by S Lawrence
A noise hums in Arkyn’s chest, and Zeph’s eyes narrow. Luc disappears before anyone can say anything.
“Secrets can destroy the greatest bonds.” I look at those that clearly know the secret. “Or they can make them stronger, if shared with those that can be trusted.”
I watch as Arkyn and his brothers study each other. Brothers in every way but blood.
Lillian sighs, “Let’s all go to the penthouse. I have something to tell you. All.”
I look up at Arkyn and see that worry creases his forehead, clouds his eyes. Not for himself but for those he cares about, for Luc. I know the last because I see his eyes dart to the spot Lucifer vacated moments ago.
I’m beginning to understand each of these men, and the women that are joining them, myself included, worry a great deal for the King of Hell.
It takes us all mere moments to travel across town to the city center. There, rising up from the skyline, is the Demon Bayou Rum company offices, with the skull and live oak emblem lit up in blue neon.
The men stroll in, a simple nod given to the security at the desk, and we’re heading straight to the elevators.
Once inside, Zeph steps to the panel and types in six-six-six enter.
“Oh my God, really?” Charlie laughs, and Lillian and I join in.
Zeph shrugs, Torryn grins, and Arkyn and Dagen shake their heads.
“It’s easy to remember.” Zeph actually gets the words out with a straight face.
I realize it’s because he isn’t kidding, at all.
“Zeph doesn’t joke,” Arkyn whispers in my ear. “Do you?”
The man, or demon, in question shakes his head. “These idiots forgot every code I set until I decided to use this one.”
“Zeph is the head of all our security, here on Earth and in Hell,” Torryn offers, and the pride in his voice is so sweet. I look back and up at Arkyn as the elevator begins to rise.
“Public relations,” he mumbles at my unasked question.
“Arkyn is the face of Demon Bayou.” Dagen holds out his phone, and I see a photo is pulled up.
“For the love of God, Dagen, are you fucking kidding me?” He pushes the phone away but not before I see it, see him.
High hat on his head with feathers sticking out, a white wife beater shirt, jeans slung low on his slim hips, and make-up on his face to make him look like a demon voodoo priest.
Fucking sexy as hell.
I blink as his voice penetrates the lust clouding my brain. “That’s all I was good at being, the face.”
“What?” Dagen, Torryn, and Zeph all spin to stare at Arkyn, all three of their voices angry at his self-deprecating words.
The elevator slides open, and we all shuffle out, awkwardness thick around us all.
“Luc chose you because of the outreach component of the job. You care more about humans than any of us. You are the least volatile of us all. You are the most redeemable of us all.”
I watch his face as his brothers talk about him; I see the discomfort the words bring him. My sweet, damaged man.
“You have so much power within you, Arkyn. We saw it today—that was you, not someone else. It came from you; it has always been there just waiting for you to tap into it. To find it, to unleash it.”
“Celine did so much damage that day in Heaven, not just killing you but somehow convincing you deep in your soul of your unworthiness, so much so that even without your memories, it ate at you for hundreds and hundreds of years.” Zeph paces away, frustration bleeding from his very pores.
“Come on, Arkyn.” I grab his hand and pull him toward the couch. I sit and settle myself, dragging him down with me. “So…”
I remind them of why we all came here. The secret. I just joined this fight; I refuse to let it start to fall apart now because people are hiding things.
The others move around, finding places to sit. Zeph is at a bar at the side of the room. He turns after pouring a large glass of some clear liquid; I’m one hundred percent it isn’t rum or water.
He throws the entire amount down his throat. Damn. Okay, I don’t know him well but I’d say Zeph has some idea of what this secret is and it isn’t good.
Lillian and Dagen stand shoulder to shoulder. Torryn is frowning and Charlie has one brow raised. We all wait. Impatiently. Dagen glances down at the woman at his side and she shakes her head.
“I’m not telling them. He told you, brought you in on it.” He uses his hand at the small of her back to push her slightly forward.
