Devil's Tango (Running with the Devil Book 1)

by Claire J Monroe

  Dell smirked. “Most dragons don’t.”

  Bravo cut a look at him.

  Dell chuckled. “Share their treasure that is. Ever.”

  “Damn straight I don’t.” Daisy’s mine. All mine.

  They shared a moment of silence while Dell kept huffing on the linen.

  “Say it.”

  “What?”

  “The compound is impenetrable.”

  “Nothing is impenetrable,” Bravo replied back as he studied the data on the screen. “Everything has a weakness. An entry point.”

  “A vulnerability.”

  “Exactly. Find it. Exploit it. Then we’re in.”

  “Sounds simple enough. You have an idea how to do that?”

  “Working on one.”

  “It involve you in the suit?”

  Bravo looked at Dell. “Better me than Tango. Not after what happened in Madrid.”

  “True.” Dell lowered the pillow case to fold it neatly, almost reverently, in his lap. “The magic he taps into reminds me of home.”

  “Tango’s nymph?”

  Dell shook his head. “No. I don’t know what he is. Human mostly. But the magic he feeds me… I know it. It comes from home. From the nymph kingdom.”

  “How is that possible? Wasn’t your homeland destroyed?”

  A nod and Dell said, “Walls fell and demon hoards poured in. Kingdom fell in a matter of minutes. Magic… the energy disappeared in a blink of an eye.”

  “Then how could Tango be channeling shit from a void?” Bravo muttered more to himself than to Dell.

  “There’s more than one nymph kingdom. Not all of them are gone. He might be channeling from one that’s in the process of going. Damned if I know.”

  Bravo frowned. Something in Dell’s tone suggested he knew more than he was saying. “Now’s not the time to be holding back. If you know something, say it.”

  “I don’t know anything.”

  “Suspect then.”

  Dell shrugged. “I suspect a lot, but have no proof.” He straightened and looked like he was almost back to a hundred percent. “Nymph kingdoms were established along the border between this realm and the demonic one. Happened long before I was born. Back in ancient times. During the time of the gods.” Brief pause. “And god slayers.”

  “Know I will regret asking, but… what is a god slayer?”

  “Eros’ warriors.”

  “The god of love, Eros, has warriors?”

  “Had,” Dell corrected. “They all died during the last reckoning and Eros wasn’t only the God of Love. He was also the God of War.” Dell cleared his throat and snagged a bottle of water from the console where Fox had left it. “His dual nature, love and war, were the two aspects he used to create the nymphs in his image. Loving females and warrior males.”

  “Appreciate the history lesson, but if you’ve got a point get to it.”

  Dell took a sip of water and a moment to collect his thoughts. “Tango’s magic comes from a nymph kingdom. Which one, I don’t know. But I know it’s nymph and he’s getting it straight from a source. A male source. One that’s linked to a very powerful nymph kingdom.” He hesitated. “Same kingdom I think Daisy’s from.”

  “That important?”

  “Very,” Dell murmured. “Given who Daisy is, yeah, it’s very important.”

  “Do I need to beat this shit out of you? Just say it.”

  “Trying to, but told you. I’m bound by a death oath not to reveal our secrets.” Dell sighed. “Fuck it. You need to know. Eros set up a charter for the nymph kingdoms. Several different kingdoms rotated the responsibility of guarding the wall and maintaining the energy levels required to keep the walls up.

  “At first, the system worked, but over time and with the constant changing of regimes the wall weakened. Enough that it fell and a demon army was able to break in. War happened and a bunch of other shit you don’t need to know, but end result: the system changed. Overnight. A single family was chosen to be responsible for the entire wall. For all kingdoms. For all minor principality kingdoms to report up into one major kingdom.”

  “Daisy’s from the major kingdom.”

  Dell nodded. “She says wasn’t born there, but… yeah. She’s of that line. The royal line.”

  Bravo tried like hell not to react. Daisy was a princess? What the hell? Why was this the first he was hearing about it from Dell?

  “Hell, I haven’t even asked Daisy if she knows,” Dell continued. “Been too afraid to ask her to confirm it. There are so few of us warriors left that I doubt she knows how fucking important she is.” Dell looked at him. “How important you are. To all of us. Hell, to the world.”

