by Sharon Kay
Then again, what did she expect? Rhys and Brenin appeared completely human.
“What do we have here?” Miranda opened the muffin box. “Blueberry, banana walnut, cinnamon—hey!” She swatted Jude’s hand but he was fast, snagging one off the top.
“I’ll take any flavor. I’m sure they’re delicious.” He took a huge bite.
“I may have talked about your culinary skills,” Rhys said in her ear. “They don’t always act like a pack of wolves.”
“That’s okay—”
“Dude, eat this.” Jude snagged another and tossed it to Tor. “Fucking awesome.”
“Not so fast.” Brenin grabbed a blueberry one.
“You guys are pigs,” Miranda said.
“She has a store. You can buy these every day,” Rhys joked.
“Mmph.” Jude finished his muffin. “You can make a delivery of these every day.”
Miranda shook her head. “While they’re acting like animals, want to talk?”
“Um, sure.” Enza looked at the gorgeous woman, feeling like a little kid being asked a very serious question.
“Rhys, I’m going to borrow your baker.” Miranda took Enza by the arm and led her across the dark wood floors of the kitchen toward French doors at the back. Enza cast a glance at Rhys over her shoulder.
“Be out there in a few.” Rhys winked.
Your baker. That had a nice ring to it.
They exited onto a wooden deck with a fancy grill and patio furniture piled with plush red cushions. Miranda settled on one end of a couch, tucking long legs under her. Enza relaxed onto a chair close to her. Between them sat a small table, which already had a pitcher of ice water and several glasses turned upside down.
“So.” Miranda twirled a long auburn lock from her ponytail. “Rhys didn’t tell me a whole lot. Just that you might need help discerning if you might have certain abilities?”
“Yeah, I guess. This is all so new to me.” Enza rubbed her temple.
“Oh? How new?”
“Like, a week. Maybe a little longer.” Enza poured water for her and Miranda and handed the beautiful female demon a glass. “I had no idea that creatures like witches and nymphs existed.”
“And then you met Rhys?” Miranda took the tumbler. “Thank you. Let’s hear all the details.”
Enza related her story of running from the muggers and then ending up in The Arboretum with Rhys. She mentioned the nymphs from the other night, but not the scorching kiss Rhys had been giving her before they were interrupted. Miranda listened with wide, attentive eyes, putting Enza at ease.
“Holy shit, girl.” She shook her head when Enza finished. “Talk about trial by fire. Jumping into a portal? Props to you for handling all of this.”
“Thanks.” Enza sighed. “I’m so overwhelmed. I can’t believe it’s real, but I can’t deny it either.”
“You poor thing. You seem to be holding up well, though.” Miranda untucked and refolded her long legs. “So your mom is human. No clue about anything otherworldly?”
“As far as I know.”
“That means your dad is like me.”
“Um, I guess.” Enza fiddled with a thread on her shorts. “Before the other night, I didn’t know demons could look…like people.”
“You thought we all had horns and scales and claws?” Miranda turned a mirthful smile on Enza.
“Well, yeah. If you existed at all.”
Miranda stood. “Well, this is what happens when I drop the vanishing magic.”
Enza stared. Nothing seemed to change…then she realized Miranda now had two dainty, charcoal gray horns nestled in her red locks, one above each ear. And behind her, swishing back and forth on the surface of the wooden deck, was a dark brown leathery tail.
“Oh my god!” Enza leaped to her feet. “You…how…”
“See? Not so different. Just two little things. We all have the ability to hide them, so we can easily pass for human.” Miranda held out her hand. “Want a closer look?”
Enza leaned forward, peering at her horns. They curved up and stayed close to her scalp, ending in a sharp point. “What do you do with them?”
“The horns?” A determined tendril loosened from her ponytail and swept across her cheek. “They’re not much help in fighting. But they are highly sensitive. For most of us, it’s a key erogenous zone.”
