Immortal Code, Rule 3: The bond between an Immortal and its mate is sacred, unbreakable.
While he envied them, Gabriel really didn't want to go through all that shit with his own mate. Life was simpler without emotional attachments. Aside from drama, it was going to take half an eternity to straighten out the underworld without the distraction of a woman in his life.
"When do you need Logan taken care of?" he asked.
"When you have the time. We're trying to figure out what Darkyn is doing planting a shape-shifter demon on the mortal realm," Rhyn said, referring to the demon lord who wanted both their heads on pikes.
"I'll send someone up tonight."
"Uh, yeah, this guy has a connection to you. You need to go."
Rhyn was trying to be casual about it, but the half-demon had never asked Gabe for anything and was incapable of subtlety. This was important. Gabe had never heard of Logan Myers and didn't know what connection he might have, considering he had no living relatives or friends, aside from Rhyn and Katie.
"I don't know this guy from Adam," Gabe said then waited.
Rhyn grinned then laughed.
"It's funny, right?" Gabe said.
"Yeah."
Satisfied someone got his humor when none of the death-dealers did, Gabe grew thoughtful. They were all serious, absorbed with following the Immortal Code and performing their duties. They lived for nothing more. He'd been like that once. He changed so gradually, he didn't notice how much different he'd become, until he realized how much he was enjoying talking to his friend.
Rhyn was right. The death-dealers were boring to talk to.
"You're not gonna tell me why?" he asked with the same casual tone Rhyn used.
"Sometimes the head of the Council That Was Seven has to be discreet." Rhyn said through clenched teeth with a look of distaste.
"I can't get used to the political side of the job, either," Gabe said. "And you're welcome for rescuing you, and Katie and your unborn hatchling from the demons and -"
"He's connected to your ex-girlfriend." Rhyn threw up his hands in surrender. "You didn't hear it from me. I'm out."
Gabe watched him disappear through a portal, not understanding. He only had one ex-girlfriend, past-Death, and she was presumed dead. She had to be, or he wouldn't have been able to assume her role as Death. On the smallest of chances she was alive, she would've had to find a loophole to surrender her duty without losing her soul. While he could see her figuring it out, he couldn't see her choosing the mortal world. Her biggest issue with him had always been what she perceived as his weakness: his humanity and compassion for others.