Page 24 of Wreaking Havoc
“Oh, hey!” Seth raised a hand in greeting, his eyes on the pastries he was rearranging. Then he looked past Sascha, his eyes growing wide. “Um, hey, did you know there’s a real-life Viking behind you?”
Sascha let out a deep sigh. “I was thinking more like a Highlander.”
“Oh, cool. So I’m not hallucinating him.”
“If only.” But judging from the very real body heat at Sascha’s back, neither of them were hallucinating anything.
“I see the coffee,” Kai whispered directly into Sascha’s ear, sending a shiver down his spine.
He stepped forward deliberately, putting space between them. “Yes, of course you do. That’s why we’re here.”
He knew he sounded peevish, but he hadn’t slept well, had he? He’d been plagued mercilessly by horny dreams, and it was this giant brute’s fault.
“Two coffees?” Seth asked, looking between them with a slight smile on his lips.
“Yes, please.” Sascha’s eye caught on Seth’s green fingernails. “I forgot your nail polish.”
“You can keep it longer.” Seth’s smile grew, showcasing a dimple in one of his round cheeks. “You only got the one hand.”
Sascha glanced down at his right hand and the bare nails there. His pinky finger was tingling again. He curled it under the rest of his hand. “Oh, right. I look like a lunatic, don’t I?”
Seth shrugged, pouring out two coffees. “Maybe you’ll start a microtrend.”
Sascha shook his head with a smile. “You’re sweet.”
He tensed. There was that heat at his back again. Were all demons this clingy? Kai’s breath caressed his ear again. “Make him give us all the coffee he has.”
“I will not,” Sascha hissed. He glanced back, his irritation deflating when he caught sight of Kai’s unbearably hopeful expression. He sighed again—he was doing a lot of that these days—and turned back to the counter. “Seth? Better make that four. Four very large coffees.”
Coffees secured,Sascha led Kai down the path he’d walked the other day, this time taking it all the way to its natural end: a small, sandy beach surrounded by rocky outcrops at both ends, the lighthouse around the bend just barely visible.
In a minor miracle, there was no one else there. Sascha wasn’t quite sure whytheywere there, other than the fact thathis home still felt too small to contain both the two of them and his own inconvenient lust.
Kai had already finished two coffees just outside the bakery—and were demons immune to burning their tongues or something?—so Sascha handed the third over now.
Despite the eager greed in Kai’s eyes, he hesitated, hand outstretched. “You don’t want it for yourself?”
“One giant coffee is enough for me, thank you,” Sascha told him. “I prefer lattes anyway.” He couldn’t help watching as Kai sipped at the offering with open glee, slowing down to savor it this time around. “So what do we do now?”
Kai peered at him knowingly over the cup’s rim. “I can’t help you until I know who your enemies are, pup.”
Sascha turned his gaze out to the ocean. “I need to call Ivan, then.”
A shiver ran through him, courtesy of the harsh coastal breeze. Or maybe that was just from thoughts of his brother. What would Ivan do if he knew Sascha had a demon on his side?
He’d see it as a threat, of course. He’d seeKaias a threat. And by virtue of that, Sascha as well.
A new weight settled on Sascha’s shoulders. He glanced down to find a coat covering his shoulders, over his own jacket. A very large coat. He looked to Kai, in his shirt and soft pants. “You don’t get cold?”
Kai grinned at him. “I run hot.”
“I bet you do,” Sascha murmured to himself. Raising his voice, he pointed out, “Ivan might not be very forthcoming.”
“Then we’ll keep trying until he is.”
It was a little pathetic, how comforting that was. A reminder that Sascha wasn’t doing this alone anymore. He had an ally now, didn’t he? And sure, he’d had to give up a piece of his literal soul to gain one, but it was the first time in averylong time where he felt certain there was at least one person who had hisback. One person who couldn’t send him away, or brush him off, or run away themselves.
At least not yet. Not until the contract was over.
