Page 100 of The Devil and His Goddess

Exceptions were made if he was called in on a job for the big man, which he just had been. The kills ordered by the Prince of Darkness didn’t count toward his limit, which was why he enjoyed getting calls from Hell in between the meals we gave him.

If he’d just killed Babette, that was his one. Now we’d have to wait another month for my complete revenge to come to fruition.

I stared at my hands and tried not to let the disappointment consume me. “Another month of life for that fucker.”

“It won’t be pain free,” Zagan vowed.

“Yeah,” Dante agreed as he clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Think of it as another month of torture before he’s handed over to therealmonster.”

We all looked at Coldin, who stared at his feet, his unruly brown hair hanging close to his green eyes. Even as fellow demons, none of us could imagine the thoughts, urges, and ideas that bounced around that head of his. He might look calm and detached, butweall knew the truth. We knew what Letums were capable of. Just thinking about Drake ending up in Coldin’s hands made me shiver with eager delight.

The conversation moved on to Eden and her attempts to help out at Hell’s Gate while new ownership was figured out. That got some chuckles out of us as we pictured the sporadic, energized demon fumbling about to handle the club. We’d probably return to find the red-and-black color scheme changed to pink-and-gold.

That news wasn’t near as interesting as what had happened to Dante. He’d apparently found a new toy named Serenity, and considering the demon rarely declared prolonged interest in humans, that intrigued me. Though, I was too drained to tease him about it.

Instead, I silently listened to the rest of the group gossip and watched Zagan move to the chair Iyla sat in. He hoisted her up easily before taking her seat, letting her settle back in his lap. His fingers mindlessly coasted up and down the side of her hip. Her own body visibly relaxed while she leaned into his hold. It was clear the two of them were at home in each other’s arms.

The sight made the lump rise in my throat all over again. Confiding in my friends and being here with them had helped alleviate the weight from my chest, and Iyla’s words had given me some shred of an answer to hold onto. Seeing the two of them now reminded me of my own home.

I needed to get back to her.

With a quick goodbye to the band and Iyla, I transported back to my house through shadows. My girl was still in the exact spot she’d been in when I left, and while I wanted to heave in defeat at the sight, I kept my footing. I braced my shoulders and crossed the room to lie down on the bed beside her.

Her blue eyes, full of buried sorrow, met mine. Instead of trying to force a fake sense of normalcy or cheer, I slid my hand across the blankets to gently intertwine our fingers. I squeezed her hand to let her know that I was here, and I would wait for her to come back to me whenever she was able.

Chapter 37

Harper

ICY TERROR COATED MY INSIDES. My hands shook as I stared at the name on my phone, and almost against my will, I swiped to answer the call. It was like seeing a disaster on the side of the road. You knew you shouldn’t look, but the horror snagged you, unrelenting in its grip on you.

Could I answer the calls from my family? No. But my mind was willing to torture me further by accepting this one? Apparently so. I knew I shouldn’t answer, but I couldn’t stop myself.

I held my breath when I brought the device to my ear. I didn’t speak. I couldn’t, even as a thousand words cycled through my head.

Silence filled the other end before a soft, choked voice called out, “Harper? Are you there?”

I bit the inside of my cheek as my breath heaved in my chest.

“Look,” Mandi whimpered from the other end, “I really hope you can hear me. I … I need to talk to you. Please. I-I-I really,reallyneed to talk to you. Can we meet?”

Nausea rolled through my insides, and when I tried to make words, they only got stuck in my throat.

“We can meet at the coffee shop near work,” Mandi barreled on, sniffling into the phone. “Please? I’ll buy you a drink.”

Buy me a drink? Buy me adrink? I wanted to scream bitterly in her face. The last time I’d accepted a drink from her …

“What do you want?” I managed to choke out.

A sigh of relief came from the other end. “I just want to talk. I think we both could use it.”

There was nothing Mandi could offer me that would change what had happened. There was nothing she could do to fix what she’d helped to break. But there was one thing she could do—tell me why.

It was only because I wanted to know why she’d done this that I found myself sitting at a small table, a cup of untouched coffee in front of me with a fidgeting Mandi across from me.

“Thank you for coming out,” Mandi said, tucking some blonde hair behind her ear. She waved her hand at the crutches leaned against the wall by her chair. “I’m sure you’ve heard about my leg.”

“I heard,” I replied flatly.

---