Wayland’s hand brushed over Gil’s arm. A thousand shocking flutters raced along his skin at that simple touch. He’d always imagined demons as big, red, horned creatures. Never had he thought they would look so human.

  Gil was glad Wayland did. He wasn’t so sure he could cozy up to a spiked tail and a pitchfork. The demons in his video games usually had smoke billowing from their nostrils and were depicted as scaly, monstrous creatures.

  Again he was glad that wasn’t the case. Wayland looked more like someone who should be atop a motorcycle or working in a garage. Gil had never been into the rough-and-tumble bad-boy type, but he was definitely digging Wayland. Maybe he would allow the demon to be his first gay encounter.

  Don’t even go there. It’s not going to happen. Although Gil didn’t live with his parents, he loved his mother to pieces. He didn’t want his dad telling him that he was no longer welcome in their home if he found out that Gil was queer. Not being able to see his childhood home or his mother again would break his heart.

  That thought made him only resent his father even more.

  Wayland sat there still staring at Gil, his coppery eyes dark with something close to need. Licking his lips nervously, Gil glanced away. He’d never been kissed by a guy before, and it looked as if the demon wanted to kiss him.

  “Movie is over.”

  Gil glanced back at Wayland. Maybe he’d been wrong about the kiss. The demon no longer looked as if he would molest Gil right there on the couch. A kernel of disappointment settled in him.

  “You’re right, and it’s getting late.” Gil needed to get Wayland out of there before he made a fool of himself.

  Gill pulled away from the demon’s side and took the mugs to the kitchen. He came back with a trash can and cleared the clutter from the coffee table. The only way to stop himself from begging Wayland to stay was to keep busy.

  He cleared the table but noticed Wayland hadn’t gotten up. He was still slouched in the crevice of the couch. Gil didn’t want to ask Wayland to leave, but he wasn’t sure what to do next. He’d never entertained male company before. His brothers didn’t count. In fact, hardly anyone invaded his cave.

  After depositing the trash can back in the kitchen, Gil washed his hands, dried them, and then stood there feeling out of his element.

  Wayland poked his head around the doorway. “Need any help?”

  “My mother would twist my ear if I made my company help clean.” She’d been born in the fifties and had raised Gil according to those values.

  “I don’t mind,” Wayland said.

  Somehow Gil doubted the demon was a domesticated creature. Gil got the impression that Wayland was more the type to pay someone to clean his apartment and do his laundry. “The Dumpster is out back. You could walk with me to take my trash out.” After being attacked, Gil felt uneasy about going anywhere secluded. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever feel safe in the dark again. And that saddened him because he’d loved the dark so much.

  Wayland stepped to the trash can, bringing them close. Gil’s body hummed with tension, excitement, and need as the demon leaned around him to pull the can over and removed the bag. Gil didn’t move or breathe. He wanted desperately for Wayland to give him that maybe-kiss.

  But it didn’t happen, so Gil went to get his jacket.

  Sliding it on, he showed Wayland the way as the man carried the bag for him. He went all the way down to the garage and opened the overheard door. The Dumpster was on the side of the building. As soon as the door lifted, the wind gusted inside. Gil shivered as he trekked outside, his body heat robbed by the blowing wind, making him wish he still had his thermals on.

  Wayland tossed the trash into the Dumpster and then turned to Gil. “Cold?”

  “What do you think?” Gil asked as he wrapped his arms around his chest. “I’m surprised you’re not. You don’t even have a coat on.”

  Gil gasped and turned as he remembered he hadn’t brought his key with him. The overhead door closed them out in the cold. “Crap!”

  “What’s wrong?” the demon asked.

  “I forgot my key. I don’t even have my phone on me.” Gil hurried to the side of a parked car and hunched down, his pale skin stinging from the cold lashes of the wind howling through the parking lot. What started out as a simple task had turned into a disaster.

  Wayland knelt in front of him. “Are you saying you’re locked out?”

  Gil didn’t want to admit he’d been so focused on Wayland that he hadn’t been paying attention. “Yes, and we’re both going to be found in a snowdrift come morning, frozen like Popsicles.”

