Chapter 22Nix

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Nix

N ix was back in the restaurant.

No more dusty cave. No more traveling through the ether. He was back in the human realm, where he belonged.

And there was Ivan— his Ivan—looking more manic than Nix had ever seen him, his eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot and his chest heaving with heavy breaths. He had a gun pointed at Jace, who was holding a bleeding hand over Nix's symbol, which had been scrawled onto one of the restaurant's red tablecloths.

"Vanya." Nix rushed toward his human, only to be stopped by the invisible walls of the summoning circle.

It took Ivan a moment to speak, his red eyes roaming over every inch of Nix, drinking him in like he couldn't believe the sight.

"You're crying," he eventually said, an echo of Nightmare's words, his voice hoarse and brittle.

Nix didn't deny it this time. "I lost you," he said in explanation .

He couldn't feel Ivan through the soul connection anymore, but something horribly pained crossed the human's face, hurt wafting out of him, thick and potent. Ivan turned to Jace, his gun still level. "Finish it," he ordered.

Jace stared at him, wide-eyed. "I don't know how, boss."

Ivan snarled at him. "Make. A. Contract."

When Jace looked no less confused, Ivan turned to the back, where Sascha, Kai, Alexei, and Jay were watching in tense silence. Nix had no idea where Cooper and Chaos had gone, but it wasn't like Chaos to stick around once a party was over, so Nix wasn't exactly surprised by their absence.

"Kai!" Ivan barked. "Does he need a fucking contract? Or can we bond with him still in the summoning circle?"

"I—I know not. I'm not sure if you can bond at all. Not like this."

Ivan let out an inhuman sound, and Nix reached toward him, snarling when the summoning circle stopped him again. "We'll try," he told Ivan. He didn't know if it would work, either, but he did know if they didn't make some kind of move soon, Ivan was going to lose it. "Let's try, Vanya."

Ivan didn't lower his gun, but his eyes softened as he looked at Nix. "Tell me what to do, demon."

Nix gestured to the Book. "The last page."

Ivan's fingers shook as he turned to the last page of the Book, no matter that the hand holding the gun was still steady. He held the Book up so that Nix could see from his circle.

"Repeat after me," Nix told him. His own control felt frayed and tattered, his eyes still wet from the shock of his abrupt loss. But Ivan needed him to be steady right now.

So steady he would be.

Nix said the words in their demon tongue, the vow of bonding, body, heart, and soul. Ivan repeated each word exactly as Nix said it. He didn't ask for meaning or double-check with Kai as to their purpose. He seemed to be trusting implicitly that Nix was doing as he'd asked.

Nix hadn't known Ivan was capable of such trust.

Red smoke rolled over the restaurant floor, covering it completely. Nix let out a sigh of relief. It meant something was happening. "Put your hand in the summoning circle, Vanya."

Ivan walked toward him, close enough that Nix should have been able to catch his scent, if not for the damned circle. He stuck his hand inside and didn't so much as flinch when Nix bit his wrist, sucking in a mouthful of his blood. Ivan only kept his eyes on Nix's face, intent and unblinking, as if Nix was going to disappear again if he looked away for so much as a second.

Nix could understand the sentiment.

Nix bit through his own finger, smearing the blood on Ivan's hand. He didn't have to instruct Ivan—his human withdrew his hand and immediately sucked on the spot Nix had anointed, smearing blood on his lips.

He looked more unhinged than ever.

Nix loved him so fucking much.

He fell forward as the summoning circle evaporated in an instant, and Ivan caught him, crushing Nix tightly against him, so tight Nix could barely move.

"Everyone out ," Ivan barked. "Now."

Nix was frozen in his arms, fearful and giddy all at once. He could feel Ivan again. Could feel his angry, broken, bitter pieces, his obsession and devotion. It was like a balm against Nix's own recent hopelessness, his fear and desperation.

He might have lost this.

He had lost this.

He could hear the shuffle of people leaving, the murmur of voices, but he couldn't see. Ivan was blocking his view, and he wasn't letting up his hold.

