by Jo Penn
Milson Valley 9
The Demon’s Prince
When Vinncent Aston’s mate was murdered, darkness crept into his heart. Over the years he and his older brother, Avenger Vicus Aston, found those responsible and brought them to justice. But there was still a loose end, one Vinn was hot on the trail of.
The trail led him straight to his other mate.
Vinn vowed to Marc he would find their other mate, but he never in his wildest dreams expected the creature to be Emile Sanchez, a man who is aloof and charming and likes everything in its place. But Vinn soon discovers there is far more to the prestigious prince.
Beneath the surface, Emile is bored and feels he is incapable of finding a connection with anyone. He isn’t affectionate. He’s too logical, a workaholic, and no one meets his need of discord and straight talking. Until Vinn, a rare, powerful demon with pain in his heart, who declares they are mates and sets out to prove it.
Genre: Alternative (M/M, Gay), Paranormal, Romantic Suspense, Shape-shifter
Length: 42,474 words
THE DEMON'S PRINCE
Milson Valley 9
Jo Penn

Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
THE DEMON'S PRINCE
Copyright © 2017 by Jo Penn
ISBN: 978-1-64010-500-3
First Publication: August 2017
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2017 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
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PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
DEDICATION
Family is who we choose to let into our hearts.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I love writing and can be found most days in front of my computer. I live in a wonderful part of the world where sandy beaches are close, the sun shines, and people love to get out and about.
I spent years living in London, UK, working and travelling which provided so much inspiration through history, culture, and life in general. I love to travel and have lots of plans to do so again in the future. In the mean time I bring my worlds to life.
The paranormal world mixed with love and action, how the men react and live, defend and care captures my attention and has me wanting to fill pages with their adventures.
For all titles by Jo Penn, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/jo-penn
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
About the Author
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Landmarks
Cover
THE DEMON'S PRINCE
Milson Valley 9
JO PENN
Copyright © 2017
Prologue
19 years ago
“I am so very sorry, Vinnie.”
Vinncent Aston stared at the white door behind his sister Lacy. What lay beyond had once held so much hope. So much life. His very future. Now it was gone, all gone.
Just a plain white door that would forever be the symbol of his loss.
How his heart still beat, Vinnie didn’t know. Maybe it was pure stubbornness. His Mama had always said he was damn stubborn. As his life crumbled down around him for the second time, Vinnie felt every ounce of happiness slip away and darkness creep into his soul. How was it that his heart continued to beat?
Because he was just too damn stubborn to let the darkness take him over completely.
“Vinnie?” Lacy gently touched his arms. “Marc wanted you to go on if anything ever happened to him. He wanted you to do all those things you two talked and dreamed about.”
Vinnie’s eyes had lost their spark. Lacy shed a tear.
“Vinnie, there is another mate. Marc always knew that and was searching. Give him his last dying wish. Find your other mate and recapture the happiness. That is how you honor Marc and what you two shared.”
Vinnie somehow managed a nod. “I need to see him.”
“I understand.”
Marc. His mate. Cheeky. Lively. Rebellious. Risk taker. Vinnie sat by his mate’s side for hours as the doctors and nurses cleaned Marc up and whispered quietly. Vinnie tuned them out. Then the one creature he wanted to see finally walked into the room and moved to stand beside Vinncent, his golden eyes fierce. Avenger Vicus Aston, his much older adoptive brother. Avengers were the deadliest creatures in existence, born to hunt and protect.
“It is done. But there are more that need to be found and dealt with.”
Vinnie nodded tiredly and lowered his head. His mate was partly avenged. Vinnie would have liked to carry out the act himself, slaughtered the one who murdered his partner, but he wasn’t trained. Marc had only just begun training to become an Alliance soldier, and Vinnie was still learning from Vicus, how to take down different creatures. While Vinnie wanted to deal the death blow or capture the creature that killed his mate, even more than this, he didn’t want the creature to get away.
“I will keep training, mate,” Vinnie vowed.
The Avenger leaned close to Vinnie, voice low. “We will train every day, my brother. And you will keep your promise to Marc to find your other mate.”
