"And haveyou found an office for your new venture?" Hunter asked Jude over dessert.
Jude shook his head, his cheeks flushed from the whiskey we'd all shared in the library before dinner, and the wine drained from his glass.
"Not yet, although Asterion tells me Picadilly might be a good neighborhood."
Hunter hummed and nodded. "High monster population there. Easy traffic."
"But I think I'd like to take a little time first. Just a couple weeks, if that isn't trespassing on your generosity too much," Jude said.
Hunter huffed, brow furrowing and mouth curving down, and I hid my grin around the rim of my wine glass.
"My generosity?" Hunter asked.
Jude blushed again and glanced around the table. "You know. You've welcomed us all into your home and—"
"Our home."
"—and I'd like to be able to contribute. I don't take you for granted, Hunter," Jude said, stumbling over the words slightly.
It was Hunter's turn to blush, his spoon stabbing at his empty bowl. "You—we're a family," he grumbled.
"So long as you don't mind," Jude said, grinning.
Hunter shifted in his chair. "I don't."
"You're all very cute," I said.
Hunter's cheeks darkened another shade further, but he relaxed at last. At least until Ronan spoke.
"I told you," he said to Jude. "Hunter is Daddy."
I choked on my bite of sorbet, and Nireas hid his grin behind one hand, patting me gently on the back with another.
"I am not—" Hunter blustered.
"He's the head of our family," Nireas said before Ronan could embarrass Hunter any further.
I looked up from my bowl just in time to see Ronan's lips twitching, no doubt with wicked arguments. I shook my head once as he opened his mouth, eyes glittering, but we were all saved by the sudden ringing of the doorbell.
I rose from my chair, eager for the interruption, and all four men followed.
"Withes will answer," Hunter said.
"Yes, but I want to know who it is. Only exciting visitors come at dinnertime," I said.
Hunter crossed to beat me to the doorway of the dining room, the others crowding at our back.
"At this rate, we might as well answer it," Ronan hissed as we waited together for the butler to reach the door.
Withes did so with heavy steps, dark wings at his back, his usual solemn expression in place. I'd managed to crack a smile on his lips once or twice, mostly by asking after the egg he and his wife were waiting on to hatch—only three more years left, and Withes was fairly certain their child would be a girl. He was eager to try for another in the next decade. Gargoyles were a very patient race, apparently.
I was not, and I slid under Hunter's arm, walking down the hall as Withes opened the door. I couldn't hear our visitor from the hall, but Withes bowed to him and stepped back, allowing them entrance. Probably Conall or Asterion.
Except those weren't Asterion's curling horns, and that wasn't Conall's shawl wrapped around those familiar shoulders.
It was mine.
"Constantine," I gasped, freezing in the hall.
The door closed, and Constantine's head turned as he lifted his hat, those molten silver eyes finding me immediately. He stepped forward, paused, and then marched swiftly in my direction.
This was not the demon who had left me a month ago. There were no stiff movements, no awkward hunch and shift to his shoulders. He was free, and he was practically charging at me.
And I realized with one brief, stunned blink that I wasn't surprised to see him. I'd known he would return. He had promised as much, and even though every experience of my life up until quite recently had proven otherwise, I'd known he would come back to me.
I ran for him, even though it was barely a few feet of distance, and the collision stole my breath from my lungs. The sensations struck me in a wave of relief; spice and sticky sugar, his tall, hard body, those long arms snatching me off my feet to press my breasts to his broad chest. His mouth met mine, our eyes still open, pools of starlight glaring down at me, and I wanted to laugh but he felt too good. Determined, tender, and fierce. His clutch around me was almost brutal, like he was trying to fuse us together the way Con and Antin did.
And as if he'd read my mind, they appeared, Antin's mouth on my throat making me liquid in Con's arms. Con's brow touched mine, and I let out a garbled cry as I came, a sudden, rude boom of sensation rocking through my body, my hands limp and core clenching on nothing.