Page 44 of Unleashing Mayhem
“How is that perfect?” Matteo asked. He was kneading Nightmare’s antlers now, squeezing hard and then releasing the pressure. He seemed to find it soothing.
Chaos laughed. “Little mouse, you have a nightmare demon on his knees for you. What do you think one human creep is going to be able to do? And I bet Ivan would jump at the chance to off another Caruso.Idefinitely wouldn’t want to miss anything this fun. ” Chaos waved a hand at the laptop. “Let this guy come to Seacliff. We’ll be waiting.”
It wasn’t often Nightmare revised his opinion of a creature, but perhaps now was the time.
Maybe the little chaos demon wasn’t so bad after all.
13
Nightmare
“You dislike the food, sweet?” Nightmare asked, glaring at the tiny, offending chicken carcass across from him, with its glazed brown skin and assorted little potatoes.
Matteo glanced up from his task of poking at the chicken listlessly with his fork. “What? No, it’s delicious.”
“Yet you do not eat it.”
Matteo stared at his fork, as if surprised it hadn’t made it to his lips. “I’m nervous, I guess.”
That much was evident from the way his gaze kept sliding to the side of their table, where the Book lay next to his plate.
Matteo hadn’t wanted to leave it in the hotel room. “What if Chaos decides to steal it back just for fun?” he’d asked. And while that outcome was unlikely, it wasn’t impossible, so Nightmare had agreed to bring it with them and shroud it in his shadows.
At least the news of Dominico’s knowledge of his whereabouts had dampened some of Matteo’s twitchy fear ofstrangers. While that may have been due to shock more than anything else, it made eating in this restaurant less agitating than it could have been for them both.
They’d come to a place recommended by Cooper. Chaos’s shy human had told them he’d taken Chaos here on the way to Seacliff before.
The restaurant claimed to be farm to table, though Nightmare saw no barns nor livestock in the vicinity. But it had secluded booths for seating and a quiet atmosphere, and the hostess hadn’t frowned at Matteo’s casual attire, so it would do.
Cooper and Chaos had bowed out of dinner, much to Nightmare’s delight. They’d declared that they’d had other matters to attend to first. Nightmare had no doubt those “matters” included Chaos immediately tattling about Nightmare’s intentions to the other demons. But that would work in Nightmare’s favor, if there was to be a confrontation in Seacliff. Any backup would be welcome—even the incubus could be useful at times.
Cooper and Chaos would rejoin them in Seacliff instead. Their agreement was to head back in the morning and then have Matteo seen about town as much as possible, to lure either Dominico or his men out into the open.
But first, there was an eternal bond to attend to.
Nightmare nodded toward the Book. “You may ask me questions.”
“We’ll be together forever?” Matteo asked immediately, like he’d only been waiting for the opportunity for reassurance.
“Yes, sweet. Forever.”
Matteo nodded, finally taking a real bite of his chicken. Even after he’d finished the mouthful, he didn’t pose another question. Nightmare cocked his head, silently inviting more.
“Oh.” Matteo hummed, seeming to think it over. “Will I change somehow?” His gaze darted up to the empty space aboveNightmare’s head where his antlers would be in his demon form. “Maybe get my own pair of accessories?”
He didn’t seem opposed to the idea, a fact that made Nightmare smile.
“No accessories. Though your lifespan will increase drastically and your aging will slow,” Nightmare explained. “You will gain access to demon strength and healing, to call upon when needed. You will be very hard to kill.”
“But not impossible to hurt?”
It was a reasonable question for Matteo, who’d been hurt so thoroughly and so often by those around him in the past.
“Demons and their mates can be harmed, yes,” Nightmare conceded. And that may have been true for demons in general, but it wouldn’t hold true for Matteo; Nightmare would make sure of it. “But you will have me.”
“Always,” Matteo prompted, a new ferocity in his voice. “That’s what the bond means. I’ll have you always.”
“Yes.”