  Gil drew his knees to his chest. He shivered, the cold seeping deep into his bones.

  Wayland asked, “Do you want me to make it stop?”

  “Make what stop?”

  “The wind.”

  Gil snorted. “That’s not possible. I may have seen some pretty bizarre and amazing things today, but there’s no way you can do that.”

  “Do you want to make a wager?” The look in Wayland’s coppery eyes was way too confident

  “What kind of bet?” Gil was so cold that he was willing to try just about anything to get warm—even if that something was too farfetched to believe.

  “If I can make the wind stop, you come stay at my apartment tonight.”

  Gil was floored by Wayland’s wager. The demon wanted Gil to stay the night? Now there was a twist he hadn’t seen coming. “And if you can’t?”

  The thought of spending the night with the demon scared him, yet Gil wasn’t about to turn the wager down. Although he was afraid, he was also dying to know what having sex with a man would be like.

  Since Wayland lived in the demon realm, no one there knew who Gil was. Maybe, just maybe, he could have an affair with Wayland just as long as it stayed in his world.

  The thought appealed to him on so many levels that Gil hoped like hell that Wayland could actually do what he said he could.

  “Name your terms.” Wayland pushed to his full height, which was disconcerting, considering the demon’s groin was right there in Gil’s face.

  “I-If you can’t make the wind stop….” What should he ask for? His mind became dizzy with so many choices as he stared at Wayland’s crotch. He said the first one that popped to the forefront of his mind. “Then you have to be my guide for an entire week in the demon realm.”

  “You got yourself a deal.” Wayland moved from between the snow-covered cars and held his arms out, his gaze locking with Gil’s, and then he smirked. Slowly the wind went from lashing to gentle.

  “H-How did you do that?” Gil stood and looked around. Sure enough, the branches of the pines behind his apartment were barely moving. His skin no longer stung—at least not as badly. He was still cold, though.

  “Every demon has a particular power. I can control the elements.”

  “That means you hustled me.”

  “I didn’t hustle you if I told you up front that I could do it.”

  Gil frowned. He wondered just how powerful Wayland truly was and to what extent his powers reached. Could he call forth a category-five hurricane or a full-blown tornado?

  Wayland grabbed Gil’s hand and led him toward the shadowy side of the building. Gil stepped in the large boot prints the demon left behind, making it easier for him to tread through the snow.

  Gil pulled back when he noticed where Wayland was leading him. “Why are you taking me back here?” The back of the building was dark, too quiet, and too isolated. Gil’s stomach twisted into painful knots as his breathing became shallow. Memories of his attack had him ready to run the other way. His heart thumped heavily as he stared at the darkened corner and then up at Wayland. “I’m afraid to go back there.”

  Wayland pulled Gil into his arms. “Never be frightened when you’re with me. I’d never let anything happen to you. I’m simply using the shadows to get to my realm.”

  Gil shook like crazy as Wayland led him farther into the dark. He kept expecting that junkie to jump out at any second and throw him into the wall.

  “I promise nothing will happen to you.” Wayland’s deep, smooth voice helped to ease Gil’s anxiety. Somewhat.

  “Just don’t let go of me, okay?”

  “Don’t plan to.”

  The demon would have to pry Gil off with a crowbar if he thought to let go of him.

  Wayland curled his hand around Gil’s and led him to the darkened corner, but they didn’t stop when they reached it. They just kept walking as Gil felt the world tilt sideways. He became dizzy as bile rose to the back of his throat. The next thing he knew, he was falling. Gil shouted as hit the ground, nausea making him roll to his hands and knees.

  “Breathe, Gil.”

  “You could warn a guy.” Gil spat on the ground and then pushed to his feet. He wobbled slightly with a sense of vertigo before it thankfully passed. When he looked around, he saw he was back in the demon realm.

  And it was in complete chaos.

  Chapter Four

  Panahasi moved through the dense forest, his feet crunching over fallen snow. He inhaled deep drafts of the crisp air as he scanned the area. He saw no one, but felt someone’s presence.

