Devil Takes His Innocent

by Emma Anderson

  Chapter Sixteen

  As Gabby and Nikki left the hospital the next day, they spoke about the strange cases they had come across during their shifts. It was something they often did, but today Gabby found her heart wasn’t in it. It had been a hard and tiring day. More tiring than most because like her day, the previous night had been filled with thoughts of Devil, rather than sleep. She had hoped he would return to her side, but he hadn’t. It only added to her growing list of disappointments, compliments of him. When he’d told her that he cared for her, he had sounded so sincere that she had almost begged him to come back to bed. She desperately wanted to believe him. Her heart needed to believe him. But how could her mind reconcile his claims when the behavior of this self-confessed actions man didn’t match his words?

  He claimed to care for her, but still he was able to stay away from her for four days. With no thought of a phone call to query how her injured arm was. He had walked away from her, leaving her in tears and in pain. How could a man walk away from a woman he professed to have feelings for, especially when she was upset? That was twice now, he had left her crying, offering no form of comfort whatsoever.

  Her thoughts were so consumed with Devil that she hadn’t realized immediately that her guards had changed. “Where are the guys?”

  “They got pulled for the afternoon.”

  Gabby had to wonder whether Devil had sacked the guards because they had allowed her to enter the house unaccompanied. She hoped that this man spoke the truth, because she didn’t like the idea that she had been the cause of them losing their job. They were nice enough men, whom she had come to feel comfortable with. As the car headed toward home, she resolved to talk to Devil about it. Though she doubted he would listen to her.

  She was pulled from her thoughts by a squeeze of her hand. Looking up at Nikki, she saw worry in her friend’s eyes. Following her line of sight, she immediately saw the issue. They weren’t heading toward their house.

  “Why are we going this way?”

  The man in the passenger side seat looked at her for the first time. The evil that resided in his eyes said enough, though he didn’t seem to think so. Lifting a gun from between the two front seats, he pointed it at Nikki. Not taking his gaze off of Gabby, he replied, “Our boss wants a word with you.”

  “What did you do to the guards?”

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head off about them two. Our orders were not to kill them, unfortunately. It seems our boss is a little scared of Torments. He’s got a reputation about him. The boss knows that if he kills any of Torments’ men, then revenge will be swift and hard. The boss doesn’t want to take the risk.”

  “Then your boss should know that you’ve just kidnapped Devil’s woman,” Nikki warned.

  “Nice try, lady, but we’ve been watching the house. He may know you girls, but neither one of you is his lady. If he was serious about either one of you, he wouldn’t let you out of his sight. He’s too possessive of what he considers his.”

  “What do you think the guards were for, dipshit?” Nikki asked angrily. Gabby gave her hand a warning squeeze. She didn’t want to piss these men off.

  “We haven’t worked that out yet, but that’s another thing the boss wants to establish. How important you are to Torments. Could you be used as a bargaining chip? Or can he keep you both for his own gains?”

  With those statements, a thought came to her. Gabby realized that this was what Judge had warned her about. She was what many would view as Devil’s weakness and that would probably be unacceptable in his eyes. Was that why he had been keeping her at an arm’s length? Because he didn’t want anyone knowing such a weakness existed? It was something she would ask him when he rescued her. Pressing the button on the watch she had been unable to take off since Devil had left her, Gabby called upon her only lifeline.

  ****

  Devil’s fist connected once again with the red leather. Since leaving Gabby’s house the night before, he had spent much of his time in his makeshift gym. Many punching bags had fallen victim to his anger. The one he was currently working on was the last he had in stock. He prayed it would hold long enough for him to come up with the answers he needed to mend his relationship with Gabby.

  Each hit provided him with a small moment of peace. In that miniscule amount of time, he was praying that the solution would be revealed. After many hours and several destroyed punching bags, he had nothing but tender knuckles. His hope was waning and his anger rising.

