“They will if they think their cooperation would keep you safe. ‘The Sentinels are our friends,’ they tell us. ‘Don’t hurt them,’ they say. I wonder what they would be willing to promise us in exchange for your safety.”
“You can’t just adopt them into the guild, Sloan,” Nathan said, his voice breaking with desperation. “They have a father who’s looking for them!”
“And how long before he drinks himself into a stupor and forgets they exist? We’ve been keeping an eye on him. He won’t be a problem.”
Nathan gaped. “This is wrong.”
“Bold words coming from a man who lays with a monster.”
Nathan’s face flushed, and Storm gravitated closer, curling a big hand around the back of his neck. Nathan leaned into the touch as he scowled at the phone.
“Sloan, think about this. Really think. You cannot do this. It’s not right.”
“Everything I do is for the good of the guild, so everything I do is right.”
Across the table, Talon’s brows rose, and Alex’s face twisted with disgust.
The phone clicked, and Sloan was gone, leaving them all staring at one another.
“He’s lost his damn mind,” Isaac said.
“I’m beginning to doubt he was ever in possession of it in the first place,” Shadrach drawled.
Ashmedai wanted to break the phone.This meant Nicolas would have to put himself in more danger. They would be relying on him to find the children now. For better or worse, Nicolas was determined to save them. Ashmedai just wished he could help somehow. Waiting on the outside while Nicolas was surrounded by enemies set his teeth on edge.
As though his mind was moving down the same path, Talon met his eyes. “It’s up to Nicolas now, Ashmedai. We need him to find us a lead on their location. The sooner he does that, the sooner he can get the fuck out of there.”
Ashmedai bowed his head. “I will tell him.”
“He’s doing a good thing,” Julian said, his young face earnest.
“I know.” Ashmedai huffed out a laugh. “I wish he were less good.”
Daniel’s hand came down on his shoulder, and Ashmedai startled at the touch. Humans so rarely initiated touch with him. Daniel didn’t seem to notice.
“You and me both, buddy,” he said lightly, patting Ashmedai’s shoulder.
“Go and tell him what Sloan said,” Nathan said. “Tell him it’s up to him now.”
“And tell him I’m rooting for him,” Daniel added. “And waiting for him, so he better hurry his ass up.”
It was earlier than he usually went to Nicolas’s, but he wouldn’t spurn the chance to spend more time with him. If they needed him to deliver this message, he would do it gladly.
Nicolas’s apartment was dark.It was always dark these days, and Ashmedai hoped he kept it that way as an unspoken invitation. The curtains were drawn over the windows, and Nicolas was laying sideways on the sofa, one arm tucked under his head and blinking slowly at the television, his eyelids getting heavier each time. It was early, but his human was tired.
When Ashmedai stepped closer, Nicolas’s eyes landed on him, and he startled, one hand flying to his chest as he raised his head.
“Sorry,” Ashmedai said, moving closer.
“It’s okay. You’re early. Come here.” He tugged Ashmedai by the hand and shifted until Ashmedai was squeezed between his warm body and the back of the sofa. They barely fit on the cushions like this together, but Ashmedai liked it, pressed up against Nicolas with not a gap between their bodies. He wrapped his arms around him, one around his middle and one under his head, and tucked his face in Nicolas’s hair, inhaling his scent.
“I have a message,” Ashmedai said with a contented sigh.
“Oh?” Nicolas’s fingers wrapped around one of his wrists, one foot slipping between Ashmedai’s lower legs to tangle them more fully together.
“Nathan called Sloan, told them I was dead. Sloan refused to give back the kids.”
Nicolas turned his head sharply to look at him over his shoulder. “What?”
