Chapter 15
fifteen
DANTE
I checked my phone for messages repeatedly during my many (delayed) meetings.
I checked Ophelia's location, too.
She stayed home, and didn't text me.
I texted her to let me know when she was awake, but I wasn't sure where she'd put her phone, so I wasn't confident she'd see the message. When I sent someone with food while I was training that evening, they said she answered the door, so I tried to stop worrying about her.
It didn't work.
The woman didn't seem to have an ounce of self-preservation in her body.
Not that I would complain about her body. I'd barely managed to stop thinking about it since I left her side.
I'd never understood that small portion of male demons who had a kink for knotting non-demon females before, but now?
I got it.
Really fucking got it.
"Dante?" Grayson repeated, and I glanced sideways.
"Hmm?"
He lifted an eyebrow at me.
I looked down at my gloves.
Ah.
Right.
We were about to start another round.
"Your head's not in this," he said, and his expression was knowing.
There was no point in denying it. "Not really."
"You could go spend the evening with her."
"She wants to be apart."
Grayson made a noncommittal noise. "You could make living together worth her time."
Yeah, I could. I'd proven it that morning.
I sat down on the mat we'd been about to spar on, getting a little more comfortable. Grayson did the same. "It's a delicate situation."
"Probably not as delicate as you think."
"She said most angels don't stay with their mates."
Grayson frowned. "Why not?"
"They use the mate bond to unlock their magic, and move on. I don't think she'd leave if it meant fucking me over, but I don't know her that well. I've already pushed her a lot. More seems like a risk."
"Then get to know her before you push her anymore."
"She's not interested in getting to know each other, either."
"Then make her interested. Make her need you too."
"She'll never need me to the extent I need her," I pointed out. "There's a reason that cross-species mate bonds are rare."
Most sane demons wouldn't risk tying their life to someone whose life wasn't also tied to theirs. If a vampire and a siren sealed a mate bond, they had to rely on each other for the rest of their immortality. The same thing was true with any two demons.
Grayson was technically mated to a fae, but the way he explained it, his mate needed him as much as he needed her. Fae magic was innately unbalanced.
"People who aren't demons seal mate bonds often enough, and a lot of them are happy together," he pointed out. "A couple can need each other for more than just magic or blood. There's something she needs from you too, man. Just find it, and give it to her."
"I thought we were training," Jazz drawled, striding into the room in her workout clothes. "If we're here to talk about sex, I'm leaving."
Grayson grinned. "It wasn't supposed to sound sexual."
"Managed to anyway," I said, stretching my arms out over my chest. "Where's River?"
"Reconnecting with old friends again. What was the comment about?" Jazz asked, joining us on the mat.
"Dante doesn't know how a cross-species mate bond can work because his angel doesn't need anything from him," Grayson explained. "Except money."
"I made her a bank account and connected her to mine. She doesn’t need money," I corrected.
Jazz looked at me like I was crazy. "You think she doesn't need you? Have you met her?"
"Yes, Jazz. I've met my mate. If you're going to insult her again, fuck off with it."
"I didn't mean it as an insult. I talked to her the other day. Like… friends. She hates what she is to the point where she thinks her blood disgusts you."
My nostrils flared, anger trickling back in. "I cleared that up."
"Already? No. A woman who despises her own magic to that extent isn't going to get over it just because you compliment her once or twice. Believe me, some hatred runs way too deep for that."
I'd need to talk to Ophelia again, to make sure she knew where I stood as far as her magic went.
And definitely her blood.
Grayson and I had both known for a long time that Jazz hated what she was, but she'd seemed to be doing a lot better with it since she met River.
"Did River say something negative about your magic?" I asked.
Her face flushed. "No. God, no. That man loves my magic in ways I can't even comprehend." She cleared her throat. "We were talking about Ophelia."
"We were training," I corrected, rising to my feet again just to end the conversation.
Grayson stood up too.
He and I sparred again while she stretched on the mats.
I lost.
My mind kept going back to the female I still knew so little about. The one who was mine, even though my bed was still too fucking empty.