Page 55 of Demons of Eden

Once he’s done eating, Ash gets to his feet and presses a kiss to my cheek, making my cheeks burn bright red as all three hunters clock the action. I look away from them. It’s not my fault he gives his affection so easily.

“I have to meet a friend, but I’ll return later. Keep her safe while I’m gone,” Ash all but orders, placing his hand on my shoulder as he slowly looks between Torrin and Daion, before turning to nod at Rio and add, “Preferably you can watch her.”

I frown.Rio?Why would Ash prefer the most prickly bastard, the resident biggest demon hater, to look after me while he’s gone?

“Obviously,” Rio snarks back, and I very nearly raise my hand to gesture at him like, ‘See, this is what I’m talking about!’

“You want Rio to keep his eye on Eden?” Torrin asks with a smirk that suggests he knows exactly why. So what amImissing?

“It's because I haven’t fucked her,” Rio fills him in with a scoff and a shake of his head, as if the idea is completely absurd.

“Yes, precisely,” Ash agrees withoutanyhesitation. No shame or denial at all. “This has made him my favourite despite his dislike of my kind.”

Ash then leaves, like he didn’t just say something utterly insane.

“He can’t be serious?” I ask after a moment, but Daion and Torrin both shrug their shoulders, and then help themselves to more food. I sigh, resting my head on my hands.

Men.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“Ineed to talk to you.”

Setting the empty plate I’d just taken out onto the counter, I look over my shoulder at Rio and give him a sceptical look. “You know, despite Ash designating you as my babysitter, I find it hard to believe you’d want to spend your time on the job talking to me.”

Him spending the whole time giving me death stares and silently plotting my demise seems far more likely…

“I said need, not want,” he responds, rolling his eyes as he impatiently gestures for me to hurry up. “Come on, let's get out of here before one of youractualself-appointed bodyguards interrupts us.”

Self-appointed bodyguards is a generous way to put it. It feels a lot more like anxious hovering from where I’m standing. Ever since my little adventure to get snacks in the middle of the night a few days ago, Dai, Torrin, and Ash have all been watching me like hawks. Here I thought I was the paranoid one, when it turns out they’re the ones all fighting for that particular title.

“Won’t you get in trouble for aiding in my escape from constant supervision? And what’s so important you’re willing torisk a jailbreak to talk to me alone?” I ask, following him out of the kitchen and raising my eyebrows when he hands over a pair of my shoes.Someone prepared for our escape in advance.Probably wise if he doesn’t want one of his brothers tagging along for this little chat.

I’m honestly starting to wish I didn’t mention running into Lorcan. The three of them had immediately become concerned it wasn’t a coincidence, but what reason could he have for tracking me down? There’s no way he would have figured out about my baby being half-demon just from hearing a pregnancy rumour. It’s quite a leap to make, even if the conclusion is true.

He can’t possibly know. Lorcan’s not a hunter, trained and prepared to recognise demons. He has no reason for carrying around charmed objects like the detectors the Fletchers use or for casting a spell intended for searching out demonic energy. The latter would have been immediately obvious if he had anyway. The feel of another’s active magic passing through a person as they scan their body or energy is near unmissable. Even baseline humans are known to shudder when sensing magic is used directly on them.

It’s also not as if it would be worth his time stalking me at three in the morning to throw taunts my way either. It was bad luck on my part that we'd crossed paths; that’s all. Nothing more to worry about. Well, not from him, but after their reaction to his presence, I hadn’t even thought about mentioning feeling watched by someone else. I’m probably just being weird and hormonal or something, anyway.

Having already slipped on my shoes as we made our way to the door, I pause when we reach the back exit of their building, realising something. Turning to Rio, I cross my arms and give him a pointed look before he can slip out, ignoring the aggrieved sound he makes at my silent prompting. He can huff all he likes, but he never answered my questions.

“It’s hardly an escape if I’m still watching you, is it? I’m perfectly capable of making sure you don’t get hauled off by our fellow witches for your demon-screwing sins,” Rio says flippantly, finally giving the half-answer before practically shooing me out of the door. He leads the way over towards a small, old-looking car. His car, given he unlocks it and opens the driver’s side door.

“This is yours?” There's no chance I can keep the amusement from my voice, not that I try. I don’t know shit about cars, but this thing has to be older than my brother. Hell, maybe even older than my parents. Not to mention it’s sort of compact…almost cute-looking, or it would be if it wasn’t covered in filth anyway. It’s definitely not the car I pictured him driving. “I’m surprised it still starts,” I add, deciding not to mention my surprise at the style of it too.

“She’s a classic, and she still runs perfectly fine.” Rio glares at me for a second before slipping into his seat and slamming the door shut. Though he continues his glowering through the passenger side window until I join him in the vehicle, shutting my door with a little less force than he did. He’d definitely take the opportunity to complain about it if I had.

“At least it’s clean on the inside,” I comment, somewhere between antagonistic and teasing as I swipe my fingers lightly over the dash. I glance down at them as if inspecting for dust. If he wanted me to play nicely, he should have been nicer about his invite for this sneaky outing.

“I didn’t hear you sassing Torrin about his car,” he grumbles, hands clenching the wheel just a little too tightly.

“His car doesn’t look beat to hell and covered in a layer of dirt. There’s a big difference between a car being past its prime and it being a classic.” Not that I would know, yet I am genuinely surprised by the lack of terrifying sounds as he starts it up. As we pull away from their place, I’m still tensely waiting for aloud clunk, but there’s not even so much as an annoying rattle. It’s bizarrely smooth going, especially considering the roads in this area of the city are pretty terrible. You’d think it would kill someone to fill in potholes from how many of them there are.

“You know it only looks how it does because he obsessively washes it twice a week,at minimum, right?”

“Is this what you wanted to talk about, Torrin’s car maintenance?” I question sarcastically. “I don’t think your brother is nearly vengeful enough for that to require privacy.”

“You’re the one who decided to attack Molly,” he snaps back at me, lips smacking shut and pressing into a tight, thin line as I start to grin.

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