by Tessa Cole
I shivered with desire.
“Hey,” Kol groaned. “At least give me time to bleed off the excess first.”
Marcus ignored Kol, flashed me a hungry smile, then left.
“I see you’ve worked things out with Marcus.” Kol pulled his phone from his pocket while keeping one arm around me.
“Until he realizes this is a terrible idea and changes his mind again.” I leaned into his side and concentrated on his soft sensual heat pulsing into me. I knew it was a whisper of what his magic was really like. I’d gotten a glimpse of what it would feel like when he’d released it when I’d saved him from the archnephilim, and I struggled not to think about that.
“I don’t think he’s going to change his mind.” Kol’s magic seeped deeper and with that, and the heat from his raised body temperature — because of his demonic nature — I was starting to feel like I was drifting.
“I wouldn’t put money on that,” I said, so relaxed my words slurred. I prayed Marcus had made his final decision, but once this crisis and the glow of sex passed, he was going to realize what a complete and utter mess this was. “It’s all so complicated.”
I shifted, trying to get more comfortable against Kol’s side, our current position straining my neck when I leaned my head back.
Kol sighed, and turned so his back was against the arm of the couch. He slid a leg on the other side of me, boxing me in, and drew me back against his chest.
I leaned in, one hand pressed over his heart, feeling the steady, soothing thump beneath my palm. The pain from the key remained, a far-off stinging in my head, but the overall sensation within me was enveloping warmth and safety. I could do anything in Kol’s arms, ask for anything, and he wouldn’t judge. His pleasure was my pleasure.
Except it wasn’t his pleasure I craved. Well, right now it kind of was, but the need wasn’t overwhelming. It was just enough to ease the pain and relax me. Who I really wanted was Marcus. He was all I’d ever wanted. “Why does it have to be so complicated?”
“I hear that’s the defining feature of relationships.”
“You hear?” I closed my eyes.
“Incubi don’t fall in love. We don’t have relationships like everyone else because of the nature of our magic.” He shrugged, the movement rubbing his body against mine, drawing a curl of desire. “It is what it is.”
A hint of mist whispered around me, telling me he wasn’t as nonchalant about the situation as he pretended to be.
“Are you really bite-locked with Jacob?” he asked, his tone too bright, forcing the topic change.
Sudden hot need rushed through me at the memory of Jacob’s bite and Marcus releasing it.
Kol hissed out a sharp breath, and his pulse picked up. The heat from his magic billowed, swelling from comforting to needy, and made me ache with yearning.
“Shit. Sorry.” He wrenched back on his magic, the sudden absence leaving me cold and spiking agony through my head.
I gasped in pain and my muscles contracted, threatening to wrench me into convulsions again.
“Crap.” His arm around my waist tightened, and he pressed his lips to the top of my head. A hint of his power returned, steadying me out then dragging me back to the sensual sleepy state. “I’ve never felt anything like the power of your release before.”
“Blame Jacob,” I said, my lips heavy. “I’ve never felt anything like it before, either.”
“You know sex magic is dangerous, right?” He tensed beneath me, as if preparing for another surge of my desire, and the heat from his magic grew strained, edging back toward sexual. “You can’t do that again.”
“There was only Jacob’s bite. I swear.” Why wouldn’t he believe me? Yes, both climaxes with Marcus had been amazing, the second as powerful as the one induced by Jacob’s bite, but magic hadn’t been involved. It had just been the result of years of pent-up anticipation.
Years of fantasizing, dreaming, aching. Perhaps there was magic involved, because Marcus’s wolf had claimed me. I hadn’t heard of anything like that in the were community, but maybe it was rare, like a vampire’s bite-lock, and shifters didn’t talk about it.
I’d have to ask Marcus about that.
I wondered if he knew. He hadn’t been a shifter for very long, hadn’t been born one. He’d been that one in a million susceptible to the lycanthrope infection.