Her eyes narrow as she spins, and sword appearing in her hand, the point ends up resting against the slow beat of his heart in his neck. He doesn’t move at all.
“Very funny, Princess.” He uses his finger to push the blade away.
“I said I didn’t want to tell them.”
“Well, you told me, and now they know you told me.” He sighs and his hand runs over his close-cropped hair. “We need help. You said yourself that the situation isn’t getting better. A decision will be made soon, and I honestly don’t want him to have to do it on his own.”
Tears spring to her eyes. Torryn sits up straight, an angry noise coming from his throat. “Don’t make her cry, asshole.” A warning that Dagen shakes his head at.
“It’s not his fault, babe.” Lillian hugs Dagen from the side then steps away. She walks a couple steps and then stops, turning back to us. “Grace is alive.”
I can tell from the looks on the others’ faces that this is momentous. I have no idea who Grace is, but she’s very important, that much is clear.
The silence is deafening, pushing in at us all.
Torryn shoves himself up. “Evander.” One word but it is laced with so many emotions. “It’s tearing him apart.”
He levels them both with a look that makes me feel like I’m back with the nuns. Disappointment.
“Luc wouldn’t let me tell anyone,” Lillian starts but Torryn’s face stops her. “Yes, well, Dagen was watching me so closely, and I just… I had to tell someone.”
Dagen shakes his head.
“And you? What’s your excuse?” Torryn stares at his friend.
“I haven’t even seen the angel in question but from what I’ve heard...” he looks at Lillian hard, “it isn’t good.”
“She hasn’t changed from her demon form. Luc can’t figure out if she can’t or if she refuses. She kills or destroys everything and only calms slightly when I visit.” Lillian has tears running down her face by the time she finishes. “He’s given her a few more weeks before he sends her back to the darkness.”
Torryn wraps her in his arms, trying to soothe her all the while glaring at Dagen.
I lean close to Arkyn. “Who’s Grace?”
“That is a very long story. But the short version is that she is and always has been Evander’s one true soulmate, created for him by the Lord and killed by Seraphina.”
Shit. The word slips through my lips as I draw it out, which has around twenty syllables by the time I’m finished.
“But he said the baby…” I say it loud enough that they all turn and look at me.
“The baby.” Lillian straightens a bit from where she had curled into Torryn.
“I told you she was special. That little angel has an amazing song that was meant for Luc.” Charlie sounds giddy.
It’s Zeph that I look at, study really. He is quiet, assessing, processing the information.
“We do not tell him,” he says finally after several minutes. The others have been arguing about calling their boss. They fall silent when Zeph speaks, his Russian accent thicker than I’ve heard it before.
“It means he’s angry.” I glance to my left at Arkyn’s face. He’s smiling, and I frown. “This is going to be good.”
We sit silent as the man lectures the others for at least an hour. Most I understand, but many times he fell into speaking Russian.
He stalks to the elevator, jabs the buttons, and then looks back locking his eyes on all of us.
“You
will not destroy him once again.”
We will all heed the threat we hear in his words.
Chapter 26
ARKYN
Destroyed.
I think of the destruction that Evander wrought in the temple. Luc had sent him back to New Orleans after. Or did he?
“Where’s Boss at?” Torryn spins at my question.
“At headquarters,” he responds but Lillian’s face says it all.
“Lillian?” I hate to see the look of hurt that flares to life in Torryn’s eyes.
“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you. All of you. But Luc wanted to give him time to get control.” She reaches for Torryn as she speaks. He remains stiff for a moment but then takes her hand. “He’s in Hell. Locked in his room to keep him and others safe.”
“Others?” Lali asks quietly.
Lillian sighs as she sits, letting her fingers slip from Torryn’s hand. She seems as sad as she was when we first found her.
“He went back to New Orleans, but there were some issues. He couldn’t stop.” The last word is said so quietly that I almost didn’t hear it.
