Page 130 of Living Legend

He huffed out a breath as he let me go. His eyes traveled behind me to where Natalia stood, watching us. “Does he have all his pieces?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, he is in one piece. Just as perfect as he was before.”

“Not too perfect.” I reached my hand to the hem of my shirt and lifted it up, revealing the gauze covering my cut.

Reese tapped it lightly with the back of his hand. “Can’t believe those fuckers got you. You alright?”

I nodded, letting my shirt fall back into place. “How’s everything here?”

Reese widened his eyes. “Have you looked around, Nick? If shit wasn't going on back home, I would stay here forever. This is mind blowing. Everything here is fucking fantastic, except for one small, parasitic problem.”

I cocked my head to the side and watched as Elise crept up, clearly trying to keep her presence a surprise. “What would you know about this place? Your ass hasn’t left that pub since you realized it actuallywasa pub.”

“Jesus, fuck. Can you warn me when you’re about to appear?” Reese flinched at her sudden appearance, taking a few steps away from her.

“Not a chance. I like when you jump like a scared little rabbit.”

I could see the way Reese was biting his tongue, trying not to explode. Natalia cleared her throat behind me, motioning for me to join her. I took a few steps back, to be next to her.

“I’ll leave you all to catch up. I do have some matters to attend to.” She squeezed my hand, giving me a sincere smile.

I needed to talk to her, though. “Wait, there’s something I wanted to speak with you about. It’s about, err...it’s about…” I looked over to where Reese and Elise stood. My eyes traveled back to Natalia, where her own eyes waited patiently, but she finished my sentence for me.

“Abouther?” Natalia’s keen observations were one of my favorite things about her, but it clearly meant that keeping a secret was a difficult task.

I raised an eyebrow slightly, waiting for her to spill other things she might know about Dani and me.Well, of course not, because there wasn’t a Dani and me. That sounded like we had put some sort of label on what we were. Nope.

She squeezed my hand tighter and let go. “I won’t be far. Come get me when you’re done; we can speak then. I’ll be in the apothecary. Just ask one of the shops keeps and they’ll give you directions.” She gave me curt nod and started to walk away, her dress flowing behind her with every step she took. The crown tattoo on her shoulder blade beamed.

I let out a sigh and made my way back over to the others.

“Dani isn’t with you?” Elise asked the minute I was standing in front of her.

“It's great to see you too,” I deadpanned.

She rolled her eyes. “My question.”

“She’s fine. My dad is looking after her.”

My best friend’s eyebrows shot up quickly. “You went home? You used your fucking portal key to take you home?” His laugh came out quickly and lasted for a while. He put his hand on his chest to catch his breath. He pulled on the gray t-shirt he wore and started to fan himself.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Yeah, it wasn’t my finest moment.”

“How did your dad react to you landing on his doorstep with a demon in tow and you bleeding?” He pointed towards my stomach.

“Surprisingly well. Except for the whole bleeding thing, he was concerned about that. That was a nice little moment between us." The sarcasm was thick in my voice. "As for Dani, I think he’s starting to like her more than me.”

Reese shrugged and shook his head. “Maurice is better than me.” He ran a finger over his chin. “That means she slept at your house. That had to have been fucking weird.”

I tried to not let my eyes bug out of my head and let out a subtle, but not so subtle, cough. “It was fine. Completely uneventful; sorry to disappoint.” I punched his shoulder to avoid him seeing my hands shaking. I couldn’t tell him what happened.

I was still processing what happened. I was processing the fact that I wanted it to happen again, and I shouldn’t.Reese would lose his shit. He seemed to be settled with the fact that we had to work with them, but he would practically combust knowing I’d had an all-night fuck fest with one of them. I’d always known he didn’t like demons; I’d always thought it was just being raised to hate them, but there were times when I thought it was something else. I knew his parents weren't fans, but then again, he wasn't a fan of his parents.

I would add that to thelongfucking list of shit I didn’t understand.

"Any news about what's going on back at The Skies?" I questioned, hoping that some update had made its way here.

Elise shook her head. "Nope. Natalia has kept this place on a lockdown since we got here. She sent out some of her minions to do a scope, but they've all come back with nothing. It's way too silent over there." Her face morphed into a scowl.

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