Darkest Night: Mercenaries and Magic: A scorching enemies to lovers romance

by Alessa Thorn

  Athena's smile widened. "Look away, Zeus. I'm going to have to make out with Kon for a second."

  "Yeah, no thanks," Silas said, getting up and walking away.

  Athena closed in on Kon, pressing him up against the counter and planting a messy kiss on his lips. "Thank you for having my back."

  "Anytime, goddess. I plan on getting you onto that back later on," Kon teased.

  "Oh yeah? And how are you going to do that?"

  "Seduce you with my culinary skills, and if that fails, I'm going to wrestle you."

  "Let's hope your food is good because I can guarantee my wrestling is better."

  "Keep telling yourself that." Kon ran his thumb over her jaw. "It's a good guess about Ryker. Maybe he was trying to help. I had forgotten all about it. I was too worried about getting you out in one piece."

  "Me too. Turns out I only needed to get into downward dog and get some blood to my brain," Athena said, her fingers skimming under his t-shirt.

  "In the future, I'll have to remember when you get stuck on a problem, I just have to get your ass in the air," Kon replied, his hand drifting to the luscious ass in question.

  Athena leaned closer and licked his bottom lip, making his dick twitch to life. "How about you get my ass in the air tonight, and I'll tell you all the things that I'm thinking."

  Kon tipped his head back and laughed. "You got yourself a deal, Edgeworth."

  Kon had managed to convince Athena to stay in the kitchen and chop up ingredients for him when Izabella and Leo started talking loudly, hands gesticulating passionately as they fell in and out of Italian and Spanish.

  "What has got you so excited?" Athena called, putting down the knife. Izabella picked up her laptop and brought it over to the kitchen counter.

  "Look at this. We picked out the craziest reports like you suggested and cross-referenced them with the full moon. There have been five in the past two years," Izabella said and brought up the reports for them. "In all five cases, they were male and claimed they were out drinking and were drugged. When they were tested, their results came back with a combination of Rohypnol and ketamine in their systems."

  "Ooff, I bet their hangovers were killer," Dante said, taking a beer from the fridge.

  "Not only were their hangovers killer, they were terrified, all claiming some kind of horned animal, god, or demonic figure had been chasing them to feed off their fear," Leo added. "One of weirdest parts was that even though they were hit with date rape drugs, none of them showed any signs of being sexually assaulted."

  "No, the weirdest part was the cuts on them," Izabella said, pulling up photos. "Their stories all seemed to differ, but they all mentioned a forest, so the police thought that trees had done it to them. When you look at them all together, the cuts are all in the same places and are too precise."

  Ice dumped down Kon's spine. "Show me," he said through his teeth.

  "They aren't pretty, just to warn you," Izabella opened all the pictures up on her screen so they were a collage of mutilated arms and legs, stomach, backs. All cuts were about five inches long and were in parallel pairs.

  "What is it, Kon? What do you see?" Athena asked, her hand resting lightly on his back.

  "It's a ritual. I don't know what it does, but I know it’s magic," he said, his voice breaking. "Liddell…he did it to my mother before he killed her."

  Kon fought back the memories of the heat, the smoke, his mother's screams, her eyes as her life slipped away. Athena's arm curled around him, pulling him back to the present. He cleared his throat.

  "The full moons…do they align with an equinox?" he asked.

  Leo's dark brows drew together. "I'll check for you."

  "There's a lot of lore about the power of full moons in every culture. Magic and rituals have always been tied to them. If Liddell is choosing people and then letting them go, he must either not be getting what he wants, or he is. No one is game enough to look too deeply into it," Kon continued, his hand going to the pendant around his neck.

  "But in the past two years, there's been five incidents, not the eight, that would line up with your equinox theory," Dante said.

  "What if the other three died?" Athena replied, voicing Kon's own thought. "I mean, if you fill someone up with a heap of drugs, cut them up, and use a demonic beast to feed on their fear, then it's easy to assume they could've died of an overdose or shock."

  "Or the ritual he was trying to perform killed them," Kon added.

