Page 52 of Daddy Frost

He caught himself before he said he’d felt the life draining out of him. That wasn’t something he wanted to face right now.

“Casimir, Raidh, and Elvine are Unseelie. Dark fae who possess magic.” Kalen explained what they did to save Delta’s life.

“Kalen?”

His mate rubbed his beard tenderly over Delta’s cheek. “Yes, muffin?”

“For now, I’m completely done with revelations. Will the ‘stuff’ you need to tell me impact me in any immediate way?”

“No.”

“Then our talk can wait.” He burrowed into his mate’s arms and closed his eyes. “Shit, I have to go to work.” Delta shot up, totally forgetting about the diner. “What time is it?”

Friend or not, Roman Emperor was going to fire him for sure.

Kalen enveloped Delta back in his arms. “I already called and briefly explained what happened. You don’t have to go in today.”

He had to yank his head away from Kalen’s chest. The guy seemed determined to keep it there. “You told him the truth?” He searched his mate’s eyes.

“You don’t want any more revelations,” Kalen reminded him, which only made Delta want to know. God, he was such a mess.

“Tell me.”

Kalen sighed. “Roman is a snow leopard shifter.”

Delta collapsed back against his mate’s solid, warm chest. “Can we just bury ourselves under the covers until the world starts to make sense again?”

Kalen tightened his arms around Delta. “Baby, if we did that, we would never be seen again.”

* * * *

“Look, we both despise Whichello. You want him dead because he killed your brother and father. The demon should pay for what he did to your family.” Leo tapped the back of his hand good-naturedly against Paul’s huge bicep.

What kind of vampire parents gazed at their newborn bundle of evil and decided to call him Paul? It was such a human name.

Leo felt ridiculous even saying it while talking to a vampire who most definitely should have been named Killer or Muscles or, better yet, Not Too Bright.

The two had been talking for twenty minutes now, and that was the impression Leo had gotten so far. He’d just sat down at the bar when Paul had struck up a conversation with him.

Honestly, Leo wasn’t even sure how they’d gotten on the subject of their mutual hatred of the demon. He’d just seen an opportunity to save his own ass and jumped on it.

“Whichello would string me up by my balls then eviscerate me so his demon buddies could feast on my entrails,” Paul stated matter-of-factly.

Leo was shocked the guy knew such a big word. For someone as tall, broad, and deadly looking as Paul, he was woefully short-changed when it came to intelligence. His mother must’ve consumed tainted blood when she was pregnant with him.

“I have the perfect way to avenge your family’s murders.” Leo had to sell the vampire on this, or he was totally screwed. “You won’t even have to go near the scumbag,” he replied in an affable tone.

“I’m listening.” Paul looked warily at him, but Leo saw the piqued interest in his eyes.

This was as easy as taking a shotgun from a snoozing grandpa’s lap. Paul must have gotten through life using brawn, because he certainly didn’t have brains. “My nephew.” Leo grinned conspiratorially.

Whichello wasn’t after Delta. Leo had lied in hopes his nephew would turn to him for protection, but then he would drag him to the demon realm. Unfortunately, that plan hadn’t worked. Just who in the hell were the men his nephew had cozied up to? For the past six months Leo had been all over Delta’s life, coercing the guy into doing jobs for him. Not once had Leo seen him with any friends.

“I don’t get it,” Paul said, pulling Leo from his thoughts. “What does your nephew have to do with killing the demon?”

Leo downed the whiskey he’d easily manipulated the vampire into buying him. “Look, when I was in the demon realm, I had my nephew with me.” He spun on his bar stool then leaned back on his elbows. There wasn’t one hot woman in the joint. Damn shame. “Delta and Whichello struck up a conversation.” The guy in the corner booth looks like an easy mark. “And let me tell you. Whichello was enamored with him.”

More like infatuated if the goofy, dreamy-eyed expression on the demon’s face was anything to go by. Thane, one of the guys Leo had pulled the heist with, had informed him that Whichello had never looked that way before, that the demon always wore a resting bitch face.

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