  “Why have you summoned me here?” he called out as the wind wound its way through the trees, carrying his voice with it.

  Birds scattered from a nearby tree as small animals scurried away. The forest felt suddenly colder and darker as a shadow moved from behind a pine tree.

  Jaden stood in the small clearing, his dark brown eyes inscrutable. “Just to talk.”

  “About?” Panahasi didn’t trust his brother in the least. They had a sordid history, and Panahasi wondered why Jaden was here, why Death had summoned him.

  “I find myself in uncharted territory.”

  Panahasi was shocked that Jaden would confess any kind of perceived weakness. His brother was stubborn, sadistic, and thought of no one but himself. But he also knew Jaden was confused, lonely, and had never wanted to be Death in the first place. But they all had their roles to play, and just because Jaden hated what he did, that didn’t mean he could walk away from his responsibilities.

  No matter how much they sucked.

  “What territory are you unfamiliar with?” Panahasi kept his distance. He didn’t trust that Jaden wouldn’t attack. The man wanted to die, and if he forced Panahasi to kill him, Panahasi would die as well. They were interlocked, balanced, Life and Death. One could not exist without the other.

  “I have become…obsessed with a particular person.” Jaden tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans. His leather jacket was open, and he wore no shirt. His long hair cascaded over his shoulders, and his dark eyes were downcast.

  If Death was obsessed with someone, Panahasi needed to find out who. Jaden had never been loved, nor had he ever loved. If his attention had been piqued, that might become disastrous.

  “Tell me who this person is, brother.”

  Jaden scoffed. “Since when do you claim that title with me?”

  Panahasi was careful with every word he spoke. “Tell me, Jaden. Who has gained the interest of Death?”

  Jaden hissed. “As if I wanted to be that. It was forced on me, yet I am feared by all and sought by many. I have men and women crying out to me to end their miserable lives, yet it is not their time. I have souls wailing for vengeance against those who have killed them. My head is never quiet, brother. I have never known peace the way you have.”

  That wasn’t entirely true. Panahasi heard the same voices, although he’d never confessed that to Jaden. He’d just learned over the long millenniums to tune the voices out. How had Jaden never learned to do that? Panahasi couldn’t imagine hearing those cries on full volume. He would go completely insane. “Tell me his name, Jaden.”

  Jaden’s head slowly lifted. Panahasi saw the torment in his dark brown eyes. “Do you think I would harm him?”

  Careful how you answer that. “Not intentionally.”

  “I have too many enemies.” Jaden’s voice had lowered to a mere whisper. “Enemies who would sell their own soul to gain leverage over me. They would use this person against me.”

  A lead weight settled in Panahasi’s stomach. “Is this person you speak of your mate?” He didn’t think that possible, but if he, Life, had been gifted with men to soothe his weary soul, why not Jaden?

  The thought chilled him to his bones.

  “No.”

  Panahasi knew that word for the lie it was.

  Jaden tapped his stomach with his fist. “I’m all twisted up in here. I feel untapped wrath when I think of any harm coming to him. But my palms sweat, and my heart races whenever I’m near him.” He ran a hand through his long hair. “Is that normal?”

  Aw fuck. Jaden was in love. Shit. It was bad enough that love made a man do crazy things, but this was Jaden. Crazy was his everyday normalcy. This situation was nothing but a ticking time bomb.

  Panahasi truly felt sorry for Jaden. He was right when he said he was in uncharted territory. There was no telling how the man would react to the rolling emotions love wrung out of one. “It’s normal, Jaden. The emotion that has you so lost is called love.”

  “Love?” Jaden scowled. “Death loves no one.”

  Panahasi was sure Jaden hadn’t caught the slip, how he’d referred to himself as Death. He didn’t bother pointing it out. “I am willing to set aside our differences if you need help figuring things out.”

  “I don’t need your help.”

  “Yet you summoned me here.”

  Jaden’s jaw clenched as he shoved his fist at the tree to his right. The tree instantly wilted, the branches cracking. No leaf would ever grow on it again.

