Yeah, ‘alone time’ so he could punch himself in the head. Repeatedly.
“Is everything okay?” Lily looked concerned for his mental health now.Great.
“All good. I have my phone.” He failed to mention he would be in Hell where there wasn’t reception.
Mist was still giving him that look, and the twins looked like they wanted to pry him with questions, so he said a hasty farewell and got out of there fast. He shut his bedroom door and leaned against it momentarily, feeling exhausted. It didn’t help that he’d stayed up all night bartering with Sunshine.
After pocketing his phone, he shifted back to crow form. That was the handy thing about major shifts like his: whatever he was wearing disappeared with the magic that caused the shift. When he shifted to half demon form, however, his clothes would stretch or tear—unless they were made of wyrm leather.
Inching through the crack in his window, he flew back onto the roof, surprised to find Sunshine sitting on an air conditioning unit, jiggling her leg impatiently. She leapt to her feet when he shifted back to human form.
“Did you get the robes?” he asked.
“Yes. Did you have to take so long?”
“Yes.”
Her brow rose. “Interesting excuse you gave your friends.”
She’d been listening? Even a supernatural being couldn’t have heard what they were saying from all the way up here, especially with the city sounds around them. That meant she’d found some other discreet spying point. And it would have to be really discreet to avoid Mist’s hunter senses.
Impressive, yet creepy.
Her head tilted, sending her shiny dark hair sliding over one shoulder. “Why not make up a more elaborate lie about where you’re going?”
“The best lies are rooted in truth.”
“I suppose a demon would know that.”
His eyes narrowed. “Can we go?”
She stepped toward him, reaching out. Instantly, he remembered the nightclub and how she’d approached him across the dance floor. How he’d held out a hand, and she’d placed her palm in his and then ground that perfect body against him.
When she grasped his arm, he jerked it out of her grip, pinning her with a sharp look.
She returned it with an exasperated one. “I’m trying to flash you.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“I don’t trust you either.”
They glared at each other.
She reached out again, slower, fingers curling around his bicep. He couldn’t feel her touch on his skin through his hoodie, but he flinched at the contact nonetheless, resolutely repressing more memories of the club.
A sensation suddenly gripped him that felt like falling off a building, and he instinctively fought against it. The world steadied again.
Sunshine’s lips tightened. “Flashing with another person is only possible when they do not resist.”
“Is that why you drugged me first?”
“Yes.”
Well, at least she was honest. “Try again.”
Her grip tightened, and again, the falling sensation came and the instinctive aversion rose, knowing it was one of his enemies trying to spirit his body away to an unknown location.
She threw her hands up. “You keep fighting me.”
