Page 11 of Ridge

Ridge arched a brow. “Are you volunteering? Because I’d rather have the bed.”

Kael’s cheeks flushed, and he looked away. Ridge was pretty sure he was about to climb out the window or something like that, but instead, he shook himself.

“Fine, but if it’s too uncomfortable, we can swap.”

“I’m not letting you sleep on the floor.”

“Why not? You’re willing to do it.”

“I’ve been trained to do it. In fact, I’ve been trained to sleep and work in the worst circumstances. This won’t be the first time I’ve slept on the floor, and it definitely won’t be the last. You don’t have to feel guilty.”

“I never said I felt guilty.”

But he did. It was clear in his expression that he didn’t want to cause a fuss, but he also didn’t want to share the bed with Ridge, which was fine. Ridge understood. He knew about their bond, but Kael didn’t, not for sure. Even if he had, this wouldn’t feel as instinctive for him as it did for Ridge. He didn’t feel the pull as strongly as Ridge did, if he even felt it at all. Bonds between shifters and their mates always grew stronger as time passed, and he and Kael hadn’t known each other long. Their bond would grow stronger, but it needed time.

And Ridge wasn’t sure that Kael was willing to give them that time.

* * * *

“IS EVERYTHING TO YOUR liking?” Poppy asked as soon as they were out of the bedroom door.

Kael opened his mouth to explain that he and Ridge weren’t a couple, but the words wouldn’t come out. Poppy looked so hopeful that his answer would be yes, and he didn’t have it in himself to rain on her parade. Besides, what could she do? She didn’t have another bedroom, and even though Ridge had offered to find another place to stay, Kael knew that he wouldn’t, even if he could. He was here to protect Kael, and he couldn’t do that if he wasn’t near him.

Ridge hadn’t told him that. He’d just volunteered to sleep on the floor, and Kael hadn’t had a choice. He’d agreed because he didn’t know what else to say. Could he share a bed with Ridge? Probably. Would it be awkward and tense? Definitely. He had no idea what was happening between them or if anything was happening at all, but he could feel that sharing a bed would lead to something he wasn’t ready for.

So he forced himself to smile at Poppy. “Everything’s perfect,” he said. “We freshened up, just like you suggested. I’m ready for dinner.”

She beamed. She really seemed excited for them to be there, which was a bit confusing. When Kael first found out that a shifter had snuck into Starhaven, he’d been terrified. He hadn’t known that Tex was Nymon’s mate, and he’d been even more scared when he found out.

He wasn’t scared of shifters anymore. He’d met plenty of them since he moved out of Starhaven, and the stories he’d been told about how shifters and humans treated demons seemed far away now. He wouldn’t say that most people were happy to see him when he went to town, but no one had tried to run him out yet, so he took that as a win.

And he was here to show demons that whatever stories they’d heard about shifters weren’t true. Hell, humans were probably more likely to push demons out than shifters were. Shifters understood. They’d been hidden, just like demons still were. It hadn’t been quite the same thing since they didn’t have magic to hide, but they’d lived for decades hiding from humans in plain sight, and everything had been fine when they’d been forced to come out.

Well, mostly.

But the council didn’t expect demons to open up their towns instantly and welcome the whole world in. Hell, they didn’t even expect demons to open up their towns at all. They just wanted to be able to communicate with demons in case something happened, like it had in Starhaven. Demons had been responsible for human deaths, and that wasn’t something the council or the human authorities could allow. They’d had to intervene, but it would’ve been much easier to contact the Starhaven authorities and deal with them directly. The council hadn’t been able to because they had no idea how to contact them or who they were.

Which made Kael wonder about Poppy and the leaders of this village. It was smaller than he’d expected, hardly a town at all, if the council had somehow managed to find the place. How? How had they known who to contact? How had they convinced anyone to let them in?

Kael glanced at Ridge, who was nodding at something Poppy was saying. He probably didn’t have any more information. The only one who did was Gregory, but he wasn’t here to answer Kael’s questions. Maybe Poppy could, though.

“Dinner will be ready in half an hour,” she said, still smiling. “In the meantime, what do you want to drink?”

“Water is fine for me,” Kael quickly said. “If it’s okay with you, I have a few questions.”

“I’ll answer if I can.”

“I was given an outline of the mission and some documents, so I know who we’re here to meet and what we’re supposed to do, but I admit I’m curious about how the council managed to reach out to your village. It seems as isolated and protected as the town where I was born, and as far as I know, no one ever reached out to our leaders.”

Poppy cocked her head as she watched Kael. “Are you sure about that?”

Kael hadn’t been about to answer that. He supposed he couldn’t be, but still. “As far as I know, we never had anyone reach out.”

“Maybe you did. You do know there’s a demon council member, right?”

Kael hadn’t known that. He didn’t know a lot of things since he’d left Starhaven only a few months ago. “I didn’t.” It would’ve been nice to know before getting here. He would’ve liked to talk to this demon council member, even though he probably would’ve been intimidated.

“I don’t know the details,” Poppy explained. “But from what I do know, the demon council member has been trying to get demons to open up. He hasn’t gotten many results, clearly. A lot of demon towns want to stay isolated, which is fine until there’s a problem. Besides, our leaders can’t make that kind of decision on their own. There are plenty of demons who want nothing to do with the human world, just like there are plenty who are eager to find out more. You grew up in a demon town. You know what it’s like to only know the human world through movies and TV. You know how complicated it can be to get things like cell phones. That’s why you’re here—wanting to talk to demons about opening up.”