Page 61 of My Demon Neighbor
Twenty-Two
Pythor
It'd been a weeksince I told Codie I loved him, and while he hadn't said it back, he also didn't seem to mind how I felt about him. I'd been floating around on cloud nine, especially after our dinner last night with Vanessa and Alia.
Vanessa seemed to have finally accepted me into their little family unit, and I couldn't be happier. I'd had fun hanging out with the two ladies, especially the younger one. Alia was a sweet kid, and she had alotof fire.
While her mom and Codie had been busy chatting, she'd asked me to teach her some moves because a bully in her class kept bothering a friend of hers, and the teachers had done nothing despite her many complaints.
I expected to hear about the results of my teachings within a few days, but for today, I had to focus on my other students.
Vanessa and Alia had left about the same time I had, and Codie planned to go on a walk to the park with Hella before spending the day painting. I was looking forward to seeing his next creation.
"Hey, Pythor!" A woman in my class greeted me as she came into the room, and I put my phone away—where I'd been doing what Codie called 'doomscrolling'—as more people started filtering in.
"Hello," I replied with a nod, having learned from my mistakes. For some reason, a lot of the adults took anything more than simple politeness—and sometimes even that—to mean I was flirting. It was why I much preferred my smaller students.
As the students rolled in, they started doing some stretches to loosen up for the class, and I waited until everyone had arrived before starting.
I was barely ten minutes into the lesson when a familiar bark had me jerking to attention.
"Excuse me," I murmured before racing out of the room. What was Hella doing here? She wasn't supposed to leave Codie's side.
As I passed by a room, I spotted Jonah.
"Hey, Jonah. Can you take over my class please? I have an emergency."
He nodded, and I took off before he could ask anything. I found Hella in the stairwell, and since there was no one around, I grabbed her flank and teleported, letting her pick the destination since she knew where to go.
It took me only a second to realize we were at the park near our house, and Codie was here too, but he wasn't alone.
Relief filled his face as he saw me, and I stepped forward as the man holding him tightened his grip around Codie's neck. Codie had tucked his chin in like I'd taught him to, but thebastard was clearly stronger than him, and Codie was terrified of him.
The one time Codie decided not to wear his coat. I should've put protective wards on all his clothes. Or better yet, I should've just put an impenetrable bubble around him.
"Hold back your mutt or I'll break this bitch's neck," the bastard from my mate's nightmares growled, and I flicked my hand, putting an illusion around the park so anyone looking over would think the place was empty.
I took a step forward as Hella growled loudly, her dark eyes flaming with the red she kept hidden when around humans. "Let him go."
"Fuck you," the human said, about as eloquent as I'd expect someone like him to be.
Ignoring him, I met Codie's eyes, and he bit his lip as the fear slowly withdrew from his face. He seemed to gather himself, and then...
He punched back, slamming his fist right in the bastard's nuts, before twisting free and running over to me.
The asshole tried to come after him, and I shifted, stopping him in his tracks as Codie slid behind me, Hella rushing to his side as I stalked over to the bastard staring at me with wide eyes.
"What the fuck?" he mumbled as I grabbed him by the neck, picking him off the floor like he weighed nothing. He was probably a few inches taller than my human form, and quite bulky. But he was nothing against me in my true form, and he seemed to realize it as he flailed about uselessly. Now that Codie wasn't between us, I could see his soul properly, and it was as dark as I'd expected it to be. He would be going straight to the Burning Chasm as soon as I was done with him.
"Let me go," he gasped out, and I squeezed tighter. Had my mate screamed those words that night?Hadhelistened?
"Pythor," Codie murmured, pressing his hand on my arm, the same arm the asshole hung from. I wanted to keep squeezing until his head popped clean off, but I relaxed my hold a little, turning to Codie.
"You don't want him dead?"
Codie's eyes flashed with a rare mix of anger and disgust, and his voice was sharp when he spoke. "I want nothing more than to see him dead, Pythor. Trust me. But I... I want him to suffer," he said, his voice lowering as if he was ashamed of his admission. "Does that make me a bad guy?"
Leaning down, I pressed a kiss on his forehead, and his shoulders loosened a little. "It doesn't, Codie. It just makes you a demon's mate," I said with a quirk of my lips, and he smiled.
