by Lia Davis
But Dimitri was different. For some odd reason, he calmed me.
At the top of the stairs, he turned right and then stopped at a closed door. He opened it, and magic rolled out of the room. It felt old, as if the space had been closed up for a long time. “When was the last time you were in here?”
A half-shrug was my answer. I pressed my lips together and entered the room after him. Shadows and ghosts scattered to the dark corners. I whirled around as something tugged at my hair, but the entity was gone before I could see it. “Um, did you know—”
“Yes. They started to show up a few days after the demon attacked the coven. Zane growls at them if they leave the third floor.” A small smile lifted Dimitri’s lips.
“I hope he’s house trained.” I turned at a new presence and met Zane’s hard stare from the doorway. His large frame filled the opening. I pressed my lips together and faced Dimitri again. “Do the spirits ever bother you? Are they mean?”
“No. But I’ve always wondered why they’re here.”
I wondered, too. “They could be lost and have nowhere else to go. If they aren’t causing trouble, I’d leave them be for now. Plus, they could be useful if they are willing to help.”
“Useful for what?” Zane asked, his husky tone flowing over me like a sensual caress. I almost groaned in response.
Slowly, I faced him and offered a crooked smile. “To keep tabs on the demon and the Council.”
“Why the Council?”
“Because I don’t trust them.” I moved to the altar in front of the window and hovered my hand over what I assumed was the ritual box. Looking at Dimitri, I asked, “May I?”
Nodding, he moved next to me. “Yeah. Everything in here was my mother’s…”
He trailed off, his voice cracking. Tears stung the backs of my eyes, and my heart hurt for him. I knew too well what it felt like to lose a mother. The urge to go to him, to comfort him filled me. I couldn’t, though. I didn’t know the guys. There was still a chance they were on Salrus’s side.
Dismissing the suspicions, I opened the box. I let my fingers linger on the top of the small, wooden chest longer than necessary and stared at the contents inside. Memories of my own mom surfaced, bringing the onset of tears and a lump to my throat.
Why didn’t I stay at the hospital? The meds helped ease the pain, the emotions, and the darkness hiding under the surface.
“Because you need to direct everything you have into killing Salrus.”
I lifted my gaze at Wade’s voice and narrowed my eyes. I wanted to ask him where he’d gone, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted Dimitri and Zane to know that Wade was there.
Wait? Did the ghost just read my thoughts?
“Yes, I can when I focus. Wyatt can too, along with other psychic abilities he gained from the mark. I think it’s the mark that links us to the demon.” Wade paced in front of me.
“What is it?” I didn’t mean to say it out loud. Crap.
“Salrus has been calling me through the mark. I can usually avoid him, but he’s getting desperate.”
Interesting. “Can he not find me?”
Wade shook his head and nodded toward Zane. “It’s because they are near you. Zane did something to their marks that confuses the demon.”
Was that the reason they didn’t concern themselves with ramping up the wards? I whirled around then and glared at the shifter, who had moved farther into the room. “What did you do to your marks?”
Zane stiffened, glanced around the room, and then returned his stare to me. “Who were you talking to?”
“Wade. He said you did something to your marks that confuses Salrus.”
Zane’s jaw worked, and it was a long few moments before he answered. “It doesn’t keep him away, and it has to be redone every couple of weeks. At least I think.”
I crossed my arms. “What did you do?”
At first, I thought he would leave the room and refuse to share with me how he’d successfully managed to disrupt the link between them and the demon. I wasn’t sure if I believed it was possible. Why hadn’t I been smart enough to figure it out? At least anything more than using human psychotropic medication.
Zane lifted the hem of his T-shirt, tucked it under his chin, then unbuttoned his jeans. I sucked in a breath, unable to take my eyes off his hands. Yeah, he’d been naked earlier, but I didn’t really focus on his lower assets. I didn’t want his first impression of me to be that of a perv.
Beside me, Dimitri was silent as if he’d seen this show before.
