Page 13 of The Devil and His Goddess

But none of us had the gift of song-writing that Zagan did. Even what he considered his worst,wefucking loved. But he needed to love it, too, which was why this hiatus was necessary. With time, our leader would find his footing again, and in the meantime, the rest of us would find things to entertain ourselves.

My current amusement started with H and ended in —arper.

The rush of excitement that burned through my veins with the mere thought of all I had planned for her had me biting my lip to contain my grin.

“Okay,” Zagan finally said as he took a deep breath. He nodded slowly and straightened, adjusting his signature black button-up, which was open at the top to expose his chest tattoos. “Let’s announce our break then.”

THE LIVESTREAM ENDED, AND THE five of us instantly relaxed.

“That went well,” Xander decided as he leaned his head against the couch, the longer half of his hair flopping back.

“I hadn’t expected anything less from our fans,” Dante said with a smirk as he raised his muscular arms in a stretch, exposing the hard lines of his torso beneath his shirt.

He was right. Our fans—the Sinners, as they called themselves—were extremely loyal, and even though there was a lot of sadness expressed in the chat during the livestream, there was also an outpouring of love. They understood this was the best thing for us right now and would wait patiently for our return.

“Feel better about it?” I asked Zagan from where I’d gravitated to the kitchen to grab some bourbon. I poured two fingers worth into five glasses, and the guys came over to grab theirs.

“A lot better,” Zagan admitted, immediately downing his drink. “Now I can really focus without … the pressure.”

“I’m gonna miss the VIP parties,” Xander lamented with a heavy sigh. The bleak expression quickly morphed into one of excitement. “But I’ll be able to fill the free time with plenty of other entertainments.”

I finished off my drink and turned to our forever-quiet drummer. “Speaking of entertainments, I have a favor to ask, Coldin.”

The green of Coldin’s human eyes immediately darkened to become black voids, and flames danced in those onyx orbs. “Who do I get to kill?”

My skin immediately prickled with unease. A wave of nerves spread from me to the other guys. Even though we were cool with Coldin, he was still a Letum demon—Hell’s most violent killer. If his contract with us broke for even a second, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill each and every one of us, and he’d do it with a smile on his face. That was theonlytime the demon smiled—when he was fucking mutilating someone.

“No one,” I answered with a harsh swallow. I cleared the sudden gravel from my voice and gave him an apologetic smile. “That’s not the favor I need.”

The brief glimmer of light in his eyes extinguished as quickly as it had lit. He blinked, and just like that, his eyes were back to a bored green. His pierced mouth stayed as straight as ever, everything about him blank once again.

“I was wondering,” I started slowly, “since we’re on break right now and you won’t be needing it for the time being, could I borrow your mask?”

He shrugged. “Whatever.”

A demon of many words, this one.

“Why do you need his mask?” Zagan asked with a curious raise of his pierced brow.

I smiled wide and poured myself some more bourbon. “My newest obsession has a thing for masked men, and I plan on making good on that fantasy.”

Chapter 6

Harper

“THAT WEDDING WAS JUST TOO beautiful,” Aiysha gushed with a teary smile, still watching the end of the episode. “I’m going to make my dad officiate my wedding whenever that happens.”

Smiling at the idea, I paused the reality show before it could continue onto the next episode. “Do you want to watch another one?”

She looked at the time on her phone and dropped her head to stare at the ceiling as she groaned, “Ugh! I want to, but I need to get those assignments and reading done. The professorsreallywanted us to feel welcomed back from fall break.”

I gave her a sympathetic pat on the leg then jumped to my feet. “No worries. The ballet masters gave us a sample dance to work on this week so the heads can determine our places. I’m going to be in the studio working on that.”

“Yes. You have to make sure you’re on top of your game forPeasant.” She barely managed to stifle her laugh.

“Bitch,” I hissed around my own laugh, shoving her gently in the arm. She wasn’t wrong. Ididwant to impress him, but only because he was the new director.

No other reason.

---