Nix snorted. “I would call that a nightmare, not excitement.”
“Would you like for me to wake him?” Zen asked as he approached them.
“Please.”
A finger to her son’s forehead and he blinked awake. His gaze landed on her, and he launched himself against her in a hug that cut off her breath. “Everything’s okay, angel.”
“I saw it all, Momma.” Tears choked him and his body shuddered against her.
Madison squeezed her eyes shut. Please, please, please let my baby say he didn’t see me die.
“What exactly did you see?” Voice tense, Micah came up behind Madison.
Without releasing her, Amos sniffled and told his story. “When that angel grabbed me, I was asleep. He scared me, so I jerked out of my body…li—like I have before.”
“He dream walks.” Madison glanced at her husband over her shoulder and explained. “Dragged me into a dream before, too. The one where Petra met Nix and Gage.” She turned toward her Sherlock. “The one where Petra made a deal with a girl by the name of Jamie.”
Micah’s eyebrows flashed upward and Nix mouthed, ‘Wow.’
“I watched you trap Daddy, Nix get dumped in the yard, and yo—you…die!” Fresh tears coursed down his cheeks. Madison hugged him tighter and closed her eyes as he wept. Moments later, her son stuttered through the rest of his story. “I cried with Daddy, Momma, begging you to stop eating them things. I prayed Daddy Nix would wake up and save you. I even tried to shake him while I dream walked.” He sniffled and dragged the back of his hand across his nose. “When I saw Zen, I knew everything would be okay for them. I worried about you until Daddy Nix got to you. That’s when I went back into my body.”
“I’m sorry you saw that, angel.” If she’d known he watched, would she have acted differently? She couldn’t say with clarity.
“That wasn’t the worst attack, Momma!” He gripped her tighter.
Madison blinked slowly and met the immortal’s silver-eyed gaze. No more waiting, Zen, she told him telepathically. “Calm down, angel.”
We cannot sit around and passively wait for something to attack us again. This was too close of a call. Next time it could be Amos dead.
“Pull it together, sport. Toughen up so we can protect Momma.” Madison shot Nix a glare. Before she could call him on his idiotic command, he softened his statement with male chauvinism. “Men take care of their women and she’s ours, right?”
Her child nodded and pushed out of her arms. Tears shimmered on his wet lashes, turning them dark blond. As if suddenly realizing all the focus centered on him, he squared his shoulders and snapped his spine straight.
Dear God, he was just a child and he wanted to make an impression on the other men.
“Momma is Daddy’s woman, too.”
Madison jerked at that statement, but kept her gaze centered on Amos. She could feel her husband’s satisfaction and Nix’s unease.
Zen broke the tense silence. “Sounds like she’s well-taken care of then because I’ve been told she’s my sister.”
A smile twitched her lips and she mouthed ‘thank you’ to him.
“Does that mean I can call you Uncle Zen?”
The immortal blinked, clearly not expecting that request.
“Amos?” Micah changed the subject effortlessly. “Have you seen what’s coming next?”
A hesitant nodded. “It still has wings like the one I drew, but it’s…closer.” Frown lines curled across his forehead. “I don’t know how to explain how it’s closer. I just—I’m really scared, Daddy. I can sense its feelings and it’s angry. It’ll come, but its plan will be more…calculated.”
“God help us all if it’s more premeditated.” Nix swiped his fingers across his jaw.
“Madison did not survive this attack. How can we protect her from something more planned than this confrontation?” The dragon moved silently to stand beside Zen on the other side of the bed.
Her son gripped her hand as if Kur’s question would bother her. All she wanted was to ease his worry.
“Wings imply an angel of some sort.” Micah rubbed his eyes. “Regardless of fallen or in Father’s infantry, they’re dangerous. Since I don’t know how they located you initially, we need to move locations.” Madison glanced at him, but he directed his next statement at her advisor. “A fallen will go after her weaknesses first. It is paramount we keep the Birminghams and Alessa with us. They were only safe tonight because they were in the panic room, hidden by my magic.”