“Stop?” I lean toward her.
“Killing.” She looks up at my face, and I see now that tears are streaming down her face. “He killed so many before Luc realized.”
Shock. Complete shock silences us all.
“It’s not fair for him to put this on you. To force you to keep his secrets.” Torryn wraps an arm around her shoulders but he looks at me, and I can see the anger simmering in his eyes. They flicker red.
“He didn’t. He doesn’t even know I know. I went to check on Grace and I could hear this roaring. It sounded insane, crazed like an animal caught in a trap, so...”
“You went to look.” Torryn shakes his head.
“He didn’t recognize me.” She starts to shake, then the first sob breaks free.
“Fuck,” I murmur locking eyes with my brother.
Evander’s demon is the strongest of all of ours. He was the strongest of us in Heaven, now with the powers of both. Unlocked, he would be like no demon ever unleashed on the Earth.
The demon has control and it wants revenge for all that the angel has lost.
What he has lost is right down the hall, so to speak.
“Fuck.” I can’t help but say it again. Really there isn’t any other word or sentiment that sums up the situation. “So, to sum up our current situation, we have a crazy Lumerian but we don’t know exactly how powerful he is, but he’s determined to kill us all because his sister didn’t pick him. We have the Fallen, who seem to be on a recruiting drive. A boss that is locked in Hell because his demon is determined to kill any and everything. And last but not least, his soulmate is also locked in Hell because Luc dragged her, kicking and screaming, from the darkness, and if we even tried to put them together, their demons would destroy each other and God only knows what else.”
“You forgot we still have to find the other descendants,” Charlie offers, smiling at the look I give her.
“Are we going to tell Zeph?” Torryn shakes his head even as he asks the question.
“What good would it do?”
Sitara pushes off the wall, startling the others that had forgotten her presence.
“I must go.”
Citlali stands and walks to her side, and I try to catch their whispered words as the others continue the heated debate on what we should do next.
Sitara simply fades away, and Lali is left staring out the window at the city.
“Everything okay?” Dagen glances at Lali before giving me a nod.
Lali’s voice sounds distant. “A ward was set off around the temple.”
“Could it be the locals?” I doubt Dagen really believes that himself.
“No, it’s set for supernatural creatures.” She still hasn’t turned from the window. She’s staring in the direction of where she was held.
Where Celine is lying, dying slowly at Lali’s hand. I can see her face reflected in the glass; it is stamped with worry and anger.
Looking around, the faces in the room are a myriad of emotions.
“Come on, love, nothing to be done tonight, and I have missed you.” I watch that glass and am rewarded with a slow smile before she turns. She walks straight to me and into my arms.
I nod at the others as I guide her away and down the long hallway that skirts the outer wall. I’ve always loved this building; it had once been a grand hotel.
The sitting room we had just been in overlooks the glass-enclosed atrium. Employees covet the interior offices that have large glass walls looking into that atrium. Here on the top floor, it’s the bedrooms that looks into it but here, the glass wall is mirrored for privacy.
I lead her down the hall until it makes a hard left, and then we keep going until it comes to another. Right past that turn is the door to the room I long ago claimed as mine. In the mornings, it is beautiful from this angle with the early sunlight.
Closing the door, I lean against it until she stops at the edge of the large bed, facing the glass.
“I need to hold you.” I watch as she smiles that smile at me.
She doesn’t move, just waits for me, and I don’t make her wait long. I’m across the distance in a split second, pulling at her clothes, needing to touch her, to make sure she really is healed. Make sure she is really here.
Her hands are in my hair, pulling me closer, pressing her lips against mine. I suck her lower one into my mouth. She opens to me, and I taste the dark chocolate cinnamon that is uniquely her. Like the hot chocolate I used to get on the reservation. Thick and intoxicating, just like the woman.
