He looked like a pissed-off baby with facial hair. I bit the insides of my cheeks to stop myself from laughing.
“This is Dominus Dawn,” Azazel said, “and you will address her with respect.” His tone was a whiplash of icy air, and the bristling hobbit instantly shrank.
“Sorry, Azazel. I’m just so pissed.”
“Sit down, and let’s get some details,” Azazel said in a slightly warmer tone.
The hour passed quickly. After Huck, we had a couple of boggarts and then a beautiful half-demon who was being harassed by a local gang of Loup. A motorcycle gang that lived in the Rising Pack territory.
Azazel promised to speak to the alpha of the Rising Pack.
The door closed behind the demon, and Azazel stood and stretched. His T-shirt rode up, and my gaze slid to the exposed strip of flesh. He was more tanned than Mal or Conah.
“How often do you feed?” The question fell from my lips before I could think.
He froze mid-stretch and then slowly lowered his arms to his sides. “Why do you ask?”
“Curious. I’ve seen Conah drink blood and Mal too, but not you.”
“You want to see me drink blood?”
A rippled passed over my skin. No, I wanted him to sink his fangs into me and drink my blood. Shit! Where had that come from?
He’d stilled again. “I don’t need to feed as often as the others. Once a month is enough for me.”
“Because you’re older than them?”
“Because—”
The door slammed open, and a beast of a man strode in. He was dressed in a suit, some kind of designer shit, but there was no disguising the monster inside. Loup. He was Loup. No doubt about it. His menacing dark eyes skimmed over me and then latched onto Azazel.
“He’s not here.” He sniffed the air. “Coward.”
“I’m no coward,” a familiar sexy voice said.
A bolt of electricity shot up my spine, forcing it straighter.
Grayson walked into the room, casual in dark denim, cream shirt, and a dark jacket that looked like it was made of soft leather.
“Hello, Monty,” Grayson said.
“Larson to you, you bastard,” the angry-looking Loup snapped back.
“The alpha was supposed to come,” Azazel said. “That was the arrangement.”
I was confused.
“Hunter has better things to do with his time,” Larson sneered. “Now, let’s get on with the negotiations.”
But Grayson’s gaze was on me, drinking me in. “Seraphina …”
My mouth was stupidly dry, so I raised a hand in greeting.
“This is the bitch that caused all the trouble.” Larson’s lip curled, and he took a step toward me.
My muscles tensed, ready to react, but I didn’t get a chance before lightning flashed and Larson was flat on his arse. Shit, what was that? And then it hit me. This place was warded to be a no-aggression zone.
Azazel crossed his arms over his broad chest and looked down on the Loup. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Larson spat a few choice curses and slowly pulled himself to his feet.
The fact that the wards had attacked him told me he’d meant to harm me. Anger rose up my throat. Forgetting Azazel’s warning to keep my mouth shut, I pulled myself to my feet.
“You want to fight me, then we can go outside right now, hair bag.” I shrugged. “I need a workout anyway, and your face will do just as well as a punch bag.”
Larson’s eyes narrowed, and then he smiled. “Maybe some other time, reaper.”
“Dominus,” Azazel reminded him. “And aggression against one Dominus is an aggression against us all. Now, sit down.”
Larson tore his gaze from me and took a seat. Grayson did the same.
“You have your terms?” Azazel asked Larson.
At first glance, Grayson looked relaxed, but on closer inspection, I noted the tension around his eyes and mouth as he waited for Larson to speak.
“We’ll take your two females,” Larson said.
Grayson let out a sharp breath. “They’re only fourteen.”
“If they can bleed, they can breed.”
Was he implying what I thought he was? What the fuck was happening here?
“One month of miasma,” Grayson said.
“No,” Larson said. “Why should we settle for rations when we can have two batteries?”
Azazel’s jaw was tight, telling me he was pissed and that he found this whole thing distasteful, but he looked to Grayson for a response.
“Do you accept the terms?” Azazel asked.
Grayson closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I can’t hand over our children to you. I won’t.”
Larson looked genuinely surprised. “Then your men will die.”
Grayson nodded. “Faced with the alternative, I know Dean and Maddox would choose death.”
Larson’s aggression seemed to peter out a little. “You’d let them die?”
“The Regency Pack protects its young,” Grayson said.
Larson stood. “One moment.” He strode out of the room and closed the door.
“What’s happening?” I looked from Azazel to Grayson.
“The final negotiations after the museum raid,” Azazel said.
“I thought you said that was sorted.”
“It was.” Azazel pressed his lips together. “Two of Grayson’s pack offered themselves up to the Rising Pack as payment for the breach.”
Grayson ran a hand over his face. “Hunter accepted the partial payment. Now, he wants our only two full-blooded Loup females for breeding purposes, or he’ll reinstate the law of blood recompense.”
“But they’re just kids.” I stared at him, horrified.
“Full-blood Loup females are rare,” Azazel explained.
“A wolf needs miasma to shift,” Grayson said. “That miasma is like red blood cells, but instead of being produced in the marrow, it is produced by a chemical reaction in our brains. A reaction that only occurs when we have regular proximity to Loup females. But there are fewer and fewer Loup females being born, and we’ve been forced into an arrangement with covens to provide us with amulets to aid in miasma production.”