“Nix’s family was already requesting to leave. They’re not comfortable holed up in the same house with you. Not after you killed two of them.”
“Brutally murdered them, actually.” Her Sherlock crossed his arms over his chest, crinkles lining outward from the corners of his eyes.
Arctic blue eyes flashed in Nix’s direction. “A broken neck is painless.”
“You slashed Zoe’s throat to her spine.” Steely green returned Micah’s regard. “Hardly painless. Gage will never forgive it. You should understand that.”
Twin blond eyebrows flashed upward. “Painless compared to what it could’ve been,” Micah said, cool as ice. “And I didn’t actually kill them, my demon did.”
“Stop. Both of you please stop.” Madison shook her head. The atrocities her husband had committed should cool her ardor toward him, but didn’t, and that confounded her. “They’re my friends, Micah. They matter to me.”
“It’s because of your affiliation with them that I’m demanding their protection.”
“Only so they won’t be used against us.”
He made a face, as if he couldn’t believe they were having this argument. “Ultimately, all I care about is Amos’s and your safety. I’m undeniably not interested in their hurt feelings or their forgiveness. Their absolution means jack-squat to me when they’ll be dead in half a century. With an eternity blowing in our faces, it’s your futures that matter.” Holding her gaze, he cupped her chin in his palm. “I’m no angel and you have no business attributing those qualities to me.” He sounded as if the idea offended him.
Madison jerked her chin from his hold, but refused to look away. “I have never mistaken you for a good soul.” Well, maybe once she had when he came into her life, but not since discovering this scary new world she lived in. “I did err in believing that because I cared about the Birminghams, so would you. Thanks for correcting my blunder. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
“Being an ass isn’t called for.” Nix shoved a hand in a pocket and rolled on the balls of his feet. “After getting to know you in Hell”—he shot a nervous glance in Amos’s direction and cleared his throat—“I know how hot your emotions run. Like my family or don’t, just don’t be a jackass to Madison about it.”
Murder flashed across Micah’s face.
“Seriously, you two.” Madison rose to her feet. “Enough already. Micah, will you please start working with Amos on his magic?” She peered at her son. “If you feel up to it, angel?”
Her son squirmed off the bed and hugged her again. This embrace expressed his jubilation and excitement. “You’re really going to let me?”
“After today, angel, I’d be foolish not to allow the lessons.” If nothing else, she’d discovered her son needed to be prepared for whatever came next. Because if they survived the second attack, she felt certain there would be more to follow.
Her husband touched her arm. “You’ll come with us.”
“No. I have some things to discuss with Nix and Zen.” His grip on her arm tightened. “I’ll join the next magic class. You and Kur go with Amos, protect him. I’m in good hands with them.”
“I don’t like you leaving my sight.”
His protective instinct is so adorable I could just eat him up. Startled by her Lynx’s frank comment, Madison shook off the sudden unwanted arousal. His hint of a smile suggested he might’ve caught her flare of lust.
“You cannot be attached to my hip twenty-four-seven, Micah.”
His palm landed on her neck and his fingers curled around her nape. He pressed his lips against her ear and whispered, “I’d rather be inside you than attached to your hip.”
The idea of him moving inside her the way Nix did…she shivered. And predicted he probably had caught her reaction. He verified that guess when he asked, “Does that excite you?”
She gripped the fabric of his vest, resisting the urge to pull him near. Her palm flattened on his belly and felt his muscles bunch beneath her touch. She pushed him back. “Not now.”
Her words were whispered, but their stares locked, and she felt as though a twenty-ton meteor impacted with her nervous system. Promises of dark pleasure sparked in his icy blue eyes. She fidgeted, lowered her hand to her side, and curled her fingers into her pant leg. Gone was the girl that wouldn’t respond to the lust this man emitted. No way could she go to his bed and remain passive. That terrified her.
