Page 112 of Demon Demands

“Nunchucks?” Briggs confirmed, laughing when she nodded. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am,” she admitted as we stopped in front of a house with brick-like stones covering the outside and a driveway made of…

“Lava? Was this lava?” I questioned, eyeing the same black material that made up the hallway walls of the palace.

Stone nodded his head as he hopped off of Atlas. The hellhound dropped to the ground, rolling over to scratch his back against the flat rock. Helios did the same thing when I got off of him, and all the hounds followed suit.

“Lava Falls is their natural habitat. Hellhounds love the rocks,” Sloane explained before yelling into the open front door of the brand new home. “Lawrence? How’s it going in here?”

“Lo!” a cheerful male called, heavy footsteps pounding through the house with his loud voice. “I was wondering when you’d be stopping by.”

A short, round demon stepped outside, dusting his hands off on his pants. I couldn’t tell what his true color was, but he had a mauve base under all the sheetrock dust. Two stubby black horns adorned his forehead, and his pink eyes danced with amusement as he shook his head at my mate.

“Or should I be calling you Devil now?”

“Don’t be silly,” she sassed, rolling her eyes. “We’re well past titles and formalities by now.”

He chuckled at her, his deep voice echoing around us. “Humor an old fool, kid. It’s not every day that an imp gets to savor the hours he spent mentoring two of the three devils.”

She snorted, smiling sweetly at him, and I was enthralled by their familiarity. This was someone she’d spent time with, a teacher, not just a friend. Her respect for him was written all over her face.

“I haven’t seen you in a few weeks.” He raised his black brows, the top of his bald head wrinkling with the motion. “How’s the topside treating you? Been busy collecting new help, huh? Let me have a look-see.”

“These are my mates, Ren, but you can put us all to work for a bit.”

She patted his shoulder as he looked around. Tugging his glasses from the belt loop of his pants, she wiped them off with her shirt before handing them to him.

“The hounds are breaking in your new driveway, and Pete is in my shirt pocket, testing out how he feels about changing forms. So if you need anything heavy moved—”

He whipped his head around to stare at her. “You’ve got Pete in your pocket? Are you yanking my chain, Lo?”

“No, sir,” She answered, laughing quietly at him. “I’m taking him top-side with me, so I’m making sure he can handle different kinds of magic.”

Ren motioned for us to come inside as he spoke to Sloane. “Pedmars are resilient and scary smart. You won’t have any trouble out of that one, though. He’s been yours since you were an itty-bitty babe.”

The inside of the house was nearly finished, and Ren observed Sloane’s expressions as she looked around at his progress. My mate ran her fingers along the countertops in the kitchen, humming thoughtfully.

“This place is going to look amazing when the floors go down,” she commented absently before flashing him a grin. “What else needs to be done?”

“I think we’ll have the house finished up in a couple days. Painters were here last Friday, but they weren’t supposed to be here until this Friday since the floors are being put down on Tuesday. Then we’ll clean her up Thursday morning, I guess.”

She quirked a delicate brow at him, and he chuckled again. “I’m just sanding down the edges of the wall over here. It’s where Joan has me putting in a door for our hound. Then I’m adding all the hardware on the cabinets and doors, putting in light bulbs, screwing the plates onto the switches and outlets. Nothing too big.”

“Show us the goods, Ren. We can finish this up with you, then you can go back to Joan and Louis.”

He grunted, dismissing her, and she shook her head. “We both know Louis would skin me alive if he knew I was here and didn’t make you sit down. I bet you’ve been on your feet all day.”

We didn’t wait for Ren to tell us what to do; we jumped right into cleaning his new house up and finishing all the small details.

Briggs grabbed a screwdriver and a box of doorknobs, grinning as he walked down the short hall. York opened the back door, stretching his powers across the bare yard. Palmer used his magic to blow all the leftover dust and debris into a pile outside the front door.

Novak took the light bulbs, refusing to get too dirty but still wanting to be helpful. Stone and I started working on the cabinets while Sloane forced Ren into a chair. She took over sanding the hellhound’s doorway as we listened to them chat.

“Don’t want him putting us in the doghouse again, do we?” Ren commented, handing Lo a level to check his work.

She laughed at him. “I sure as hell don’t. He’s a mean son of a bitch when it comes to you and Joan.”

He hummed in agreement. “We got a crew coming tomorrow to start on the framing for the clinic. It’ll be up and running within the month.”