  Silas leaned his elbows on the counter next to Izabella and looked at the photos. "Why let the others that survived go? I mean, it's sloppy. They all randomly turned up with similar stories."

  "You're all forgetting who we are dealing with. Liddell could be paying the police to look the other way. He's done it before. I know because I've personally bribed anyone who he's needed, including judges, politicians, border security, you name it," Kon said irritably.

  "It could explain why they were all from other places," Izabella mused aloud. They looked at her. "I mean…it was something I noticed along with the horned god thing. The victims aren't from Edinburgh. They aren't even Scottish. All of them were tourists or international students."

  "Maybe because Liddell and the police didn't want upset or grieving families up their asses," Dante replied. "That means that the victims probably were spooked enough to leave Scotland and go home to get over what happened to them. No one would be around to tell cautionary tales."

  Leo hurried back over. "You were right, amico. The incidents were all on an equinox moon, not just a full one."

  "When's the next one?" Athena asked.

  "September 22nd is the Autumn equinox," Izabella replied. "Two days’ time."

  Athena's hand bunched in Kon's shirt. "Fuck, we need to get to Edinburgh."

  23

  Athena had been ready to pack her bags and head out on a flight to Edinburgh that night, but Kon only shook his head.

  "No. Liddell will still be a motherfucker if we leave now or tomorrow, and I don't just cook for anyone," he had said stubbornly.

  Silas had agreed with him that they needed to be smart about how they would all get there and plan out how they would scope out the club Earthly Delights. If Kon was right and Liddell had police on his payroll, they would have to be twice as careful.

  Athena left them talking and went upstairs to have a long shower. Fatigue was starting to nibble away at her, and she doubted she would get much rest in the next couple of days.

  If they lived through it all, and Kon got to put a bullet in Liddell, maybe she could convince him to get away with her for a little while. They could go back to Cyprus for old times' sake. She had promised herself a holiday after all.

  You're assuming you are both still alive and that you haven't gotten sick of each other by then.

  Athena rolled out the sudden tightness in her neck. She knew it was only her anxiety messing with her, where it never had before. Silas had said she looked at Kon like he was a beautiful sword…and that was a problem.

  Athena knew how obsessed she could get with things and people. Hell, they had met Iz by accident in Belarus, and Athena decided to keep her. She had demanded that she and Silas save Iz from the drug lords keeping her locked up. Iz had also stayed with them until she was off the shit her old boss had been dosing her with. Iz had been a part of their crew and loyal as hell ever since.

  That was the thing with Athena's obsessions. She knew when something was worth having, and she did what she could to keep it. Her gut hadn't failed her yet. It was probably why she had played her Moriarty games with Kon and not killed him because deep down she knew she wanted to keep him.

  Kon's words from Berlin wrapped around her like silk. I've just stopped fighting against the obvious. That you make my blood turn to fire, that your rage echoes mine, that our sharp edges and inner demons match. That you are mine.

  Now they had stopped fighting it, they were easy together. Athena liked to be around him, watch him cook her dinner, and sh
ow her his hidden excitement when he did magic.

  His expression when he had shown her the trick with the vine had cut right through her. It was like something had sparked behind his dark eyes that she hadn't seen before. Joy.

  Athena turned the shower on to cold, her body suddenly hot enough to make her dizzy.

  They needed to get rid of Liddell, and then she would tell Kon how she felt. With words. No matter how badly she stumbled her way through it, that if he wanted her, then she wanted him. Athena groaned. She couldn't even say it straight in her own head in a way that made sense.

  Athena put on a pair of Kon's soft satin pajama pants and one of her fresh tanks and went to find where everyone was.

  The whole warehouse smelled like whatever delicious thing Kon had cooked, and her stomach grumbled that it had nothing in it but the pancakes from breakfast.

  Upstairs on the roof, food had been put onto platters, and drinks crammed the small table in the entertainment area. It had a definite party vibe to it that Athena could get behind.

  Maybe they needed the night of normality before they got plunged into the madness and magic again.

