by Missy Lyons
Tyler was in for a rude surprise if he thought his new plaything was going to give him anything but heartache. Someone should put him out of his misery and get rid of it for him.
Someone like her.
She was neutral and could see how badly a mating between a demon and a human could go. Tyler was too involved to see out of the situation. He may think a mate was what he wanted, but she knew what he really needed was another demon lover who could understand all his kinky needs.
A smiled danced on Lilith lips, and a plan began to form in her head. She could help him see how bad a human was for his future. All she needed were some minions to carry out the dirty deed for her.
Chapter 6
Joshua splashed cold water on his face, leaving the water running in the sink. He looked closely at himself in the mirror. It had only been a few days since he met Tyler, but everything in his life had been completely turned upside down.
He looked healthy on the outside. It was still the same man in the mirror, but somehow he had changed. He had become older and wiser to the world. He didn’t believe he could fight evil on the streets so much anymore. When evil reigned, there was no fighting it. He couldn’t win. He couldn’t fight Tyler, and the man seemed to take intense pleasure in torturing him mentally and physically as his drill sergeant. At every turn he made it clear he was there and waiting, always waiting for Joshua to come into his arms.
“I know that look.” Joshua looked in the mirror to see Kevin had come into the bathroom behind him.
“Oh yeah, and you think you know so much about me? What look is that?” Joshua turned off the stream of cool water and toweled his face dry.
“Yeah, I recognize it from boot camp, right before someone would give up and drop out.”
Graduation also meant judgment day for him.
Tyler was not going to give him any more time to decide what he wanted, and his heart dropped every time he thought about the looming deadline. He wanted Tyler as a lover and more, but what did it mean he would be giving up? Would he be giving up his humanity? Would he be giving up his future life in law enforcement? Did a union mean he would have to sacrifice his soul to make a deal with the devil?
Joshua’s reply smacked of sarcasm. “And your point is?”
“Tell me it’s not true. You’re only a few days away from graduating.”
“Okay, it’s not true. Happy now?” It irritated Joshua that Kevin could read him like an open book. He turned on his cordless razor and began shaving his day-old beard away, pretending to ignore his friend. He understood he would be upset. They started this thing together, and the academy built a comradeship between the cadets. It was something most people couldn’t understand, but there was an unspoken brotherhood and now they looked out for each other.
“Look, I know you think I don’t understand, but I’ve been there. When I went through boot camp in the army, the drill sergeant picked me out and drove me to the brink of quitting. If it wasn’t for the rest of the platoon, I don’t think I would have made it.”
“You can’t know what I’m going through right now.”
“I know the new coach is giving you a hell of a time for some reason. You know those guys seem to be on a mission to make at least one person drop out before the end of the academy, but you can’t let him get to you. It’s only a few more days and we are home free.”
Freedom came with a price. “Yeah, not me.”
“Oh come on! Before you know it, this will be all over. Why don’t you come out with me and some of the guys tonight? We’re going to celebrate at the new club that just opened in town, Kink.”
“Sounds kinky,” Joshua joked, cracking a real smile for the first time that day.
“It will be fun. I hear they have this spanking party that takes volunteers right out of the crowd. Come on, you know you want to go.” Kevin elbowed him in the ribs.
A night of drinking was probably just what he needed, but he was going to need something a hell of a lot stronger to forget his troubles and he couldn’t afford to screw up in the last few days if he wanted to graduate. Still, the offer was tempting. “I don’t know…”
“Come on. It’s not like one night will hurt. It will be good for you to get out.”
“Fine. I’ll go.”
“And hang in there. I know Officer Drummond seems to have it out for you, but once you graduate, he won’t be able to do anything to you.”
“Thanks, Kevin. I am just crazed by what’s going on. I am glad you had this talk with me.”
“It’s the last phase, and I think you can pass it. You did well up to this point, and you’re going to make a good cop.”
“Thanks, brother.”
“Tonight, we’re going out around eight. You can ride with me.”
* * * *
“Looks like your new pet isn’t done playing the field.” Lilith gave a small chuckle to Tyler. “I wonder if he’d like to play with girls.”
Tyler frowned. He was here in disguise to look after his mate. There was no way in hell he was going to let Joshua go far from him, but to see Lilith here was not comforting. She was always stirring up trouble for him.
As usual, she was dressed in her favorite color, which happened to be pink, but today her outfit was all leather. The corset was tied with black lace, and she wore this miniskirt lined with lacy stockings that rode high up her thighs. A pair of pink sequined pumps pushed her calves up and highlighted those long legs. She cackled and caressed the whip hanging at her side. “Do you like my new outfit? Nothing says sexy like a new bullwhip.”
“Leave him alone, Lily.” Tyler recognized her sideways glance as jealousy. She could play coy all she wanted, but his instinct said she would like to come between him and his new lover. “I gave him time to decide what he wants, but whatever he decides doesn’t matter. He still belongs to me.”
