by Laura Kaye
“Your…father?” Brynn cried. She wrenched her hand out of his and turned to plaster him with a confused, semi-accusing glare.
“Later, Brynn,” Keegan said.
The demon turned his attention to Brynn with an evil grin on his face. “You’re almost family, too, pretty girl, after all the help you’ve been. By the way, Daddy says thank you for helping him find you.”
“Don’t you look at her,” Keegan said. But then the meaning of the demon’s words hit him. “What?”
He turned to Brynn, but she stared at him with wide, confused eyes. “I don’t know what he’s—”
“Oh, she really doesn’t know,” the demon interrupted with a sinister laugh. “That’s what makes it so great. I only found out about it myself just now, when your father told me.”
What the fuck was he talking about? Keegan was sure the confusion on his face read as loud as Brynn’s.
“I’ll tell you what.” The demon inclined his head and gave Keegan an appraising once-over. “I’ll let you fight me one-on-one. If you win, I’ll let you leave.”
One of the other demons hissed and edged forward. “But Vhen, the boss said to—”
“Shut up,” Vhen roared. “I’m the boss here.”
The protester stepped away without another word. Leave it to demons to do whatever the hell they wanted, regardless of their orders.
“What about the heir?” Keegan asked, though he didn’t believe for one second Vhen would let him leave if he won.
“She stays.” Without further warning, he dropped his glamour, growing taller and wider, taking his true demon form. Another rayamara demon.
Vhen lunged toward Keegan. Pushing Brynn toward Ronin, Keegan leapt for the demon, meeting him halfway. His fist connected with Vhen’s face even as he fell backward, the larger demon landing on top of him. The other demons shifted about, as if wondering what to do, given the unexpected turn of events. But in the end, they all just stood there, watching the scene unfold.
Vhen lifted off him and slammed one of his clawed hands into Keegan’s face, tearing large gouges into his flesh.
“Keegan,” Brynn screamed.
He grabbed the demon’s wrist before the creature could slam his hand down. That familiar twinge of pain told him his flesh was already repairing itself. He shoved Vhen and the demon flew, which gave him enough time to get off the ground before Vhen sprinted back for more.
Keegan ducked under one of Vhen’s massive wings as it lashed out at him. He whirled around and delivered a roundhouse kick to his spine. Vhen fell hard on his knees, but used his wings to catapult himself into the air. Faster than Keegan could begin to process, Vhen landed behind him, grabbing him by the throat in a brutal chokehold. Vhen wrapped his other hand around Keegan’s throat, his claws digging in deep and cutting off his air supply.
“No,” Brynn yelled. “Ronin, help him.”
Ronin shushed her while Keegan struggled not to fall to his knees. His vision blurred, the tiny black dots lining his sight warning him he was about to pass out if he didn’t do something now. One of Vhen’s wings wrapped around him, enveloping him like a lover’s caress.
Perfect. Keegan knew all too well the weaknesses of that particular appendage. It was Vhen’s mistake not to have thought about that. He seized the demon’s wing and yanked hard, rending the wing almost in two.
Vhen screamed, releasing Keegan’s throat and retreating in agony. Keegan spun to face Vhen, sputtering for breath as his throat healed itself. Even the process of healing was pure torture.
“What are you waiting for, idiots?” Vhen said to the demons huddled along the roof while he nursed his damaged wing. “Kill them. Get the girl.”
Keegan inched toward the edge of the roof, stopping next to Brynn. She found his hand and squeezed tightly, her breath wheezing out in frantic, ragged exhales that clouded the frigid air. Terrified as she was, she stood tall as she followed him.
Sudden fury coursed through his veins, boiling his blood. Damn these demons for doing this to her. Damn Mammon for using a clueless woman as a pawn in his sick quest for power. It wasn’t fair. Not to her, nor to him and his brothers.
Rage built in his chest, heating his very core until he became so hot he could have been made entirely of fire. Steam escaped his pores, fogging the air.
Oh shit. It was happening.