God, I really didn’t know anything about him. Did he belong to a pack? Did his family know? Hell, even before he’d been bitten and we’d been partners, I hadn’t known much about him, like how big his family was and if they lived in town.
But did any of that change the way I felt about him?
Not really. It just meant we were going to have to learn about each other, figure out how things were going to work—
If he didn’t change his mind.
And if Gideon didn’t get in the way. He’d known Marcus and I had feelings for each other before fate had branded me with his mark, but would knowing we were together change things? Would he free me of the obligation neither of us wanted as mates?
He would free me.
He had to free me.
Free me.
Find it and free me. I can give you power beyond your wildest imagination.
No. But a part of me yearned to say yes. I needed power, needed to protect myself.
I know the darkness within you, the thin thread wrapped around your soul. Ibizual’s dark laugher grated against my senses and sliced agony through my head. You’ve been touched by my kin. You’ll never be able to burn it all away, no matter how hard you try.
His malevolence swept around me, crushing me just as the archnephilim’s had, and I fought to break free, but couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, could only think and feel. And I was drowning in fear and helplessness.
Never, I gasped at him.
Lightning exploded through me, and I jerked forward. The silvery remains of the archnephilim’s brand burned while Gideon’s brand pulsed with snaps of electricity, both grating against the burning crackle of my buzz. My entire body was alight with battling energy.
I’d thought the horror of the archnephilim was behind me, thought I could move on from the darkness that had threatened to consume my soul. I’d thought I was free. But I wasn’t. I’d never be free. I had to leave, had to escape before everyone knew the truth, had to—
“Essie, it’s okay.” Kol sat forward and hugged me, his body and heat wrapping around me. “It’s just a dream.”
But it wasn’t a dream. Once again a demon was in my head and knew exactly what I was.
The pain in my head swept down into my chest, squeezed tight, and yanked me out of Kol’s embrace to my feet. I had to go. Now.
Free me.
My body jerked toward the door.
“Essie?” Kol grabbed my wrist, stopping me from leaving.
“I have to go.”
“Where?”
Good question. “I don’t know.”
He frowned, and my gaze jumped past his shoulder and out the patio door. The sky was dark, only a hint of light remaining. It was dusk. The key was calling me.
Chapter 19
Kol called Gideon and Marcus, and we hurried to the garage to wait for them. Thankfully the pain in my head was mostly gone, and while the pull in my chest was fierce, it wasn’t agonizing. Except now that the agony in my head was gone, I was painfully aware of my buzz biting under my skin. If I was smart, I’d run up to my room and change my nicotine patches, but the compulsion to go to the key wouldn’t let me head back inside.
Jacob arrived first, in clean clothes and with his bulletproof vest back on, and his matching Berettas and a sword on his belt. He handed Kol a vest, his gaze once again jumping to me, dark, intense, and filled with the need to talk. In private.
Gideon arrived next, decked out like he’d been before to clean out the ferals’ nest. He handed me an M4, and I checked the magazine to ensure it was full in hopes that the movement would distract me from the need to move.
Get the key. Now now now.
Marcus rushed out the door last. He also wore the same gear as before, and had brought down my borrowed vest, duty belt, Glock, and extra magazines for both the Glock and the M4. He also handed me a sheathed sword. It wasn’t as long as his or Jacob’s, but then I doubted I’d be able to handle anything bigger.
“She’s not going to need that,” Gideon said as Marcus helped me secure it to my duty belt. “She’s staying in the SUV.”
“I’m not taking any chances,” Marcus growled. He finished with the belt and slipped my room keycard into my hand.
Gideon glared at me. “Do you even know how to use that?”
Not really, but I wasn’t going to admit that to him. If it came down to me needing the sword, we were in dire straights.
“We need to get going,” I said instead, unable to stop myself from shifting from side to side.
Gideon didn’t move and his gaze bore into me. “My magic is off limits.”
I struggled to hold his gaze, and the electricity from his brand burned up my forearm.
Now. Go now.
“Is that clear?” he said.