“But the amulets need to be charged,” Azazel said, his lip curling in disgust. “And the Loup pay heavily for that privilege.”
“So, Larson wants the females so they can produce more miasma?”
“If only he just wanted them around … No, he’ll have them mated with his men in the hopes of producing miasma-rich cubs and hopefully more females.” He shook his head. “They don’t deserve to be treated like cattle. They deserve to be allowed to mature and have a choice.”
“I don’t understand … How do you give them miasma?”
“They’ll have contact with the females once a week. Being in the same room as them for a few hours a week will be enough for their betas to produce miasma. It’ll be done on neutral ground, of course.”
It sounded reasonable to me. But whether the Rising Pack accepted was another matter.
The door opened, and Larson entered. “Three months of miasma,” he said. “Your men will be returned to you but will complete six months of contracted work for us, unpaid.”
Grayson exhaled in relief and nodded. “I accept.”
I guess miasma was more important to the Rising Pack than blood recompense.
* * *
I’d wanted to speak more to Grayson. To learn more about his world, and I sensed he felt the same. Larson left quickly, but Grayson didn’t seem to be in a hurry.
“Thank you for saving my life,” he said.
“It wasn’t me. It was the scythe.”
“The scythe?” Azazel asked. “You used the scythe to heal him?”
I nodded.
“It gave me the boost I needed to eradicate the silver from my bloodstream,” Grayson said. “By the time I got to the healer, she barely had to do anything. You took a huge risk coming for me.”
“There
“Why?” He searched my face.
Why? Dean had asked me the same thing, and I gave Grayson the same answer I’d given his second. “Because you don’t walk away when you can help someone.”
“We need to go,” Azazel said curtly.
Grayson nodded. “I’ll see you around, Seraphina Dawn.”
He closed the door behind him, and I turned on Azazel. “You didn’t have to be so rude.”
“It’s getting late, and I have more rounds to do. I need to drop you back to base.”
I stifled my annoyance. I was being ridiculous while he was simply trying to do his job.
As we made our way out of Lumiers, my thoughts shifted to Cora and our night out, and excitement bubbled in my tummy. I so needed to let my hair down.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The fact that I had no way to get down to Senki hit me once I was fully dolled up and ready to go. It was all right for Cora. She could totally do the teleportation thing that Conah did. She’d done it ever since I’d known her. It was a standard ghost ability to wink out in one location and materialize in another. Or a tulpa thing, as the case may be. But me … I was stuck.
“You could call Nox,” Cora suggested.
“Call him to transport me to town? Hardly a productive use of his time.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Well, you know what you have to do then.”
“I’m not asking Conah.”
“Yeah, being up close and personal to him would be too distracting.” Cora gnawed on her bottom lip.
“Not Azazel either,” Cyril piped up from his coil in the center of my neatly made-up bed.
Cora snickered.
“Shut it.” It was impossible to keep anything from these two. Cyril the spy and Cora, who could read me like a large print book with pretty pictures. “I’ll ask Mal.”
Ha, they didn’t know about the kiss in the lounge the other day so—
“After that kisssss in the lounge?” Cyril said.
“What kiss?” Cora smiled slyly. “You dirty little ho.”
My cheeks heated. “It was a moment thing. It didn’t mean anything.”
“And all the panting,” Cyril said. “Picture me rolling my eyes.”
I covered my burning face with my hands and took a deep breath. “Things have been complicated. I mean, the guys are all attractive, and I’m horny.”
Cora’s expression grew serious. “Or maybe you’re growing fond of them? Maybe you like them.”
I didn’t want to talk about this because liking one guy would be okay, but liking three … That was just asking for heartache.
“Cor, can you ask Mal if he’ll fly me and Cyril to Senki?”
“On second thoughtsss,” Cyril said. “I think I’ll give it a misss. Sssnakes weren’t meant to fly.”
“Oh, come on.” I walked over to the bed and ran my hand over his scales. “You can wrap yourself around me real tight. It’ll be fine.”
He raised his head and looked me in the eye for a long beat. “Bring me back a rat.” He tucked his head into his coils and fell silent.
There was a knock on the door, and Iza entered. At least I thought it was Iza because she was almost unrecognizable in an ankle-length navy dress. Like Cora, Iza could do the teleport thing, but any shopping from the market was usually delivered by drake and carriage.
“Head to the pinnacle,” Cora said. “I’ll send Mal up to you.”
* * *
I stood on the pinnacle, wrapped in my calf-length coat, hair tucked into my hood. But unlike the last time, I was sweltering. The coat felt like too much, and my skin ached to taste the chill air. I pulled down the hood and tipped my face up to the sky, sighing as the crisp evening air trailed icy fingers across my cheek. The world was a vivid shade of purple and red; sunset in the Underealm was truly magnificent.
Awareness pricked the periphery of my senses.
I was being watched.
Mal stood by the glass doors that led onto the pinnacle, hands loose at his sides, gaze fixed on me. There was an unfathomable expression in his eyes that he buried quickly under his signature smile. The smile that said he didn’t take me seriously, that he was all about the laughs and the sarcasm.