My hands slide down over her waist to the curve of her hips. Fingers curve, digging in and pulling her against me. Here with her in private, I don’t have any self-doubt. She sees me, and I see her. I can be whatever she wants, demanding alpha or submissive beta. I will be her everything.
Applying more force to the kiss and my hands, I wait to see which Arkyn she wants. The low moan is my answer.
Alpha it is.
One benefit of being supernatural and having lived for thousands of years is having acquired enough wealth to not worry about small things...like clothes.
I release her hips and break the kiss, stepping back a step. She frowns. Raising my hand, I focus on my demon and watch her eyes widen as razor sharp claws slide from the ends of my fingers. She had dressed herself in jeans and a loose top when she was finally free and healed.
One long black claw slides down the seam of those jeans on each side as a slow smile curves her lips. They slice through the fabric easily, then I use those and the other claws to jerk the fabric from her. The strength of the jerk rips what wasn’t cut.
A heated gasp escapes her, and I grin at her, knowing it looks feral when she bites at her lower lip.
She shivers as those claws glide gently over her skin, coming up and sliding under the lace of her panties. The satin and lace are no match for me. They flutter to the floor in seconds.
I stare at her as she stands before me, bare from the waist down. Moisture glistens on the dark hair hiding her core. Reaching for the hem of her shirt, she watches me closely, but I stop her with a shake of my head.
“Don’t you want me undressed?” Her voice is breathy.
I shake my head and her pupils flare. I let the claws slide away as I wrap my hand around her neck, turning her body, guiding her with pressure along her pounding pulse until her ass is pressed back against me.
I kiss along the free side of her neck while sliding my finger up to her jaw. I turn her face back to me and take her mouth, forcing my way inside while my other hand moves around her waist and down until I find the moisture I had seen.
Her hips shift forward. Seeking. Needing.
One finger sinks into her, and her head drops back onto my shoulder, breaking the kiss, but I forgive her as her hand comes up to grip the back of my head, directing my lips to her neck as she gasps in pleasure.
“So wet,” I
murmur against the vein in her neck as I feel my fangs lengthen.
“Need you.”
Those words and the fact that I know they are true drive my own need, turning it primal.
Pumping my finger in and out of her as I lick over her neck, I fight the urge to bite her, to drink her down. My hand, still on her jaw, slides down to her neck once more and then I push her forward, bending her over. I let go as she complies. She is perfection as I pull my finger from her and step back.
I feast on the sight of her—legs straight, ass high, head on the bed with her arms stretched out. Perfection.
I hit my knees, and she jumps a little from the noise of it. She is bare and open to me, waiting, and my hands have a mind of their own as they reach out and grasp her ass, spreading her flesh even more. Another shudder works through her muscles and drops of moisture leak from her body.
I catch them and savor the taste of her. As soon as it hits my tongue, I feel my control slipping away. I reach down and open my pants, pulling myself free and running my hand over the hard, pulsing length of my dick even as I lean forward and take her into my mouth. I suck and bite as she makes mewling sounds and pushes back, wanting more. Needing more. I plunge my tongue in and pull it out, lapping at her heated flesh, all the while stroking myself.
“More, Arkyn,” she demands as she shoves back against my face.
I growl in response and nip at her swollen bud, but she only moans louder and more juice flows from her body.
“Fuck, Lali.” I barely get the words out before I turn my head slightly and bite, sinking my fangs into the vein that runs there just below the skin. I drink down the coppery fluid, drawing deeply on her as I shove two fingers into her heat. The flesh convulses around them as she screams.
It’s my name. It is my undoing. I can wait no longer. I lick at the wounds and rise, positioning myself at her entrance even as I withdraw my fingers.
I press against her tight entrance, and she presses back even as she pushes up on one arm, back bowing up and hair cascading down. It is a sight I will never forget.
I grip her hips and hold her in place as I shove through the swollen folds of flesh until I’m buried deep. I pause there, wrapped in her velvet heat, trying to gain control, but she won’t have it and rotates her hips slightly.
