Page 61 of Sweet Dreams

I nodded, unsure if this would be a pro or a con to my staying there. “Yes. That’s where he and his human mate reside. Under your recommendation, of course.”

“And, while you’ve been there,” he continued, “have you been contributing anything to my efforts to determine how many demon hybrids slipped into the living world during my family’s battle with our enemy?”

I shifted on my feet, knowing he would know if I lied. “No, I’m afraid I haven’t. But, once we are there, I know that I can devote more time to that effort for you, as well as continue to maintain the power levels here in the Underworld.”

“Hmm,” he said mildly, “you got a little distracted?”

“My lord, I—”

Lucia cut me off with a glare. “Don’t answer that, Zaldi. You don’t have to answer that,” she said sharply, then looked pointedly at her mate. “Will you stop harassing him? We both know you got nothing done during the weeks after I left for the living world.”

Dark gray splotches formed on Arafel’s cheeks before he brushed them away with a twitch of his wing.

“If you were to stay in the living world,” Arafel said, “you would be using power from the Underworld to remain there. Which means you will need to feed into it more than you ever have before. Our agreement was that you didn’t have to walk through dreams or fantasies or pull energy from any other living human while you remained there. But that has changed now. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

My blood heated, my body suddenly inundated with images of my mate—warm, open, welcoming me as we tumbled to the Underworld ground. I cleared my throat, “I understand.”

Lucia laughed, then covered her mouth to smother it. “Okay, so you understand,” she said, glancing toward Lulu. “Because I’m pretty sure you should tell her exactly what that means. Just coming from an old married couple.” Her head fell to Arafel’s shoulder. Or at least as high up as she could reach standing by his side.

Lulu’s eyes flicked between me and the towering Prince in the corner. “Zaldi, you know I love you. What does it mean?” she asked.

“It means,” I said carefully, “I know human men like to claim that sex is the only thing that keeps them alive. But in my case, the magic that will keep me in the living world will literally be fed by the energy between us as mates. Good energy. Bad energy. Sexual energy. All of it. Your power becomes my existence in that world. Otherwise, I’ll need to come home rather than use up the resources Traum is hunting in the living world.” I paused. “Does that make more sense?”

Lulu’s eyes held mine.

“So basically,” she said slowly, “that means if we break up, you have to go back to the underworld. Right?”

Arafel and Lucia both snorted.

Arafel’s deep, rumbling voice answered a second later. “Demons don’t break up. Fated mates are more than a passing fancy here. What you’re about to go through—what you have been through —means that you’ll be bound together, forever. Where he goes, you go. Where you go, he goes.”

For a second, I almost panicked, watching as Lulu visibly digested the information. Then, her lips twitched, just slightly, before curving upward. All of my worry drained away at once.

I reached for her, threading my fingers through hers, feeling the soft skin I had become so completely infatuated with all those years ago.

“Do you understand?” I asked quietly.

Her trembling lip turned into a full smile, a single tear slipping down her cheek. “I decided that a long time ago,” she said softly. “Whatever it takes to keep you in the underworld or the living world—whatever it takes to keep you safe.” She brushed the tear away. “That’s what I want.”

Lucia clapped her hands together. “Sounds like it’s settled then. You two are going to work with Bailey and Traum to figure out how we can best manage the power in the hybrids in the living world. When we need you, we’ll call.” She grinned broadly. “Better, mate?”

Slowly, Arafel nodded in agreement.

The tension rushed out of me in one massive breath, and then, I was tackled to the ground as Lulu climbed over me, wrapping her arms and legs around me. We laughed together, breathless and tangled.

There were no more obstacles. What was between us now was forever.

I buried my nose in my mate’s hair and laughed.

Chapter Twenty

Lulu

When this all began—when I moved back to Salus Glen—I’d been convinced there would be nothing there for me. Another dead-end job. Another failed attempt to prove to my grandparents that there was no future for me in that town.

I had no idea what my future actually held.

But now, as I held my demon mate’s hands, our fingers entwined, as we stepped through a portal created by the literal son of Lucifer, I realized my life would never be the same.