  At what point in their relationship had he become a fuck buddy? They were more than that to each other. She was his mate. His equal, his future, and the only woman he wished to crawl into bed with at night after a long, hard day. Nowhere in the term mate did it suggest that they were just fuck buddies. She was his everything, and he had to come up with a way of showing her.

  The question was, how? Looking up at the clock, he realized that it was past Gabby’s knock off time. She would have already been finished and home by now. Punching something hadn’t provided him the answers he sought; he was going to have to play the next few hours by ear. He couldn’t allow her too much time to think about their failing relationship. It would only cause her to sink deeper into the hole of despair he had dug for her.

  Unstrapping his hands, he threw the tape in the plastic bag that doubled as his rubbish bin. Grabbing his phone, he headed toward the service elevator. With a quick look at his phone, he realized that he had allowed the battery to run down. Maybe he would have to stop into the office before he headed up to his quarters to get showered and ready to convince his destiny that they belonged together.

  On entering the office, he knew something was wrong. He had thought he would be in and out within a couple of minutes. This was true, but it turned out that his next destination wouldn’t be his quarters as planned.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Judge demanded, strapping a gun to his thigh, along with his brothers.

  “What business is it of yours? And what the hell’s going on in here?”

  “We have been trying to get a hold of you for the last forty-five minutes,” Judge replied. “Your fucking phone is off. What’s the point of having one if you’re going to switch the damn thing off?”

  “Fine, I’ll play along,” Devil said. “I’ve been in the basement allowing my fists to get reacquainted with some punching bags. As for my phone, the battery died. Now tell me what the hell has you in a tither!”

  “Well, while you’ve been beating up on some defenseless punching bags, your mate’s SOS button has been going off.”

  “How long?”

  “About fifty minutes. We all assumed it was connected to your phone, so when you didn’t call, we knew something wasn’t right. We’ve been trying to find you and call you for the last forty-five minutes.”

  “Fuck!”

  “After not being able to get a hold of you, we had Mick triangulate her position. It hasn’t changed for the last ten minutes. Some warehouse on the edge of town. Owned by our old mate, Saul.”

  “That fat bastard better not have laid a finger on her.”

  “We’ll get to her, have no fear, brother,” Chaos reassured, patting him on the shoulder.

  “Is everyone ready? And what of her guards?”

  “I sent someone over to the house and hospital. They were found roughed up in the back of one of the SUVs. The other vehicle is missing,” Viper explained.

  “Nikki’s also missing. They probably just jumped into the car, not even looking at the guards. I doubt they would have noticed until it was too late,” Judge added.

  Devil was seeing red. His hands itched to wrap around Saul Biesterman’s fat neck and squeeze the life out of him. If he thought only roughing up his men would save him from Devil’s hellfire, then he had another thing coming. He took what was his, no doubt scaring the life out of her. For that he would pay with his life. His mate deserved nothing less.

  ****

  The morbidly obese man in front of Gabby wiped hi
s forehead. It was a pointless task in her eyes. As soon as the hanky cleared the sweat, more beads formed. He hadn’t said anything to either her or Nikki yet. He just sat back, sucking on a cigar, stinking up the enclosed storeroom with his smoke and perspiration.

  He mustn’t have seen them as a threat, because the only other people in the room were the two men who had kidnapped them. One behind each of the chairs she and Nikki sat on, untethered. Gabby kept an eye on the one near Nikki. For the last hour, since arriving at the abandoned warehouse, his stare had been roaming over her friend’s body, the sneer increasing each time. Gabby didn’t like it one bit. Her friend had already been through one attack. Gabby wasn’t sure she would survive another one.

  “So you’re Harrison’s sister?”

  “Half sister,” she spat. “Are you the person responsible for his murder?”

  “You should know how things work in this world, if you’re any friend of Torments,” the man said. “Your half brother took something that belonged to me and I wanted it back. He didn’t have it, so he paid with his life.”

  “You’re a monster!”

