Page 54 of How Not to Date a Demon

And no. Not a single soul was brave enough to ask the Seventh Devil of the Seventh Region of Hell why he was shirtless.

Maeve

“Wait, wait. So this list,” he said, swallowing a laugh and trying to compose himself. “How long was it?”

Maeve felt her cheeks heat and spooned up another bite of ice cream. Her hair was still wet from the bath Galen had run for them once they’d returned home and confirmed the puppies’ proof of life.

They’d been napping on the bed. No sign of chaos, other than a few new scratches on the door and a sacrificed shoe.

One of Galen’s, she’d been relieved to discover.

Currently, the puppies were beneath her feet against the bar, staring up at her and awaiting any melted drops she might spill.

Now that she knew everything… Now that Galen was standing in the kitchen with his own bowl of Moose Tracks, wings tucked away, she felt even more embarrassed for listening to some silly list from the internet.

“Out with it,” he demanded, tapping his spoon against the bowl. “What did the internet tell you to do?”

“Ugh!” she groaned, dropping her head and stabbing her ice cream. “It was so stupid. But I was onto something the whole time! And I stand by that.” When she earned nothing but an expression that screamed, ‘Really?’ she huffed. “The website listed five things that were supposed to out you. Or like, repel you.”

She winced when Galen broke his composure with another laugh. “Oh, I’m loving this,” he declared between bouts of laughter. Maeve’s lips tightened into a thin line, and once he saw the expression on her face, he stood up straight and cleared his throat. “So… what was on the list?”

“Like hell I’m telling you. You’re just gonna laugh at me,” she whined.

Galen closed the space between them and sat his bowl down before leaning toward her with his palms flat on the counter.

“I’m not gonna laugh,” he promised. “I’m just extremely curious. I mean, hello, if you figured it out, so will other people. I need to warn the other demons that have moved up here.”

Narrowing her eyes, Maeve studied him. He seemed sincere.

“What happens if a demon gets found out?” she asked.

“If we catch it early enough, they have to return and stay in Hell until it’s safe.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” she mused.

Galen snorted derisively. “Yeah, but it is. They have to stay down there until everyone they were connected to in the human world passes. No connections.”

Maeve blinked. “Do you have to kill the humans?”

“What? No! Maeve!” he scolded, cheeks red.

What was she supposed to think? Maeve held her palms up in a shrug. “What? You told me you used to dip people in lava!”

“Used to! We’re past that now. Past it,” he urged, waving his hand aggressively. “But it’s sad, and it’s a lot of unnecessary mourning.”

With a sigh, she spooned up another peanut butter cup and narrowed her gaze at him. “Fine. But no laughing.”

“Scout’s honor,” he said, holding up three fingers.

He was definitely gonna laugh.

Maeve rolled her eyes before steeling herself. “The first thing it listed was salt. Said some mumbo jumbo about purity and shit. But a salt circle seemed a little too obvious. And it never specifically told me how I should use the salt—”

“Honey bun, did you try to poison me?” he asked calmly, a smile twitching on his lips.

“It was just once!” she retorted. “I just oversalted your plate a little.”

Galen parted his lips once before snapping his mouth shut and tightening his lips into a line. At first she thought he was angry, disappointed—and how dare that actually offend her?—but as he snorted back a laugh, she felt her cheeks grow hot.