Her heartbeat altered into a different rhythm and her breathing grew shallow. Lynx wanted to play right now. Fighting her succubus into submission left her in a state of limbo, between mortified and turned-on.
He chucked her chin. “Later, kitten.”
She knew he wasn’t requesting a later, more detailed conversation, but a ‘we’ll follow this up in bed’ kind of later. “No.”
Whispered words with a negative headshake failed to convince him of her lack of interest.
“Let’s go to your bedroom, Amos.” Micah grinned at Madison. “Later, Madison.”
Another shiver coursed through her as she watched him and Kur leave the room with her son. She’d have to stay close to Nix to keep that ‘later’ from coming about.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Mads, I’m trying really hard to be understanding.” Zenny snorted at Nix’s statement. Fingers curled into fists at her sides, she kept her back to him. The pink streamers of magic coming off her body—detailing her succubus lay close to the surface—he knew he wouldn’t want to see her face because it’d pinpoint how much she desired her husband. “Knowing you want Micah is eating me up.”
Mads tensed for a moment before whipping around. “Do you think I want to feel like this?”
“I don’t know what to think any more.” He slammed his fingers through his hair and ran his hand down the back of his head.
“You told me you’d undress me for him! I was the one who said I wanted no part of it, that I needed you to expect more from me.”
“Not a wise comment, Phoenix.” Nix shot the immortal a ‘shut up’ glare. Her crystal genie ignored him. “Even I know more about women than to say that.”
“Can we have a private moment, Zenny?”
“No.” The immortal tossed him a challenging lop-sided grin. “I agree with Micah. She and Amos both needed to be double-tapped.”
“Double-teamed,” Nix said with an impatient sigh. “Double-tapped means to put two bullets in their head.”
“My bad.” Zen sat on the edge of Madison’s bed, clearly not intending to provide them with solitude. “You can have your discreet conversation with me present or when Beliel returns. The choice is yours, Phoenix.”
“He’s in my head anyway; it doesn’t matter if he’s here or outside the room.” She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. A defensive stance. Did she feel like she was going to war with him?
“I don’t want to fight with you, baby.” He massaged the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Nothing could alleviate his tension right now. Mads had died and while he’d successfully brought her back, it’d been damn difficult. He’d almost failed. He never wanted to suffer that moment again. And he pitied Micah having to watch her demise. “I stand by what I said earlier. I would strip you for his bed if it’s what it takes to save you.”
“I despise you for that, Nix.” She wouldn’t look at him. That bothered him.
He moved to her and clasped her face between his hands. Tipping her head back, he met her shrewd gaze. “I almost hate myself for feeling that way. You’d make selfless sacrifices for me, too, if you thought it’d save me somehow.”
“Be my buffer. Don’t leave me alone with Micah. I can resist him if you’re present.”
Damn sure not the words he wanted to hear from the woman he loved. The desperation in her baby blues expressed just how tempted she was by her husband. Before Hell, they wouldn’t have had this conversation. He’d helped bring her this low by covenanting his lineage with a King of Hell. Micah had aided her fall with his confession in the fiery realm, detailing his years of commitment to her.
“Baby, if I stand between you and him, I might have you exclusively, but you’ll spend the rest of our life together wondering ‘what if.’ Those words are too big to reside between us. I love you and I trust you to make the right choice for you.”
“I want you. You are what I need, who I want. You are the right choice for me.”
“Easy words to say when Micah’s not in here jacking up your libido.”
Her jaw tightened. “Don’t trivialize the commitment I made to you. Even Amos knows I’m with you, calling you Daddy Nix.”
He loved that title, too. It was the closest he’d ever come to being a father, so he embraced his new label. He would take it seriously, just as the name demanded.
“Mads, baby, I know how big a deal it was for you to commit to me. I know you love me or you’d have never said the words.” His thumb traced her bottom lip. “But I cannot make-believe that you didn’t give your heart to Micah first. I need to be certain you’re with me, or he’ll always be between us.”
