Page 2 of Demon Hunter

He throws back the blankets and swings his legs out. “Don’t be stupid. I can drive you. And yeah, your car’s fine to stay here.”

Putting out a hand to stop him, I say, “Please don’t get up. I hate having to leave as it is. Knowing I’ve dragged you out of bed at the ass crack of dawn when we’ve only been asleep for two hours just makes it worse.”

“Matty—”

“Dylan,” I say firmly. “Get back into bed. I want to leave you all tucked in and sleepy when I kiss you goodbye.”

He rolls his eyes but can’t hide his pleased smile as he crawls back under the covers. “You say the sappiest shit, dude.”

I lean over for a kiss. “Only to you.” It’s true. I’ve never been a sentimental person—well, not unless you count getting teary-eyed during certain Taylor Swift songs. What can I say? She’s an outstanding songwriter. But in relationships, never. In fact, most of my past boyfriends and girlfriends have accused me of being emotionally unavailable. Those were the same ones who hated how close Ian and I are, even though he’s basically my brother.

Dylan’s different.

As he snuggles back into his pillow, I move around the room, getting dressed and grabbing the things I can legally bring on the plane. Basically just clothes and toiletries, which sucks. It makes me nervous to travel without any weapons at all, even though things with demons are so much better now.

I do a quick check around the apartment to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything vital, then go back to the bedroom. Dyl’s dozing, but when I lean over him, his eyes open.

“Going now?”

“Yeah. I’ll text or call when I get there, okay? Not sure when I’ll get back, but hopefully it’ll just be a couple of days… and I won’t get called out right away.” It sucks that so much of my job is spent on the road. On top of that, our time together is minimized even more because nobody knows we’re together.

I kiss him, enjoying the way his mouth clings to mine even when he’s all sleepy, but as I straighten, I hesitate.

“What?” he murmurs.

“Just… maybe, if whatever’s going on blows over fast, or if it’s not too huge, this might be a good time for me to tell my brothers about us. Since we’ll all be in the same room.” I swallow hard. “You could fly out to join us, have a mini break. You’lllove Mannix Estate.” He’ll get a real kick out of the ghosts. He’s always enjoyed hearing me talk about what they get up to.

But a shadow crosses his face. “It’s not the time, Matt. Not while Ian’s having some kind of crisis. Do you think he told your brothers about him and Marc?”

Dylan knows that secret, of course. I didn’t even have to tell him—he was the one who brought it up like it was just common knowledge, before Ian even officially told me. For someone who spends most of his time online, he’s surprisingly intuitive when it comes to people and relationships.

“Did you feel a disturbance in the force as Connor turned to the dark side?” I counter, then pause to consider. “He might have. That could be why he needs me—to back him up.” I shrug. “Or it could be completely to do with the otherworld.” I try to pretend it doesn’t bother me that he still wants to keep us a secret, but he knows.

He always knows.

Sitting up, he grabs my shirt and pulls me down for another kiss. “We’ll tell them soon,” he murmurs against my lips. “But I want it to be about us and only us, not lost in the drama that makes up your family’s everyday life.”

I snort. “I wish I could argue that we’re not dramatic. Go back to sleep.” I leave him curled up with a sleepy smile, and quietly let myself out of the apartment and get down to the street where my Uber is waiting before I let myself finish that thought: Will there ever be a time when his love for me isn’t outweighed by his fear of losing another family?

I textIan from the airport to let him know I’ll definitely be on the plane, but I don’t get a reply before we take off. Which leaves me with over four hours before I land in Chicago to think.

About what might be waiting for me there.

About whether Ian’s really okay.

About whether I’m going to need to find a way to sedate Connor—and probably Gabe too. He might be the levelheaded one, but I think even he’s going to shy from the idea of Ian dating a higher demon.

But mostly, I think about Dylan.

Because since we started this thing, for me, everything comes back to Dylan.

Sighing, I lean my head back against the seat. The flight must have been nearly full, because Ian sprang for business class. That, combined with the fact that I don’t have his airsick ass trying to eject his insides in the next seat, makes this the nicest, most comfortable flight I’ve ever taken. The flight attendant even came to ask me what I’d like for breakfast.

But even the comfort and service can’t distract me from the fact that I’m so far in love with one of my closest friends that I can’t see daylight anymore, and I’m not sure he feels the same way.

He loves me—I know he does—but I don’t know if it’s as much as I love him. I don’t know if it’s enough for him to want the world to know about us. Because yeah, my family’s always been at the forefront of the action, but he’s used to that from us. We’ve always been magnets for trouble, and it’s never bothered him before. It was worth the stress for him when we were just friends. So why is it too much now that we’re more than that? Isn’t being with me a bigger incentive to deal with that stress?

I don’t even know when things changed between us. I mean, I know when we started fucking—that night will be branded onmy brain forever—but we were alreadymorebefore that, even though we started out by calling ourselves friends with benefits.

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