“Tempt you to what?” I asked with a faux innocent blink.
“To take you home with me.”
My smile dropped. “That’s not where we’re going?”
“I wish it was,” he murmured, turning to stare out the window as the buildings rushed by. “But you’re better off at home right now. The cult will come after the Legion next. You said so yourself. They know where I live, and they’ve already broken in once.”
I shifted on the crinkling leather, sighing. I’d been looking forward to crawling into his bed, curling up on his chest, and then...well, whatever happened next. His lips, his touch, his growls. But at this point, I’d be happy with a cuddle.
“Why don’t you stay with me at my place then?” I asked. “I only have a twin bed, but I’m sure we can find a way to make it work...”
“Eva,” he said. The tone in his voice told me his answer before his words did. “If the ritual really did work, then there are at least twelve newborn demons with their sights set on Manhattan. The Legion and I need to be on the hunt for them.”
Of course they did. I couldn’t expect Caim to sit at home with me while the Cult of Lilith raged through the streets. He and the others needed to put a stop to this before it got bad.
“But,” he murmured, leaning in close to drop a hot kiss on my cheek, “as soon as this is all over, you and I will lock ourselves up in my apartment. We won’t have to leave for days.”
I smiled up at him, heat thumping through me. “How about weeks instead of days?”
He winked. “Hell, a year won’t be enough for me.”
9
Eva
“Here’s your laptop and a notebook, just like you asked.” Sarah eased her MacBook down on the coffee table and perched on the sofa beside me. “So, what are we researching?”
I lifted my favorite Hamilton mug of chamomile tea to my lips and arched a brow. “We?”
“Damn straight,we.” She cocked a grin and settled back into a mound of paisley pillows. “You kept Anya and I in the dark about this whole demon thing, and now you’re going to make it up to us. I want in on this demon story you’re putting together for the paper.”
“You do realize that I’m not actually researching demons,” I said with an arched brow. “I can’t let my boss run an article about all this because then the Legion will no longer be anonymous.”
“Sure.” She nodded. “But you’re still going to give her something, right? You have to.”
“Yeah.” Sighing, I flipped open the laptop and fired up the browser. “I need to find something that’s interesting enough for a story but doesn’t point to the Legion. To be honest, it might need to be something supernatural. I can’t imagine anything else would be big enough, especially when the cult is threatening to shut us down.”
“What have you already told her?” Sarah asked.
“The thing about the cult wanting immortality. And I mentioned the orb.”
It turned out that Caim had filled my roommates in on what had happened. They knew the truth. About everything. It was a relief, to be honest. I hated keeping things from them, especially something as big as this.
“Ooh, the orb could be a good start,” she said. “That has nothing to do with the demons, right?”
“Well, not really,” I said, taking another sip of my herbal tea. I’d been given strict orders for the next few weeks. Lots of tea, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, plenty of sleep. No running around New York and staying up until the wee hours of the night. Back to how things used to be, before I’d tumbled through the window of a club.
Sarah leaned forward and typed the word ‘magic orb’ into the search engine. About five million results popped up on the screen. She blew out a breath. “We might need to be more specific.”
I tapped on my chin, thinking. “Caim kept mentioning witches. They were the ones who gave the cult a way to become immortal, including the whole seal thing that muted the demon powers. So, we need to find something about witches. I mean, if we could find proof of that, we wouldn’t even need to touch on the whole demon aspect of things. My boss would go crazy with excitement. Proof of witches? That’s a massive story.”
Sarah nodded and tried another option. She typed ‘magic witch orb in NYC’ into the search bar and pressed enter. More results. A lot of them related to movies or video games. We settled in and kept searching. I scribbled down anything that seemed like it might be useful, but there was very little to go on. If witches and fae truly did call New York City home, they stayed well-hidden. Just like the rest of the supernaturals.
A knock sounded on the door, followed by a heavy thump. Frowning, we both twisted toward the sound. Anya was at work. We hadn’t ordered any food. Anyone else we knew wouldn’t stop by uninvited. Unless it was Caim.
Something in my gut twisted as I slowly stood, quietly placing my mug on the coffee table.
“Why have you gone all pale?” Sarah whispered as she clutched a pillow to her chest. “Maybe it’s just a neighbor.”