Ronin flicked his gaze toward him, eyes widening. “Is it… Are you doing it?”
Keegan was too steamed to respond. Literally. It built up like a furnace until there was only one way to release it.
“Duck,” Ronin yelled to Brynn, grabbing her hand and yanking her down to the rooftop.
Keegan whirled to face the winged demons guarding the edge of the roof, feeling his eyes blaze in his sockets. He opened his mouth and breathed out, but it wasn’t air that escaped. Instead, a heavy stream of fire coursed from his lungs, spraying the area in front of him.
The winged demons stopped fighting, mouths open in shock, as the fire spread over them, incinerating their flesh quicker than they could react. They fell backward into the air, their bodies already nothing more than blazing bones. By the time they landed on the ground below, they would probably be no more than powder.
Brynn’s harsh scream abruptly cut off. But he couldn’t worry about her right now. Not when demons still lined the roof and his fury boiled over inside of him. He breathed again, his flames spreading over the demons who’d scattered across the rooftop. Within seconds, their burning bodies fell to the ground, a few of them lucid enough to utter agonizing screeches before their lungs dissolved to ash.
Finally, there was nothing but smoking piles of dust and the putrid stench of charred flesh.
He was out of juice. The fire receded, sliding down his throat and contracting into a ball of liquid heat somewhere in his chest. His mother’s legacy, a gift he’d never been able to control.
Exhaustion spread over his body, making his knees go weak.
“Brynn,” he practically choked. She’d seen what he could do, what lived inside him. Would she shriek and cower in terror? Would she run from him now that she’d seen his dark power?
Dreading her reaction, he turned to face her. But she wasn’t cowering in fear. Rather, she knelt, with Ronin’s arms still wrapped around her, and gazed up at him, a mix of awe and fascination covering her face. There wasn’t a glimmer of fear or revulsion anywhere.
She wasn’t afraid of him.
Keegan’s heart did a lazy spin inside his chest.
Ronin slowly stood, pulling Brynn with him. “That was a close one. You really waited until the last second there.”
“You know I have no control over it,” Keegan said.
“What was that?” Brynn asked.
Keegan took a breath. “I—”
He cut off as the door leading onto the roof cracked open and spun around to face it. It was Taeg, who panted as if he’d raced all the way up here. Seeing them, he bent over, nursing a stitch in his side.
Keegan’s momentary relief morphed into suspicion. “What are you doing here?”
“I…” Taeg straightened, still breathing heavily. “I flashed to your suite, caught the stench of demons in the hallway, and followed the residual energy up here. Are you all okay?”
“Yeah,” Ronin said. “Keegan did his fire-breathing routine and fried them all to a crisp.”
“No shit?” Taeg said, impressed. “Good timing, huh, bro? Sorry I missed that.”
“What are you doing here?” Keegan repeated. He focused in on Ronin, whose face was set as grim as a funeral director’s.
But then it all clicked into place: Ronin’s terse conversation with Taeg, the demons’ attack, and Taeg materializing here on the roof.
No. Oh, fuck, no.
Mammon had found the book.
Which meant Brynn had to die.
No. He gasped for air, only to find he couldn’t take enough in. Not Brynn.
All these years of blind faith and duty to the Counci
l. All his admonitions to his brothers that they must do what was right, at all costs. And now, because of fate, because of his father, he was supposed to kill the one woman he’d ever had real feelings for.
It wasn’t fair. And, even if it meant saving the world, it wasn’t right.
No. He wouldn’t do it.
They could defeat Mammon another way. Somehow.
“Listen,” Taeg said, moving deliberately, “we need to talk about what—”
Faster than anyone could blink, Keegan sucker-punched Ronin. Hard. His nose shattered into pieces with a loud crack. He crumpled to the ground, knocked out cold.
“Keegan,” Brynn cried in a mixture of shock and censure. She dropped to the ground beside Ronin, grasping his shoulder as she peered into his battered face.
