17. Katalina
KATALINA
“So you’re going out with Mako today?” I asked as I stood in the doorway of the small bathroom while I braided my hair.
“Yep,” he replied. He was sitting on the edge of the bed tying his boots.
“I want my weapons,” I insisted.
“No.”
I dropped my hands and my mouth fell open slightly. “Did you say no?”
“I did.”
“I cannot be expected to stay here without protection,” I snapped. My ire with this stubborn man was making my blood boil.
“You’re a demon,” he shrugged. “I’m sure you have other ways to kill a threat.”
“Yes, I do. But my weapons are more effective.”
“Don’t you have some type of demon power to be able to kill things?” he smirked.
A saccharine-sweet smile curved my lips as I approached him, hips swaying seductively.
My ego jumped a notch at the way his pupils dilated as they swept over me when I stopped in front of him.
I leaned forward, ensuring my cleavage was on full display before his eyes.
My hands rested on his muscular thighs, and I could feel them tense beneath my palms.
“Do you know what kind of demon I am?” I whispered in a soft, husky tone.
“No. Why should I?” His attempt at nonchalance was humorous.
I grinned.
“I’m a succubus.”
He stared blankly at me. He obviously didn’t understand what that meant.
“I kill creatures by sucking out their life essence in moments of passion.”
The corners of his mouth turned down as I saw him starting to piece it together.
“Yeah, so basically when I’m fucking them.”
Fury flashed in his gaze as he bolted to his feet and grabbed my biceps, pulling me up until we were toe-to-toe and he was practically snarling. “Over. My. Dead. Body.”
He released me, opened his top drawer, and pulled out a small stack of T-shirts. Then he grabbed a rolled-up towel and shoved it in my hands.
Though I could already sense the power humming from the blades within, I unrolled it to find the gleaming and etched blades staring back at me. Satisfaction bloomed in my chest as I reverently laid the towel on the bed. Then I methodically sheathed each one. Seven in all.
“Ahh, it’s good to have you home, my pretties,” I purred as I stroked one of the handles. “I wasn’t happy to find you had taken them from my car,” I snapped as I glared at him.
“I had one of the prospects clean it out when he picked it up. I’ve seen the way you wield those.
I wasn’t taking any chances,” he admitted without an ounce of shame.
He closed in on me again. “But if you use a single one of those against one of my brothers or our families, there will be nowhere you can hide that I won’t find.
Because I will relentlessly hunt you down. ”
For a moment, I was taken aback. Then I realized he had no idea. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“The mate bond. You were right, you know. I cannot kill you without dying myself. Your family is now my family.” My head tilted slightly as I studied his reaction.
Surprise widened his eyes, then his lips parted with no words coming out.
“I am you, and you are me, together, one we will always be,” I recited the ancient phrase that had been in my species since the beginning of time. Or at least since the first time a demon fell in love with a human and tied his essence to them.
He raised his hand, and his rough fingertips traced the curve of my cheek.
“Do you understand now how we are linked? For a demon to choose a mate, the human must agree to have their lifeline tied to the demon. They essentially become a demon to be with them. If one dies, the other dies. Fated mates for demons are practically unheard of—already, our hearts beat as one.” I reached up and gently placed his hand over my heart as I rested my other hand over his.
As if a complete circuit was made, we could both feel the other’s heart beating in unison to ours.
There was a loud knock on the door.
“You ready in there?” Mako shouted from the other side.
“I have to go,” he murmured, but he didn’t move.
“Okay,” I breathed as I stared into his gold and green gaze.
“Crypt!” Mako called out before he pounded again. “Clock’s ticking!”
“Coming!” Gideon replied, then he dipped his head until his mouth met mine.
Immediate combustion. Need rushed through me, and he grabbed my ass as I jumped up into his arms. The incessant pounding finally broke through the passion-fueled fog, and our connection reluctantly broke.
“Don’t do anything crazy.”
I grinned.
He frowned.
“I promise,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
“We’ll continue this tonight,” he promised as he set me down until my feet touched the ground. With one last brief peck, he spun on his heel and went out the door.
“I can’t wait,” I whispered to the empty room.
“I would rather fight an archdemon.”
Boomslang didn’t even look up from the paperwork spread across the bar.
“Noted.”
“I mean it.”
“Good for you.”
I stared at him. The man had the audacity to continue writing. As though I hadn’t just made a perfectly reasonable argument.
Lyra was already gathering her purse while Lily stood beside her, pulling on a hoodie. Dexter hovered nearby with all the subtlety of an armored vehicle while Spook checked something on his phone.
“We won’t be long,” Lyra promised. She gave me what I’m sure she thought was a reassuring smile. Then, without a backward glance, they all left.
My jaw dropped. That wasn’t the point at all. The point was that I was being left alone with a child.
A child. I had survived assassins. Demons. Hunters. Ancient monsters. I did not do children.
“Boomslang,” I repeated.
The president finally glanced up. “Watch the kid.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a question or a request.”
I narrowed my eyes.
He narrowed his right back.
Around us, several Kings suddenly became very interested in not paying attention as they pretended to be intensely occupied by anything but this exchange. Cowards. All of them.
“I have killed things older than civilization,” I informed him through clenched teeth.
“Congratulations.” He appeared unimpressed as he stared at me with his stubborn face devoid of expression.
“I once removed a demon lord’s head with a serving fork.”
“That’s nice.”
“I. Do. Not. Babysit.”
Boomslang pointed toward Zara. “Watch. The. Kid.”
Then he got up and walked away. When I glanced around for help from any quarter, no one would meet my eyes.
I hated everyone here.
The first five minutes were terrible. Absolutely terrible.
Rigidly, I sat on one end of the worn, leather couch.
