Page 41 of Unleashing Mayhem
At Chaos’s words, Cooper hurriedly reached into his satchel and pulled out a small, leather-bound book.
Nightmare’s shadows swarmed the thing, and Cooper yelped, dropping it. The shadows plucked it from the air before it could hit the ground, depositing it into Matty’s hands instead. Matty quickly clutched it to his chest, although he had no idea what he was holding.
“The Book,” Nightmare said, sounding surprised.
Well, that explained that.
Nightmare was still holding Chaos up by the throat, but his grip noticeably loosened, his talons no longer looking like they might slice through the little demon.
“I stole it from Ivan,” Chaos said with a manic little giggle, his grin as big as Matty had ever seen it, which was saying a lot. “Again.”
Matty caught Nightmare’s gaze and held it, unable to look away from that white gleam. They had the Book now. The one with the spell that would allow them to bond together.
Would they do it here? Now? Would Nightmare make Matty wait until Dominico was caught?
Quick as a blink, Chaos was out of Nightmare’s hold and back on the floor, his hand once again wrapped around Cooper’s. He was still grinning wide, like he hadn’t just threatened Matty and been threatened by Nightmare in turn.
“Did I do good?”
12
Nightmare
In Nightmare’s opinion, a subdued and respectful Chaos was barely tolerable as it was.
A gleeful, smug Chaos was something else entirely.
Still, Nightmare inclined his head. “You did very well, Bracchus.”
Better than Nightmare could have hoped, really. He’d been expecting the need to take a trip to New York himself to find the Book, and had been dreading leaving Matteo on his own. Nightmare’s human was too fragile by half, and it would have meant waiting until Dominico’s demise to secure the bond.
But Chaos had solved that little problem. How he’d known Nightmare wished to bond with his summoner was a mystery but not precisely a surprise. Nightmare had learned over their centuries together in the Void that Chaos was wily by nature—he always knew more than he should, for all that he acted like he lived without thought.
Chaos preened at Nightmare’s scant praise, glancing to his mate as if to make sure he’d heard every word. “Aren’t you gladyou didn’t paralyze me?” he asked Nightmare with a sideways look. “You’d be so embarrassed.”
Nightmare would have been nothing of the kind, but he supposed it was better that he’d been merciful. Chaos’s threat to Matteo hadn’t been genuine, anyway. If it had, Nightmare would have already torn one of his little feathered wings off.
Chaos had only wanted to see how Nightmare would react. Too curious for his own good, as per usual.
Chaos tugged Cooper to his side. “Nightmare, this is my puppy,” he announced, puffed up with blatant pride as he presented his human.
“Cooper,” his mate corrected gently, eyeing Nightmare nervously. “His, um, mate.”
Nightmare inclined his head. “I’m aware.”
Chaos beamed. “I warned him you could be a bit aggressive. I told him not to worry.” He rubbed his cheek against Cooper’s. “But youdidworry, didn’t you, puppy? Isn’t he perfect?” he asked Nightmare. “Have you seen his eyes? And his lovely fingers? Actually no, don’t look at those. Those are mine. But you can look at his eyes. Don’t poke them out though. You couldn’t anyway—he’s wearing glasses.”
All Nightmare saw was a human, one like any other. He had tawny hair and mismatched eyes—one green, one brown—covered by spectacles. But his scent mingled contentedly with Chaos’s. It appeared Chaos had indeed found a proper mate, one who didn’t seem to mind his incessant chatter.
Chaos turned to Matteo, although he wisely didn’t step any closer. “Just a little hug, maybe?” he asked hopefully.
Matteo flushed, shuffling his feet and ducking his head, although his hood wasn’t pulled up to hide his face properly. “Yeah, of course. I didn’t mean to—”
Nightmare laid a hand on Matteo’s shoulder, letting his shadows trail off to stroke Matteo’s reddened cheek inreassurance. It wouldn’t do for Matteo to feel ashamed of his protective temper. Nightmare had enjoyed it immensely.
“I don’t hug, Bracchus. You know this.”
It wasn’t in Nightmare’s nature to enjoy the touch of other creatures. None except his sweet summoner.