Vinnie was in too much pain at the loss of his mate to do anything other than nod without conviction. Vicus had given him so much, given him more than a home and training. Vicus and the Aston’s gave Vinnie family and all that entailed. They would always be there for him, and now he needed them. He wondered if anything would ever feel right again, ever take away this bone-numbing, horrible pain inside him.
Two creatures entered the room. Eber Aston and Macario Aston. Eber sat beside Vinnie, Mac on the other side of the bed. Mac took Marc’s other hand. The two cried silently. They were Vinnie’s brothers and loved Marc as a brother, also.
He laid his head on Marc’s brutalized chest. Once his heart had beaten, now it was silent. While Vinnie’s lay in shreds.
Chapter One
Present day
Crouched beside an antique desk strewn with papers, discs, and an outdated computer, Emile Sanchez studied the plain box on the floor. Frowning, head tilted cat-like, he glanced around the room, taking note of everything, seeing the soldiers from his pride, the gargoyle King and his soldiers and some vampires who came along on this information gathering assignment.
With minimum use of movement, Emile carefully signaled Dareios Surkov, King of the gargoyles. The creature, like most of his kind, was massive with wide
shoulders, a big, muscular, hard body, and stood nearly seven foot tall. Dareios approached, surprisingly light on his feet for a man of his size, and knelt beside Emile. Keeping his voice quiet, Emile nodded at the medium sized cardboard box on the floor. The box itself looked innocent enough, one that was used by numerous couriers and delivery services around the world. It wasn’t out of place in this office, and that had been the point.
“This is a setup. I don’t know how they knew we were coming, but someone has tipped them off. You have three minutes to evacuate the room, preferably the building.”
Dare’s top lip curled back, but he didn’t make a sound. “You get your team out. I –”
“My foot is on the trigger, Dareios.” Emile met Dare’s shocked eyes. “They would not have left any valuable information here, these are props.” He nodded at the desk. “You need to remove our teams immediately. I am fast. Once everyone is out–”
“I will have a pride of felines tearing me apart if I leave you,” Dare rumbled quietly. He gave a tight grin. “I can do without Baron going postal, and we both know what he is capable of. And of course, there are your littermates. Drake would hunt down everyone involved, never ceasing, and Dominic would use his unique gifts to cause pain. And we will not even mention your Mama, now will we.” Emile cringed over that. “And I am a gargoyle,” Dare said firmly. “We leave no one behind. So it is best we do this my way, amigo.”
Before Emile had any clue as to what the gargoyle was up to, Dare wrapped a thin rope around Emile’s waist, twice, secured it then stood and strode away. Emile frowned over this. He was a prince, he was trained by the best and was one of the best. His orders were instantly obeyed, no questions asked.
Everyone did as Emile said.
Curious, he watched Dareios silently signal two of his brothers, Anton and Bruno, who swiftly moved through the group whispering and sending creatures out of the room and hopefully out of the stately house.
Two of the group were vampire princes, Valiant and Ryson Durand. Ryson was mated to one of Dareios’s many brothers, Dimitri. Gargoyles appeared to be prolific breeders. Bruno moved with skill, scooping Ryson up and placing the vampire over his shoulder before proceeding from the room swiftly. Valiant smirked and met Emile’s eyes. With a little salute, Valiant ordered his team out but, making Emile more curious, stopped inside the door beside Dareios, who was on his phone.
How peculiar. Vampires were often referred to as elitist, self-absorbed and notably cold creatures. Occasionally this was true, but only a select few. A very select few. The news was spread hastily hundreds of years ago because, as most knew, rumors, innuendo, and gossip, to some, was a fun and acceptable pastime, even when maligning an entire race of creatures.
In this instance, Prince Valiant Durand was a vampire who fell into the cold category. It was a treatable condition that Valiant was continuously monitored and assisted with. As Emile and Valiant had never been close even though they attended many of the same functions and council boards and meetings, Emile was minutely curious as to why the vampire would remain in such a dangerous situation.
