Noah has lived in isolation most of his life. He’s a demon, and demons keep to themselves. He’s not satisfied with his life, though. One night he sneaks out and meets Duncan. He likes the man, but he knows he can’t be with him because it would mean losing everything.
Duncan knows what he wants, and he wants Noah. He doesn’t care—much—about his homophobic parents’ reaction. He knows he has the support of his friends and most of the pack, and that’s enough for him. Will it be enough for Noah, though?
As Noah and Duncan get to know each other, Noah has to make a decision—his parents, or his mate? Choosing his parents means he’ll have to marry a woman and have children, even if he’s gay. Choosing Duncan means he’ll lose everything he’s ever known. Or not?
Noah swore. “Damn it!” His hands flew to his head as he tried to hide the horns, but he already knew it was too late. He’d been discovered.
So he pasted his best snotty expression on his face and turned to look at the tiny man who’d talked. “Yes, I have horns. What about you? Is that color from a bottle?”
Noah crossed his arms on his chest and waited. He wanted nothing more than to get back to his car and go home. This had obviously been a mistake, but he didn’t think Duncan would let him go that easily, not after the word mate had been said. Noah might have grown up in a relative isolation from the rest of the world, but his father had made him study it. He knew several paranormal creatures who had mates. He just couldn’t tell which one Duncan belonged to.
The small man snarled and showed Noah his teeth, but Noah wasn’t afraid. He was more scared of what the other men in the room could do to him. Most of them were very big, and they would make only one bite out of him if they decided he was a menace.
“Jago,” one of them said, and even Noah could feel the undercurrent of power in his voice. He was clearly the one in charge.
“He insulted me!”
“Let him be. We need to talk.”
Noah was scared to look at Duncan. He knew horns weren’t common—obviously. Only demons had them, and demons didn’t have the best reputation with humans. Duncan might not be one, but he lived in the human world. Noah didn’t want the man to be afraid or disgusted by him.
The biggest man moved toward Noah and sat on the coffee table in front of him. Noah was mildly surprised to see that the piece of furniture held the guy’s weight without problems, but he kept his mouth shut when a nasty remark tried to make its way out. Noah hated how mouthy he became when he was scared.
“I’m Kameron.”
Noah looked at the offered hand as if the thing was a snake about to bite him. He looked up into Kameron’s copper eyes and tried to read them. The only thing he could see in them was curiosity, so he slowly held his own hand out and clasped Kameron’s. They shook and Kameron pointed at the rest of the men in the room. “The red-head is Jago, the blond is Zach, my mate, and the other two are Craig and his mate, Thomas. You obviously already know Duncan.” Kameron smirked and Noah felt the need to blush.
He fought it as hard as he could and let his eyes move over all of them to think about something else. He was surprised to see they were all men and that even the leader was in a same-sex relationship. “I’m Noah Newcombie.”
“What are you?” Jago asked, and Noah opened his mouth to make another scalding remark. A hand on his thigh stopped him, and this time he did blush. He looked down to see Duncan’s hand on his leg. Noah wasn’t use to that type of casual physical contact. It wasn’t something that was done in his world, in the house he grew up in.
“I don’t know why you seem to have something against Jago, but he’s only asking the question all of us want to hear the answer to,” Duncan said.
Noah straightened and looked at the man. “I’ll tell you when you tell me what you are.”
“That’s fair. I’m a wolf shifter.”
Noah looked around again. “All of you?”
“No. Craig is human and Jago is an Elephant Shrew shifter.”
Noah crinkled his nose. “What’s that?”
“I’ll explain later, okay?”
“Fine.” Noah paused and looked down. He knew he had no choice but to tell them what he was. He just hoped they wouldn’t take it badly. “I’m a demon.”
The room was silent and Noah risked a peek around. He’d expected fear and maybe anger, but he couldn’t see any of that in the men surrounding him.
“Wait, there are demons too?” The guy Kameron had presented as his mate said.
“Obviously,” Thomas drawled, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from his mate.
“Cool.”
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