CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: SPIRITS II
1039 Words
Caleb POV
The demon—something from the pixie demon line by the looks of the pink shade to her skin and bright glowing eyes that look like she’s underwater—comes over.
Zodiac orders us three more drinks, and we both stay silent until she drops them in front of us.
“I hope whoever you’re protecting won’t f**k up your chances with the DHT,” he tells me, pushing a whiskey tumbler toward me.
I drink it in one.
“Always good seeing you, Zodiac. Tell my father to f**k off when you see him, won’t you?”
“Caleb—” he calls after me, but I’m already walking out of the bar.
I suck in a deep breath of smoky air once I’m outside and glance up.
What in the name of the Crescent Goddess am I doing?
I’ve always been a sinking ship, and I never should have let Lila on board with the promise of protection. A sinking ship can’t save anyone from a tidal wave.
I head down the busy streets away from the bar, knocking into dozens of people as I always do in this city of far too many. Eventually, I reach the ley line and jump through it back to the DHT.
I pass a few overachievers practicing fighting in the courtyard on my way to the building and roll my eyes at their poor form.
Heading inside, I go up the stairs and open the door to our apartment without using my key—pissed to find it isn’t locked.
This woman just wants to be f*****g killed.
I storm in to find Lila sitting on the sofa, sorting through a load of random things from a box on the coffee table.
“Hey, Caleb,” she says cheerily, her smile disappearing when she looks at my face.
I walk over and lean above her, placing my hands on either side of her head on the sofa as she rests back into it.
I don’t sense fear from her—just a hint of nerves.
I inhale her scent, a feminine mix of fire and fresh snow. Two things that should never exist together, but somehow explain Lila perfectly.
Her bright grey eyes stare up at me as her peachy-pink lips part.
My body—my demon and my wolf—both react to her like she is the first female we have ever seen.
Lila Caeli is drop-dead gorgeous, and she doesn’t even try.
Her red hair reminds me of silk, falling in locks I want to thread my fingers through as I f**k her until she can only beg for more. Her body is curvy, smooth, and way too sexy for a wolf.
Fuck.
“I thought I told you not to answer the door to anybody, and why wasn’t it locked?”
Her eyes—like daggers—cut through me.
“This box got delivered for us from the Demon Hunting Trials.”
“It could have been a bomb from other hunters or the Alpha coming for you.”
“It wasn’t,” she replies cockily with a breathtaking smile.
Her sassy response makes me want to kiss her and smack her ass at the same time.
“Are you ever going to listen?” I say slowly, trying not to stare at her for too long—which seems physically impossible.
Lila was not this hot when she was younger. In fact, I barely even noticed her. She was funny, but still just the kid sister of my best mate who would f*****g kill me for the thoughts going through my head right now.
Damn. I never even liked redheads. They’re batshit crazy, especially the short ones.
And this one won’t get out of my head.
I lean back and run my hands through my hair, shaking my head.
I’m losing my mind.
Lila doesn’t care about my internal freak-out. She goes back to the box and pulls out an enormous diamond.
My stomach drops as she tosses it into the air, and I snatch it before she can catch it.
“You don’t get to touch this yet, songbird,” I warn her.
She pouts.
“Why not?”
I’m not about to tell her it’s a demon bomb and would blow up this entire building. Why the f**k do they give new hunters this?
“Because you’re a newbie,” I reply.
But she’s already back in the box, dragging out four daggers with the DHT logo on the hilt. Next, she finds eight guns with two hundred iron bullets in a smaller case.
“Can bullets kill demons then?”
“Did you listen in any of your classes at the Caeli Academy?” I demand.
“There is a specialist class on demons, and you can’t sign up for it if you’re female,” she frowns. “I tried dressing up as a boy and using a fake name, but it didn’t work.”
“That’s f****d up,” I respond, rubbing my chin. Caeli definitely hid a lot of their sexist s**t from me when I was there—or I just wasn’t looking for it.
“The iron in the bullets and daggers will kill lower-level demons, but nothing over a level two.”
“Levels?”
“It will be explained tomorrow before our first mission,” I tell her, needing to get away from her scent—away from her, period.
I pick the box up, placing the diamond demon bomb back inside, and ignore her protests as I take it to my room. Carefully, I leave it on my chest of drawers and grab the book beside it before returning to Lila.
I handed her the book I had as a kid.
“You need books more than you need weapons. Welcome to Demonology for Beginners.”
“Thanks,” she calls after me, but I’m already heading for the bathroom.
I need a cold shower and a smack in the f*****g balls.
Lila Caeli is off-limits for so many goddamn reasons, and my d**k doesn’t seem to care about any of them.
I always knew he would be the death of me.
- Writer
