Page 70 of Demons of Eden

His stupid smile is dazzling. I rarely see him smile like that. I think this might actually be the first time I’ve seen it. It’s weirdly infectious, a lot like my contracted case of demonism.

“Do you think I’d need a love potion?” He shakes his head, smirking cockily. “You’ve never seen my charm.”

“You have charm?” I gasp, eyes widening in mock surprise.

Rio’s eyes narrow in turn, his entire aura shifting as he smiles differently for a second, clearly planning something evil. Then, his expression shifts again. He bites his lower lip, his eyes darkening as he turns his entire body to face me fully.

I’m enthralled when he reaches his hand up, tucking my hair behind my ear as he leans in and whispers, “You have such beautiful eyes, Eden. When you smile, it lights up theroom. But,” he pauses, his lips just barely brushing against my skin when he breathes, making me shiver as he continues, “nothing is more attractive, although equally infuriating, than your stubborn fire. I bet making love to you is like going into a battle you’d love losing.”

My jaw drops as Rio slowly pulls away from me. For a few awkwardly long moments, I just stare at him. Is it hot in here, or do I need another meal from Ash? Would Rio feed—Nope! No freaking way. That's a line I cannot cross.

But damn, I guess he proved his point rather well. I suppose I should be gracious in my defeat. He did get me a birthday gift after all.

“Point made, no love or lust potion needed. Got it,” I say, cheeks flaming as I turn away from the handsome demon hunter beside me and focus on unwrapping my gift. I need to keep my hands busy before I do something crazy or stupid with them.

“If I was trying to make you mine, I wouldn't need a potion,” Rio says with a sigh that has to be exaggerated.

Dear Goddess, he needs to stop this, like right now.

I don’t respond, just nibble on my lip and keep unwrapping my present, suddenly frustrated by all the paper and ribbons in my way. Who even wrapped this thing, and where the hell are all of the others? I need a buffer in here, like right now. No, actually, I needed them five damn minutes ago. Rio turning his sudden charm on me is apparently a more effective lure than I thought it would be.

The world is so deeply unfair. This is supposed to bemybirthday!

“Neither would you…” he adds in a soft murmur under his breath, sounding particularly distressed by that thought, as if he hadn’t meant to think it or say it.

My heart starts pounding because I’m not entirely sure what’s happening right now. Did he mean for me to hearthose words, or is my hearing supercharged by my new demon abilities?

“Oh, wow,” I whisper, as I finally manage to get through all of the wrapping and pull a bracelet out of the box inside of it. It’s a charm bracelet, but the only charm is a small dagger. I frown, but when I turn to Rio, he only shrugs.

“It’s a promise. I won’t ever let anything happen to you or your baby. I failed you once, and I won’t fail you again. The charm,” he begins, smirking as he takes it from my hands and helps place it on my wrist, “represents my vow to keep you safe, or to die trying.”

“Wow, that’s?—”

“It’s also a tracker,” Rio adds, cutting me off before I can thank him. My mouth snaps shut as I glance down at the dagger charm. “And if you remove it, I’ll replace it with something you can’t take off.”

“There he is.” I huff, sitting back against the couch, resting my hands on top of my rounded belly as I try not to laugh. “I was beginning to get worried you might be unwell.”

Daion, Ash, and Torrin finally join us again, each of them carrying a huge tray of food, along with a gift bag. I think this might be the most spoiled I’ve ever felt in my entire adult life.

“We couldn’t decide what to feed you, so we brought a little of everything,” Torrin explains before handing me his gift. He sits on my other side as I unwrap the present. His is thankfully easier to get into, or maybe my hands are just more steady now I’m not alone with Rio when he’s acting all…confusing.

Promptly deciding to shelve all insane Rio-related thoughts, I force myself to entirely focus on Torrin’s present for me. I open the box and find a dark blue metal rose with gold-painted edges inside.

“Oh wow…” I murmur.

“It will never die.” Torrin grins, nodding to the bag. “There’s more.”

At the bottom of the bag, I locate a small charm of a blueberry pie for my new tracking bracelet. Looks like the guys coordinated on their Eden monitoring plan. I roll my eyes and chuckle, reaching over to hug him. “Thank you. These are really sweet, even if it is a tracker.”

Torrin’s cheeks turn dark red as he snaps his head to look at Rio accusingly.

“Yeah, I told her. I don’t want her to take it off. Now she knows it’s for her safety.” Rio shrugs, looking unbothered.

“It’s not only a tracker. We thought of the giftbeforewe decided to make it a tracking device,” Daion explains as he hands me his gift bag. It’s much smaller than theirs, but I couldn’t care less about that. Inside, the charm he’s gotten for my bracelet is a heart. I stare at the ruby red colour for a long moment, feeling too much to put any of it into words.

“A promise to protect your heart, however that looks for us, Eden.” Daion says, pressing another kiss to my head before going to sit across from me.

“Mine is a small potion bottle,” Ash announces, pulling the charm out of his gift bag for me. “For the night we met and made the baby.”

---