Chapter 19 Supply Run
SUPPLY RUN
Ozirax
“No, other boundary.”
“This is the only boundary!”
“Yes, but you’re on the wrong side.”
“Who the fuck made up these rules?” Kaly shouted.
Tonomoch threw his hands up in frustration. “I don’t know. They did. The… demons.”
“That’s not an answer!” She grunted, pointing to the line painted on the grass. “I can stand in this square, but not that rectangle?”
“No,” Rand said, hand scrubbing over his face. “That’s where the enforcer stands. You’re in the rectangle, he’s in the square.”
She nodded slowly. “Are we sure we can’t tackle the enforcer?”
Tonomoch tossed the ball in the air, turning away with a muttered, “I give up.”
Kalypso pulled up a clump of purple grass and chucked it at his back. “That’s a serious question! What if the enforcer has the ball and they’re being a dick again? I think I should be allowed to tackle them.”
Rand blew out a curse. “Gifted with Heck’s greatest tackler, only to find she has no sense of direction.” He rolled his head to Ozirax. “You know, you could help with this.”
Oz shrugged, biting his tongue to keep from laughing. “Absolutely not. I like my balls attached for marathon sex every night.”
“Fuck you.” Rand picked up the ball and chucked it hard enough Ozirax let out a grunt as he caught it. The yellow demon then jabbed a finger at Kaly. “Fuck you, too.”
She snapped her blunt teeth at him, and he was smart enough to jerk his clawed finger away.
“Down, Spicy,” Oz purred. “Save it for the match. The other team, this time.”
Kalypso squished her face into an unamused glare, and it truly was an adorable thing. Not that Ozirax would ever tell her, lest her stubbornness prevent her from ever doing it again.
Or him again.
Last night, he’d waited for that small opportunity where she slept like the dead before scooping her into his arms and moving her back to her own bed.
Sure, it wasn’t exactly how he imagined things would go after confessing his feelings, having the most passionate sex of his life, and nearly whispering three of the most dangerous words in his vocabulary, but he wasn’t so foolish to overwhelm her.
She had given him her trust, and he would cherish that gift and protect it with every spike on his spine. Not to mention the trust she’d had in not only telling him immediately about Dolgeraus’s blackmailing, but that she was willing to get the squad involved in their little revenge plan.
A gold hand flashed in his periphery, and Ozirax twisted away just before Tonomoch slapped the ball out of his grip. Pushing off the grass, he leaped over the gold demon’s swinging tail, easily dodging the spikes at the end.
Skipping backward, Oz spread his arms wide with the ball in one hand. “Too slow, elder.”
Tonomoch huffed. “Stop bragging about your innate agility magic. I’m barely a year older than you.”
“Wait,” Kaly said, gesturing for the ball. Oz threw it, both her hands snatching it with ease as she cocked her head. “How old are you?”
“Thirty five.” When her mouth popped open, he froze, stomach twisting. “Uh, is that—”
“Just thirty five?” she asked, brow pinching.
Oz shot a panicked look at Tonomoch and Rand who looked just as confused. “Yes?”
Kalypso’s entire body sagged. “Huh. So like… you’ll all outlive me?”
“Unless you’re planning on doing something stupid, demons have the same life expectancy as humans,” Tonomoch clarified.
Ozirax stiffened, but the gold demon didn’t notice.
“We’ll all die at the ripe old age of next year when Oz freezes at the sight of an atteapir and we’re sliced apart with fire.
” The gold demon looked his way, sniffing the air. “Kind of like he’s doing right now.”
But Kaly was also ignoring Tonomoch’s suspicious look and Rand’s narrowing eyes, her blue and green gaze piercing Ozirax to the spot.
She recovered first, shaking her head as she gave the other two demons a casual smile. “I guess I still don’t know everything about demons. I assumed since you were all so immature that it would take centuries for you to actually grow up.”
That broke the tension into howling laughter, and before Kalypso could dodge, Ozirax had one arm around her waist, the other bracing the back of her neck as he tackled her. Curses rang out alongside her laughter, and then she was pitching the ball to Tonomoch before Oz had technically grounded her.
He let his body take the brunt of the fall, but then he was spinning, leaning over her as Rand tried to tackle Tonomoch in the distance.
Her braid twisted away from her, tangled with blades of purple grass, but there was a grin on her face.
A lightness replacing the heaviness of the moment just before.
One that he never thought possible to see on her face.
“Rule number one—”
“Don’t get tackled with the ball,” Kaly filled in as she rolled her eyes.