  Kon's eyes went to the pants she was wearing and heated a perverse amount.

  "Helping yourself to my wardrobe again, I see," he said as she sat down beside him.

  "I was running out of clean clothes, and you have so many. Why? You don't want me to wear them?" she asked innocently.

  Kon's expression sharpened dangerously, and her thighs clenched together in excitement.

  "It's fine," he said, conscious of the others around them. Athena grinned, knowing exactly what he was thinking. She grabbed a piece of warm flatbread. "This looks so good."

  Kon had roasted chicken pieces with fragrant spices and made a variety of salads with couscous and pomegranate seeds, as well as a bunch of other things Athena had no idea about because she couldn't cook. She never had the time or the patience beyond her basics.

  "I think you have just nominated yourself to officially become the chef of the crew," Dante teased Kon.

  "I thought I was the historian and dashing hitman?"

  "You can be all three," Athena replied.

  Izabella raised her hands. "Gloria a Dios! It's not only me who knows their way around a kitchen anymore."

  "Don't be like that, Izabella. I love your food," Silas said from beside her.

  Izabella's cheeks went a little rosier. "Okay, I'll cook for you, but only because you're always so grateful."

  "That's because Silas's idea of cooking is to throw a ration pack at you," Athena laughed.

  Silas shrugged unapologetically. "Okay, I want to hear ideas for Scotland," he said, and the mood went more serious.

  "Liddell always targets foreigners, so I thought it would be a good idea to use me as bait," Leo said, scooping some chicken onto his plate.

  Dante choked on his beer. "Absolutely not."

  "I don't recall needing to ask your permission." Leo ignored his death glare. "It makes sense. I could go into Earthly Delights, talk to a few people, and pretend that I'm a tourist looking for some fun. If Liddell hunts on a full moon, we might as well make it easy and give him what he wants."

  "You seem to be forgetting the part where the asshole will drug you and cut you up for his demon," Dante growled. "Silas, tell him no."

  Silas didn't. He looked thoughtful. "Do you have any self-defense training to back you up?"

  "I do. I've done boxing since I was a child. If things get too full-on, I know I'll be able to fight my way out. I'm good," Leo said.

  "You're not going to be able to fight shit if you're full of ketamine!" Dante argued.

  "Settle down, D. Let's think this through. Leo is right. He's the perfect bait. And—" Silas held up a hand to stop Dante from interrupting, "and you can go into the club separately from him. Be on comms with us. You can keep an eye on anyone suspicious."

  "And it's my choice," Leo said simply, shutting down Dante before he could start. "What about tracking?"

  "Liddell will check you over. He's thorough and highly secretive. We can make sure Dante doesn't lose sight of you, but anything like your own comm device will be noticed straight away," Kon replied. "While Liddell won't expect us in Scotland, Athena and I should keep our heads down until we can close in on him."

  They talked logistics, Izabella taking a few notes on her phone about what transport, accommodation, and gear they would need once they got there. It was strange to have Kon and Leo there and contributing like they were part of the crew, but it wasn't like they were amateurs. Athena could just sit back and let them talk it out while she ate delicious food and watched the stars come out over the city.

  "That will do for now. Without getting to Scotland and seeing what other obstacles will be there, this is about as good as it gets. If we leave tomorrow, it will give us a day to scout the streets around the club and hotels," Silas said. He looked over at Athena and gave her a gentle smile. "Go to bed, Cubbie. You look like the last few days have been too much for you."

  "You didn't have a cage match with Bärchen the bear yesterday," Athena said. God, had it only been yesterday? She felt like it had been a week ago which told her she was getting sleep deprived.

  "Kon, make sure she doesn't collapse down the stairs, will you? We can take care of all the dishes. Dante loves washing dishes when he's pouting," Silas said.

  Kon's head tilted curiously, realizing he was being dismissed. Then he smiled and took Athena's hand. "Come on, goddess, let's get you into bed."

  24

  "I think your father is trying to make sure you get laid before Scotland," Kon said when they got back into his bedroom.

