Devon choked down a laugh. “It’s, um … something.”
It was a dick was what it was. But before Raini could say as much, the imp had hurried off to the craps table. Raini might have followed her if Lachlan and Bram hadn’t then appeared.
Bram elbowed her and opened the plastic bag he held. “Hey, get a look at our winnings.”
Raini felt her mouth tighten. “By winnings, you mean the money you stole from whatever machine you broke into?”
Lachlan sighed. “Now don’t go making a big deal out of us purloining a little bit of cash. We’re not harming anyone.”
“You’re committing a crime,” she pointed out.
“Which the economy would thank me for.”
“Knox won’t. The Underground is his baby, which means—in a roundabout way—you just stole from him. Could you not put the money back?”
“Returning to the scene of a crime is a surefire way to get caught. We could probably do it without him noticing, but it won’t be long before the cameras switch back on. The security system wasn’t easy to hack into, you know. I was impressed. Ah, that mate of yours is on his way over. I’m starting to like him. Sort of. It’s a slow process.”
“I hope this means you’ll stop conjuring knives in his presence.”
Shaking his head, Lachlan let out a heavy breath. “You get upset about the strangest things.”
She frowned. “How is it strange to—you know what, I can’t do this with you.”
“You should be thankful I’m such a protective father. But no. You always go whining that I’m being unreasonable. I liked none of your boyfriends, but I was perfectly civil to all of them.”
“You put a shock collar on my prom date.”
“You said he liked surprises.”
Reaching her side, Maddox slid an arm around her shoulders and looked from her to Lachlan. “Everything all right here?”
“Raini’s just making a fuss about nothing again,” her father said. “Come on, Bram.” The two male imps stalked off.
She looked up at Maddox. “I hope you’re being careful not to let any imps too close, because they don’t care who it is they’re stealing from. Anyone is considered fair game.”
“I’m aware,” her mate said, lifting her hand. His mind then touched hers. My cock gets hard every time I see this ring on your finger.
She smiled. I’ve noticed. As he’d promised—well, it had often come out sounding more like a threat—he’d given her a black diamond. She’d asked him to wear the matching masculine version, and he’d easily complied. Her demon loved looking at the ring—it was totally into bright, shiny things. Raini was more wowed by what the jewelry represented, which was that Maddox had fully committed to her—body, mind, and soul.
It won’t be long before the party’s over, Maddox went on. Then I can take you home, and we’ll have our own private celebration.
Hmm, I’m up for that.
Thought you might be. Cupping his mate’s elbow, Maddox led her to another cluster of guests. He wanted to get the mingling over with. For hours they walked from group to group, thanking guests for coming. Carmen and Hector stayed close at all times.
At one point, they got talking to Harper and Knox. The other male Prime was still somewhat stiff toward Maddox, but not rude or uncivil. He appeared to be reserving judgment. There was none of the typical Prime posturing, though.
As he often did, Maddox glanced down at his mate, who was somewhat tipsy at this point. So she almost stumbled when she leaned into Harper and asked, “Where’s Levi? He’s usually never far from Knox.”
Maddox quickly steadied Raini, who didn’t seem to notice.
“Either brooding or solving his problem,” replied the equally tipsy sphinx, mirth in her eyes.
Raini straightened, seemingly intrigued. “Ooh, expand.”
“Well … he found his anchor,” Harper went on in a whisper that was much louder than she appeared to realize.
Raini’s nose wrinkled. “And this is something he’d brood over or consider a problem?”
“I’m not yet sure how he feels about it, I just know it stunned the shit out of him.” Harper put her hand on Raini’s arm. “We bumped into a few of our lair members at the mall, one of whom is the sister of Levi’s ex—a sister he watched like he wanted to devour her. He barely spoke a word to her, though. I don’t know who initiated the psychic contact between them, but someone must have, because they both had a weird ‘what the fuck?’ moment and then Levi was staring at her exactly like a demon stares at their anchor—”
“Waini!” Asher shouted, dashing toward her with Keenan and Khloë hot on his heels.
“I’ll tell you the rest later,” Harper told Raini.
“Hey, little man.” Grinning, Raini scooped him up and righted his collar. “Damn, you’re rocking this outfit. It’s super cool.”
Harper snickered. “You would say that. You bought it.”
“I like making sure my honorary nephew has style.” Noticing he was holding something, Raini frowned. “Hey, what you got there? A credit card, by the looks of it. You and those sticky fingers.”