her and being physically intimate continue to be a struggle.
“Oh, I see.” Leviathan, I suppose I can call him by his full name, traces one of his tattoos in the shape of wings on his forearm. I wonder if he knows how close to the mark he is with that one. “Trouble in paradise? Do I need to tell you about the birds and the bees? Make sure to wrap it up and practice safe sex,” he chides.
“I’m fucking leaving,” I conclude and stand up.
Luna peeks at her watch. “Lasted longer than I thought you would. Say hi to the girls for me. I’m going to continue to hope I can lose the dead weight, because the alternate makes me want to cry.”
Nodding to Luna, I start to step out from behind the bar. Before I can, though, I make eye contact with Leviathan. So many secrets swirl within their depths, and I squint at him, trying to figure out his angle. He seems mighty comfortable acting like an unwanted pet when he’s powerful enough to force hands.
“I’ll be seeing you, Valentine.” He tips his nonexistent hat my way and I stroll out of the coffee shop, away from the being who clearly knows more than he’s letting on.
It’s not until I’m a few blocks away that I realize I’ve never told him my full name.
CHAPTER 47
AVA
I slideinto the car with Valen behind the wheel. He greets me with a gorgeous smile that quickly drops into a frown at my expression.
“What is wrong?” He tilts his head in question, a rogue strand of hair falling over his brow, and I almost laugh at the lack of contraction usage. He knows better at this point but still defaults to it when he’s not thinking sometimes. Either that, or he does it to tease me.
I sigh and buckle myself in before settling back against the seat. I run a hand through my hair and watch the rain outside. “There’s been another murder.” I roll my head over to look at him.
“Copycat Zavier again?”At my nod, he curses and floors it.
“Well, this is turning into a habit,” Zav comments at all of us gathered in his living room.
Once home, we promptly called everyone to get together to discuss everything that’s been happening. This time we switched it up and are having the conversation at Zav and Celine’s apartment.
“Why can’t we get together to do something fun like go see a movie?” Zav whines from his seat on the chair in the corner. Celine sits on his lap since he made a fuss when she tried to sit by us. Something about us trying to steal his woman.
“I don’t understand why he needs to be here,” Valen mumbles in reference to Levi, who is sitting on the couch with Luna at the opposite end.
“Luna needs to be included since she’s entangled in this too now. You know Levi doesn’t have a choice in coming,” Celine says pointedly.
Zav covers her mouth, and she glares at him, trying to shake his hand off. “You’re not on a nickname basis.” Levi shakes his head at Zav’s antics. “Why the hell are you playing with my cat?” he asks Levi. “Let him go.”
It’s true. Midnight is settled on Levi’s lap, and Pom Pom is resting on his feet. The familiars made their way over to him as soon as he arrived.
“What are you, Snow White?” Zav blurts.
“It’s not my fault they have great taste.” Levi shrugs a tattoo-covered shoulder.
Somehow in the arctic temperature, he’s rocking a sleeveless tank that showcases his muscled arms and inked body. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about whether he has more elsewhere on his body. It’s a chaotic canvas of tattoos, but they also seem to depict a story, and Levi seems like a complicated guy. Even with all her protesting, I catch Luna watching Leviwith a glint of interest in her blue eyes. Unfortunately for her, she isn’t as smooth as she thinks, and Levi catches it too.