  “Well, I guess that answers one of my questions. If you consider my actions monstrous, then you would want nothing to do with Torments. He’s guilty of much worse things than murder.”

  “Boss, does that mean we’re keeping them?” Nikki’s guard asked.

  “Yes, these two will do nicely. They’re going to make me a lot of money.” The man rubbed his chubby hands together.

  “Before we send them off to the whorehouse, I want to play with this one,” the guard said, bending to sniff at Nikki’s hair.

  Nikki squeaked her discomfort. Gabby’s hand gripped the pen hanging slightly out of her pocket. She hoped Devil would arrive soon, but if he didn’t, then she needed a backup plan. Her friend’s safety came above anything. She would protect Nikki at all cost.

  The fat man eyed Gabby again before asking, “So did your half brother give you anything before his demise?”

  “You mean before you murdered him?”

  “Fine, have it your way. Did your half brother give you anything before I had him murdered?”

  “Like I told the cops, he took from me. He never gave me anything. In case you haven’t noticed, he was a taker, not a giver.”

  The man must have believed her, because he turned to the guard behind Nikki and just nodded. The guard grabbed a bunch of Nikki’s hair. He yanked until her neck was straining backward. His mouth landed hard on hers. A whimper came from Nikki right before the guard stepped back, cursing, blood streaming from his lips.

  “You fucking bitch, you’ll pay for that!” the guard yelled, slapping Nikki across the face. It sent her and her chair spilling back. Gabby jumped into action. Slamming the pen into her guard’s leg, with enough force to embed it a third of the way into the flesh, she sprang from her chair. She slammed herself hard into the man whose hand was raised, clenched in a fist ready to punch her friend. Her body seemed to bounce off of his much stockier one. Before she could hit the ground, his hands came around her upper arms. With a display of the strength that lay within his huge muscles, he lifted her and flung her through the air. Her last thoughts as her back connected with the solid concrete wall were of the danger her friend was in because of her, while her heart wept at the idea of never seeing Devil again. As darkness closed in, her last vision was of Devil, looking glorious in his true form, Death.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Not caring who saw, Devil dropped all pretense of being human as they pulled into the warehouse’s parking lot. His fangs had descended, his eyes were red, and his talons were out. He no longer appeared human by any standard. In his mind, onlookers mattered little. Nobody would live to share what they had witnessed. If these people could stand by and allow Saul Biesterman to take what was his, then Devil condemned them all to the same fate as the bastard.

  His brothers’ thoughts were along the same line as his. Viper had allowed his fae DNA to come forward. His skin glowed with his aura, highlighting his current mood. It was a deep muddy red, indicating his fury and rage at the situation. Judge had allowed his animal partly out. His partial transformation meant that he was bulkier than his human self, his long, sharp teeth hung from his mouth, and claws poked from his fingertips, ready to do damage. This form allowed him to still communicate with his brothers, strategizing up to the last moment. Chaos, while still appearing human, was currently playing with a ball of fire, tossing it from hand to hand. Fire had always been his weapon of choice. It was the element most feared by humans.

  Stepping out of the car, Devil took in the quiet surroundings. For all intents and purposes, the area appeared abandoned, all businesses closing hours earlier. The silence fooled none of them. Both Devil and Judge were able to scent the foul stench of corruption emanating from the people within the warehouse. It was so strong, it had overpowered Gabby’s sweet scent. Viper and Chaos were able to pick up on the life forces of the occupants of the building.

  With a whisper, Chaos informed, “Three in with the women, five in the outer room. Do you confirm, Viper?”

  Viper’s aura had turned the deepest red Devil had ever seen. This was one pissed off fae. A fae who was neither confirming nor denying the numbers offered by Chaos. His eyes were fixated on one spot within the warehouse, his gaze unmoving.

  “Viper?”

  “Devil and I’ll get the women. You two handle the five other bodies.” With that said, Viper took the broadsword attached to his back, slicing it through the air, breaking the lock on the door. It had all been done in complete silence, compliments of fae magic.