Lilith rolled her eyes. “You have gotten so boring since you mated. Not even willing to play a little game…or two.” Her mirth was difficult to conceal, but she enjoyed this cat and mouse game they played. Tyler could see it in her eyes.
“I’m not up to games tonight. I’m here on business.” Tyler glanced across the room at his soul mate surrounded by friends. Joshua might feel safe and secure, but he didn’t know that an old-world demon as dangerous as Lilith was this close to him.
“Perhaps your friend would be interested…” She turned to go but Tyler stopped her by clamping a hand around her arm.
She smiled like a cat knowing she had caught him in her trap.
“Why is it so hard to find a playmate?” She made a clucking noise with her tongue.
“I will keep you company on one condition, you leave Joshua alone.” Tyler was familiar with the kind of games she played, and he didn’t want to see Joshua get hurt.
She purred before tucking his arm under hers. “Let the fun begin.”
Tyler went willingly with Lilith to the front of the stage, but his eyes stayed on his mate across the room. She led him up the stairs and produced chains of silver.
“What do you expect me to do with those?” Silver was the only metal that could hold demons. Its purity worked against their not-so-pure bodies like nothing else could. It was a weakness that only another demon or a mage would know, but he never expected her to try and use it against him. Now or ever.
“Put them on, of course.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “And don’t forget to take off the shirt, tiger.”
Tyler looked at her and then back at the silver chain ending at silver cuffs. It would weaken him to wear it, and he couldn’t do anything to fight her. He would be as helpless as a child in the presence of a malicious demon.
The idea didn’t appeal to him.
“Well? I’m waiting…”
Lilith had to know he would not be willing to mate with her. She wanted to torment him and physically torture him, but to protect his fragile human mate he would do just about anything. “Just remember you promised not to hurt Joshua.” Tyler removed his
shirt, baring his chest and left the clothing in a mangled pile on the floor.
“No problem, but what you should be asking is for me not to hurt you.” Lilith ran the tip of her tongue along the edge her thin lips.
So long as he kept her attention off Joshua, he didn’t care what she did to him. He would die for his soul mate.
Tyler could endure pain for someone he loved. Defeated, he picked up the chains and put one cuff on each wrist. He felt the silver cuffs work like a parasite, sucking the power and energy directly from his veins. Lilith didn’t hesitate to use that weakness against him. She immediately shoved him to his knees and took the whip from her waist, towering it over his head for show.
“Don’t worry, baby. I know you like it rough,” Lilith whispered into his ear before bursting into a fit of laughter. And for the rest of the crowd, she held up his arm and yelled out across the crowded room, “I think we have our first victim—I mean volunteer!”
The crowd roared in response.
“Here at Kink, we always like to have a spanking good time, but this bad boy needs a little extra punishment if you know what I mean.” Lilith loved being the center of attention and put on a great show, using one spiked foot to press down on the back of his neck, and laid down the whip across his back, but what the audience didn’t know was the pain was real and that she was stealing his energy with every snapping blow.
Chapter 7
“I know what you are thinking. You are glad you came. No need to thank me,” Kevin joked.
“Yeah, it’s probably good for me to get out once in a while, but I don’t know that glad is the right word.” He didn’t fit in here, but none of his crew did. Leather seemed to be on the dress code to get in the door here.
Joshua sipped on his beer and watched the crowd at Kink. It was an odd combination of guys that looked like they belonged in a biker gang and his friends from the academy, who all sported military haircuts. Even though they were out of uniform, they dressed in freshly ironed clothes that had a clean crisp edge to it that was very uniform-like.
“Yeah, well the guys were talking a few minutes ago. If things get awkward, they may go up the street to another bar where there is a little more action.”
“I’m not sure you can get more action than this. Look, the show’s going to start.”
“The female kind of action if you get my drift.”
“I swing for the other team, Kevin.”
“Whatever floats your boat, man.” Kevin took another swig of his beer.
The music was too loud, and the people were already getting on Joshua’s nerves. No club would fix that. He just wasn’t in a drinking mood. He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me whether you go or stay. I may just call a cab. I don’t think I want to be out all night tonight.”
“Ah, buddy! Don’t be such a stick in the mud.” Kevin’s look soured.
Joshua didn’t care much what Kevin or the others thought about him. This wasn’t what he signed up for. His eyes were drawn to the center stage where the first performance of the evening was taking place. The lady dressed in pink seemed to be enjoying herself, but the guy on his hands had haunting eyes that searched him out across the room and shot ice to his core. It was like the guy was asking for help with just his eyes. “Didn’t you say the guys who get up on the stage are volunteers? That guy doesn’t look like he’s enjoying himself. He doesn’t look like he’s real willing either.”
“Lucky shit.” Kevin tossed back another swig of beer. “She’s hot. I’d say he’s definitely enjoying himself.”
