Speak Thy Name (The Nephilim Book 3)

by Dana Marie Bell

  The Nephilim Book 3

  Damien Wyatt is an angel-born, a Nephilim warrior bound to fight against the Shem, nightmare creatures that plague the human world. Samantha Brody is a shy, sexy computer hacker he fired despite his instincts telling him that she was innocent. When those instincts are proven right Damien tries to make amends, hoping to build a relationship with the woman who has haunted his dreams since the first moment he saw her.

  Sam has known for months now that Damien is a super hero. She's willing to do whatever is necessary to keep him safe, even putting her own life on the line. After all, she's loved him for years despite their misunderstandings. When she's targeted by the Shem because of a favor Damien asks of her he moves quickly, taking Sam to a place he knows where she'll be safe. Damien and Sam slowly start to explore their feelings for one another, finding they have more in common than they'd first thought.

  But the Shem don't take lightly to humans butting into their business, especially when that business involves kidnapped Nephilim. With the Shem hot on their heels, can Sam and Damien finally find the love they haven't been able to put into words?

  eBooks are not transferable.

  They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Dana Marie Bell

  PO Box 39

  Bear, DE 19701

  Speak Thy Name

  Copyright © 2017 by Dana Marie Bell

  ISBN: 978-1-946966-24-7

  Edited by Tera Kleinfelter

  Cover by Paper & Sage

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Edition electronic publication by Dana Marie Bell: May 2017

  Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Look for these titles by Dana Marie Bell

  Dedication

  To Mom, who loves her fur babies as much as she does her less furry ones. There’s nothing quite like a Yorkshire terrier smiling at you. It is both adorable and terrifying.

  To Dad, who loves his kitty, Luna, as much as she adores him. Too bad she hates the rest of the world, or she’d be the best kitty ever.

  To Dusty, who thinks my family is insane but loves them anyway.

  And finally, good-bye, my Precious. I’ll see you again when I cross the Rainbow Bridge.

  Chapter 1

  Samantha Brody leaned back in her chair, trying to stretch her aching back. She twisted her neck from side to side, wincing at the loud crack of bones realigning. She wasn’t used to the whole nine-to-five anymore, the hustle and bustle of people around her as they all completed their tasks like good little worker bees. Sometimes just the sounds alone were enough to break her out of her computer-induced trance, but she’d get used to it. She had to if she wanted to eat.

  Being a freelancer hadn’t paid the bills, even with Beth, one of her best friends, flinging work her way as fast as she could. The private detective had used Sam’s unique skills more than once, but Beth had bills of her own to pay. Sam had tried to make it work, but with three mouths to feed it hadn’t been easy. The food for Precious alone was enough to break her meager bank account. They’d had to eat cheap bologna for dinner more than once, and poor Donny hated store brand bologna. The Chihuahua was far more of a gourmet than Sam ever hoped to be. Precious, her pit bull, was much more easygoing when it came to food. If it tasted good, she ate it.

  So when an opportunity arose to work for one of the richest men in the country, possibly the world, Sam had snapped it up. She hadn’t expected to be given a primo job right off the bat, but she’d also hoped for something a little bit better than glorified data entry, or worse: help desk.

  She shuddered. Help. Desk. It was such an oxymoron, because half the time the so-called helpers were the ones who needed help, and the other half of the time they were dealing with PEBKAC: Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.

  Thank the gods she’d gotten the former. The numb monotony was tempting her to do terrible, horrible things that would wind up with her skinny ass in a federal prison, but at least she didn’t have to set herself on fire to escape the stupid.

  Either way, she’d look horrible in orange.

  “You done with the last batch, Sammie?” Mr. Newton, her boss, peered at her from around the edge of her cubicle. “I’ve got a lot more for you when you’re ready.”

  She grunted, coming out of her stretch. “I think my brain juice is drying up.”

  He shook his head. “We all have to start somewhere, and with your background…” He shrugged. “You’re lucky you got hired at all.”

  Right. Her background. She’d been accused of stealing Falcon, a prototype security software designed by Wyatt Enterprises. While they hadn’t been able to prove it, she’d been fired from Wyatt Enterprises, leaving her with a bad reputation and no backup income. She hadn’t stolen a goddamn thing from them, but she hadn’t been given a chance to prove her innocence. Fighting the charges had been impossible, especially when the one accusing her was one of the partners, Larry Palmer. Larry was one of Damien Wyatt’s closest friends. Of course, he’d trust Mr. Palmer over her.

  She understood. That didn’t mean she had to like it, especially since she’d had a huge crush on Damien Wyatt at the time. With his dark hair and eyes, his strong, runner’s body, and easy style, he was exactly her type. The only problem was, she wasn’t his. He seemed to like women like Beth or Andi, women with dark hair and strong personalities. Sam, with her light hair and eyes, was a dreamer, the one who always had her head in the clouds. She fantasized about being swept off her feet by a dark-eyed prince who’d give her the world if she asked.