“Hey.” I offered him a tentative smile. “Thanks for agreeing to do this.”
“Not like I had a choice.” He sauntered toward me. “Your tulpa materialized in my room just as I was about to shoot a load into the demon riding my cock.”
Oh, the images that came to mind … “I’m sorry. Shit.”
“It’s okay. I finished. Your tulpa said she’ll meet you at the tavern.”
“Cora. Her name is Cora.”
“Whatever.”
Was he deliberately being a dick? “No. Not whatever. I don’t want you calling her a tulpa. Would you like it if I went around calling you the demon?”
He shrugged. “Look, do you want a lift or not?”
The last thing I wanted to do was have him touch me now. But Cora was waiting for me. I’d promised her a night out and some girl time.
“Please.” I bit the word out through clenched teeth.
He moved closer and plucked at a tendril of my hair before twirling it around his index finger.
“Please, take me, Mal,” he said in a breathy voice. “Say it. Say it just like that.”
He was so close that our body heat kissed, and the chill air was suddenly too warm.
What the fuck was this hot-and-cold shit. “No.”
“No?” He tugged on the tendril of my hair. “You don’t want me to take you to the tavern?”
“I do. But I’m not saying … that.”
“Cora’s waiting for you, Fee, and I could be naked in my bed, having my cock sucked dry right now. Instead, I’m out here in the cold with you.”
Do not think about his cock. “You don’t get cold.”
He unzipped my jacket, and I sucked in a breath as blessed cool air rushed in to replace the heat.
“And neither do you, it seems.” His eyes were dark now, or maybe that was the sun going down.
I held my breath as he slid his arm around my waist, and bit back a moan as his fingers slipped under the hem of my shirt to skim across my naked skin, and then his palm branded my abdomen just under my left breast. If he slid his hand up an inch, he’d touch the underside of my boob. I was wearing a strapless bra, but still, he’d be touching my boob.
“Come on, Fee.” His lips brushed mine so lightly it could have been a dream. “Just say it.”
I could say it. End this moment, but I didn’t want it to end. I wanted him to hold me. Touch me. I wanted this thrill.
“I’m freezing my balls off,” he said against my mouth.
I wasn’t sure what made me do it. I mean, I didn’t think, I just reached between us and cupped his balls through his joggers.
His eyes widened, and he sucked in a sharp breath.
I squeezed gently, and his forehead dropped to mine, and his groan traveled down to pulse between my thighs.
I lifted my chin, breaking forehead contact, and brushed his ear with my lips. “They feel pretty hot to me.”
A ragged chuckle broke from his lips. “Touché, Fee. Touché.”
Which meant we were done. Which meant I needed to stop touching him, but it took everything I had to drop my hand. The backs of my fingers grazed his hard cock as I pulled away.
“Fuck, Fee.”
“So, Mal, will you take me?” My voice was breathless, my tone thick with desire, but I didn’t care.
Mal looked down at me, and his jaw tightened. “You’re fucking dangerous, Fee, you know that?”
And then I was hauled tight against his body, and we were hurtling toward the stars.
* * *
Senki was a town divided. One half modern and up-to-date in all the Shoel tech and the other preferring to stick to the old ways. The tavern was located at a crossroads, and it was one of the only places where the residents of each half mingled.
I’d visited the quaint market with Kiara but hadn’t ventured into the industrial side of town yet. The tavern building was a mishmash of both schools of thought and both ways of life. On the one hand, the roof was slate, and modern windows spilled light onto the gravel drive, and on the other, a well stood in the driveway and pens housing cows and chickens could be spotted off around the right side of the structure. It was a low, long building reminding me of a barn conversion.
“You want me to come in with you?” Mal asked.
It was the first thing he’d said to me since we’d taken off from the pinnacle, and he sounded weary.
I glanced sharply at him. “Are you all right?”
He looked momentarily torn and then sighed. “Your ass still weighs just as much as it did when you got here, you know. If not more, because of the muscle mass.”
Urgh. He was incorrigible. “I can manage. You can go.”
He shrugged. “If you need a lift home …” He backed up. “Don’t call me.”
And then he was gone, shooting up into the night sky like a lone star eager to rejoin his brethren … and where had that poetic thought come from?
I shook it off and headed inside in search of Cora.
Warm air hit me. Probably from the huge fireplace to my right. I registered music next—some lilting melody that I didn’t recognize. It provoked a sense of nostalgia in my chest.
Where was Cora? I scanned the demonic faces—some looked human and others not so much. The outfits were different too. On one side of the room, the demons were dressed in modern clothes, denim-type material, and shirts, but there were a couple of groups dressed in tunics and tights or baggy trousers that cinched at the ankle where they were shoved into boots. The women wore corset dresses. I caught some curious gazes, but on the whole, everyone was too busy having fun to linger on me for too long.
I spotted Iza first. She was sitting on a podium where four imps were playing music. She saw me and waved. Her face was bright with happiness as she nudged the lute player. He looked up with beady black eyes and then grinned, showcasing pointy white teeth.
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