“Oh.” Enza’s eyes widened. Who knew? She ran her fingers through her hair. “I don’t have those. No tail either.”
“I can tell. And that’s probably a good thing, since you grew up in the dark about us.”
“What do you do with the tail?” Enza asked.
“Now that comes in handy as a weapon.” Miranda grinned. “And depending on your inclination, it can be fun in bed.”
Oh my god. “I meant more along the lines of how do you sit down…” Enza’s cheeks heated.
“Oh.” Miranda popped her hands on her hips and turned around. The tail appeared above her butt. “Sorry, I don’t have much of a filter and nothing is too much information to me. You can ask me anything. I’ll probably over-share.”
“Okay.” Enza took a deep breath, calmed and relieved by Miranda’s down-to-earth attitude.
“And I sit just like you do. The way a cat does.” She turned back around and nestled back on the couch, legs tucked under her and tail curled around close to her knees.
The French doors opened and Rhys emerged, water bottle in hand. “How’s it going?”
“I just told Enza about how horns and a tail can add more fun to sexy time.” Miranda said it as casually as if she’d suggested going to the mall, though her eyes glittered playfully.
“Oh my god! Um, not in detail.” Enza’s face burned.
Rhys focused on Enza like she was dinner. “Damn. Sorry I missed that part of the convo.”
“Too bad, that’s what you get for being late.” Miranda shrugged, but her tone was light and teasing.
Enza sank into the second couch, opposite Miranda, and Rhys sat beside her. He draped an arm over her shoulders, adding more heat to the sensory overload of the conversation plus memories of his kiss. His touch on her body. She stared at a knot in the wood planks and fought to get her hormones under control. “So um, yeah. We went over the horns and tail stuff. And I told Miranda all about the alley and the portal from the other night.”
“Yes. And she’s taking all of this new information in very well. I like her.” Miranda sipped her water.
“So do I.” Rhys’s voice was a rumble that Enza felt down to her toes.
Miranda cleared her throat. “Do you mind if I add a few more things to the overall description of our Deserati awesomeness?”
“Sure, why not?” Enza said. “I can—“
Drip, drip. A scattering of raindrops landed on Enza’s arm. She looked up.
So did Miranda. “Well, well, this makes things interesting.”
A light, barely-there rain fell for all of twenty seconds, then stopped.
“This must be one of the widely scattered showers,” Enza murmured. “So weird.”
“Let’s stay out here, as long as it stopped. This is a good thing.” Miranda idly rubbed one toned shoulder. “So, we’re predatory demons, like the Lash. That means we’re fighters, aggressive and territorial. We’re stronger and have accelerated healing, plus enhanced sensory skills.”
Enza nodded. “I’ve always had a strong sense of smell and of hearing.”
“Night vision?”
“Ha, no. Rhys asked me that already.” Enza stifled a giggle. “I crash into my dresser on a regular basis if I get up in the middle of the night.”
“We’re also fertile only twice a year. Actually all of Torth’s creatures are, but for us specifically, it’s at the spring and fall equinoxes.” Miranda winked. “We need lots of extra sex during those weeks.”
Oh god. How did they end up talking about sex again? “Oh. I-I don’t know if I’ve ever felt that way, in spring and fall…”
“If you don�
��t remember, then chances are you’re not affected or at least not as strongly. And you may be able to get pregnant at any time of year. You’ll have to tell me one day.”
“Oh, um…” Enza swallowed. “Yeah. One day. Like way in the future.”
Beside her, Rhys grunted and propped one foot on his opposite knee.
“It’s nice not having to worry about birth control, when you can only potentially get knocked up twice per year,” Miranda went on.
Enza wanted to die of embarrassment or combust. All she could think about was grinding on Rhys in his car and this talk was so not helping. She tried to go over recipes in her head to distract herself, but then Rhys’s hand threaded into her hair and he cleared his throat. “So, Miranda, how about that lightning?”
