Falling for the Gargoyle

by Mina Carter

Within minutes Jaren was back at the bar, setting the tray of empties down. Knuckles cocked his head at the thoughtful look on his boss's face.

  "Keep an eye on them,” Jaren replied to Knuckles’ look as though he'd spoken. All of the staff did that. They were used to Knuckles being less than verbose at the best of times. Hell, his little conversation with Neri in the corridor had been his verbal quota for the week. It wasn't that he couldn't talk, or hold a conversation, just that by the time he'd framed his reply the conversation had moved on.

  "Problem?"

  "Hmm, not sure. Bullyboy on the end's jumpy; all sorts of sick fantasies running through his head. So many it's hard to tell what's real and what's not. I don't think he knows himself.” He shuddered. “After being in his head I need mind bleach. The girl's terrified and Carrick's…well, the less I have to do with him the better. Not thinking anything illegal at this moment. But keep an eye on them, okay? I don't like the atmosphere around them,” Jaren ordered, nodding toward the table.

  His eyes drifted out of focus for a second and a sappy grin covered his face. Knuckles sighed, recognizing the signs. For such a small woman, the demons’ mate Sage sure had them wrapped around her little finger.

  "I'm being summoned. Gotta go. Catch you later.” The smaller man clapped Knuckles on the shoulder before disappearing through the door to the office suite upstairs.

  Knuckles nodded but Jaren was already gone. Always watchful, the gargoyle settled down to wait. He didn't move. He didn't fidget. Only the slow rise and fall of his chest gave him away as a living being rather than the stone carving sunlight turned him into. In the darkness of his small corner only his eyes moved, glittering with purpose as he watched.

  Chapter 2

  Neri had gone past simply scared now, right through into all out terrified. The evening had slipped away faster than she could think of a way to escape, and she knew her time was almost up.

  Panicking, and with no clue what to do next, she drained her glass. Perhaps if she got drunk—passed out drunk—then she wouldn't care what happened to her. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt as much. A hard hand removed the glass before she could signal for a refill, and Jason's cold eyes glittered down at her.

  "Oh, no, sweetheart, no more for you or you won't be any fun for Neil, now will you? If you pass out, you won't be able to scream for him. And he does like it when a pretty girl screams for him. Doesn't much care why she screams though…” he whispered in her ear, nuzzling her neck to place a kiss. Neri flinched as bile rose, and his hard hand clamped around her throat.

  "Shouldn't have tried to leave me, baby girl. You know better. No one leaves me, not ever.” He pushed her away, a hard, angry shove which had her sprawling across the seat. A pair of pant legs appeared in front of her eyes, the crotch tented by a massive erection. She looked up into Neil's excited eyes and felt sick.

  "She's all yours, Neil,” Jason drawled behind her, his voice bored. “Just remember to clean up after yourself."

  Neri opened her mouth to scream. There had to be someone here who would help her, get her to the cops… A hard hand clamped around the back of her neck and dragged her to her feet, Neil pulling her tightly against his body. Pain flared as his grip on her neck tightened, stealing her breath as his fingers ground the delicate bones against each other.

  "Behave and things'll be easier on you,” he warned, beginning to march her through the club. Then he giggled. The sound was wrong, so very wrong, from such a big man and struck fresh fear into her already terrified heart. “Then again, I wouldn't count on it. I've been waiting a long time for the boss to get sick of you so I can have you all to myself. So if you cause any trouble, I'll kill whoever tries to help you. Understand?"

  Neri nodded mutely. The people here were innocent, with no concept of the sort of nastiness Neil was capable of. He wouldn't care who tried to help her. He'd hurt them anyway, then track down their families and hurt them too, just because.

  He propelled her across the club, cutting easily through the crowds by sheer force. Her legs threatened to buckle, only the cruel grip he had on the back of her neck keeping her upright and walking.

  Tears welled in Neri's eyes. She couldn't see a way out. Once out of the club she'd be bundled in a car and her life would be over. Well, not quite but she'd wish for death within minutes of the sort of attentions Neil lavished on his women. There was a reason he didn't have a steady girlfriend, and it had nothing to do with a fear of commitment.