Yeah, that was an asshole thing to do, but Ronin would heal. By the time he woke up, he’d probably have no more than a slight headache. Brynn, however, would suffer far worse than that if Ronin and Taeg succeeded in their mission.
Taeg dematerialized, and a fraction of a second later he reappeared right in front of Keegan. Taeg’s fist caught Keegan’s jaw. “You prick. Why did you do that?”
“You know why.” He grabbed Taeg’s shoulders and held on tight. There was no way he would let go.
Taeg grabbed onto Keegan’s shoulders in a similar lock, his face red with fury. “Come on, you dickweed. We warned you over and over.”
“I know,” Keegan yelled. “I can’t help it. She’s innocent.”
“Mammon has the book,” Taeg said. “Innocent or not, she’s the key to the fucking apocalypse. And if that happens, a lot more innocents will die.”
“She shouldn’t die because of something she has no control over.”
“That’s our fucking job, man.”
“I—” Anything else Keegan might have said died with Brynn’s loud gasp. Keegan pushed Taeg around so he could see Brynn, who’d risen to her feet.
“I knew it,” she whispered, her eyes wide. “I knew that had to be it, but I didn’t want to believe it. My gut told me you wouldn’t do such a thing.”
“I…I can’t,” Keegan ground out. “I can’t do it, okay?”
“You dick,” Taeg muttered, shoving him back about ten feet. They continued to wrestle. “You have to do it. We have no choice.”
Keegan shook his head. “No, Taeg, it’s not right. Listen, we can find another way to stop Mammon. We have to.”
Taeg stopped struggling long enough to look at Keegan, a compassionate expression on his face. “We can’t. It’s too great a risk.”
“You said it yourself: Things go better when we work together,” he said. “We can find a better way…”
“There is no other way, brother. I’m sorry. Really I am.”
Keegan’s stomach rolled and his head pounded like it had been hit with a hammer. He contemplated his choices, pissed there were so damn few of them.
He would have given anything—even his life—not to have to do this. But he had to. He had no choice.
“You’re right,” Keegan said to Taeg. He stilled and slightly relaxed his grip.
Taeg threw him a look of utter relief and started to do the same.
“You’re right, Taeg,” Keegan repeated. “And I’m sorry, too.”
Before Taeg could react, he shoved his head forward, ramming his forehead against Taeg’s jaw with a deafening crack.
“Ow.” Taeg grabbed his jaw, lobbing a shocked glance at Keegan before dropping to his knees like a rag doll.
Keegan raced to Brynn, who’d crept backward toward the exit during their struggle. Now she hovered there, as if debating what to do. He stopped just a few feet in front of her. “Brynn.”
She stared at him uncertainly. Then, after what seemed like a lifetime but in reality was no more than a second or two, she gave him a slow and hesitant nod.
His heart gave a pained twinge. Trust shone in her eyes, telling him she believed in him, even if he didn’t believe in himself.
He wouldn’t let her down.
“Take my hand.”
Brynn hesitated for only a moment before placing her hand in his.
He gave her a soft smile. “You trust me, right?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Then hold on tight.”
He pulled her close, and she circled her arms around his neck. Here goes nothing.
With a practiced flick of his shoulders, his leathery red appendages tore through the fabric of his T-shirt and jacket. They flapped hard, generating heat as they sliced through the air.
“Oh my…God,” Brynn said. Her eyes grew wide as her gaze skipped from his face to his large wings. With a gentle shove, he took off into the air.
“Keegan,” Taeg yelled below. “Keeg, come back. Please, bro.”
Brynn wrapped her legs around his waist, holding on tight. An expression of pure wonder lined her face. “What are you?”
“Brynn, I didn’t know how to tell you before,” he said. “I’m only half demon.”
“And the other half?” she asked.
“The other half…is dragon.”
Chapter Eighteen
Back at the hotel suite, Taeg clasped his hands to the back of his neck while he paced the length of Ronin’s bedroom. He’d passed the hour since Keegan had fled alternating between fury and dread. Try as he might, he couldn’t see a happy ending in this for his big brother, and that just about killed him. They were really up shit creek this time.