The demoness shot him a smirk and drained her water glass. “One other thing Deserati demons can do—well, a small percentage of us—is manipulate lightning.”
“How?” Enza, grateful for the subject change, pictured scenes from popular science fiction movies, with characters who produced bolts of lightning in their hands.
“We can’t conjure it, if it isn’t there. If there’s a storm, we can reach out to it mentally, and command it to strike or not strike in certain places.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Enza said.
“Yeah. That’s why we test our young ones early to see if they have it. It needs to be contained and controlled.” Miranda’s tail slid along the couch beside her. “You probably never tried to do anything like that.”
“No way.” Enza shook her head slowly.
Miranda flicked her eyes to the sky. “It’s humid and hot. Those clouds have the potential to become thunderclouds, and we already know they’re full of rain. We haven’t seen lightning yet, but it could be there. Let’s check.”
“What? Wait, how?” Enza said.
“Lightning is an electric current that forms when you get a spark in the cloud. A spark forms when the positive and negative particles inside collide fast enough.” Miranda’s green eyes flashed as she spoke. “So I can sometimes get those buggers moving fast enough to get that spark…”
Enza glanced at Rhys. “Have you seen her do this before?”
“Other Deserati, yes, but not Miranda.” He stroked a hand down her bicep. “And never in a demonstration like this.”
“We usually don’t train in front of others,” Miranda said. “It’s mostly done on Torth, and we follow the storms. Hang on.”
Enza made a mental note to ask Rhys what Torth was, not wanting to interrupt whatever Miranda was about to do. She watched, riveted, as the demoness concentrated, eyes growing distant yet fierce as she studied the gray cloud above them. A sudden crackle of light uncurled from the cloud, like a white spindly arm. It flashed and then disappeared.
“There we go. I knew it was in there.” A satisfied smile tugged Miranda’s lips up.
“Y-you did that?” Enza’s jaw dropped. “How?”
“If you have the ability, you’ll be able to see the particles moving inside the cloud, then see the spark that creates the electric current. Just try focusing on it. Look way inside it, and clear your mind of anything else.”
“Then what?”
“You can reach out with your mind and tell the electricity what to do. Where to land.” She leaned forward. “It may sound crazy, since you’re hearing this for the first time, but try it.”
“Right here?” Enza eyed the house that backed up to Rhys’s, where a fence and a row of tall shrubs divided the yards. “Will anyone be able to tell? Won’t a random lightning strike be weird?”
“I won’t let any damage happen.” Miranda’s tone was calm and resolute. “I’ll be able to see what you’re seeing, and if things get out of control, I’ll jump in.”
“Also, the whole property is spelled.” Rhys squeezed her shoulder. “Any magic that happens inside or out will be hidden from human or supernatural senses.”
“Okay.” Enza had serious doubts about her potential skill, but as long as she was here, she could at least try. Miranda made it sound so simple. She gazed at the gray swirls that hung at the edges of the cloud, like waves stopped in time. The whole thing looked like a dark, soupy mass, but she willed herself to study it.
A curious tingling crept up her arms. This time, she delved deeper into how she guessed the inner cloud looked. Her muscles relaxed and, one by one, her doubts fell away. She drew a deep breath, flooded with a new and unfamiliar feeling that she was doing exactly what she was supposed to do.
And in the next blink of her eyes, she saw them. The particles in the cloud, zooming around with the speed of a million race cars.
“That’s it,” Miranda whispered. “When you see a spark, grab for it.”
Crash! In a flurry of movement, a collision between particles created a beautiful, bright burst and Enza knew what to do. That burst would become a lightning bolt. She reached with her mind, wanting to direct it somehow…
The bolt flared and fizzled.
Enza’s skin hummed with a surge of energy that seemed to build up inside her. “What just happened?”
“You have the power!” Miranda jumped up. “This totally rocks!”
Rhys shifted to face her. “Holy shit, that kicked ass. I felt your energy building.”