  "Is that so? I was coming down here to have a bath and go to sleep," Athena said.

  Kon shut the door, and his eyes darkened, predator sharp and hungry in the shadows. A tingle of anticipation ran up her spine as he closed in on her.

  Kon's hand grabbed the bundle of laces of her stolen pants and hauled her to him. "Did you think you could wear my clothes and there would not be consequences, Edgeworth?"

  Athena's pulse leaped as his other hand went to her hair and tugged, baring her throat to him. Sharp teeth and stubble ran down her skin.

  "Nothing to say? What's the matter? Did you think that just because I'm playing nice with others, I've become sweet and domesticated?"

  "Why? Are you looking for an excuse to go soft, Basty?" Athena said, her breath stuttering as his mouth licked and sucked down to her shoulder.

  Kon snatched her hand and pressed it to the bulge in the front of his pants. "Do I feel soft to you? I've been suffering from this all night, and there will be no baths or sleeping until it's dealt with."

  Athena squeezed his dick through the fabric. "We have a warehouse full of people that will overhear everything."

  Kon tilted her head back. "Then I'll find you something to bite down on. How about a belt? You are certainly asking for one wearing my clothes to drive me mad."

  "I'm not wearing any panties either," Athena said against his lips, wanting to provoke him. "You're going to smell me on these forever."

  Kon took her mouth in a punishing kiss and yanked the front of her top and her bra down. Rough hands palmed her breasts, Kon's tongue licking the groan from her mouth. He pinched her already hard nipples, and her brain hazed, wetness rushing through her.

  Kon didn't let go of her mouth while his hands guided her back towards the bed. Unbuckling his belt, he pulled it out of its loops with a jerk.

  Kon pushed her down to sit on the edge of the bed, folded the leather belt in half, and pressed it to her lips.

  "You're going to want to bite down hard. Wouldn't want Daddy to know what deviant things you're up to now, would we?" Kon growled, and Athena bit down. Kon stripped off his shirt and went to his knees. He pulled the pants off her and tossed them to the other side of the room.

  "Spread them wide for me," he demanded. Athena smiled around the leather and opened her thighs. Kon stared at her
pussy without touching her, making Athena even wetter with anticipation. There was no way she could hide it even if she wanted to.

  Kon gripped her ankle before his hot palms slowly slid up her calves. He kissed the inside of one knee and then the other.

  Athena's hands tightened in the sheets. His pace was torturously slow, eyes never leaving her core like he wanted to see what every nip and caress did to her. When he finished with one side of her inner thigh, he turned to the other.

  Athena swore but didn't try to rush him or ask him to stop. He blew softly against her aching flesh, and Athena trembled, almost ripping out the belt and tying him down with it.

  The Basty of Istanbul gave her his most wicked smile before running the tip of his tongue over her. Electric tingles danced along Athena's nerve endings, and she bit into the belt, muffling her groan. Kon didn't speed up his pace, just slowly licked her like he had all the time in the world to watch her squirm.

  "God, you're beautiful when you’re dying for release, your luscious little cunt just weeping to be filled," he murmured, hands roaming over her breasts before he gripped her hips, tugging them up and wider. His tongue darted into her, and Athena's eyes went back into her head. When Kon was like this, she would let him do whatever the fuck he wanted, so long as he didn't stop.

  He tongued her clit as his fingers slid through her wetness, dipping into her just enough to make her squirm and fuck them. Kon's teeth nipped her in warning.

  "So impatient. I woke up on fire today because of your mouth, and I've burned for your taste, your heat, all fucking day," he said.

  His wet fingers plunged hard into her, and Athena cried out as pleasure rocked her. Kon put his mouth back on her, devouring her, fingers moving deeper with every thrust.

  Athena let go of the bed and buried her hands into his thick hair, holding him in place as her hips moved in rhythm. Her orgasm hit her so hard that hot light burst behind her eyes. Athena let Kon go and flopped back on the bed, her body shaking, her gasps so ragged she had to spit out the belt to breathe properly.