  They walked out the door and into the crisp night air. Neri locked eyes with the doorman for a moment, her eyes pleading for help. He looked at her, then looked through her, nodding at Neil.

  "Lady's had a little too much.” Neil's grip all but crushed her neck, warning her to stay silent.

  The doorman nodded. “Best get her home then. Have a good night, sir."

  "Will do. Come on, sweetheart. Let's get you in the car."

  Neri couldn't help the whimper of terror which started in the back of her throat and bubbled over her lips like water from a fountain. Neil's grip tightened, and he all but dragged her unresponsive form down the street toward where they'd parked earlier.

  "Come on, bitch, walk properly. You're embarrassing me.” He yanked her up against his solid body, anger in his voice. He worked out obsessively and his muscles were rock hard. Neri shivered as he held her still, his ham-like hand stroking across her face in a sick parody of a lover's touch.

  "You don't want people to think we have a problem, do you? Because then they might decide to come and help you, and I'd have to kill them. And it would be all your fault."

  He paused to look down at her. “Unless…unless that's what you want. You wanna see me kill people? Does that do it for you, doll? Get you all hot and wet? God, yeah, I'm fucking hard just thinking about it."

  His eyes glittered with excitement as he pulled her up harder against him. He ground his groin against her, the hardness of his erection pressing into her belly insistently.

  Neri felt sick. He was unstable; she'd always known that—a total fruit-loop. Quite how he'd arrived at that particular conclusion she didn't know, didn't care, and she wasn't going to argue, not if it kept her alive a little longer.

  "Sure, yeah…gets me hot,” she lied through her teeth as she forced her body to soften, relaxing against him as she slid her arms up around his neck. “Carrick's a pussy. Too soft, not man enough to give me what I need. Are you man enough, Neil?"

  He moaned at her seductive words, his hands groping at her ass as he pulled her backwards.

  "Fuck, yeah, I'm man enough,” he growled as he shoved her back against the wall. His large hand spread over her thigh, hauling her knee up in a rough gesture so he could cram his pelvis between her opened thighs. He thrust his hips against her. “Feel that, doll? That hard cock? I'm gonna give you a fucking you won't forget."

  Tears streamed down Neri's face as his hands tore at her clothes, ripping them in his haste. There was no way out. She couldn't fight Neil off. If she screamed someone was going to die, and if she didn't, she would.

  Rock and a hard place.

  Without warning Neil's weight was snatched away from her and flung halfway across the alleyway. Off balance, Neri stumbled and clutched at the wall. In front of her stood the bartender from the club—the one she'd almost trampled earlier—with murder in his eyes as he glared at Neil.

  "Hey! Fuck off, man, get your own piece of ass. This one's mine,” Neil snarled, picking himself up from the pavement and rounding on the bigger man.

  Neri gasped, terror running through her. Her rescuer was huge—way bigger than Neil—but Neil was a nasty piece of work. He wouldn't think twice about killing anyone, much less someone who'd thrown him clear across the alley. There was no way he would let such a blow to his male pride go; he'd killed people for less.

  "No! Please, go! He'll kill you.” She pushed her knight in shining armor…or black Armani…toward the entrance to the alleyway. It was like trying to push a cliff; he didn't take the hi
nt.

  "Baby, please…ignore him, come back to me,” she cooed at Neil, desperate to divert his attention. She couldn't let him kill the bartender, not for trying to help her.

  Neither man moved, each weighing the other up. Neil jittered slightly on his feet, like a boxer, in an attempt to intimidate his opponent. Neri's eyes flicked from one to the other. It didn't seem to be working. The big man stood as still as a statue, shielding Neri, only his eyes moving to track Neil.

  "Should do as the lady says,” Neil snarled. “I'll carve you up into itty bitty pieces even those filthy fucking vamps wouldn't touch."

  The other man merely smiled and curled his massive hands into fists. His knuckles cracked, the sound like rocks crushing against one another. “You're assuming vamps scare me."