  At least her parents didn’t know anything about what had happened or she’d be in Arizona right now, living under their roof once more. She was their only child and, while she loved them dearly, they tended to want to fight her battles for her. Sam had put a stop to that when she turned eighteen. Her father’s job had transferred him to Tucson and Sam had remained behind, ready to start her life and unwilling to leave her friends. She’d gone to school with Abby, Beth and Andi. There was no way she’d leave them.

  “I need these done by tomorrow morning,” Mr. Newton added, breaking through her reverie. “The planning department needs them back as soon as possible.”

  “You know it’s close to quitting time, right?” She eyed him wearily.

  “And?” He sounded genuinely confused.

&n
bsp; Sam sighed. She wouldn’t be getting out of here on time today, either. “Put it there.” She pointed to the corner of her desk. She was the newest hire in the department, which meant she got all the shit jobs and none of the overtime pay. Worse, if she complained, she could lose the job. The HR heifer who’d given her the hiring forms had made it more than clear she was at Romanov on probation. She’d toe the line or be out on her ass.

  A pile of paperwork landed on her desk. “See you tomorrow!” Her boss waved good-bye. He hollered the same thing to her coworkers, the sounds of most of the others leaving filling the aisles.

  She was in Cubicle Hell. Maybe she should go back to being a contractor after all. At least at home she had the company of those who truly loved her, even if they slobbered all over her toes.

  This had to be one of the Chinese levels of hell. How many were there, anyway? She could never remember, but Cubicle Hell would be filled with paper cuts, jammed staplers, endless tedium, and no chance for advancement, let alone decent raises.

  Ugh. She was doing it again. Getting lost in her own head instead of doing her work. She grabbed the top pile of papers and began entering the data.

  Bored.

  BORED.

  So goddamn bor— Hello. What was this?

  Sam glanced at the data. Something wasn’t adding up. She checked against a similar project, pulling up her saved files and digging around until she’d found the one she wanted.

  It didn’t match. The numbers, those beautiful, flowing numbers, were off.

  So. Which project was wrong, the one in her hand or the one in her files?

  Digging deeper, she found more and more discrepancies. A little bit here, a little bit there, but it was slowly adding up to something more than what she’d anticipated. The problem was, all of it could be explained as errors in either the planning stage or the data entry, because some of these mistakes were from before she’d arrived.

  Hmm. She leaned back and stared at what she was beginning to suspect was a case of theft. But how to prove it? Dig where she wasn’t supposed to? To find out for certain she’d have to follow some leads, work on nights and weekends, and find the culprit before she was caught and fired.

  Sam’s heart began beating faster in the excitement of the chase. Her fingers began to twitch. This was going to be fun.

  She cracked her knuckles and began doing what she did best: digging for information.

  Getting through the paperwork she already had was a breeze, once she had the pattern. A double order here, a little bit missing there, and you had a very subtle pattern of theft going back about eighteen months. Now she needed to see who’d put in the orders—or changed them—and she’d have the first steps to finding the thief.

  Of course, this could just be her overactive imagination building something that wasn’t really there, so she’d have to double and triple check just to make sure. After all, if a data entry employee was the one to discover this kind of theft, she’d better make sure there really was a theft.

  Hmm. She’d have to discover if any of the overages had been returned. That was a whole different database, one she wasn’t privy to. She’d have to gain access to it, and that was where the whole “prison orange” thing was going to come up. She doubted Piotr Romanov would appreciate his newest employee hacking his systems, no matter how good her intentions were.

  That, however, could be easily remedied. She picked up the phone and dialed one of her besties, Piotr Romanov’s right-hand girl, Andrea Hancock.

  “Hello?” The sultry contralto was all business, but Sam knew the girly side of the ruthless businesswoman her friend had become. She wasn’t afraid of Andi in the least.

  “Hey, Andi. I have a huge, megalithic favor to ask. If it pays off the way I think it might, I’ll have something to give you in a few days.”

  “Sam? Do you have any idea what time it is? Aren’t you supposed to be home from work by now?” Andi sounded worried about her, which was sweet.

  “You know us data entry specialists, always busy.” Sam mimed strangling herself.

  “Data what now? What the fuck are you talking about?” Now Andi sounded pissed. “You were supposed to go right into the programming department.”

  “Says who?” Sam had applied for that job but been told it was full by the department manager, who’d sent her down to join the data entry team.

  “Oh, geez. Some heads are going to roll when Piotr finds out. No, Sam, you weren’t supposed to be in data fucking entry, and I’ll take care of it, okay?”

  “That’s not what I’m calling about, actually.” Sam was delighted her friend was willing to stick up for her, but that wasn’t the issue at hand. “Listen, I need access to a couple of databases.”

  “Why?” Andi sounded merely curious, as if she got asked this kind of thing every day.