“Copy that.”
“Let’s go.” Jacob hurried to the SUV.
Gideon tossed the keys to Marcus, who grabbed them one-handed and ran past Jacob to the driver’s door.
We all got in, taking our usual seats. The pull was yanking me to the back of the garage and, since that direction led out of the Supers’ Quarter, I had to assume the key was going to manifest somewhere in town.
“We’re going into the city,” I said as Marcus pulled out of the garage.
“How’s the pain?” he asked.
“Mostly gone.” If I didn’t take into account my God damn buzz, which, if I leaned against the back of Gideon’s seat, was almost at new-patch levels.
“Thank God,” he breathed.
“Focus on the job,” Gideon said, his voice low as he turned on the SUV’s GPS then handed out coms to everyone in the group but me. “Where in town are we going?”
I pointed down the road leading through the park and ringing the Supers’ Quarter, squirming in my seat. “That way and a little to the right.” It was as specific as I could get.
We left the Quarter, and the pull to the right got stronger. Gideon studied the streets, directing Marcus as I gave vague directions and trying to keep us from getting stopped at a dead end.
The pull kept getting stronger. A part of me feared the agony was going to explode through me again, and I would go back to convulsing and being at best useless and at worst a dangerous distraction. It was getting harder to breathe, and I was getting hot — and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the key manifesting or someone’s emotions.
We worked our way through town, breaking the speed limit and running through red lights, until I knew we were almost on top of it.
“Here,” I gasped.
Now. Free me now.
Marcus jerked the SUV to the curb, narrowly missing the front of a car already parked there, and swore. We were on a busy street near the heart of downtown. The driver who’d been on the road behind us yelled as he passed us.
“You’re sure it’s here?” Marcus asked.
Now.
High rises towered to our right, half of the buildings rebuilt from the war, all shiny glass and steel. They sat interspersed among the older, original city buildings, constructed of brick with sculpted concrete ledges — the same turn-of-the-century architecture found in the Supers’ Quarter. Most of the main floors were vast lobbies for whatever business resided inside, but a few had cafes or restaurant or stores. Even now, well past regular business hours, there were people on the street. Not nearly as many as there would have been if it hadn’t been almost nine at night, but still too many for my liking, given how vicious Logan’s ferals had been.
The pressure in my chest was fierce, and I strained to breathe, but the certainty in my soul was also fierce. The key was going to manifest here—
To my left. Across the street. In the park.
Gideon pulled out his phone and hit a pre-programmed number as he climbed out of the SUV. My buzz roared back to life, and I gritted my teeth.
“JP agent o-seven-one-four,” he said. “I need a full lockdown on Seventh and Bell by Unity Park and a four-block radius around it. Equip for feral vampires.”
“Copy that,” a voice said on the other end of the line and hung up.
“The local PD isn’t going to deploy in time,” Jacob said, getting out of the SUV.
“It’s still protocol.” Gideon pocketed his phone.
Kol and Marcus got out. I opened my door to get out but Gideon froze me with his icy glare and grabbed the door, blocking my way. “Can you pinpoint where the key will form?”
“In the park. Maybe a hundred feet that way.” I pointed directly across from me down a winding gravel path that twisted along the gently sloping lawn, sheltered by tall trees — many magically aged since they’d only been planted in the last twenty-five years. The pressure squeezed with the certainty of my words, and I fought to have enough breath to speak. “Yes, a hundred feet that way.”
“Good. Stay here.” He moved to close the door but stopped. “Better yet, wait here until Chris can pick you up.”
No. I had to go to the key. Now. Everything in my being said I couldn’t wait, couldn’t leave. I had to go.
Gideon pulled out his phone again as a woman down the street screamed.
We all jerked our attention toward the scream. A woman scrambled into the lobby of an office tower as a pack of ferals barreled down the street toward us. One of them snarled at her but didn’t stop to attack, their aim fully on us.
“Essie, get out of here.” Marcus tossed me the keys, shoved Gideon out of the way, and slammed my door shut.