  His answer, and the complete lack of emotion, made Neil pause. He stopped, his eyes shifting from side to side as he tried to work the situation out. “Everyone's scared of vamps. They're the top of the fucking food chain, man!"

  A smile crossed the man's face. “Nastier things than vampires out here."

  "Yeah, like what?"

  "Me."

  The fight was over in seconds. The human rushed him, and with a lazy backhand, Knuckles swatted him against the far wall. People saw him as ponderous and slow. Within the confines of the club where he had to at least act human, he was. But out here in the night Knuckles was something else. A guardian, one designed to protect the innocent, and the woman with the sad eyes and ripped clothing behind him was his definition of innocence.

  "Wha…what the fuck are you, man?” the human whined as he tried to drag himself upright. He shook his head to clear it, his leg trailing as though motor control to the left side of his body was funky. Knuckles moved in for the kill.

  "Retribution."

  He stomped heavily on the guy's ankle as he answered, feeling the bones inside grind to dust. The human screamed, a sound filled with pain and fury. Another scream from behind him echoed it. A female scream. Knuckles whipped his head around, expecting to see another thug attacking her. But she stood alone by the wall with her eyes wide. Fixed on him.

  Fear rolled off her in waves but she took a step forwards. Her hand, pale and slender, reached out toward him. “Pl-please don't kill him."

  Confusion filled Knuckles, whirling in his head. “Thi…he was attacking you?” he said finally, his hand lashing out as the human tried to crawl away. Knuckles easily pinned him to the wall with one massive hand wrapped around his throat. Just one small squeeze…

  He looked at her again. Was she saying the guy wasn't attacking her? Some humans liked pain; he knew that because they came on to him a lot. Knuckles felt sick. Had he attacked a couple in the middle of some freaky foreplay? Convinced she needed his protection because she was pretty and small and…he liked her?

  He watched as she picked her way closer, reaching out to wrap her hand around his arm. The touch burned through his tough skin. Heat burrowed inwards and raced through his veins, heading straight for his groin, pooling there like molten lava as his body came to rampant life.

  There was the problem…he wanted her.

  "Please don't kill him. You don't need to; he's not worth it."

  Relief hit him hard like a truck. He'd been hit by a truck once, the first time he'd seen one, and been too dumbstruck to move out of the way, so he knew what it felt like. They weren't a couple. His eyes cut to the whimpering human in his grip.

  "He was hurting you."

  She nodded as her other hand joined the first and tried to pull him away. “But you don't need to kill him. You're better than that. Please?"

  Her last “please” did it for him. Humans saw him as a thug. They assumed he was capable of violence and killing, that he was more prone to it because of the way he looked. Hell, if he'd been able to go out in daylight, he was sure little old ladies would cross the street rather than walk by him. He was used to it now, expected it, but that she thought he was better than that? The words were a balm to his soul.

  He dropped the human, his lip curling as he looked at the pathetic heap on the ground. “Your lucky day, bud. You should thank the lady."

  Knuckles moved his arm, sliding her hands down until he could engulf her hands in one of his. She was shaking. He squeezed in reassurance as he leaned down to the shivering guy on the ground. “Never speak to her again. Never look at her again. In fact, never even think about her again, or I'll rip your arms and legs off. Understand me?"

  Chapter 3

  Neri shivered at the dangerous note in her rescuer's voice. She still couldn't believe the impossible had happened and help had arrived. Someone, somewhere, must have been listening to her desperate prayers.

  Turning her away from the whimpering mess on the ground, he looked down at her. Dark eyes bored through to her soul, a dangerous, almost feral expression in them. Neri's breath caught in her throat. He wasn't human. Everything made sense now. Of course he wasn't human. No human would go up against a maniac like Neil with such confidence. No human could move like that.

  She swallowed again. Moonlight & Magic was advertised as a paranormal club, but she'd assumed that was just hype and the staff were human. They looked human; they talked human. Well, apart from the silver-eyed guy who had served them earlier. There had been a buzz, a power, about him which screamed “non-human."

  "Let's get out of here.” Gently he herded her out of the alley, and Neri didn't look back to where Neil whimpered in his own pain-filled world. She didn't feel sorry for him. To be honest, she didn't know why she'd pleaded for his life; he deserved everything he got and then some.

