“Is it normal to give reasons for these things?” Chaos shook off Cooper’s hold. “I want you because of this.” He flung out a hand, and the fire on the walls and ceiling went out. “I love you because of that.” He flung out his other hand, and the tech stopped sparking. He pressed both hands to his chest, over his heart. “Isn’t the whole point of emotions that they’refeelings?”
“Well, feelings can sometimes be based on reason.”
“Fine.” Chaos glared at Cooper like he was being unreasonable. “I want you because you’re lovely and special and bright, even when you’re sad. Because even when you’re scared or nervous, you carry on. Because you’re brave, though you don’t see it. I love you because you’re not the strongest or the fiercest or the wildest, and yet somehow you’re still perfect. It doesn’t make sense, and that’s the best part.”
Cooper grinned, so wide it hurt his cheeks. The room was still smoky, but some of the furor around them had quelled. “I love you too, Bracchus.”
Chaos stared at him, the flames on his skin dampening slowly until they extinguished completely. His eyes returned to their fox-like yellow as he pushed his lower lip out into a pout. “Stupid, human word,” he griped.
And without another word of warning, he scooped Cooper out of the chair, holding him bridal-style tight to his chest. Cooper closed his eyes so he wouldn’t see anything he didn’t have the stomach to see. He’d have to be careful with himself from now on, for the sake of the humans around him. Red had been a jerk—and he’d definitely intended to kill Cooper if he’d needed to—but did that mean he’d deserved to die?
A suspiciously Chaos-sounding voice in Cooper’s head let out a resounding,Yes.He did.
Still. Cooper should try to limit bloodshed in the future. He knew he was lucky Chaos had been willing to put the flames out. Lucky he’d had the trump card of an ill-timed conversation about feelings in his pocket.
“I’m taking you out of this dungeon, and we’re going to bond now,” Chaos told him, and Cooper could still hear the pout in his voice.
Cooper wrapped his arms around Chaos’s neck, resting his head against his demon’s shoulder. “Okay. Whatever you want.”
He could feel some of the tension ease in Chaos’s frame. “Yes. Whatever I want.”
“I knew you were coming for me, you know.”
Chaos scoffed. “Of course I was. I always will.”
Cooper smiled, letting Chaos’s warmth surround him. He kept his eyes shut as Chaos took him out of the building he’d thought he might die in.
Always. Always sounded good.
22
Chaos
Chaos burst into the hotel room, some of the wood of the doorjamb shattering around them with the force of his entrance.
“You could have used the key,” Cooper told him mildly, the words slightly muffled against Chaos’s neck.
Chaos sneered. “Human locks are inconsequential.”
But Cooper liked his privacy, so Chaos turned and shut the door behind them, sliding the dead bolt into place. It still fit where it should, so he hadn’t broken the door too badly, anyway. He managed it all without lowering Cooper to the floor.
He wasn’t willing to release him. Not yet. Not so soon.
Chaos had needed to walk many city blocks to find this place, and he’d held Cooper close to his chest the whole way. They’d gotten strange looks from some humans too stupid to realize their lives were in danger, but Cooper hadn’t noticed the attention, too busy tucking his face into Chaos’s neck. So Chaos had let the humans keep their snooping eyeballs in their heads.
For now.
He could acknowledge that the tether of his self-control was maybe a teensy bit frayed. He was just soangry. Angry at the man who lay dead on a cement floor some blocks away—his throat cut and his flesh charred, a fate too merciful by half—angry at this city for trying to keep Cooper from him with its traffic and its nonsense, and angry at himself for having let Cooper face an enemy all alone.
Normally Chaos would let that anger burn, dispensing it with a rush of power until he was settled again. But Cooper wouldn’t like the resulting carnage, so Chaos was trying his best to be good.
Cooper asked me not to kill everyone, he reminded himself for the hundredth time.He set a boundary, as he says. I will respect it.
It had been more difficult than Chaos would have guessed, to follow the tug of Cooper’s soul piece through such a busy city. The man who’d taken Cooper had brought him to a neighborhood far from Cooper’s home and Ivan’s apartment. Chaos had tried a taxi—threatening the driver with his talons when the man had asked for money—but the other cars had repeatedly trapped them in place on the street.
He, a great and powerful chaos demon, subjected to the mercy oftraffic.
So Chaos had run. He’d run and run and run, faster than any human could. There were definitely human bystanders who’d seen something they shouldn’t have, but what did Chaos care? It was a good thing he’d pressed his limits, because when he’d gotten to the building where Cooper’s soul was waiting, there had been two large human men entering, and they’d been discussing something about a plane.
