“I can’t think why he would. It’s not like his past feelings for me were real.” Raini crossed to the reception area and used the remote control to switch off the wall-mounted TV. “Succubae snares wear off unless the succubae wills them not to, and I didn’t snare him on purpose—he just fell into it.”
“It happens. Some demons are susceptible to them,” said Devon, cleaning her station’s large wall-mounted mirror. “If your sister had been a succubus like you and your mom instead of an imp like your dad, Dwain probably would have been enchanted by Demi instead.”
“Probably.” Raini placed the remote on the coffee table, careful not to knock off the portfolios. “I hate that he doesn’t see how much he’s hurting Demi right now.”
“What I hate,” began Khloë, “is that your own sister blames you for the fact that she’s hurting. It is not your fault that Demi fell for her anchor. It is not your fault that he fell for you. And it is definitely not your fault that he’s now mated to someone else.”
No, it wasn’t, but … “In Demi’s mind, if I hadn’t rejected him, he wouldn’t have moved away, and she and him would have gotten together eventually.”
Harper frowned. “But if you hadn’t rejected him, Demi would have hated you for dating the man she loves, so there’s really no way you can win here.”
“Oh, I know. But she never lets reason or rationality get in the way.” Most imps didn’t, to be fair.
“Do you think Dwain knows how Demi really feels about him?” asked Devon, idly fiddling with a pen from the reception desk. The hellcat scowled when Khloë snatched it from her and put it on a very specific spot on her desk.
“I don’t think so,” replied Raini. “He cares for her a lot. If he’d known this news would hurt her, he would have told her in private, not sucker-punched her with it by just turning up unannounced and saying, ‘Meet Harmony, my mate.’”
“I don’t like Demi, never have,” Devon said to Raini. “Mostly because she’s always been pissy toward you. So I’m finding it hard to feel bad for her right now, but I’ll keep trying.”
Raini snickered. She and Demi were like chalk and cheese, and they’d never gotten along. The whole mess with Dwain only made it worse. “To her credit, she hasn’t been rude or unwelcoming toward Harmony. She hasn’t tried to taint this for Dwain. Only those who know her well can sense she’s hurting.”
“Well, let me tell you, Grams is furious with him for being so blind to it,” said Harper.
“Yeah, I picked up on that easily enough. She often looks at him as though she’d like nothing better than to skewer him with a spear.” It really was a pleasant visual.
A cold, familiar psyche touched Raini’s, and then Maddox’s voice flowed into her mind. How was work today?
Coming from anyone else, the mundane out-of-the-blue question might have seemed like an awkward attempt at small talk. But one thing Raini had learned about Maddox in the past four months was that there was no small talk with him. If he asked you a question, it was because he wanted to know the answer.
He generally didn’t bother with hellos. He got straight to the point. Unless, of course, he was toying with someone. He could turn on the charm then, but it was just a mask. He didn’t wear it with her. She liked that.
It was fine, she replied. As per their agreement, she always responded now.
Don’t forget you’re due to come to my club tomorrow.
I won’t.
His mind briefly sort of stroked hers, and then he was gone.
She would have thought their little meetings would be awkward and strained, but they weren’t. Probably because he only ever asked her simple everyday questions as opposed to anything too personal. She suspected he already knew most of her private business; that he’d already compiled some sort of dossier on her—Maddox provided that service for people for a fee.
Initially, she’d expected him to attempt to seduce her, given his past sexual telepathic whispers. But he’d never once flirted with her or said anything suggestive, although a glitter of heat had occasionally flashed in those usually vacant eyes.
Maybe he’d quite simply decided that introducing sex into the mix would only complicate things. She’d have to agree with him on that. Which both disappointed and relieved her, because she was so very conflicted where he was concerned.
She wanted to dislike him. Wanted to hold that image of him being cruel and malicious in her mind so that she wouldn’t lament that he didn’t want the bond. But it was hard to truly dislike someone when you couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. He was a demon who carried the very potent blood of a powerful archangel. How hard must it be to feel torn on the inside by both dark and light—two such extremes?
You’d exist in the gray.
It explained why his emotions rarely seemed to fluctuate and why very little seemed to touch him. He often made her think of someone walking around an art museum bored out of their mind. He saw everything. Noted everything. Processed it all like it was data. But he didn’t really see it in a way that allowed him to appreciate it. And that seemed so sad.
Her inner demon wasn’t so sympathetic. But then, it wasn’t a creature who could feel compassion or empathy. It was too predatory. Too callous. Too dark. And exceedingly pissed that their anchor wouldn’t just claim them already.
“Hello?” sang Khloë, waving her hand in front of Raini’s face. “Raini, this is base, do you copy?”
Snapping back to the present, Raini poked the petite woman’s shoulder. “Smartass.”
“You had that ‘I’m not home right now’ look in your eyes that told me you were having a telepathic chat with someone. Was it Maddox?”
“He was just checking in, as usual.”
“Hmm.” Khloë folded her arms. “Grams said that Demi was smug on hearing that he doesn’t want to bond with you.”
“Your Grams said it to you, or she said it to someone else and you were eavesdropping?”
“Let’s not wander off the subject.”
Raini snorted.
“Is Demi all smug and shit?” asked Devon, frowning.
“She likes the idea that my anchor rejected me, yes,” replied Raini.
Harper’s face darkened. “But he hasn’t rejected you. He’s rejected the bond, which isn’t the same thing at all. Doesn’t she know he assigned you a guard—one I rarely notice, she’s so damn good at subtly watching over you—and had a hi-tech security system installed at your house?”
Both acts had originally annoyed Raini, but he’d ever so kindly reminded her that she’d agreed not to obstruct his attempts to keep her safe. That seemed to be an umbrella term that would let him get away with all kinds of shit. Like when he’d had a protective spell put on her car—it wouldn’t stop a crash from happening, but it would keep the vehicle intact, which would mean she’d suffer less injuries.
“Oh, she knows,” Raini replied. “But she sees that as him simply giving the impression that he cares.”
Harper’s brow creased. “Maddox isn’t interested in people’s impressions of him.”