  “If your unguided fury just made you kill a tree, how would things play out if this young man angers you?” Panahasi really did need to find out who Jaden’s mate was. He feared the mental hell the man might endure at the hands of his brother.

  “I just…I just wanted to know what this feeling was.”

  Panahasi curled his hands into fists when Jaden disappeared. If it was the last thing he did, he would find out who the man was and save him from Death.

  * * * *

  Something struck Gil in the chest. He wasn’t even sure what it was, but he flew backward from the blast. Shocks of electricity rolled through him, making his insides feel as if they were on fire. Gil writhed on the sidewalk where he’d landed, screaming from the pain.

  Where was Wayland? Through his tears, he saw the demon fighting someone. Someone who had lightning coming out his hands. Other men were fighting behind Wayland. It was a street brawl from what Gil could see, but he caught only glimpses of the chaos around him because his brain felt like it was melting into the sides of his skull.

  And then Phoenyx appeared beside him. The redhead from Wayland’s apartment. Gil’s jaw clamped down tight as he rolled to his back, arching as his insides burned.

  “Hold still, Gil.” Phoenyx held his hand on Gil’s jaw, rendering his head immobile as a single tear fell from the man’s eye. It slid down his cheek and lingered on his chin before dropping into Gil’s open mouth.

  Gross! What in the hell was the guy doing? Gil understood none of what was going on. But when the tear hit his tongue, the searing pain was gone. Gil still felt the strain inside of him, but the burning sensation had stopped.

  “Just rest here and stay away from the fighting.” Phoenyx was on his feet and running toward the brawl, leaving Gil to try to remember how to breathe again.

  Balls of flames zapped through the air haphazardly, hitting trees and setting them on fire. One man moved so fast he was nothing more than a blur. Gil saw a man who was on fire grab another, who went up screaming in flames.

  It was as if one of his video games had come to life. Gil forced himself to his hands and knees and crawled toward the park, still weakened by what had happened to him. His heart was in his throat, and his mind was scrambled as he hid behind a tree that wasn’t on fire. There weren’t too many of those because the whole park seemed ablaze.

  Through the mass of bodies and smoke from the burning trees, Gil tried to spot Wayland.

  “It isn’t safe here. Come with me.”

  Gil looked over his shoulder and saw a man standing behind him. The guy was hunkered down, his gaze fixed on the fighting.

  “Who are you?”

  “No time, we have to get out of here before you’re blasted again.” The guy grabbed Gil’s wrist and tried to pull him away.

  “I’m not going anywhere.” He wasn’t about to run off with some stranger and leave Wayland. Although he was fascinated by this realm, Gil wasn’t an idiot, and he definitely wasn’t kidnappable. He yanked his wrist free. “Keep the candy and the lost dog,” he said as he maneuvered to his feet.

  The world shifted slightly, and Gil felt weak, but he would fight tooth and nail to stop this man from carting him away.

  “Are you stupid?” the guy asked as his upper lipped curled. “Do you want to get hurt again, or even die?”

  “Not particularly,” Gil said. “But I’m not going anywhere with someone I don’t even know.”

  “Suit yourself. When you die, don’t come crying to me.” The man sprinted off in the opposite direction of the fighting. Gil watched the stranger’s back for a second before turning to the fight again. Now that he could focus, he saw at least a dozen men. He just wished he knew who the bad guys were so he could avoid them.

  The branches above crackled and popped, burnt twigs and leaves falling down around him like a fiery rain. Gil couldn’t stay there. He had to get away from the trees before he started to crackle and pop.

  But blasts of lightning and fire were everywhere, and Gil wasn’t sure where to run. He didn’t want to get hit again. He spotted Jake’s Java and took off toward the building. He bobbed and weaved through the flying fists, the swinging swords, and the wall of bodies, grateful when he made it to the door unscathed.

  The door was unlocked, and a small crowd of people in one corner were gathered inside, all watching the fight through the large glass windows.

  “Get over here, kid,” Jake called. Wayland had introduced Gil to the owner, and he was glad Jake remembered him.