“You did? How?”
“It’s like a crackle in the air. It indicates magic or power being used. Sometimes it’s stronger than others and we notice it.”
“But I didn’t really do anything. I tried to grab it and it went out.”
“That’s fine. This was your first time! Oh my gods, this is so exciting.” Miranda’s green eyes shone with excitement. “Look, it’s not a big deal if it died out. We can work on control later. The important thing is that you could see the spark, see the electricity forming. If you didn’t have the lightning ability, you wouldn’t have even been able to see that much.”
“Um, okay.” The ability to control lightning. How would that ever be a benefit?
“Get excited, girl!” Miranda grabbed her hand. “This power is so rare.”
Enza forced a smile. “I’m sorry. I don’t feel powerful. But…” She looked from Miranda to Rhys. “It felt natural. Like some part of me knew what to do.”
Admiration shone in Rhys’s eyes. “You might not feel confident yet. But the potential you’re holding on to?”
“Major bad ass shit.” Miranda nodded.
Enza dropped her gaze to her hands. “I didn’t exactly see bad ass in my future.”
“No one’s going to make you do anything you don’t want to do,” Rhys murmured.
“Exactly,” Miranda said. “But you should know how to control it, if and when you ever need it.”
Enza squared her shoulders. “That makes sense.”
“Awesome. And I need to go.” Miranda pulled her up into a hug. “I have some business to take care of. You did great, and when a storm comes up, call me.” She handed Enza a black business card. “If I’m not actively taking down some asshole, you’ll be my priority.”
Enza examined the gothic white script and wondered whom else Miranda would need to hand out cards to. “Thanks.”
Miranda gave Rhys a quick hug as well. “See you and the guys later.” She stepped through the French doors—no more tail on display.
Guess she doesn’t want that to show while walking down the street. Enza turned to Rhys. “She was really cool.”
He nodded. “Thought you’d like her.”
Enza studied the small yard and tidy deck. One lone rosebush valiantly offered crimson blooms toward the sky. Demons have a rosebush? “So, what now?”
He skimmed his hands down her bare arms. “Whatever you want. I’m all yours.”
CHAPTER 15
ENZA’S BROWN EYES FLARED WITH heat. Rhys heard her heartbeat accelerate when Miranda had teased about fertile times. Gods, he was glad Enza was as affected as he was. He couldn’t get the memory of her soft curves and moans out of his head.
; “Could we go inside?” she asked. “I’d love to see the rest of your house.”
“Sure.” He opened the deck door for her and followed her into the kitchen.
She beelined for the oven and range, sliding a finger along the smooth metal surface. “This is top of the line. Really nice.”
“You have an open invitation to come over and use it.”
She shot him a coy smile. “Thanks.” Her gaze devoured the rest of the fancy room.
Some designer had undoubtedly been paid a lot of money to fill the old home with modern conveniences. But without someone to breathe life into it, the kitchen was just hunks of metal and granite. He watched her study the tall windows above the French doors. Sunlight filtered in through the leaves outside, playing across her features. So beautiful and now, for certain, in possession of incredible power.
He cleared his throat. “So, that’s the great room.” He gestured to the area that the kitchen flowed into, where the guys still played video games. “We use it for gaming, TV, and meetings.”
“Meetings?” She tilted her head.
“Yeah, each night we divide up the city and take an area to patrol. We sit with Rilan, our Elder, first and discuss any issues we need to watch out for.”
Curious eyes turned to him. “Was that what you were doing when I met you in the alley? Patrolling the section you got assigned to?”
“Yeah.”
She frowned. “So it was random that you were in that neighborhood that night? It could have been one of the others?”
He nodded, thanking the stars he had been the one to find her. “Lucky me.”
“Lucky me,” she said at the same time. She covered a giggle.
He crossed the small distance to her and took her hand. “Don’t cover up that sexy mouth.”
“I’m glad it was you,” she whispered.