  Bravo’s response was automatic and without thought. “I’m not important.”

  Dell grabbed his wrist before he could pull away. “Fate and true mate bonds are never wrong.”

  “Yeah, well they are this time.”

  Dell shook his head. “Daisy is your mate. Your true mate.” He motioned to the pillowcase folded on his leg. “Energy signature on this fabric is very specific. Every nymph warrior is trained to recognize that signature. Honor bound to protect it at all cost.” He looked up. “Bound by a blood oath to protect the royal line and their mates at all cost.”

  “Only thing you’re obligated to do for me is watch my six. The same we do for every damn member of this team.”

  “Wrong.” Dell’s grip on his wrist tightened. “I’m obligated by my sworn duty as the Lord High Commander of the Seventh Kingdom Brigade to Illyria, to drain every motherfucker on this team—except you—and funnel their energy back to the wall.” He released him and sat back, disgusted with himself. “But I can’t. Because you’re Daisy’s mate, she’s a fucking Illyrian princess, and Tango’s connected to not only you but the source. And whatever goes on with Tango when he’s in that suit… fucking begs for me to take it. To release it.”

  “It can’t be released.”

  “No,” Dell said. “It cannot be released. That’s why I destroyed the first suit.”

  “And damn near killed yourself draining the mojo out of it in the process.”

  “Had to be done.” Pause and Dell added, “Doubt I’ll survive doing it again.”

  Bravo considered that and the current situation with the impenetrable fortress they needed to breach. “Suit is the only option we have of getting in and out of that compound without suffering casualties.”

  “Maybe.”

  “No maybe about it.” Bravo pointed to the screen and the satellite image of the compound. “Dude’s got every entrance point covered. We need an edge and Maddie’s little shit fairy bomb is just the edge we need.” He stood up and moved to the monitors. On the way his phone vibrated in his pocket with a text. “I can slip into the compound here, take out these threats, then the team can move in.”

  “Shit,” Dell muttered. “Won’t happen. Tango will be in the suit. Not you.”

  Bravo slipped a hand into his pocket to pull out his phone. It was probably Daisy texting to let him know how things went with 10-D. “Not if we don’t let him.”

  Dell finished replying to a text then jumped to his feet. “No let about it. You won’t be here to argue the point. Sent her to 12-C. Fox and I will meet you in the garage. Don’t leave without us.”

  12-C? That was the safe house apartment they had set up incoming high profile victims that needed extra protection. Bravo frowned and looked down at the phone in his hand. The bottom dropped out of his stomach. Fear, stark cold, paralyzing fear stole his breath and made his heart stop.

  Daisy had called Catfish.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Tango banged on the lab door. Maddie was on the floor. Prone. Lying on her side like she’d slid out of the chair at the desk and his heart stopped beating. “Fox,” Tango yelled. “Open this fucking door! Now! Maddie’s down and—”

  “Passcode is cherry bomb!” Fox yelled back.

  Tango slapped his hand on the lab door access panel and dragged hi
s eyes off her prone form long enough for the retina scan and bark out the passcode.

  Whiskey’s footsteps pounded towards him down the hallway as the door opened slowly—too fucking slowly—and Tango squeezed through the opening, then rushed over to her, dropped to his knees and scooped her into his arms.

  His heart was in his throat. Fear, paralyzing fear clogged his throat. He wasn’t sensing her energy. Didn’t feel her. Inside. Where he always felt her presence. She was gone. Not there and… he gripped her tight to his chest and gave her a slight shake. “No, no, no. Maddie, baby, wake up. Baby, wake up. Look at me. I can’t lose you. Wake up. Look at me!”

  Whiskey slid to his knees right next to him. “She’s alive.”

  He couldn’t feel her. She was gone. Slipping away from him. He could have stopped it. But he didn’t. He could have done the soul rite and bound her to him for eternity but he hadn’t. Why hadn’t he done it? “Fix her, Carter. I can’t feel her.”

  “Trying to, but need you to let me in.”

  Tango’s arms shook as he lowered to his lap. “Why isn’t she waking up? She needs to wake up.” I need her. I can’t lose her.