  Devil followed Viper in, both of them easily tossing the puny attackers to one side, leaving Judge and Chaos to take care of them. Both Devil and Viper headed toward the storeroom at the back of the building. Devil suddenly scented blood from inside of the room. It was followed by a deep cry of agony. One of the men had been injured. Within seconds he heard his mate’s cry of “no.” He slammed into the door, forcing it to give way under his strength. As soon as he set foot inside the room, his gaze went in search of his mate. He was spurred into action as Gabby flew through the air toward a solid outer wall. Running past a surprised Saul Biesterman, he knocked the man to the ground hard enough to ensure he wouldn’t be moving anytime soon. Still his feet continued to move, straight to his now motionless mate who lay on the ground.

  He sat there staring down at his angel, unsure how to proceed. His only desire in that moment was for her to open her beautiful blue eyes and give him hell for taking so long. Still they remained shut. He feared touching her, desperate not to hurt her, yet his arms craved to hold her close to his body. He was joined by Nikki.

  “Do something, Devil. Give her some of your blood or something!” Nikki cried as she fell to the floor beside Gabby.

  Gently lifting his mate’s head, he brought his wrist up to his fangs. Slicing through the skin, he then placed the oozing wound over Gabby’s mouth. He held his breath, unsure for the first time if the power he carried in his blood was enough to give him what he wanted. His mate to be okay.

  “Come on, swallow for me,” he coerced softly.

  “Damn it, Gabby. Do as you’re told for once in your life,” Nikki screamed down at her friend, panic obvious in her voice. “This is all my fault.”

  “No, it’s not. It’s that asshole’s over there,” Viper stated firmly, pointing directly at Saul Biesterman.

  Instead of following Viper’s finger, her gaze landed elsewhere. Slowly, Nikki stood, unsteady on her feet. Viper wrapped an arm around her waist, offering her support. Taking his attention momentarily off of Gabby, Devil watched Nikki walk toward the man who had thrown his mate. The man was battered and bruised, passed out on the ground. With a well-aimed kick, Nikki slammed her foot into the man’s groin. Devil would have applauded her action had his mate’s mouth not clamped around his wrist.

  “That’s it, angel. Take all that you need from me.”

  Previo
usly when she had fed from him, he had thought it the most erotic thing he had ever felt. Now relief swamped him, hope filling his previously cold heart. With each pull on his wrist, his heart felt lighter. It was a foreign feeling for him, but still he knew how to respond. He pulled his mate’s body close to his, vowing she was never leaving his sight again.

  Her eyes flew open, surprise and uncertainty swimming through them. “It’s okay. I’m here and everyone’s safe,” he reassured.

  With one last pull at his wrist, she dislodged her mouth from his arm. Slowly she raised herself up, still maintaining contact with him. She seemed to take in the state of her body before her eyes returned to Devil.

  “Is Nikki okay? The guards?”

  “Everyone’s fine,” Devil said, lifting her onto his lap so she had a better view of where her friend leaned into Viper. “Nikki’s over there. She’s experiencing some shock from your ordeal, that’s all.”

  She seemed to look around the room, surprise and gentleness entering her eyes. “You didn’t kill him?”

  Staring earnestly into her eyes, he responded, “My mate needed me.”

  “You really do care for me,” she said in surprise before turning her face away from him. “But I’m your weakness, aren’t I?”

  Gently he guided her chin so she was once again looking at him. “Somehow I think my feelings have surpassed caring. And as for you being my weakness, I have come to realize you are no such thing. You are my strength, my reason for existing.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded slowly. “I would normally have killed that bastard for attempting to take you from me, but I could think of no one but you. My desire for death was lost when I saw you flying through the air. I can’t imagine my life without you, Gabriella Winters. You will never leave me. Do you hear me?” he replied before whispering, “I have never felt this for anyone before. If that’s love, then you have mine, wholly and unconditionally.”