Nix tried to smile. "You missed me, huh? "

"I told you I need you." Ivan's voice was harsh and reprimanding.

Now Nix did smile, his lips curling against Ivan's throat. "Well, there's need, and then there's need ."

"This is the latter." Ivan withdrew just enough to meet Nix's eyes. "I've been taught my whole life that love gets you killed. I never wanted it. I wouldn't have known how to reach for it if I did. But with you—" Ivan swallowed hard, his hands like claws against Nix's body. "It doesn't matter if it kills me. Because I refuse to live without you."

"Oh, but, Vanya," Nix sighed, something warm and fluid running through his chest. He lifted his hand to Ivan's cheek. "Baby. I keep telling you—I'm an incubus. Loving me isn't going to get you killed. Loving me is going to make you invincible."

Invincible might have been a bit of a stretch. But Ivan's lifespan would be linked to Nix's, and that was quite a long, long time for them both to live.

"I don't fucking care." Ivan dropped his forehead against Nix's. "Just don't leave again."

"Never," Nix soothed, running his fingers through Ivan's hair. "Never ever."

They spent a long moment like that, breathing each other's air, and then the magic of the bond began to take its toll on them both and Ivan let out a pained groan, pushing Nix down onto the carpet, tugging at his clothes. "Off," he growled. "Get these fucking things off."

Nix could have disappeared them, but Ivan seemed to be getting some of his frustration out in the act of tearing them off him, so he let it be.

It wasn't long before he was naked, spread out on the carpet. Ivan's eyes roamed over him greedily, as if Nix had been gone for centuries and not mere minutes. Nix should have been preening under his gaze—he did so love to be appreciated—but his entire body was trembling, the newly formed bond between them setting him alight.

Tremors racked Ivan's body as well, but his words were firm. "You're mine, demon."

"I've been yours since the moment you summoned me," Nix told him. "Big mistake, there. You were never getting rid of me."

His joke didn't even garner a smile, but that was hardly a surprise, as Ivan had begun to busy himself with a new way of getting his frustration out—biting at every inch of Nix's skin he could reach.

It was like he was testing the limits of Nix's demon strength, trying to mark him up against all odds. He rolled Nix over, biting at his shoulders, his spine, his lower back. He spread Nix's cheeks and licked at his hole, softening him until he could spear him with his tongue. He ate him out thoroughly, muttering steadily over Nix's moans. Oaths about keeping Nix forever. About how Nix was his. About how he was going to fuck him every day for the rest of eternity.

Nix was pretty sure he'd broken Ivan. But if this was him broken, Nix wasn't sure he was ever going to put him back together again. The manic possessiveness was exactly what Nix himself needed to soothe the horrible pain of their brief separation.

He'd never felt so wanted. So needed. So perfectly desired.

The carpet was rough against him, and he could smell the blood from the earlier meeting saturating the air. But Nix wouldn't leave this room for all the world. This could be his new Void. He could be stuck here in this godforsaken mobster restaurant forever, and as long as Ivan was with him, he wouldn't care. They could lose their minds together, slowly meld into each other, until their souls weren't only connected, but one entity.

Maybe this wasn't the healthiest relationship in the history of the world .

Ivan rolled him back over, biting at Nix's inner thigh. "Stop. Thinking."

"I'm thinking about you," Nix told him, sighing his pleasure when Ivan continued to bite at him viciously. "You're always fucking me in your suit. Get naked."

Ivan could easily have argued about how the doors were unlocked. That any of his men could come in at any time. That he didn't have Nix's handy power of making his clothes reappear at will.

But he started stripping, his brow furrowed. "I feel— This is—"

"It's the bond," Nix soothed. "You'll feel better after we consummate it."

Ivan laughed in disbelief as he shucked his underwear off, his hard cock bobbing in the air. "Will I? Will it ever be enough?"

"I don't know," Nix told him truthfully, holding back his thighs, presenting himself for Ivan to take. He needed Ivan inside him like he'd never needed anything. "But we have a very long time to figure it out."