Chapter 1

“Viv! Come here!” Thomas whisper-shouted.

“Wha’?” she came out of her bathroom, toothbrush still in her mouth.

“Look outside!”

She wandered over to the window to stand next to him. They didn’t have the best view, it was mostly of the parking lot, but at least it let in a lot of sunlight. It wasn’t raining, no major craziness going on, and it was too late for a pretty sunrise.

“Wha’ am I lookin’ at,” she mumbled around her toothbrush.

“Down there! Look at the hottie,” Thomas said, grabbing her head and turning her to look at where his partner was standing with another guy.

“Oh,” Viv said, the toothbrush forgotten in her mouth. The guy was gorgeous, at least from up here. He was a little taller than D, his hair dark. She couldn’t tell what color his eyes were from so far away. He was built like a brick house: solid, wide, trim waist, large biceps. He had a slightly rounded ass, his thighs thick. He was huge and muscular. Yum.

“Who is that?” she asked.

“Don’t know. One of D’s friends. Did you know you’re drooling?” Thomas asked, laughing.

Which meant that was the exact moment the mystery man chose to look up at them. She hurriedly wiped her face, her hand now coated in toothpaste and saliva. Lovely. That was sure to make a good impression. His eyes bored into hers and she swore she felt a connection, but he sharply turned away, putting his back to them. For some reason that made her heart ache a bit.

“Thanks for that,” she said dryly, ignoring the way it hurt when he turned away. It didn’t make any sense.

“Anytime,” Thomas replied cheerfully.

“I’m going to finish getting ready,” she said, walking back to her bathroom. She did her best to put the man out of her head. She had things she needed to get done today. The library was going to be busy. There were several book clubs meeting, a delivery was due this afternoon which would mean inputting and cataloguing everything into the system, and then there was also story time and a tutoring event after school.

She shouted goodbye to Thomas, who was in the other bathroom when she was leaving. As she walked out of the building, she passed close to D and his friend. They were standing within ten feet of her car, so it wasn’t like she was being a creeper trying to get a better look.

“See you later, D! Bye,” she called out. As much as she wanted to go over and introduce herself, she worried that it would seem weird. She was going to be late to work as it was if she didn’t leave now.

The wind blew past her, making her shiver. As it hit the men, the mystery guy stiffened, his head whipping around to stare at her. Weird. She smiled and waved at them. D waved back, but his friend didn’t. He just stared. Alrighty then. She didn’t get creeper vibes, so she would find a way to ask D about it tonight.

Pulling into her spot, she was excited to go to work. Her boss had been giving her more responsibilities the longer she was there. She thought that maybe he was grooming her to take his spot when he retired. It would be amazing to be in charge of her own library. The only thing that might top that would be owning her own bookstore. Either way, she was going to be able to help people learn to love reading and would books that would help everyone in her jurisdiction. She firmly believed that the mission of a librarian was to help; whether that was to provide self-help books, help them research a school paper, get them in touch with a tutor, or just listen when they came to the desk.

“You live with a human?” Mac asked, trying to keep the derision out of his voice.

“Two of them actually. My mate is human, remember? Viv is his best friend. If you can have platonic soulmates, that would be them. I knew when I met Thomas that they were a packaged pair.”

“And you’re fine living in this place?” Oops, that sounded more condescending than he wanted it to. But come on, instead of the nice house in the Netherworld that was what was expected of a demon of D’s level and job, he was choosing to live here. In an apartment. In a shared apartment. When he had a perfectly good house back home.

“I am. It’s a nice enough apartment, but I’m looking at buying a house close to Thomas’ work. I think I found one, but it needs some renovation, so I may buy it and then have it worked on before I tell him. If he doesn’t like it, I can always sell it. It’s a good investment either way.”

“It would be good for you to have your own place,” Mac agreed. The less humans nearby the better, in his opinion.

“No, Viv would live with us too, if she wanted. The place I’m looking at would give each of us our own spaces, with a communal kitchen and living room area. Thomas doesn’t want to give up his friend.”

“She’s just going to get old and die,” Mac muttered.

“She is,” D agreed. “Until that time, she’s part of our family,” he said firmly, a warning in his voice. “They’re human, Mac, but they’re not bad. They both accepted me right away. Viv even made sure it wouldn’t be too hard for me to live here. They’re not anything like your past. Those people exist, but Viv and Thomas are the complete opposite. I want you to give them a chance.”

“We’re friends. I’ll be nice to your mate,” he said. He didn’t want anything to do with the other one.

D started to respond but then looked up and snorted. Mac turned around and saw two humans standing in an upper window looking at them. Based on the besotted look on his friend’s face, the male must be his mate. Which left the female as the friend slash roommate. He wrinkled his nose in disgust as a line of used toothpaste goop trailed out of her mouth. He turned away, not wanting to see more. In his experience, nothing good ever came from being near humans. Just standing near the apartment complex that housed so many of them made his skin itch.

“Mac,” D started.

“Nope. I will be nice to your mate. You cannot make me be nice to his friend. I’m not going to be near her often anyway. I’ll be polite if I have to, but I will not befriend her. Don’t ask this of me,” he said, trying for demanding, but he had a feeling it sounded more pleading.

“Fine,” D sighed. “But no being a dick, or I’ll never hear the end of it. Tell me about work. Do you have another assignment, or did they give you a break?”

“There’s a rumor of a Shadow turning bad. It sounds a lot like a haunting, but the few witness reports list a dark shadowy mist, which makes me think it’s a Shadow. He’s been escalating for a long time if the rumors are right. From what I’ve been able to piece together, he started with lighter offenses, and I’ve found connections to newer more serious offenses. If I can nab him, he’s going to be meeting you. He definitely belongs in the punishments, but I’ll keep you informed,” Mac promised.

“Be careful,” D said. He had faith in Mac’s abilities, but he knew it only took a second of inattention for things to go badly.

“I will.”

“See you later, D! Bye,” a light cheerful female voice called out. His demon stirred, looking for the source of the noise.

Mac kept his back turned to the parking lot, not wanting to encourage her to come over. A gust of wind blew toward them, carrying a scent on the air. Mac whipped around to see where it came from. There was only one person in the parking lot. The female from the window. She didn’t have toothpaste on her now. She was much shorter than him, probably about five foot four, if he had to guess. Her brown hair was slightly wavy, her blue eyes bright and cheery. She was average weight, he would guess, though she had thick thighs. No thigh gap there, he thought. His favorite kind.

His demon roared in his head, his nostrils flaring as he breathed in her scent. Mac made certain to keep his face bland, not giving D any clues that something was wrong. D waved at her, but he kept his hands firmly at his sides. He couldn’t bring himself to turn away though. It wasn’t until her car turned out of the parking lot that he could tear his gaze away.

D was looking at him concerned.

“No. I’m not in the mood,” Mac said. “I’ve gotta go. See you later.” He ported out, back to his home in Netherworld. As he stood in his kitchen, his demon side trying to tear out of him, he screamed, letting lose all the anger and frustration he had inside. When he was done, he felt empty. How could the higher-ups be so cruel? He had already been betrayed by a mate, one who had tried to kill him. Breaking that bond had nearly killed him in the process, something that not even D knew. How could they have given him another human mate?