The slide of a zipper drew my attention back to the sexy wolf. Zane folded one side of the denim open and then lowered the waistband of his boxers to reveal his demon mark. Only his mark looked different.
I stepped closer, studying it. Some kind of symbol had been tattooed over the mark. At first, I didn’t know what I was looking at, but the more I stared at it, trying to decipher it, I realized it was two different symbols overlapping. “Is the base design a Celtic trinity knot?”
When I reached out to touch it, he slapped my hand away and closed up his jeans. “Yes, with a rune of protection over it. The ink is mixed with salt water. I was hoping to neutralize the mark.”
Stepping back, I nodded. It made sense to believe it would work. Salt was a neutralizer to most magic. “Who did the tat?”
The green of Zane’s eyes brightened as if his wolf stared out at me. “A trusted friend.”
Okay, fine don’t tell me. I didn’t have time for Zane’s distrust. I crossed my arms and glared at him. “Look, I could have kept my ass at the hospital, happily medicated and hidden from Salrus. When Wade told me about you, I had a spark of hope that maybe I would finally be able to fight the demon and win.”
I removed the thin cotton robe, exposing the ugly, thick scar that ran down my right arm. “This is what happened the last time I went up against him.”
I kept the fact that the bastard had also killed my mother, who was trying to help me hide from him and the Council—her own peers—to myself.
I blinked the tears threatening to make an appearance.
Suddenly, Zane was in front of me, in my personal space. He cupped my chin and moved my head to expose the top of the scar at the base of my throat. I let him. He needed to understand that I was on his side. We had the same goal.
Salrus had to die.
“When?” Zane clipped out the word. There was a slight growl in his tone, and I wasn’t exactly sure what it meant.
I eased out of his grip and stepped back to put some space between us. “About two years ago.”
Turning back to the ritual box, I pulled out the jar of salt and held it up. “We need enough to surround the property.” I didn’t want to talk about the past. “Do you have frankincense?”
Dimitri moved toward the door. “I’ll get it. Shall we meet out front?”
I nodded, still sensing Zane behind me, his stare boring into my back. As soon as Dimitri left, Zane’s warm hands settled over my shoulders, and he stepped closer until his warmth seeped into me. He leaned into me until his lips were inches from my ear. His warm breath caressed my neck as he spoke. “Why does the demon want you dead?”
A sigh slipped from my lips. “Have you not researched it?” I turned to face him. He didn’t let go, just slid his hands down my arms to my waist. The flash of a spark still burned in his gaze.
“I researched how to keep the bastard out of my head, tempting me to hunt down a female I didn’t know and kill her. After I had successfully created the tat design, I ignored the pull.” He frowned, his forehead creasing slightly.
So many questions churned in my head. Instead of asking them, I answered his. “I have two theories. Salrus is my father, which makes me able to kill him. Demon against demon. The second is that I believe the Council summoned him long before any of us were marked.”
I wasn’t sure if I should tell him about who my mother was. Telling him that I was half demon would create enough waves in the pond.
Star
ing into his gaze, I watched the play of emotions ripple across his features. Mistrust danced across several times. I couldn’t blame him. If the tables were turned, I’d run out the door and tell him to deal with everything on his own.
Hell, I wished I could just walk away from it all. But I couldn’t. My heart was too big, and I cared too much for those who couldn’t defend themselves or who were cast out because of the Council’s prejudice.
A tic formed in his left temple as he worked his jaw, staring at me. His shifter power reached out to me alluringly. After several moments, he said, “Go and secure the wards. I’ll make a call to my tattoo artist.”
Zane released me and left the room. I sagged and tried to regulate my breathing. The wolf’s power was overwhelming. He was gorgeous. I had to fight the urge to follow him wherever he went.
I didn’t have time. Dimitri was waiting for me downstairs to strengthen the wards.
Apparently, I was getting a tattoo tonight.
Awesome.
