Page 99 of Enchanted

“It’s non-negotiable.” Micah cut in before I could rip out Elias’s throat. “Our mates are protected at all costs.”

I could tell Elias wanted to argue, but an elbow in the ribs from Ezra had him clamping his mouth shut. The older vampire inclined his head respectfully. “Of course. Our goal is to protect Ethan, and we won’t jeopardise that.”

No, their goal was to wipe their father from this world. But so long as their interests aligned with ours, I didn’t give a shit how they wanted to dress it up.

“Why don’t you take off?” Micah suggested to me with an understanding smile. “We can fill you in later. Go see Ethan.”

I didn’t bother to argue. Didn’t even take the time to thank Micah, just strode out of the room without another word.

Within seconds, I was in the air and circling the demons’ house. Ethan’s new home. Just as I was about to land, I realised I needed a reason for stopping by.

Which was annoying as fuck.

I took a quick detour to a local takeaway. It was only another fifteen minutes before I was hammering on their front door, but each one felt like a decade.

Darius opened the door, his brows rising at the stack of pizza boxes in my arms. “Hungry?”

“They’re for you lot,” I said, stepping in when he made room for me. “Where’s Ethan? Is he safe? Is he upset? Was Dave there?”

The demon’s lips twitched. “He’s upstairs. He’s safe. No, he’s not upset as far as I can tell. He was a little quiet when we were packing up his stuff, but I don’t know him well enough to know if that’s just his personality or not.”

It wasn’t. At least, Ethan wasn’t quiet around me.

“As for the ex,” Darius said, taking the pizza boxes off my hands, “he wasn’t there. Which begs the question, why is he still alive?”

I sighed. “Because it’d upset Ethan if he wasn’t.”

“Interesting,” he said mildly. “How do you manage that?”

“What do you mean?”

Darius stared down at the pizza boxes. “I find I want to kill anyone who annoys or irritates my mate. It’d definitely upset him, but knowing that doesn’t make me any less murderous.”

I blinked in surprise, trying to decide which question I should ask first. “You have a mate?”

He gave me a pained smile. “In the same sense you do, although you’re one step ahead of me with the marking.”

“I had no idea.”

Darius shrugged like it wasn’t bothering him at all, but the fact that he was admitting he knew his mate told me everything I needed to know. “No one does. Not really.”

Upstairs, I could hear Ethan singing softly. Although my soul was begging me to go to him, I hesitated. “Do you…is there a reason why you aren’t mated?”

“You know all those people I want to murder because they irritate him?”

I nodded.

“I’m one of that number,” he said, already turning to head for the kitchen. “He can’t stand the sight of me.”

“I’m sorry.” I was. Truly. I couldn’t imagine knowing Ethan and having him hate me.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve survived worse. Being rejected by my fated mate is par for the course these days.”

I couldn’t imagine surviving worse than that. Did Darius mean it, or was it a lie he told himself to just get through each day?

He disappeared before I could say another word. I waited a few minutes, torn between going after him and heading up the stairs. But I’d known Darius long enough to know he only opened up when he wanted to. If he’d left the conversation, it meant he didn’t want to discuss it anymore.

Making a mental note to check in with him later, I took the stairs two at a time.