Page 108 of Demon Found

I nod. “No danger.” It’s not exactly a lie. I’m not going anywhere, so nothing is getting packed.

Within a couple of hours, Naeve’s done. I swear that girl has enough in her bags for a month away. Zephyr and Farrell saunter in each with small suitcases, and Chano lumbers in behind with a motorcycle saddle bag slung on one shoulder.

“Ready?” Zephyr cocks his head, peering around the room. “Where are your bags, Lorelei?”

“Uh. I’m not going. No, don’t look at me like that. I’ll take time off, I promise. But where would I go?”

Naeve lets out a high-pitched squeak. “Wherever you went at Solstice?”

I shake my head slightly, and her big brown eyes widen. Scrunching my nose, I toe the corner of the rug. A tingling blush creeps up my neck. Shit. I mean, they knew at the time. They didn’t care then.

“I, eh, stayed here at Solstice.” They start muttering and I glance sharply between them. “C’mon, you can’t expect me to believe you didn’t know. Where the hell else was I going to go?”

“Fuck, Lori, I didn’t think—” Zephyr chokes out. “I was too excited to see my family for the first time in years.”

I squeeze my lips together in a firm line, biting my tongue. He deserved to see them. I’m used to being alone. It shouldn’t have bothered me so much.

“We should have thought, you shouldn’t have been alone.” Farrell’s voice cracks, and I nearly choke on my surprise.

Puffing out my cheeks, I shrug. There’s no point in making a fuss now. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch sight of Chano. He marches toward me with such intent I back away instinctively.

“You’ll come home with me. Meet mi mami.”

“Go to gangland turf and meet the matriarch? That sounds relaxing,” Farrell says, deadpan.

Chano ignores my protest and scoops me up. He hefts me over a shoulder and makes for the door.

“Put me down this instant, Chano Maverik!”

He ducks under the doorway, only just avoiding slamming my head into the lintel.

He turns his face, burying it in my hair and inhaling.

“Down. Now!”

“I’m sorry you were alone at Solstice. Never going to be alone again, chica.” He lets me slide down his body until the tips of my toes touch the ground again. “Will you come meet mi mami? I wanted to ask you . . . thought you’d have your own plans.”

“I like my own company,” I grumble, straining up to peck his cheek. “But, yes, I’ll come. I’d like to meet your family.”

I take in the stricken faces of the rest of the allegiance.

“For Hades’s sake, guys. No one died. I spent a few weeks alone over the holidays. No biggie.” I shrug.

Maybe I’m a bad person, but the genuine pain in their eyes is somehow comforting.

The idea comes to me as we leave. We have to drive past my old neighborhood and I have some unfinished business.

“Chano? Can we change plans? Thereisactually somewhere I need to be.”

His face falls. For such a big guy he sure as hell is wearing his heart on his sleeve for me. I give his hand a squeeze.

“Won’t take long. But you might disapprove . . . ”

He regards me for a long moment.

“So long as we’re not paying a visit to any ex-boyfriends, I’m good with it.”

“Uh. It is to see someone from my past.” I can’t help teasing him.

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