  Flicking a glance up at her companion, she studied him from under her lashes. She hadn't done it for Neil but for this guy. Something in his dark eyes, softer now without the flash of rage in them, had said he would kill if he had to but that he really didn't want to.

  "Thank you,” she murmured as a violent shiver racked her. With her hand still caught in his grip she couldn't wrap her arms around her body to warm herself up. Why was she so damn cold? A quick glance down gave her the reason, and her eyes widened in shock. She was almost naked. Her top was in tatters after Neil's mauling, and her skirt was ripped at the seams, clinging to her waist by a few threads.

  "Oh, my God.” Her cheeks burned as she realized the sight she must be presenting. She paused at the entrance to the alleyway; she couldn't go out into the street, not like this.

  "Here. I'm Knuckles, by the way."

  Heavy cloth settled around her shoulders as he wrapped her in his jacket. Neri looked up into dark eyes. They weren't brown, as she'd thought, but black. Like an animal's eyes. She'd seen the sheen when he'd turned toward her earlier. They'd glowed like a fox's did in a car's headlights, the eyes of a night hunter.

  "Neri. Pleased to meet you. Thank you."

  Gratefully she snuggled down into the warm cloth, breathing in the masculine scent and sighing. The jacket still carried the warmth of his body and the faint scent of his aftershave. She burrowed deeper, trying to still the quakes going through her body.

  "I'm sorry.” Her teeth chattered as he steered her into the street and back toward the club. “I can't stop shaking."

  "Shock,” he replied, nodding as they passed the heavyset guy on the door, the one who'd ignored her earlier. “Thanks, Jon, I found her in time."

  She looked up, a question in her eyes as Knuckles herded her, not into the club this time, but through a door hidden behind the main entrance. A door which led to a utilitarian corridor nothing like the opulence of the rest of the club.

  "He told you? I didn't think he'd noticed anything w-w-was…” She broke off as her teeth chattered again. Stairs loomed ahead, and she stopped to cast them an apprehensive glance. Her knees were knocking together so much she knew she wouldn't be able to manage them.

  "He noticed. We've been watching Carrick all night. He raised the alarm when he saw you leaving."

  He noticed her distress and the next moment Neri found herse
lf swept up into rock-hard arms. She squeaked in surprise. “You don't need to do this. I can walk!"

  "Yeah, right, surprised you can hear anything over the sound of your knees.” He chuckled, the sound reverberating through the massive chest she was being held against. His head turned, their faces mere inches apart as he climbed the stairs with her nestled in his arms. Neri felt safe, cared for. Her hands tightened on his shoulders, feeling the solid muscle underneath.

  "You're not human, are you?"

  He shook his head, the movement almost imperceptible as he opened the door at the top of the stairs.

  "Nope. Not even remotely.” His voice was low, a rumble almost on the edge of hearing. The deep tones wrapped around Neri, traveling through her body to settle low in the pit of her belly. She loved men's voices, particularly distinctive ones, and his was more than distinctive.

  "What are you?” The question was soft, breathed in the air between them. To be scared didn't even occur to her. He'd rescued her from a very human monster. What could he do to her worse than the things Neil had planned? Somehow she didn't think he was into rape and murder.

  He slid her down his body slowly, not breaking eye contact. Neri shivered at the sensation, feeling every hard, sculpted plane as she slid over them. He didn't answer her, a look of reluctance in his eyes.

  What are you?

  Knuckles froze, still holding her wrapped in his embrace with his heavy arms around her tiny waist. She was so delicate it made his teeth ache. The rage which had possessed him in the alley had leeched away, and he felt like a lumbering idiot again. An oaf not worthy of touching her, let alone harboring some of the hotter thoughts cramming themselves behind his eyes at light speed.

  "A gargoyle,” he admitted after a long pause. His hands loosed their grip around her waist and he stepped away. The gentlemanly thing. Don't scare the squishy human, he told himself. Bollocks, Mac's voice taunted from inside his head. Putting temptation out your reach, you mean.