For a moment, it was as if time had stopped, and there was just Kostya and me, and a gossamer web of unspoken emotion between us.

And then the big oaf went and broke the spell.

“You did not tell me that I struck you. I will not have this! You will see a doctor,” he pronounced.

I blinked a couple of times, already regretting the loss of the moment. “I will do no such thing.”

“I won’t have you hurt.” He took my hand and started to stride around the back of the hangar. “We will go now.”

“Like hell we will! Kostya, stop!” I dug in my heels and managed to get him to halt. “What about your brother?”

He turned around to look over at Drake, and instantly his body language changed. His teeth bared as he started forward. I leaped in front of him, blocking his way.

“Oh, you did not just do that,” I snapped. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, or if this is how you normally greet family members, but I do know this: the next time you get in a knock-down, drag-out fight, I’m just going to let you get beat up.”

“It’s not his fault,” Aisling called to me, starting across the gap between the two men. Drake snarled an order for her to stop, and started moving. The two redheads pounced and held him back.

“For the love of Pete!” Aisling said, gesturing at her husband. “I can talk to Aoife, can’t I?”

Kostya growled, positively growled. I looked back at him, my hands still on his chest holding him back.

“Wow,” Jim said, giving him a long look. “That’s seriously feral-sounding, Slick. You may want to consult a vet about some rabies shots. I’d suggest a neutering, but I doubt if Eefster Island would let you.”

“Do you want me to order you to silence again?” I asked the demon.

He sniffed and glanced away. “Man, censorship all over the place. ‘Jim, don’t pee on the doctor’s flowers. Jim, don’t sniff the waitress’s crotch. Jim, don’t make neutering jokes.’ You’re no fun, Eefers, absolutely no fun. I bet that Aisling woman would let me have fun.”

“Don’t you dare try to play her against me, because that isn’t going to work one little bit.”

Hurt darkened his eyes. “You don’t want me. It’s because I’m a demon, isn’t it? Go on, you can tell me. You’ll crush my spirits and destroy my heart and ruin what was turning out to be a perfectly nice relationship—”

“You just got done ranting to me about how I’m no fun,” I interrupted.

“—and just when I was forming a bond with you,” Jim continued, as if I hadn’t spoken. “But that’s okay. Oh, sure, I was learning to love you despite your quirky ways, and the fact that you starve me, and that you want to get it on with Slick, here, but none of that matters because I’m not human, right? Go ahead,” he said, lying down on the ground. “Run me over again. Put me out of my misery. It won’t matter because I’m just a demon.”

“Oh, for the love of—Jim, get up. I’m not going to run you over. And you do matter to me, which is why I took you to the vet, and bought you a hamburger, and gave you my duvet to sleep with, so don’t give me those big eyes full of martyrdom. Are you crying?”

“No,” Jim sniffled, turning away from me. His voice was thick. “I just have something in my eye.”

“I can’t believe you’re going drama queen on me right now. Kostya, are you seeing what he’s doing? Don’t you have something to say about it?”

Kostya’s eyes narrowed on his brother until the little silver flecks in them glittered like sunlight on diamonds. “Wyvern,” he drawled, his hands fisted, every muscle and sinew in his body as taut as a bowstring.

“You are absolutely no help, do you know that?” I told him.

I sighed and turned toward Jim, now rolling around on the ground in faux agony. But the second I took my hands off Kostya, he started moving forward. I shoved my shoulder against his chest, gave him a glare that he registered but didn’t comment on, and said with as much good grace as I could, “Man, you are really pushing my buttons, aren’t you? Well, I did not go through two years of deep psychological training to let someone mess with me that way. I do want you, Jim. If I didn’t, I would have left you on the road when I ran you over.”

He got up, still sniffling. “So you love me?”

“Yes,” I snarled, wishing for what seemed to be the umpteenth time that day that it was over. “Yes, I love you to the ends of the earth and back again. Now get over here and help me hold Kostya back.”

“Aoife. Meet me halfway,” Aisling called. She’d gone back to her husband and evidently had been having a little chat with him. “Drake won’t let me come to you, and I suspect that Kostya wouldn’t appreciate you coming over here. Drake! Stay!”

“Okay, but only because you said you were sorry for treating me like I was dirt,” Jim said, moving behind Kostya to take a big mouthful of his shirt and pulling backward as he did so.

I decided it was better if I didn’t point out that no apology had been forthcoming and turned my attention back to Kostya. “Aisling wants to speak to me.”

“Wyvern,” he repeated.

“No, she’s the wyvern’s wife, and she wants to talk to me. I’m going to do so. You stay here.”

“Drake,” he snarled, his teeth grinding slightly.

I eyed him. “Don’t make me give you orders like the dog there.”

A muffled, “Hello, standing right here! I have a name. Plus, you said you love me. You can’t refer to me like that if you love me, can you?” came from behind Kostya.

Kostya’s eyes focused on me. “Are you insulting me?”

“No, but I will if it will make you stop fighting. Stay right here. I’m going to walk over there to talk to your sister-in-law, okay?”

He looked past me to Aisling, then to Drake, growled again, but nodded.

“Jim, I changed my mind; you can come with me. Since you used to belong to Aisling, she’ll probably want to see you and make sure you’re okay and possibly even ask for you back. Which I will be happy to do, since you don’t seem to like the way I take care of you.”

“Being run over kind of makes you lose a little faith in the quality of care you can expect,” Jim answered in a dry tone, but he followed me as I met Aisling halfway between the two men.