“How long are you going to pretend you don’t understand this game and have had the rules memorized since the start?”
Her smile turned wicked. “How many more times do you think I can tackle a biased enforcer before everyone catches on?”
“At least twice more.”
“There’s your answer.”
A throat clearing brought Oz’s attention back, and then he was standing and yanking Kaly up to greet Garion. “About time you joined practice.”
The blue demon didn’t look amused. “Mail room. I don’t think anyone’s cleaned in there for a month. There are drayk nests everywhere.” He huffed a breath. “That’s not why I was late.”
Garion plucked a letter from his pants pocket, the parchment a little crinkled, and a corner nibbled on, but it was otherwise intact.
“What’s—”
Kalypso was already snatching it out of his hand, turning away from them as she ripped into the envelope.
Ozirax watched her with a frown, then turned back to Garion to finish his question. “What’s that?”
Garion gave him a firm look, then glanced at Tonomoch and Rand who had joined them. “A letter from her sister.”
Oz jerked his head back to Kaly, trying to get a read on her shoulders or back, but she gave nothing away as she looked over the letter.
“Hey,” Garion whispered, so quietly only demon hearing would be able to hear him. “It wasn’t in her mail slot. It was between random boxes. Almost missed it if I wasn’t cleaning out feathers, and I’m going to guess a drayk didn’t shove it down there. I don’t know how long it’s been here.”
Rage boiled in Ozirax’s chest, spikes and claws flaring. “I’m going to fucking murder Drolmoth.”
Kalypso had been devastated at the lack of communication from her sister after their fight.
The lack of embroidery on her outfit last night had nearly broken her.
But if Kat had sent that letter, had been waiting for a response only for Drolmoth’s prank to keep them apart, he was going to commit a lot worse crimes than murder.
A rough hand curled around his arm, expertly weaving between his spikes.
“Hold on,” Tonomoch whispered, his gaze distant. His brow pinched, and then he was blinking. “You, uh… Maybe bloodbath murder date should be postponed for now.”
Whatever the gold demon had sensed in the shift of emotions was enough for Ozirax to soften his demeanor as he looked toward Kalypso again.
He slipped away from the demons, approaching cautiously.
Over her deflated shoulders, he could see the print—large and clear, because her sister understood Kalypso’s needs.
And though Kaly didn’t try to hide the note from his eyes, he didn’t read it.
Only stood a step behind her, waiting for when she was ready.
Kalypso slowly folded the parchment, tucking it into her pocket with a trembling hand. Her breaths came slowly through her mouth, but there was a hitch, and then she was whispering, “I don’t want them to see.”
They both knew the other three demons could scent her tears, not to mention Tonomoch’s sense of her emotions, but Oz could oblige.
“We’re going to head into town,” he called over his shoulder.
Ozirax curled his hand around Kaly’s, tugging her away from the field and toward the path into Heck.
She didn’t resist, but her legs dragged and her body was stiff.
It wasn’t until they were beyond the perimeter of the barracks, tapping off on her cuff to let her through the rune barrier, that she finally sniffed and wiped her cheeks.
He slowed, still guiding her with his grip until they were nestled between trees off the main path.
Eyes damp, she looked anywhere but at him as her lower lip trembled.
He only squeezed her hand in comfort. “You don’t have to tell me. We can just… find a place to sit.”
She worked her tongue around her mouth. “It wasn’t… bad.” Shifting on either foot, she shrugged. “I mean, I guess it was as good as it could be after what I did.”
“Kaly.”
“She’s not ready to see me yet,” Kalypso muttered. “But she wants to work on herself before she’s ready to work on… us.”
Ozirax nodded. “Would you like to send a letter back?”
A deep, slow breath, and then she shook her head. “I think… maybe I should take more time. Prove to her I can… give her the space she needs.” Her fingers tightened around his palm. “I think I also want to prove it to myself. But it’s really hard not to do anything.”
His chest warmed at the determination setting in on her features, and it was a test of his restraint to not give her a weapon and set her loose on Dolgeraus and Drolmoth as a distraction. But there was something else he could do to keep them both occupied.
“Come on,” he said, tugging her back to the path.
“Where?” she grunted, and he felt a little smug that she hadn’t tried to pull her hand free yet.
“Town. I’m late for a meeting.”
That brought back her sharp tongue. “First, you definitely don’t have a meeting. Second, you’re never late for anything.”
Ozirax grinned. “Okay, I’m an hour and a half early to an informal agreement, but I’m sure it’s not a big deal.” He tugged her forward again, urging her to match his pace. “And you haven’t seen all of town yet.”