Addict (Hunter #2)(84)

The door was opened by the driver and Matthew drew Tristan out.

“I’m not afraid of you.” I needed to remember Matthew’s power. It was easy to think of Matthew as not that powerful. He was in a human body after all. Gray had explained to me that despite Matt’s status as a full-blooded demon, he was forced to possess a human body when he wanted to walk the Earth plane. He wasn’t physically strong enough to manifest in his demon form here, though he could be called to hand. The singular time Matt could show up in his own form was when a dumbass human managed to work up enough magic to call him. Then he was forced to do the human’s bidding. In this way, Gray was much stronger than his brother, but Matt wasn’t without power. He was an empath, so he picked up on strong emotions. I was pretty much a big stinking ball of those right now.

Gray glanced down to the place where our hands were joined. “You are and you have every right to be. I pushed you too far, pulled you into a world you weren’t ready for. I’m still doing it. I can only promise you that I’ll do anything to make sure you’re safe. Anything. I’ll earn your trust again.”

He moved out of the car before I could go over all the ways that would never happen. I had them all on the tip of my tongue, but he gently pulled me along with him, and then there wasn’t time to talk or argue. We were being shown through the massive doors of the mansion by a tuxedoed butler who offered to take our coats.

For all that the man loved winter and was likely quite comfortable with the chill, the duke had obviously made concessions for his guests. His home was nice and toasty.

“Welcome.” The man himself strode into the foyer. He was dressed in an immaculate suit, his white hair pulled back. Chilly blue eyes stared at us, stopping briefly on me before glancing over Tristan. “I’m glad you all could make it. Please come into the library. I’d like for you to meet my business partner.”

Gray walked up to shake his hand. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting the man. We’ve all watched Mr. Bellamy’s rise through the business world.”

I held back because I’d felt Winter’s touch one too many times this week. I wasn’t sure I would be able to bring myself too close to the demon.

“Do you own his contract?” Matthew asked, affixing a leash to Tristan’s thick collar.

If Gray thought that was happening with me, he was about to get his hand taken off. I didn’t give a shit that it would blow my cover. This was my Dirty Dancing rule. No one got to put Baby in a corner. Well, no one put a f*cking leash around my throat. I could handle the collar. The collar was pretty.

Gray simply reached for my hand and leaned over. “Never in a million years, baby. I like my balls where they are.”

He wasn’t a stupid man.

“You don’t think Mr. Bellamy got where he is through his own efforts?” Winter’s brows had risen, an amused grin quirking his mouth up.

“No,” Matthew shot back. “Humans aren’t that smart. He had help.”

Winter began to lead us down a hallway. My heels clacked against the marble, and I was lucky Gray had such a good hold on me since they nearly slipped out from under me more than once. Again, sneakers wouldn’t have done that.

“My partner is a wily one. Apparently, Brandon met someone from an alternate plane. The technology on her plane was quite a bit more sophisticated than this Earth’s. He stole the tech from her and reverse engineered it.”

“Stealing is such a specific word.” A lanky man with red hair stood in the middle of the library, a glass of what looked to be Scotch in his hand. “I like to think of it as liberating an important asset. Besides, I’m sure she found another one.”

“Other Earth?” I asked the question of Gray, quietly I thought.

Demons have supergreat hearing. The duke was more than happy to answer my question. “Oh, yes, my dear. The planes are infinite. The plane we occupy now is actually quite remote. It’s not easily accessible. The old Fae used to cross the veil. There are a few demon species who can move easily from one to another. Usually though, there has to be some form of magic involved. There are some mirrors in this very house that I wouldn’t recommend you stare into for long, lest you find yourself in another place, another time.”

The red-haired billionaire shook his head. “Which is a shame because I really do like looking at me. I’m pretty attractive. I guess I’ll just have to look at you, sweetheart.” He walked my way. “What do you say? You up for hanging out with Time’s Man of the Year?”

“Are you up for getting your balls shoved into your body cavity by my foot?” Gray asked.

I was totally going to ask Bellamy if he was up to me pulling his balls off his body and treating them like tennis balls. Sometimes Gray and I totally are soul mates.

Bellamy put his hands up. “Touchy. This one’s the full breed, right?”

“Not at all. He’s the halfling, but don’t think for a second he can’t take you apart. Brac, I’ll take a Scotch. Why don’t you see about getting our guests drinks as well.” The duke was good at playing the kindly host. “Dinner will be served shortly. I thought we could spend this time discussing some of the problems we’ve come up against. Were either of you aware the king has a new Nex Apparatus?”

My blood went pretty much cold, but I simply smiled and told the butler I would take a white wine spritzer. I was told I couldn’t order a beer under any circumstances, but I would need to look like I was indulging. Apparently beer isn’t feminine and it makes me burp. Burping isn’t feminine either. So Gray got to order a beer. It was totally cool for him to burp. Sometimes my job reminds me that life can be f*cking unfair.