  You know what to do, the darkness inside him whispered.

  Whiskey silently ran his hands over Maddie’s body as he scanned her energy level, then muttered a curse and laid his head on her chest. “Heart beats.” He touched under nose. “Breathing.”

  Fox raced in dropped down beside them. “What can I do?”

  You know what to do.

  Whiskey sat up and tried again to scan her body with his hands. “Help me open her chakras. Can’t get a read on her and—Tango! Get a handle on your emotions. You leaking energy all over the floor is not helping me concentrate!”

  Fox grabbed Tango by the back of the neck and forced him to look at him. His voice when he spoke was full alpha, power, command, and determination. “She will live. Do you hear me? Maddie. Will. Live. You blocked her from the worst. You saved her. She will live.”

  Tango heard Fox’s words and he knew them for the truth, but it didn’t matter. He was scared. Terrified to his boots. “Can’t lose her and the babies.”

  You know what to do.

  Fox sniffed the air, but didn’t break eye contact. “Carter, tell him the babies are good.”

  “Want to,” Whiskey muttered. “But her chakras are closed. Can’t get in. Feel them, but can’t get in. He’s blocking me.”

  Do it. Claim her.

  How? How could he claim her? She was unconscious and the only way he knew how to do the soul rite was to get her to open to him was during sex and—

  Call her back and do it now or lose her and our sons! You know what to do!

  “I don’t know what to do,” Tango shouted back to the voice in his head.

  Fox crouched down in front of Tango and the grip on the back of his neck tightened as he pulled them almost nose to nose. “Yes, you do!” Fox’s eyes changed color from green to gold then to black and swirling silver. “Focus. Open her chakras. Let Carter fix her. Do it, Gabriel. Now!”

  Fox punctuated his command with an extension of claws in the hand gripping Tango’s neck and the pain of the pinpricks against Tango’s skin flipped a switch that unlocked everything.

  Tango’s head fell back and power surged through his veins and blasted through the room, shoving everything around back and away from him and his mate.

  Yes, do it. Claim her. Bind her soul to ours. Say the words. You know what to do, Gabriel.

  Words one right after the other poured out of his mouth as he took what belonged to him and bound Maddie’s soul to him.

  Images one after the other played across his mind as he saw her life and experiences flash before his eyes. Her secrets, hopes, fears, and everything that made her the light to his dark wrapped around his essence and grounded him this time, this reality, until he knew without a doubt.

  She was his.

  Forever.

  Bound by an unbreakable bond that unlocked more than he’d ever be able to shove back.

  In his arms, Maddie seized and jerked. Her back arched and she gasped in a deep breath. Tango looked down as her eyes opened and glared at him with accusation.

  “Gabriel? Your name is Gabriel?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Maddie couldn’t stop shaking. Whether it was from anger or whatever the hell Van—no wait, his name was Gabriel and he’d lied to her. About everything. And she was so angry that she couldn’t speak. How dare he lie to her about his name? About who he really was? How dare he steal her choice away from her?

  Yes, she could feel him inside her. Like he was wrapped around every fiber of her being and she couldn’t shut him out. Because she felt how contrite he was. How bad he felt for having lied to her, but how determined and justified he felt those actions had been. And it was justified—in his mind. Everything he did, every choice he’d ever made felt like he’d done it with absolute purpose.

  Did she want to wake up seeing flashes of his life roll through her mind like a hellish movie she couldn’t shut down? No! She hadn’t wanted to see everything he’d done. The pain of his childhood. The beatings he’d endured under his father’s belt. Or the way his parents had forced him to be their muscle to protect them from evil people as they stole money, power, and prestige from drug dealers then shoved their gifted son in front of them like a shield to protect them from people hell bent on killing them. Did she understand why he’d refused to protect his parents the last time? Hell yes, but that didn’t excuse him for lying to her about his real name!

  And even if she could forgive him for never telling her his real name, how the hell was she supposed to be okay with the fact that she’d been a job? Not a chance encounter in a coffee house like he’d led her to believe, but a fucking job that he’d done as a favor to his foster brother. A job! To protect her! Seriously? What the hell? And he couldn’t tell her? He’d let her believe that everything that’d happened when they first met was Fate? That they were destined to meet and… that was a lie.

