An argument of some sort.
Sure, it could have been Ly and Lenore, but I rarely ever heard them fighting.
It could even have been one of Daemon's many women, angry at being kicked out.
But something told me to get out of bed, put on some pants, and go down to check things out.
I was halfway down the stairs when I'd found the source of the male voice.
Not Ly or Daemon.
And the woman's voice.
Not Lenore or some random clubwhore.
Oh, no.
Nope.
This was Dale.
Dale the fucking demonslayer.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I snapped before I could fully assess the situation.
And it was right then and there that I realized something vital.
Because Minos's wings surged out from his back, moving over to attempt to wrap protectively around Dale.
Who visibly shrank away, casting an angry look at Minos, and a guilty one at me, before turning, yanking open the door, and disappearing.
I wasn't sure what I was supposed to feel at realizing one of my men had Claimed a demonslayer.
But the sigh that moved through me felt appropriate.
As well as the words that came out of my mouth.
"Are you fucking serious?"
To that, Minos's jaw went tight as his wings disappeared.
"I think we both know we don't have any control over it," he snapped, jaw tight.
With that, he stormed off, slamming the back door as he went outside.
Leaving me to contemplate all the ways this shit could come back and bite us in the ass.
I don't know how long I stood there.
But I knew it was Josephine's hands that snapped me out of my swirling thoughts as they slid around my chest. She leaned forward, resting her head against my bare back.
"Come back to bed," she demanded in a sleepy voice.
So, no, I had no fucking idea what it meant that Minos had claimed Dale.
I didn't have any idea where Red was, or why she was chasing down Marceaus who didn't seem like he wanted to be caught.
I didn't even know what it meant for us that Drex was so obsessed with his kinky fucking club.
But I did know I was going back to bed with my woman.
And in that moment, it was all that mattered.
Jo - 1 Year
"Are you sure?" Lenore asked, tone serious.
Because she knew what a big decision this was.
She'd needed to make it as well.
"You've been where I'm standing," I reminded her. "You know the answer to that."
I hadn't taken the decision lightly.
I figured she hadn't either.
It was a big thing, asking someone to give up what they had always known.
Birth, life, death.
A cycle that never had an opt-out clause before.
We'd molded our lives as such, made decisions based on the need to experience as much as we could in such a short time, knowing it would soon all be over.
It was a big deal to suddenly decide that was no longer going to be your reality. I'd spent many sleepless nights wrestling with my uncertainties about it. I'd pestered Lenore endlessly about the differences she'd felt after she'd taken on immortality.
I was afraid things would lose their wonder because I knew I would always have them, that no moment was lost because I would have infinite chances to experience the same thing over and over. I was terrified to lose my sense of purpose, something that had always been so important to me.
Unexpectedly, it had been Drex to calm that particular worry. Granted, he'd done so gruffly and with a voice full of annoyance over listening to me prattle on endlessly about it to Ace.
"Wouldn't being alive forever give you more chances to help the hurt and infirm, for fuck's sake?"
And, well, he was right.
Maybe I couldn't do it at my old capacity. People would eventually notice that I wasn't aging. But I could still help. I could find purpose.
After four or five months, when the feelings toward Ace hadn't started to ebb, but just flowed endlessly, I figured my worries about it being chemical were pretty unfounded.
It was just him.
I liked him.
No.
I loved him.
I loved him in a way I never had before.
Suddenly, I could see the shallowness in all my previous relationships.
I'd loved conditionally.
And I'd been loved back the same way.
There was none of that with Ace and me.
He loved me without limits.
I loved him without fear.
It was thrilling and terrifying and so consuming it was hard to wrap my own head around at times. And I was the one experiencing it.
All I knew was, each day, I became more and more certain that what I wanted, what I needed, was more time with him.
As much time as I could possibly have.