“Have you thought about how you’re going to split your time? I’m assuming you won’t let me monopolize it all?”

“You can have most of it. I still want to go to Sophie’s for my daily lessons and coven meetings, and I’m going to see if I can get a few new clients for my spells. Other than that, I’m all yours.”

“When you say you’ll go to Sophie’s, does that mean what I think it does?”

“If you think it means I’m moving in with you, then yes, it does. If…if that’s okay with you, of course.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I just wish I’d heard back from some of those jobs I applied for. Getting a proper business up selling spells is probably going to take a while, and the money Sophie paid you isn’t going to last forever.”

Hunter laughed. “Sophie didn’t pay me in money. She paid me in knowledge and property protection spells. Believe me, we have more than enough money to last us our lifetimes.”

Layla stared at him—it wasn’t as if she’d asked, but this was news to her. “What do you mean?”

“Well, demons typically have piles of gold built up and passed on over generations. Of course, it’s useless here—you can’t exactly pay humans with gold coins. But Sophie introduced me to eBay. Do you know how much gold coins will sell for online?”

Layla grinned. “Not exactly, but I’m guessing quite a lot.”

“You’d be right. Just a small handful of gold is enough for us to live like kings for a decade. Humans make no sense.”

“I guess we know why gold is so rare. It’s all down in the underworld.”

“Not for long. When the other demons find out how much their gold is worth up here, I think we won’t be the only ones buying land up top. Anyway, you don’t need to worry about getting a job. In terms of splitting your time, though, I’ve had an idea.”

“Which is?” she asked.

“Why don’t you go to art school?”

“Oh, Hunter, I’d love to, but that can’t happen now! That’s one of the reasons I really want a job. Going to college would be great, but it’ll take time to save up enough for it.”

“Haven’t you been listening? I’ve got piles of gold that translates very well into dollars. You don’t need to work a day in your life if you don’t want to.”

Layla shook her head, her eyes glazing over with the thought of how tempting it was. “I couldn’t let you pay for something that big, Hunter, it’s not right.”

“You’re my mate,” Hunter said firmly. “What’s mine is yours. Are you telling me you wouldn’t do the same for me, were our situations reversed?”

“Yes, of course I would, but…”

“But nothing. You, Layla, are going to art school.”

“I’m still not sure I should—”

She didn’t get the rest of the words out, due to the fact that Hunter was kissing her. Layla forgot her protests as the feeling of his lips on hers turned her brain into mush. She swung a leg over his torso so that she was straddling him, and he moaned throatily under her lips.

His hands started pulling at her clothes then, and Layla fumbled to help him. She could sense what he was feeling, and it only heightened her own sensations. They were one with each other, their passion greater than ever. Layla found herself smiling under his kiss.

“What is it?” Hunter murmured, moving down to kiss her neck.

“I’m just so happy,” Layla gasped, clutching his shoulders as his fingers did naughty, naughty things to her.

“Me, too. I never thought I’d have this.”

Hunter held her close as they made love, and Layla let herself be filled with a joy so intense that it took her breath away. Hunter was perfect, and he was hers. She was his. She’d also never imagined she’d have anything like this. Now that she did, she was never going to let it go.

Afterwards, Hunter reached up with a pole and fiddled with something on the ceiling. Starlight filtered in as he pulled open a skylight.

“It’s beautiful,” Layla murmured, staring. The stars seemed brighter here than they did anywhere else…though perhaps that was just because Hunter was with her.

“Not as beautiful as you.”

Layla giggled and rested her head on his chest. She started at a faint thumping sound, but Hunter just chuckled under his breath.

“What was that?”

“That was someone hitting the shields. I can’t blame them for it—we’ve lived like brothers for years. None of us have ever wanted or needed privacy. It’ll take them some time to get used to the fact that they don’t have my undivided attention anymore.”

“The shields won’t hurt them, right?”

“Only their pride. I did tell them to stay away. I wonder who it was.”

The thought seemed to amuse Hunter greatly, but Layla was just glad that she didn’t have to spell the room every time she wanted some alone time with Hunter.

“So, don’t keep me hanging,” Hunter said a minute later.

“What?”

“Are you going to let me send you to art school, or are you going to make me beg?”

“You really want me to go? You don’t think I should wait until I’ve saved up enough of my own money?”

“It’ll make you happy. What makes you happy makes me happy. Of course I want you to go. I’d love to see you coming home splattered in paint or with a sketchpad in hand. You’re always so happy when you draw.”

“Well, how can I say no to that?” Layla kissed him again, laughing happily. “I’m going to art school!”

“Only the best, too. We’ll have to make sure that any college you apply to is up to par. Maybe I should meet with the deans, just to ensure they see your true potential...”

“No intimidating deans, Hunter!”

“Who said anything about intimidating? Besides, your work speaks for itself.”

“You can’t hang everything I draw on the walls,” Layla warned. “We won’t have any space left.”

“I make no promises.”

“I love you, you know that?”

“I love you, too. Always you. It was a lucky day for me when our crew decided to seek help from Sophie’s coven.”

“A lucky day for all of us. What made you choose Sophie anyway?”

“We knew about the witch killings, spreading across about five different coven territories. I did some research on all of the high priestesses and judged that Sophie would be the most likely to accept our proposal. And, given the property we’d been looking at, she made the most sense anyway. And she was by far the least likely to blast us into ash when she found us standing on her doorstep.”

“If Sophie’s reaction was good, I’d hate to see what another witch’s might have been.”

“Let’s just say that I don’t think any other high priestess would accept a relationship between a witch and a demon, no matter how amazing that witch was.”

Layla made a mental note to give Sophie a hug when she next saw her. They were all trying to get to know Hunter, for Layla’s sake. When they forgot he was a demon, they almost seemed to be friends with him.

Layla wondered if her coven would keep in real contact with any of the other demons, now that the job was over. She hoped so. Perhaps she’d make that one of her long-term goals, closing the rift between demons and other immortals. It certainly was an ambitious one, but if she was going to live forever, she’d have to have some projects to work on or she’d die of boredom.

“At some point, we should investigate the underworld.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you told me it’s slowly disappearing. I’m just thinking of some of the things I’d like to do. Living forever is a long time. There’s a lot of good I could do. I’m sure you already have people on it, but it can’t hurt to have an extra set of hands. Not that I’m not glad you came up here, but it would probably be a good idea to see if anything can be done about the situation. No one wants their home to disappear.”

“We actually don’t have anyone looking into it, that I know of. Before I met you, I’d have said there’s nothing we can do about it. Demons don’t have magic. Even if we found the problem, we wouldn’t be able to fix it, and other immortals certainly wouldn’t be willing to help. Now…with a witch of your power on our side, not to mention the rest of your coven, maybe we’d have a chance.”

There were so many things Layla wanted to do with her future—from learning magic, to art school, to finding her father, to saving Hunter’s home. For now, though, it was enough for her to lie with Hunter and look forward to the bright future ahead.

THE END

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