“Where the hell could they be?”
“Who knows?” Ronin wearily replied from inside the closet, where he packed up their meager belongings.
Taeg touched his hand to the jaw Keegan had recently broken. It was already fully healed, thanks to Ronin. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Can’t you? We both saw it coming. We just didn’t know how to stop it.”
He let out his breath in one long rush. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Now we’re seriously fucked.”
“True,” Ronin muttered.
“Aw, devil’s balls.” Taeg stomped over to one of the beds and kicked the wooden footboard. It shattered into pieces, the mattress thumping to the ground.
Ronin stepped outside the closet and eyed the mess he’d made. “The Council is going to blow its stack when it gets the bill for this place.”
“Screw them.” Taeg swiveled around to confront Ronin. “Why didn’t you do it, man? Why didn’t you kill her when you had the chance?”
Ronin looked him straight in the eye. “I couldn’t. You knew I wouldn’t be able to. That’s why you came.”
“Damn it.” Taeg’s anger at Ronin melted away as quickly as it had come. He leaned back onto the dresser behind him. “None of us should have had to. It was a sucker’s mission from the very start, one the Council knew we wouldn’t turn down, thanks to our father.”
“They never gave us the resources we needed to fight him,” Ronin pointed out.
Taeg let out a deep sigh. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Yeah. So what now?”
“Now?” Taeg said. “Now we go out and get wasted. Drink ourselves into oblivion. Party down until the fucking apocalypse.”
Ronin lifted a brow. “No, really.”
What choice did they have? They couldn’t abandon Keegan. Would never do that. Which left only one option.
“Now, little brother, we come up with another game plan.”
…
Brynn couldn’t stop staring. It was incredibly rude, but she couldn’t help herself.
“Half dragon,” she said.
Keegan threw her a smile from the driver’s seat of the car he’d stolen after they touched down on the outskirts of New Orleans. “Dragon-shifter, to be exact.”
“Dragon-shifter? What does that mean?”
“Well, one of the other dimensions contains a shifter world. It’s called Enevora. Everyone on that planet can shift forms, from humanoid to animal—wolf, jaguar, dragon, you name it.”
Keegan chuckled. “You name it, there’s a shifter for it. Even some animals you’ve never heard of. That’s not all, either. There are gargoyles, gremlins, trolls.”
“All on the same planet?”
He nodded. “There’s also a water dimension with mermaids, harpies, and sirens.”
Mermaids? How many times as a child had she dreamed of being one, and now she learned that they actually existed?
“Even the immortal beings your world has mistaken for Greek gods exist, on a world called Olympus,” he continued. “They aren’t quite all-powerful, as is written into the mythology, but they do have the ability to control the weather, death, and regeneration, and they can only be killed by beheading.”
“Whoa. Will you ever stop surprising me?”
“Not today.” He tapped his fingers along the steering wheel in a gesture that belied his anxiety. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I just didn’t know how.”
“I don’t blame you.” Still, considering that Brynn knew about his demon heritage, how did one bring up the topic of dragons? Even more amazing was that she fully accepted it, without any resistance. Well, okay, not too much. After everything she’d seen the past few days, dragons were just one more crazy thing to add to the list of weird. Not only that, but she had to admit that in a strange way, it sort of turned her on. The man could fly. He was like her very own Superman.
“Can you actually morph into a dragon?”
He shook his head. “Full shifters can. But since I’m a half breed, I only have a few abilities. I can partially shift, creating wings, which you saw.”
Yeah, those were weird. Leathery red appendages that probably spanned twice as wide as he was tall. But they weren’t like the rayamara demons’ wings, not by any means. They were beautiful, in their own way. Majestic.
“That was amazing,” she confessed, “to soar in the air, above the city. It was so…exhilarating.”
“Some might find it frightening.”
“Not me.” When the corners of his mouth ticked up, she asked, “What other abilities do you have from your dragon heritage?”
