A smile bloomed on Julian’s face. “Yeah, we did. Weactually just bought a grill. We could definitely host a dinner. Why don’t you all come? Might be a fun team-building activity.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Or somebody might try to kill each other,” Talon remarked.
“No violence in the new house,” Valac said, like he was quoting something, and Julian beamed at him.
“Had enough of that at the last place,” Julian said.
The back of Nicolas’s head grazed Ashmedai’s abdomen, and his fingers curled under his jaw, shivering at the easy surrender in Nicolas’s pliant body.
He didn’t realize anyone was watching them until Shadrach said, “I’m sorry, I just can’t get over a human letting asin eaterdo that.” He gestured to them, to Ashmedai’s gentle grip and Nicolas’s lax form.
“Why’s that?” Nicolas asked, unmoving.
“Sin eaters are…” Shadrach stopped, trailing off as he looked at Ashmedai, seemingly searching for the right words.
“Dangerous,” Talon said coolly.
Nicolas’s head tilted slightly, careful not to dislodge Ashmedai’s tickling claws. “Aren’t you all?”
“Not like sin eaters.”
Nicolas tipped his head back, looking at Ashmedai upside-down. “What does he mean?”
Ashmedai inhaled slowly, considering his words. “Sin eaters only want to eat. We hunt the damned, devour their souls. Like animals hunting prey. Eat, rest, hunt. We are like the beasts, in a way, the monsters from the Pit that you hunt. Before you, I was like them. Barely spoke, barely knew human language.”
“You’re a quick study, then.”
“I want to be able to converse with you.” He ducked his head. “When we first met, that moment we shared, I was driven by… instincts I didn’t understand. Had never felt before. I just knew I needed you. As much as I’ve ever needed sins.”
Nicolas’s face colored again, but the soft fondness in his eyes didn’t fade. “I felt it, too,” he said. “A part of me knew I should run, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to. I just didn’t understand why.”
“I would have chased you.”
Nicolas chuckled. “I probably wouldn’t have gotten far, then.”
The idea took root. Nicolas, panting and gleaming with adrenaline sweat, racing through the empty hallways of the factory with Ashmedai on his heels. And when he captured him, Nicolas’s body would be hot with exertion, squirming in his arms, first to get away and then to get closer as he realized the inevitability of their union. Clothes ripping, hands grabbing, claws and teeth marking as he sank inside and claimed his human in the most primal of ways.
He wanted him now. Wanted him always.
If their connection was truly as strong as they thought, he should allow Nicolas to see him. All of him. The strangeness of his appearance shouldn’t matter. Nicolas wanted him the moment he’d laid eyes on him, and seeing him bare should only strengthen their bond. If he trusted any human to accept his otherworldly appearance, it was Nicolas.
Once he’d made the choice, he wanted to take Nicolas home and show him right away, but Nicolas was still drinking with the others. He’d tortured himself with his isolation for long enough, so Ashmedai forced himself to wait.
He didn’t have to wait long, all things considered. Three drinks in, Nicolas was sagging, a contented smile on his face and his eyes glassy. The light of dawn glowed through the tinted glass of the front door when the first human, Alex, called it quits for the day, leaning heavily on Talon as he teleported away with him.
Only then did Ashmedai lean over, fairly vibrating with tension, to murmur in Nicolas’s ear, “Let me take you home.”
Nicolas turned his head, his eyes heavy-lidded. “Okay.”
Daniel stood when Nicolas did, pulling his big brother into a hug. “Come by tomorrow night, okay? I’m sick of not being allowed to see you.”
Nicolas curled into the hug, nodding his head on Daniel’s shoulder. Their curls seemed to merge together. “Yeah. Me too.”
“You’re only a martyr if you make yourself one.”
They clung to each other like neither cared to separate any time soon. “I don’t want to be a martyr,” Nicolas said, his voice muffled against Daniel’s shoulder. “Do as Talon says, please. Stay off the streets for a while. No more patrolling until this is over. I don’t want to have to do that again.”
“If you punch me again, I’m punching back.” The way he stroked Nicolas’s back belied his words.
