The Struggles of Marrying a Demon {Completed}

Staying Suspicious

Mabel watched warily as Lucy, one of her closest human friends, paced the entirety of her apartment for the seventh time.

"Lucy," she broached cautiously, fiddling with the edge of her sweatpants as she shifted on the couch. "Are you going to tell me why you showed up at my apartment at," she eyed the clock with disbelief, "Five in the morning? Not that I mind, it's just . . ." she trailed off, finishing the sentence in her head: I have an extremely sexy demon in my bed, and I would rather still be cuddling with him.

Of course, she knew Aleron had probably just turned himself invisible and was watching their every move, but she chose not to dwell on that information.

Lucy came to an abrupt halt and blew out an agitated breath, frizzy strands of her red hair blowing about at the action. "It's Kellan!" she screeched finally, throwing her hands up in the air and looking around the room wildly, as if wondering what she could shoot (Mabel was glad the woman wasn't dressed in her police uniform; Lucy probably would have already done some serious damage to Mabel's kitchen).

"Okay," Mabel drew the word out slowly, not sure where this was going. She'd seen Kellan just yesterday, and the other woman had seemed fine. "What about Kellan?"

"She's not talking to me!" Lucy continued furiously, spinning around to land a sharp kick against Mabel's counter.

Mabel jumped at the sharp noise, before considering Lucy's words and raising a single brow. Lucy and Kellan were practically inseparable. Heck, even Kellan's husband of a few months, Jake, came after Lucy in Kellan's list of priorities. "I'm sorry, Luce, but . . . really? Kellan always talks to you."

Lucy glared at Mabel with so much irritation that Mabel was surprised Aleron didn't pop out of the shadows to protect her. "She's talking to me, but she's not telling me anything!"

Tilting her head to the side curiously, Mabel waited while Lucy continued. "It's as if she's darting around something important, but whenever I ask what's going on, she won't say anything! I am so pissed," the last sentence was an angry mutter, and—with one final kick at Mabel's poor, innocent counter—Lucy collapsed into an armchair.

"Just give it time, Luce," Mabel soothed, standing and striding to her friend. She dropped down beside Lucy and rubbed a comforting hand over the other woman's shoulder. "She'll tell you eventually. You know Kellan wouldn't keep something from you if it was really important."

Even as Lucy relaxed and agreed, Mabel still couldn't get rid of the uncomfortable swirling in her gut.

What if Kellan didn't tell them what was going on? What if it was important, and she kept it from them?

Shaking her head in an attempt to get rid of the negative thoughts, Mabel refocused on her friend. If she couldn't settle herself, the least she could do was give Lucy something to hold on to.

***

Trying not to tap her hands obnoxiously against her thighs, Mabel bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a sigh. Of all places to be stuck on a gorgeous Friday, she had to go get her driver's license renewed, and the DMV was worse than Hell.

She'd been sitting in the waiting area for three hours, and wished for nothing more than to have her favorite demon with her. At least she wouldn't be so bored. Plus, Aleron was so intimidating that the folks probably would have let them skip the line once he shot them a single gla—

"Mabel, right?"

Jerking upright with a hushed yelp, Mabel turned wide eyes onto the man next to her.