And then for the second time that day, Nix was tugged away.
22
Nix
Nix was back in the restaurant.
No more dusty cave. No more traveling through the ether. He was back in the human realm, where he belonged.
And there was Ivan—hisIvan—looking more manic than Nix had ever seen him, his eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot and his chest heaving with heavy breaths. He had a gun pointed at Jace, who was holding a bleeding hand over Nix’s symbol, which had been scrawled onto one of the restaurant’s red tablecloths.
“Vanya.” Nix rushed toward his human, only to be stopped by the invisible walls of the summoning circle.
It took Ivan a moment to speak, his red eyes roaming over every inch of Nix, drinking him in like he couldn’t believe the sight.
“You’re crying,” he eventually said, an echo of Nightmare’s words, his voice hoarse and brittle.
Nix didn’t deny it this time. “I lost you,” he said in explanation.
He couldn’t feel Ivan through the soul connection anymore, but something horribly pained crossed the human’s face, hurt wafting out of him, thick and potent. Ivan turned to Jace, his gun still level. “Finish it,” he ordered.
Jace stared at him, wide-eyed. “I don’t know how, boss.”
Ivan snarled at him. “Make. A. Contract.”
When Jace looked no less confused, Ivan turned to the back, where Sascha, Kai, Alexei, and Jay were watching in tense silence. Nix had no idea where Cooper and Chaos had gone, but it wasn’t like Chaos to stick around once a party was over, so Nix wasn’t exactly surprised by their absence.
“Kai!” Ivan barked. “Does he need a fucking contract? Or can we bond with him still in the summoning circle?”
“I—I know not. I’m not sure if you can bond at all. Not like this.”
Ivan let out an inhuman sound, and Nix reached toward him, snarling when the summoning circle stopped him again. “We’ll try,” he told Ivan. He didn’t know if it would work, either, but he did know if they didn’t make some kind of move soon, Ivan was going to lose it. “Let’s try, Vanya.”
Ivan didn’t lower his gun, but his eyes softened as he looked at Nix. “Tell me what to do, demon.”
Nix gestured to the Book. “The last page.”
Ivan’s fingers shook as he turned to the last page of the Book, no matter that the hand holding the gun was still steady. He held the Book up so that Nix could see from his circle.
“Repeat after me,” Nix told him. His own control felt frayed and tattered, his eyes still wet from the shock of his abrupt loss. But Ivan needed him to be steady right now.
So steady he would be.
Nix said the words in their demon tongue, the vow of bonding, body, heart, and soul. Ivan repeated each word exactly as Nix said it. He didn’t ask for meaning or double-check with Kai as to theirpurpose. He seemed to be trusting implicitly that Nix was doing as he’d asked.
Nix hadn’t known Ivan was capable of such trust.
Red smoke rolled over the restaurant floor, covering it completely. Nix let out a sigh of relief. It meantsomethingwas happening. “Put your hand in the summoning circle, Vanya.”
Ivan walked toward him, close enough that Nix should have been able to catch his scent, if not for the damned circle. He stuck his hand inside and didn’t so much as flinch when Nix bit his wrist, sucking in a mouthful of his blood. Ivan only kept his eyes on Nix’s face, intent and unblinking, as if Nix was going to disappear again if he looked away for so much as a second.
Nix could understand the sentiment.
Nix bit through his own finger, smearing the blood on Ivan’s hand. He didn’t have to instruct Ivan—his human withdrew his hand and immediately sucked on the spot Nix had anointed, smearing blood on his lips.
He looked more unhinged than ever.
Nix loved him so fucking much.