  As was her believing that Colby Jack was her father. He wasn’t. And she hadn’t known! Van—argh, no—Gabriel had known the truth. But she hadn’t.

  Another lie—she’d thought it’d been Van—ugh, no—Gabriel who’d stolen the Nexus Suit and sold the prototype to the military. That’d been her father. Gabriel had shown her design to Caliv to get her a job. Okay, fine, that part had been a partial truth, but still… his name was Gabriel Matthew Montgomery, not Donovan Tatum!

  And he’d lied to her. Their relationship was built on deceit. One lie right after another. And it hurt. So much that she couldn’t even speak to tell him how much it hurt and… it was annoying as hell.

  But not half as annoying as catching the glimpses he kept sending her way as he dealt with his team scrambling because Daisy had called Catfish.

  Bravo had raced out of the bunker like the fires of hell were licking at his feet and… Maddie narrowed her eyes. Van-Gabriel had deliberately tricked Bravo to run. The poor guy was in a panic and imagining the worst that was all a ruse. A trick. A deliberate lie to force Bravo to get clear of Delta team’s arrival.

  And she did not need to know that Fox and Dell knew it was a trick and had condoned it. Nor did she need to know that the reason Van-Gabriel hadn’t told Whiskey was because Van-Gabriel wanted Whiskey clear of the compound for when Delta team strolled in. And that the most expedient way to do that was to lie to Whiskey and send him off to watch over the others and… it was a lie.

  Everything Van-Gabriel had told her was a lie.

  “Un-fucking-believable,” Maddie muttered under her breath.

  The warehouse doors slammed shut and Van-Gabriel turned around to face her. “Are you done?”

  They were alone. Just the two of them in the warehouse.

  She arched a brow and glared daggers at him. “With you, Gabriel, yes.”

  His nostrils flared as his eyes narrowed with annoyance. “In the grand scheme of things, Madeline,
my lies pale in comparison to yours. Nexus Suit 2.0 built specifically for Michael Sinclair’s use. What. The. Fuck. Were you thinking?”

  “Me? Oh no, you will not shift this argument to be all about me and what I did wrong! You lied to me! About everything!”

  “I never lied to you about what mattered between us. I always gave you the truth about what was real. But you buried shit that could have prevented this mess we’re in now. That’s not on me, babe. That’s all on you.”

  Maddie sputtered with outrage. “Told you? How the hell could I have told you anything when I knew I couldn’t trust you!”

  He arched a brow. “Knew? When the hell couldn’t you trust me, Maddie? Was it when we first met? Was it after I respected every goddamn thing you wanted during our courtship? Was it after you trusted me to be your first? Your only? Or was it when I married you and gave you everything you told me you wanted?”

  “That has nothing to do with this! That was all physical and—”

  “Bull. Shit. You trusted me and my actions. I proved myself worthy to you by my actions.”

  “And lied to me about your name! How could I trust someone who couldn’t even give me their true identity?”

  “It’s a name. Three fucking words that don’t mean shit about who I am as a person.”

  “Other than explain why the hell it was so easy for you to divorce me!”

  He pulled back with a confused look on his face. “What the hell kind of left field, girl logic is that?”

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about! Our marriage was fake from the beginning because you didn’t use your real name and—”

  “Don’t give me that shit. I was there. It wasn’t a marriage by proxy. I was there every goddamn minute of it and gave you vows that I meant. Every damn word, Maddie, I meant.”

  She threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “I can’t talk to you when you’re like this! It’s all about you. You do the right thing and I always do the wrong.” She spun and started pacing out her frustration rant. “You won’t even listen to what I have to say. I trusted you and you gave me nothing. Oh sure, you gave me things. Tangible items that were supposed to make me happy and feel safe, but never once did I get you! Never once did I get a real connection that told me that you were there for me—and not for a job! A job that you could leave and walk away from and… then you did.” She spun around, tears in her eyes. “How am I supposed to feel about that? How am I supposed to accept and believe that you chose me and not some… feeling of obligation you had for a job? How am I supposed to handle all of this when I know I wasn’t your choice?”