The first feral leaped at the guys, and Gideon lunged into its attack, his sword of pure light forming in his hands and plunging into the feral’s chest.
Marcus drew his sword and met the next one, while Kol slid over the front of the SUV’s hood to meet another.
“Essie, please,” Marcus said, frost sweeping over my arms.
I wanted to stay. Fight. But we were already overwhelmed, and I was cop enough to know that even if I could draw a full breath, I was still a liability right now. If I could get some distance, I could use the M4 to slow the ferals down like I’d done in the nest.
Clenching my jaw against the call from the key, I scrambled into the driver’s seat and hit the power locks. I fumbled to get the key into the ignition, but a feral shoved past Gideon and Kol and jumped onto the SUV’s hood. It slammed its fist into the front windshield, cracking it, then smashed through with the next punch, spraying me with safety glass pebbles.
It shoved its arm up to its shoulder through the hole and clawed for my neck. I grabbed the seat recline and wrenched back out of reach. The feral snarled and smashed its other fist through the windshield. I dropped the keys in my lap, drew my Glock, and shot it point blank in the forehead. Blue lightning crackled around its body and with a howl, it collapsed, dead.
Outside the SUV, the guys were surrounded, at least a dozen ferals clawing and biting and snarling, and more ferals — I wasn’t sure if they were ferals or reanimated ferals — rushed down the street toward us. Jacob, the combat too close quarters for his Berettas, was using his sword with deadly efficiency, and Kol’s blades were a whirl as he danced and ducked the ferals’ attacks.
“We have to get to the key,” Gideon said.
Yes. Get the key. It’s coming. Now now now.
“Go. I’ve got Essie,” Marcus growled.
Gideon shot a hard glare at me. “Get out of here.”
And he was right. They were going to need everyone to fight the ferals and get to the key before Logan. I couldn’t let Marcus stay to protect me. But God, I had to get that key. The compulsion was almost as bad as Jacob’s claim when it had been new.
I grabbed the keys from my lap to sho
ve them into the ignition, but a feral slammed its shoulder against my door, heaving the SUV off the driver’s side wheels.
The wheels crashed back to the asphalt, jarring me, and I missed the ignition. In the rear view mirror, I could see more ferals racing toward us.
Jeez, how many people had Logan turned? There were just so many.
“Officer Shaw, go!” Gideon snapped. He slashed at a feral’s neck, but it jerked to the side. The strike didn’t decapitate it, only sent a wild spray of blood into his face. He flinched, the action less than a second, but long enough for the feral to grab the front of his vest and wrench him close.
The feral at my door smashed its fist through the window, sending glass flying toward me, nicking my cheek and neck, and clawed at me as I shoved the key into the ignition. I wrenched to the side, its claws raking over my shoulder with fiery agony, and tried to keep a hand on the key and start the SUV.
For a heartbeat, the idea of glancing into the backseat to grab the M4 flashed through my mind, but I only had time for one thing and getting away would be better for the guys.
Jacob shoved the feral closest to him to the side and rushed to the feral on me. He yanked the feral away from the door, but two more slammed against the driver’s side of the SUV before he could stop them.
The vehicle heaved up, and with a roar from the ferals, they tossed it onto its side. My shoulder and head slammed into the passenger side door, and what little breath I had burst from my lungs.
Marcus yelled, his fear frosting over my cheeks, but he was caught five feet from the front of the SUV between two ferals and couldn’t get to me.
One of the ferals who’d shoved the SUV over, a guy about Marcus’s size and build, dove through the broken driver’s side window, showering me with more glass.
He swiped at me, and I yanked my Glock up and fired two shots into his forehead as his claws dug into my forearm. Blood sprayed my face, and he collapsed on top of me, pinning me with his one hundred and fifty plus pounds. I fought to draw breath against his weight and the pressure of the soon-to-be materializing key, and my muscles twitched with the force of my buzz biting under my skin.