  “Are you alone?” Andi often worked late into the night with Mr. Romanov. He could be standing right there, listening in. Sam didn’t want Mr. Romanov aware of what she was doing until she had proof that there really was someone stealing his money.

  “Yes, I’m alone.”

  Sam breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”

  “What’s up?”

  Sam outlined what she’d been able to piece together so far. “I think it goes deeper, but I’ll need to prove it. Think you can help?”

  Andi whistled. “This is why Piotr hired you. Yes, I can help, but you’ll have to give me a little time. I don’t work as fast as you do.”

  Hmm. “I doubt anyone is still in their offices. I could check their trash, look in their drawers and, if I get caught, have you vouch for me.”

  Keys were tapped, and Sam thought Andi was still working after all until she said, “You’re being transferred to cyber security as I speak, and I’ll be having a word with not only HR but the programming department on why Mr. Romanov’s recommendation for you was ignored.” Man, Andi sounded pissed.

  “You know why,” Sam sighed. “Falcon.”

  “Fuck Falcon. You work for Romanov now, not Damien Wyatt. What Mr. Romanov says goes. And Sam?”

  Sam had to clear her throat. It was good to have friends who believed in you when no one else did. “Yeah?”

  “You’ll be reporting to your new boss in the morning. His name is Brian Templeton, and he’s head of security.”

  “He’s that guy who makes Dante look like a tiny little Muppet, right?” Sam giggled. Beth’s fiancé, Dante, was large and intimidating, but Mr. Templeton was bigger. “He’s huge.”

  “And smart. Don’t forget that. He’ll be tough, but if you get the job done he’ll be fair. And he’s going to want to hear all about what you’ve dug up so far, okay?”

  “Okay.” Sam began packing up to go home. “Does that mean that I have to finish inputting all of this data? Mr. Newton kind of dumped a pile of work on me just before he left for the day.” It was now almost eleven at night. Had she been working on collating the data for that long?

  Andi laughed. “Nope. Take what you need to show Brian what you’ve discovered and leave the rest behind. I’ll talk to Mr. Newton. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

  “He’ll shit his pants is what he’ll do.” Sam giggled again. “Getting a visit from Romanov’s Girl Friday is probably not on his bucket list.”

  “I’m not that scary,” Andi scoffed.

  “Uh, yeah, you are, to them anyway. To me you’re a little poufy doggie I wuv to huggle and snuggle with.”

  Andi laughed. “You nut. Go home to Precious and Don Pablo. I’ll email you on what you should do when you get here in the morning.”

  “You should rest, too. You have to be here at what time?”

  “Oh-dark hundred, I think.” Andi yawned. “This’ll take five, maybe ten minutes tops.”

  “All right.” Sam took the papers she’d need and stuffed them in her brief case. “Good-bye, ugly cubicle. Hello, um, ugly cubicle?”

  “Go. Home.” Andi hung up, leaving Sam to untangle the cord of her work phone be
fore putting the receiver down. It would be nice to have a cordless phone. She hoped cyber security had those.

  She headed to the parking lot, aware that Beth would have a fit if she saw Sam at that moment. She was digging in her purse for her keys, her car wasn’t parked under a light, and she was leaving the darkened building at eleven thirty at night. Her stomach was rumbling, too, but all the good places were closed. She’d have to pick up some late-night fast food to tide her over until morning.

  Beth would be thrilled at her new job. Cyber security was right up Sam’s alley. She’d rock that job and make Mr. Romanov proud. Abby, on the other hand, would worry about her being in security. And Seth and Dante would worry until she pointed out that she was probably safer working for another Nephilim than anywhere else in the world. Or at least she thought he was.

  God, it was good to have friends. Abby, Beth, and Andi were her best friends, and now that they had men in their lives, those men had also become her friends.

  Well, not Andi. Oh, she was one of her BFFs, but the man she cared for didn’t do anything more than use her brain. Sam was conflicted for Andi’s sake. Should she be happy or sad that Piotr completely ignored Andi romantically? Piotr was both cold and alluring at the same time, with a new woman on his arm every couple of weeks. Andi had to be suffering, but Sam never saw her pine. If Piotr was attracted to Andi, it could be that he wasn’t acting on it because Andi was his employee. If so, Sam had to give him mad props. Not every employer would keep their hands off a woman as beautiful as Andrea Hancock.

  Sam climbed into her car and took off. She was almost certain Piotr was also a Nephilim, because something about the man screamed other. Now that she’d met Seth, Dante, and Damien and found out what they were, that feeling of other made sense. It was all over them, but especially her new boss.

  She wondered if anyone had bothered to inform Andi that the man she’d loved desperately for years was only partially human. She bet Andi wouldn’t give two fucks about that, but she would want to help in every way she could, just like Sam did. And she’d be pissed when she realized Beth, Sam, and Abby had known and hadn’t told her, but it wasn’t Sam’s place to tell. Keeping Damien—and Seth, and Dante—safe was Sam’s first priority.