Zara sat cross-legged on the other.
We stared at each other. Neither of us spoke. Finally, I cleared my throat.
“What do children… do?”
Zara blinked. Then stared harder. Finally, she announced, “You’re weird.”
“Excuse me?” Unsure I’d heard the small creature properly, I sat up straighter.
“You’re weird,” she repeated, plain as day. The child shrugged. “Most adults don’t ask that.”
For a moment, I considered explaining that most adults weren’t ancient demon assassins. Instead, I said, “Well, what do you normally do?”
She considered that. “Read.”
That surprised me. “Read what?”
“Everything.”
Fair enough. Silence returned. I hated silence unless I was alone. The child apparently didn’t. She continued staring at me.
For a while, I tried pretending that wasn’t happening.
“Don’t you have these books you love to read here?” I asked.
“I’ve read them all.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course she had. Warily, I stared at her, unsure what to do or say next.
Then—she sniffed.
Once.
Twice.
Her eyes narrowed.
Uh oh.
“Why do you smell like Crypt?”
“I do not!” I nearly choked. Actually choked. A real physical cough escaped before I could stop it.
The child looked delighted. “You do!”
I recovered quickly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You smell like him.” Another sniff. “Like exactly like him.”
My face heated. Which was absurd. I was a demon. Demons did not blush. Especially not because of five-year-olds.
“I don’t,” I repeated.
“You do.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
I was losing an argument with a child. An actual child. This was a new low.
Five minutes later, it got worse.
“Are you Crypt’s girlfriend?”
I stared at her. “No.”
Immediate answer. No hesitation. No uncertainty.
No.
Zara tilted her head. “Then why do you stare at him weird?”
I froze. “I do not stare,” I insisted, though I’d been doing just that for the last five minutes.
“You do.”
“Do not.”
“You do.”
I hated this kid.
She pointed directly at my face. “Like this.”
I blinked. “What?”
She squinted dramatically. Then made the most ridiculous expression I’d ever seen. Eyes narrowed. Mouth twisted. Head tilted. Like she was trying to solve a puzzle.
I was horrified. Because it looked familiar.
“Oh my God,” she said, and I flinched at her choice of words. “You really don’t know.”
“I don’t know what?”
“You like him.”
The words landed like a grenade. I sat perfectly still.
Across from me, Zara grinned evilly. Tiny predator.
“That’s the weird face.”
It was official. I hated her.
Ten minutes later, she had somehow moved closer. I wasn’t sure how.
One second she was across the couch. The next she was sitting beside me. Studying me. Again.
“Why do you have so many knives?” she asked as she leaned in and pointed at my sheathed knives.
“Protection.”
“From what?”
“Uh… things.”
“Like monsters?”
“Yes.”
“Can I see them?”
“No.”
She glowered through a long pause. Then she grumbled, “You’re bad at this.”
Blinking, I looked at her. “Bad at what?”
In a manner that belied her young age, she gestured vaguely. “People.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. The child wasn’t wrong.
That was deeply irritating.
A little while later, she discovered my braid. This somehow led to her sitting behind me on the couch. I wasn’t entirely sure how that happened either. Tiny fingers worked carefully through my hair.
I sat frozen. Not because I minded. But because I didn’t know what the correct response was.
“You’re very serious,” Zara informed me as she dipped her upper body around me to look at my face.
“I’ve been told that,” I confirmed.
“Crypt is serious too.”
“Mm.” I had no clue what to say to this young… thing.
“But not all the time.”
I wasn’t sure where this conversation was going. Neither was I prepared for the next question.
“Were you lonely before you came here?”
I went still. Completely still.
The child’s hands paused briefly in my hair. Then resumed.
The question hit harder than it should have. Because it wasn’t asked maliciously. Or curiously. Just… honestly.
For a moment, I stared across the room, contemplating my answer. “Sometimes.”
A beat passed. Then Zara quietly said, “Me too.”
Something painful tightened in my chest. I suddenly understood why Gideon looked at her the way he did. Not because she was strange. Or powerful. Or possibly engineered.
Because she was a child. A lonely one.
And despite all the sass and teeth and attitude—that was still quite visible underneath.
“Most people don’t know what to do with me,” Zara murmured softly.
I swallowed. Because suddenly she didn’t sound at all like a five-year-old.
She sounded like me.
Years and years ago.
“Most people don’t know what to do with me either,” I admitted.
Zara considered that. Then smiled.
“See?”
“See what?”
“We’re both weird.”
At that, I couldn’t help it. I laughed. Actually laughed. The sound startled both of us.
Then Zara laughed too. And for a moment… just a moment… everything felt strangely normal.
Which was exactly how Gideon found us.
The front door opened. Boots sounded on the floor. I looked up.
Mako was heading to the bar.
But Gideon. There he stood. Dirty. Tired. Concern written across his face. Then his eyes landed on us.
Zara sitting behind me, still working on my braid.
Me sitting cross-legged on the couch, allowing it.
The silence that followed was immediate. Dangerous.
For him anyway. Because Gideon looked like he wanted to laugh. Very badly.
“Do not,” I warned.
His mouth twitched. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Liar.
Complete liar.
Zara pointed at me. “She’s bad with children.”
“Zara,” I chastised, deeply offended, as if she was saying I was cruel to her.
“You are,” she insisted. Then she matter-of-factly continued, “But it’s okay. You don’t have any children of your own to practice with. One day you’ll be better.”
Gideon’s shoulders shook once. Just once.
The bastard.
Then his gaze softened. Not at me. At both of us. And something shifted in his expression. Something warm. Something that made my chest tighten unexpectedly.
For one terrifying second, it felt like we were already a family.
And something told me neither of us was ready for that thought.