It looked like a crow scratched grooves into her forehead. “You’re suggesting I sleep with him?”
“No!” Never would he suggest that type of total submission. The dark passions the King could show her were addictive. He knew. To his dismay, he still craved them. A freakin’ straight man who’d gained homosexual tendencies because of his relationship with a demon King in Hell.
Teaching Mads dark passion with Micah would be fantastic.
Where had that alarming thought come from? Flashes of Mads sandwiched between them went off like snapshots in his mind. They would paint her face with pleasure, their reward her trembling between them, whimpering until they wrenched multiple screams from her. One orgasm after another until she begged them for a respite. They’d discussed how they’d initiate her into a threesome. Their endgame had always been her pleasure.
Hell’s fantasies held no place in reality…and Mads would never agree anyway.
“Baby, I just want you to be certain which man you want.”
“You didn’t leave me the way Micah has. I can depend on you. I can’t—” Mads trailed off, confusion clouding her eyes.
Interpreting her look couldn’t get easier. She just realized her husband had been a silent type of dependable, but the King had been present, an unknown benefactor that took care of her and he’d come to her rescue when she needed him most.
Just like I did.
She’d traded one hero for another. He had to know she wanted him and not Micah, or the doubt would trouble him. No way could Nix remain in a relationship where ghosts of a previous lover haunted them.
“He’s dependable, or he wouldn’t be here protecting you and Amos. His family.”
Panic flashed across her face. Why’d he feel responsible for defending her husband’s actions? Because of some messed-up sense of fair play? Micah would laugh at his morals, call him weak and a loser. Only losers played fair, in the King’s estimation.
Keep it real, Nix. He’d never been in a relationship before, but the ache in his chest demanded he know without any doubt she chose him before he could remain with her.
Mads collapsed against him and he wrapped his arms around her. “We’re your family, too.”
“Yes.” Even before she’d made love with him, he’d considered them his family.
She turned her face into the curve of his neck. “I’ve never been this uncertain of my future, Nix.”
He ra
n his palms along her back. Holding her was a blessing and something he hoped he never took for granted. Jesus, she was the only future his aunt had ever seen for him, and he might lose her.
“My emotions are complicated. I want you so much. I feel safe with you and loved. You make me feel special—”
“You are special, baby.”
“But when I look at Micah, I see a future that could’ve been and a man that meant a lot to me. I want him, yes, but the idea of having sex with him terrifies me. I hated it once before, and I have no reason to suspect anything will be any different if there is a next time.” None of that eliminated the ‘what if’ scenario he feared. “You’re better for me. You keep me honest.”
“You keep yourself honest.” No way would he take the credit for that.
She lifted her head and met his eyes. “Sometimes I think it’d be easier to let whatever’s coming for me kill me. Then I wouldn’t have these future choices to make.”
His caresses ceased and his fingers dug into her hips. “Don’t think like that.”
Mads placed a finger over his mouth. “As sexy as you are all worked up, give your heart a break, Nix. It’s already had enough excitement for one day. Besides, I said I think it, not that I planned to give up. Giving up isn’t in my nature.”
He was damned glad of that.
Her pupils dilated as she ogled his lips. Was she thinking about the way they felt on her body? Teasing her nipples? Kissing between her legs?
She cleared her throat. “Promise me if I end up in Micah’s bed, you’ll be there through it all.”
He almost swallowed his tongue. “Baby, I’d lose my fucking mind if I did that.”
“Why?”
Jesus Christ, if she let him and Micah loose in her bed, to plunder her naïveté without limits…fuck him! He wouldn’t ponder the possibilities. Suffice it to say, she wouldn’t be inexperienced long.
He buried his fingers in her hair and cupped the back of her head. “Just watching him get you off would turn me on. It was hot when you fed on our powers together, Mads. And when you made us”—he flicked at glance at her crystal genie, resenting his presence—“you know…hot, baby. Very hot.”
Genesis Queen (The Road to Hell Series) Page 26