Chapter 4
Dimitri waited patiently by the door with a large bag of salt and a few ceramic cups in his arms. I raised my brows in question but didn’t comment. He was a witch, after all. But a fifty-pound bag of salt was a bit much.
“Zane bought three bags.” Dimitri’s cheeks tinted, and he averted his gaze. My heart warmed. Maybe it was the demon mark that linked us to one another that I felt each time I looked at them. It was the only explanation I had since I’d just met them. But there was an uncontrollable urge to touch them, to lose myself in their arms. I could sense their emotions that straddled mistrust and desire.
I pushed the thought away for now and teased, “That overachiever.”
He chuckled and followed me out the front door. A moment later, Zane joined us. “What can I do?”
I lifted my gaze to his. “Help outline the property with salt.”
He nodded and glided to Dimitri. More questions swarmed my thoughts. I found myself wanting to know more about them. How long had they been friends? The way they put their heads together and moved almost as a unit told me they’d known each other for a very long time.
An ache formed in my chest. My soul felt empty. Despite being linked to them, I was alone. I was an outsider. Taking a deep breath, I released it and moved to the center of the front yard to prepare and ground myself.
It’d been a long time since I performed magic of the level that would be needed to create the wards around the whole property. Luckily, I could draw from the power of the one already around the house.
I lowered to the grass, sitting with my legs folded in front of me, and laid the jar of salt and other items I’d taken from the box upstairs on the ground. There was a slight breeze that carried with it a hint of fall. With a soft sigh, I closed my eyes and slowed my thoughts until I focused only on the task at hand and the magic alive in my veins.
Changing focus to my breathing, I drew energy from the earth with each inhale and released all negativity back into the universe with every exhale until I was grounded. I opened my eyes slowly and saw Zane standing in front of me like a regal guard of some sort.
He was protecting me from a potential threat. I felt his Alpha wolf pace within him. Odd. Should I be feeling his wolf? How far did the demon mark link go?
I gave him a crooked smile before lifting a hand to him. Without missing a beat, he took it and tugged me to a stand, hard enough that I crashed into him. My palms flattened against the thin cotton T-shirt covering his chest.
He watched me with interest, staring into my eyes. I knew what he saw. My eyes were a deep purple now with swirls of blue and silver. It happened every time I charged myself with an abundance of power.
I wasn’t sure how long we stood like that with our gazes locked. He captured my attention in a hypnotic kind of way. For a brief moment, the world faded. When he parted his lips, I lowered my gaze to them. Suddenly, I wanted a taste, to feel them on mine. Would they be soft, or hard and demanding?
As if he’d read my thoughts, he lowered his head. Our lips brushed together, soft at first. Then he deepened the kiss, moving his mouth over mine. Tingles skittered over my body, and desire churned in my soul and belly.
When his tongue licked my lips, I opened and welcomed the invasion. I wrapped my arms around his neck and threaded my fingers through his light blond hair. A growl rumbled from his chest, vibrating against mine.
The sound of someone clearing his throat broke through the haze of passion. We broke the kiss and glanced at Dimitri. He frowned and pursed his lips at the same time. Then the notes of jealousy reached my senses. No, that wasn’t right. It was a mixture of envy and arousal.
I released Zane and step out of his arms. I couldn’t look at either of them at the moment due to the overwhelming sense of their emotions. Feelings I didn’t have time to process or analyze right then.
Turning to face the house, I tried to collect myself, calm the whirlwind of desire and need the wolf had stirred within me. I considered telling them to go inside, to leave me to it. But I needed their strength to secure the wards. After being in the hospital for so long, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure how stable my magic was. With bottled-up emotions about my dead mother and anger at my father, I didn’t want to blow up the house. It may be our only sanctuary for now.
I took another deep, cleansing breath and forced a smile as I faced the guys again. Holding out my hands, I explained the rules. “Take my hands and don’t let go. No matter what. It’ll break my concentration, and we’d have to start over. Since I’m more connected to Salrus than you two, he will know as soon as I reach out to a ley line. Which also means we need to be quick about this. Well, as fast as we can be without blowing up the house.”
