Daniel gaped at him. “No way. Hell no. That’s too dangerous. What if he figures out what you’re doing?”
“He won’t. He’s egotistical. If I grovel to him, he’ll eat it up. I don’t expect him to tell me about the Alvarez kids right away, but I hope I can at least prove myself trustworthy. Maybe other people will start to talk once they see Sloan giving me a chance.”
Daniel’s brow furrowed. “But… You’ll have to be different while you’re there. You’ll have to act likethem. You’ll have to be an asshole.”
This was the part Daniel wouldn’t like. “I know. That’s why… I want you to leave. Take that phone and go to the Sentinels. They’ll take you in, keep you safe.”
Daniel exploded. “No way, you’re crazy! There’s no way I’m?—”
“Danny,please. I don’t want to risk them testing my loyalty by doing something to you or forcingmeto.”
He wilted. “I can’t just leave you there alone.”
“I’m asking you to,” Nicolas insisted. “Seriously. If you want me to be able to do this, I need you as far from them as possible.”
Daniel huffed, leaning forward to brace his hands on his knees. His heels bounced anxiously. “I don’t want you to do this. There has to be another way.”
“There’s not. The Sentinels tried using magic to find the kids, but Sloan is using some kind of ward.”
“He’s usingmagic?” Daniel looked scandalized.
“Yes.”
“That’s forbidden.”
“I know.”
Daniel carded his fingers through his unruly curls. “Well, shit. Have the Sentinels tried to use magic to bypass it?”
“Yeah. They told me one of the demons tried a tracking spell, but it didn’t work. That’s why we’ve got to try and track them down the old-fashioned way.” Nicolas took his brother’s hand, squeezing tight, and met his eyes. “Please, brother. Disappear. Go to the Sentinels. They’ll take care of you until I can join you.”
Daniel’s chin jutted out, his brow dropping with stubbornness, and Nicolas didn’t have it in him to argue anymore.
Sagging forward, he pressed his forehead to the back of Daniel’s hand. “Please, Danny. Please, I can’t fight anyone else about this. Just do as I ask, I’m begging you. I need to know you’re safe, and I trust them to have your back.”
Above him, Daniel sighed heavily, fingers curling into Nicolas’s hair and massaging his scalp with more force than strictly necessary.
“I’ll need you to call me every single day and tell me you’re okay,” he said. “And what do you mean, you can’t argue with anyoneelse? Who did you argue with? Not the Sentinels, surely? They’re the ones who asked you to do this.”
Nicolas sat up sharply, jerking his hand away. “Um.”
Daniel’s expression sharpened. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”
He couldn’t lie to his brother. Turning sideways to press his head against the cushion on the back of the sofa, he told Daniel everything. About Ashmedai showing up in his roomlast night, the incredible sex they shared, the strange connection that pulled them together. And how Ashmedai had railed against Nicolas’s plan, so he’d sent him away.
“Oh, you’re a dumbass,” Daniel said, flapping a hand at him. “That’s not why you sent him away, and you know it.”
“What?” Nicolas squeaked.
“It was getting too real too fast. You’re thirty-two years old and you’ve never had a relationship that lasted more than six months. Suddenly you’re told that yoursoulmate, basically, is this demon, and what did you immediately do? Use his—admittedly caveman-like—behavior as an excuse to push him away.”
Nicolas gaped. “Danny!”
“It’s true and you know it.”
“It’s not…” He scowled. “You should’ve seen him. It was like he went mad.”
“Kind of like I did?” Daniel shot back. “Nobody who cares about you wants you to go back into HQ and cozy up to Sloan and his cronies.”
