The male has a large frame, made to appear even bigger by the bulky, curled horns looping upward from his temples. He wisely stays back several feet, not venturing past the clear demarcation separating this area from the rest of the club.
“Lorelei?” His tone makes it a question. I lift my brows. Either he’s trying to get on my nerves or he’s as dumb as the inquiry would make it seem.
He clears his throat and tries again. “I was sorry to hear about Harlow.”
“Did you know him?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“Only of him. He was a good leader by all accounts.”Huh,maybe he’s not so dumb. Maybe he was just nervous.
“He was,” I agree. “Why have you come to Obsidian’s territory?” I get right to the point.
He glances quickly at Egan, then back to me. I can just make out the fallen’s profile, and he seems to be snarling at the demon. “The trials,” he tells me openly.
“What trials?” Now I’m the one playing dumb. Maybe I can find out where he heard it from and confirm it was Thana or someone she was working with.
The demon—I really should ask his name—blinks at me in bewilderment. “To become president of the club,” he says slowly. Maybe he’s catching on that he’s been duped.
I wince for him and say, “An unfortunate wishful rumor.”
“You’re shitting me.” His mouth is hanging half open.
“Clearly not, but I would love to know more about who shared the false tidbit with you.”
The demon does a quarter spin, ignoring me to look at the table of others that I assume came with him. “A rumor?” he says, facing them, and then he turns to me again. “We rode two days straight to get here.” I don’t care for his tone.
“I can arrange it so there’s no need for you to trouble yourself with a return trip,” I offer sweetly.
The way he scrunches up his forehead and nose makes me rethink the whole assumption he’s not dumb. “Really?” He tilts his head.
“Sure,” I answer dismissively, leaning forward and plucking one of my knives from my lower back, examining the blade closely. “I can ship you back in pieces.” I meet his eyes from under my brow. “No work involved for you.”
The room was already fairly quiet, but it’s even more so now. The demon makes a small snorting sound but catches himself before it becomes a full scoff. Before he can respond any further, the front door smacks open, drawing all of our attention.
Egan takes another step, putting himself directly in front of me again, and spreads his wings. No matter how impressive they are, or how tempting it is to run my hand along the quills to see if the fire smoldering there now will burn me, it’s uncalled for.
“Lore,” calls a familiar, booming voice. Shit, I should have known he would show up.
“Quit shouting for me.”Like I’m still a kid,I finish in my head.
“Who the hell are you?” he slurs. The problem is, I don’t know who he’s talking to because Egan is still blocking me from seeing the rest of the room.
I can hear Brass approaching. The gears in his legs are a dead giveaway. He’s more machine than djinn at this point.
“Egan.” I lean forward so I can run my palm down his back between those beautiful wings. It’s indulgent, but no one else can see me, so I don’t mind.
He turns his head just enough to be able to see me and keep an eye on what’s going on in front of him.
“Neither of them is a threat,” I tell him loudly enough so the demon will have no problem hearing me. He watches me for another long second, but then he steps to the side again, and I’m able to see Brass sizing up the large, horned demon with squinted eyes.
“Do I know you, pup?” he asks, blinking to clear his blurry eyes. I have no idea how he got here. I should have checked on him yesterday, but in truth, he hadn’t crossed my mind.
“No, you don’t.” The demon’s tone is clipped and harsher than it needs to be.
There’s a quick whirring sound followed by a thwap. “Damn hydraulics. You good? Name’s Brass. Now you know.”
The demon moves his jaw from left to right, probably checking to see if the damn thing still works, since the founder of the club just thumped him one and pretended it was completely unintentional.
Brass moves his attention to my fallen. “Now, I know I don’t know you, but since you’re either brave or stupid enough to give Lorelei your back, I figure you’ll get sorted pretty quickly.”