“Blowing up the house?” Dimitri said with a tremor in his voice.
“She’s joking.” Zane sent me a sharp glare as if warning me. About what, I wasn’t sure.
I dismissed it and grabbed their hands, linking my fingers with theirs. “Try to clear your mind. Or at least think happy thoughts.”
Dimitri was the first to relax. The tension in his arms and stance left him as if it had melted away. I glanced at him. His eyes were closed, and his face appeared peaceful.
On my other side, Zane seemed to have trouble releasing the tension. I clamped my jaw together and spoke through my teeth. “Relax.”
“I am,” he growled back.
I sighed. Whatever. Closing my eyes, I stretched out my senses to where the salt outlined the quarter-acre lot the house sat on. It was easy for me to do since I was half demon. The demonic half of me recoiled at the salt, but I forced the feeling aside. I was not evil, and I wasn’t going to start acting like it.
No matter what the Council said.
I created a circle around the guys and me. I felt Zane tense next to me, so I tightened my grip on his hand. Don’t let go. Pushing the stored-up magic in my system outward, I expanded the circle, stretching it toward the salt outline.
“Dimitri, when you sense weaknesses in the circle, concentrate on it to help me add to it.” I felt him bob his head up and down. The idea that he was afraid of performing magic entered my mind. I’d have to remember to ask him about it later. Right now, I hoped he’d trust me.
To help him, I opened up completely to both guys, letting them into my mind, my thoughts, and showing them my intentions. It seemed to work because Zane relaxed more, and Dimitri became more confident.
Just then, Zane started adding his own power, strengthening the circle as I pushed it into place. Once I had it where I wanted it—just inside the salt—I spoke the incantation that would set the wards. “I set these wards to shield us from those who wish us harm. May they withstand the strongest of evils and bounce back the ill will and dark power to its wielder. I command it to be. Blessed be.”
A zap echoed around us as the wards snapped into place.
I opened my eyes and smiled. The air stilled for a moment as the power of the barrier hummed. A few moments passed, and the br
eeze picked back up, crisp and clean. Positive energy radiated within the invisible walls of our new magical security system.
“It’s done.” I turned to Dimitri. “What’s for dinner? I’m starving.”
The corners of his lips twitched. “We can call for pizza.”
“Sounds perfect.” In that moment, I would eat anything. It was a plus that I loved pizza.
Dimitri and I turned to the house. Zane hesitated. Glancing back at him, I frowned. “What’s wrong?” Did he sense something I didn’t?
“Are we going to have to meet the delivery guy on the curb?”
I giggled. I couldn’t help it. “As long as he’s not here to kill us, he can walk through the wards without harm or disturbing the barrier.”
Silly wolf.
He seemed to be happy with my answer and turned to follow us inside.
When we reached the door, a black Corvette pulled into the driveway. “Who’s that?”
“My tattoo artist.”
Oh, yay. Looked like I was getting ink.
My stomach filled with thousands of butterflies. I wasn’t going to wimp out.
Chapter 5
My palms started to sweat, and I paced the living room. The guys moved the coffee table to the side. Zane brought a chair in from the dining room and placed it where the table had been.
I’d never thought about getting a tattoo. Not that I was against them, I just didn’t have the desire to have one. Plus, I never knew what I’d get.
I twisted my hands together as I paced a track in the hardwood floor. Then I realized that I was still in my nightgown and I didn’t have any clothes. Embarrassment suddenly heated my skin. I was a mess with no money and no clothes.
Dimitri appeared in my line of sight, startling me. “What’s wrong?”
“You must think I’m crazy.” I shook my head, trying to calm the rising anxiety. “I showed up in a nightgown and a hospital robe.”
He framed my face, forcing me to meet his gaze. “We are all crazy. That demon has us hiding behind wards and magical tattoos because he tries to control us.”