Joshua’s heart suddenly became heavy with a weird emotion. It felt like a lead weight was on his chest, and that guy on stage didn’t break eye contact with him. Something niggled the back of his mind. It was like he should recognize him, but he didn’t look familiar. Except those shimmering green eyes haunted him. Joshua felt like he should know him. “I have my doubts.”
The crowd was loud and obnoxious, and the lady in pink was not playing nice with her victim. Joshua winced as the man received multiple lashes from the woman before she used the whip to pull him up by the neck. He stumbled to his feet, and the woman turned him around so everyone could watch as she raked her fingernails across his skin and the trickle of blood that dripped from the wounds.
The blood angered him.
Angered the demon tattoo living on his chest.
The thing on his chest moved. He felt it. Claws and teeth and venom touched Joshua’s skin. Joshua jumped to his feet, and the beer spilt on the counter and the glass rolled to the floor. “Oh crap.”
“Oh man, that’s too bad,” Kevin said.
“I think I need to clean up a little,” Joshua said, noticing he had been splashed. At least most of it missed him.
“I’ll save your seat,” Kevin said before propping up a leg where Joshua was sitting only moments before.
“Thanks. I’ll be back in just a minute.” But as much as he tried to walk away, he couldn’t. His head was pounding, and he was drawn to the man on stage. He didn’t plan to do anything until he saw her knee go into his balls, dropping the man to the floor. He could feel his pain.
“Now that’s just not right,” he muttered.
Joshua didn’t have a plan. He leapt into action, elbowing his way through the packed bodies toward the front stage. How could he ignore a man in need like that one? He was trying to become a cop to help other people, and if he ignored a man now, he couldn’t live with himself later.
The crowd seemed to get thicker the closer he got to the front, and the more people tried to elbow him back. Someone got him in his ribs, and another person tried to punch him. The guy was drunk and no contest to Joshua. A quick block and countermove was all it took to knock the guy on his ass, and he climbed over him to continue his journey to help the man on stage.
He thought he heard his tattoo roar in approval, but he couldn’t tell. It was changing. Evolving or some shit.
Suddenly Joshua was swept off his feet. Two really beefy guys simultaneously picked him up from each arm and carried him the opposite direction he wanted to go.
His legs bicycled the air uselessly. “Hey, assholes!”
“We don’t want any troublemakers here, buddy.”
“What? I’m no troublemaker. Why don’t you grab that guy? That guy punched me first.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We heard it all before.” The two big guys ignored him, dragging him out of the hustle and bustle of the club through a pair of big black doors into an alley behind the club.
“Dude, you got the wrong guy,” Joshua pleaded.
“No, we know who you are.” Without warning, the black man grabbed Joshua by the shirt and ripped the material open.
“What the fuck?” Joshua knocked his arms away and sprang from his grasp.
“See? I told you he’s the one. He’s got the tattoo.”
“Yeah, our mistress will be pleased.” Asshole number two grinned.
“We need you to come with us.”
“Whoa, I am not going with you anywhere.”
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but you are going.”
“Not without a fight I am not.” Why would they want him? He didn’t know these two goons, and no one would want him hurt. He put up his fists in front of him, ready to do some damage.
“It’d be my pleasure.” The big white guy cracked his knuckles.
“Wait—wait!” Joshua spoke softly, wishing he hadn’t given them any warning he was willing to fight back. He took a step back to assess his opponent. As much as he trained and practiced, there would always be something different about the real thing. Fighting meant pain. A fist slamming against skin and nothing hurt worse than an unexpected impact of bone versus soft tissue.
Two against one wasn’t fair, but his odds would be even worse if the guy had a weapon or a gun or something else. Distance between him and this guy wasn’t good for fighting back. He let the white guy come into his personal space and within range of an attack.
It gave Joshua the opening he needed.
Joshua went straight for the jewels. He landed a kick between the man’s legs, and then he went after the other guy while the first white dude doubled over in pain. Another kick to the side of the knee was meant to displace the kneecap and disable his attacker.
Joshua was almost surprised to see the white guy fall to the ground on his side.
He was preoccupied with his first attacker.
While the white guy was keeping him busy, the big black guy swept in behind him. He couldn’t react in time, and the black guy held his arms behind his back.
Joshua struggled uselessly. The black guy laughed at him his efforts and twisted his arm painfully. Joshua stopped struggling. His ragged breathing was the only sound in the dark alley beside the distant sound of music.
Warily he watched the big white guy get to his feet. After the beating he took, the big white guy looked pissed. His lips pinched together, and he walked with a pained limp.
“You got him, Lewis?” Joshua felt satisfied to watch him breathe heavily.
“We weren’t supposed to use names, remember, Brian? Yeah I got him.” Lewis laughed. “But not before he got you.”
“He got me good.” Without warning, the big white guy punched Joshua in his gut. He couldn’t breathe, doubled over in pain. The big white guy leaned over and whispered in his ear, “That’s for fucking with me, asshat.”
The tattoo on Joshua’s chest recoiled, and it shifted. Something big was happening, but he felt too light-headed to fully comprehend what.