Glancing down, Emile returned his attention to the device. From his pocket, he took out a pocket knife and carefully eased the coating back on one of the wires attached. Hmm, interesting, not wires as such. Very delicate insulation over thin pipe.
Emile’s attention snapped back to the box. He tilted sideways to see better and sighed. Of course, the enemy, Renegades, had not designed a conventional bomb. This appeared to be one of their chemical experiments they were utilizing during battles these days that produced very efficient and harmful side effects. Anton crouched beside Emile and slapped a helmet on his head with a grin.
“Ready for the boom, friend?”
“There may indeed be a boom, quickly followed by gas. I would advise you, Dareios, and Valiant to retreat. Feel free to pull me out as you go.”
With a chuckle and thumbs up, Anton ran, waving his hand for Dareios and Valiant to do the same. Neither hesitated. Valiant held the door open for Anton and Dareios to rush through, both pulling the rope that was wrapped around Emile’s waist.
With a jerk, Emile was thrown backward through the air. Paranormals were exceedingly fast, possessing super speed and strength, and heightened eyesight and hearing. Emile was confident he would be removed from the vicinity of the chemical before it could have any effect upon him. There was a click followed by a quiet, short blast as soon as his foot lifted off the device. Emile landed hard on his right side but wasn’t permitted time to even hiss as Dareios and Anton moved with speed out of the room, pulling Emile with them.
The gas spread faster than he could ever have envisaged. Within a few seconds Emile was choking, and he had yet to be dragged halfway across the room. His head swam. Whatever this chemical was, it was potent, debilitating nearly instantly. Emile became a dead weight a second later, throat closing over. Valiant snarled and caught hold of the rope, his hands receiving numerous rope burns pulling Emile while keeping the door open, his eyes streaming from the chemical, also. Unfortunately, Valiant was quickly overcome. When he dropped, three soldiers in gas masks rushed in and grabbed both the fallen vampire and Emile, slamming the door closed while other soldiers sealed it.
“Holy fuck!” Bruno picked Emile up and tossed him over a shoulder. “Get Val Baby to the medical van, you also Dare, Anton.”
At that precise moment, Emile’s senses shut down completely, and darkness overtook him.
* * * *
Emile woke slowly. He was disorientated, his head feeling twice its normal size and pounding in an excruciating off-beat rhythm. Worse, he was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open and was unable to see clearly. There were voices all around, hazy, none making sense. He felt a large hand brush over his forehead and realized he had a tube down his throat.
“Be calm, Emile,” a deep voice ordered. “You’re on your jet. We’ll be at the Zurich Sanchez Compound in a few hours. The medics did a good job of flushing the chemical from your system. Now that you can breathe on your own, the tube can be removed, and you can try and shift.”
“Hi, Emile.” A soft voice, one Emile recognized as brother and a paramedic for the Sanchez pride soldiers, spoke near Emile’s head. “We think if you can shift it will help the healing process. I’m going to take the tube out, if that’s okay? Okay, thanks,” Linc Sanchez continued softly when Emile managed a nod. “Now take a deep breath, and I’m sorry if this is uncomfortable.”
Emile was a little grateful to Dimitri, one of Dareios’s brother’s, holding him down for the tube removal was more than a little uncomfortable, and he didn’t want to accidentally injure Linc if he struggled. With the tube out, Emile was able to breathe marginally better.
“V-Val-iant?” Gods, his throat was agony. It felt raw and torn apart. “Dare and A-Anton?”
“Dare and Anton have mild inhalation problems which should be cleared up with our fast healing in a few days. Val was swamped by the chemical shit and is in the next room. He’s not as bad as you. How are your eyes?” Dimitri asked.
“C-can’t see. H-h-hazy.” Emile began coughing, moisture covering his mouth.
“Shit, he’s coughing up blood,” Dimitri snarled.
“Can you shift, Emile?” Linc asked softly, voice strained as he pet Emile’s shoulder.
Emile wouldn’t allow that from anyone generally, family to a point. Linc had always been different. The cub was a little mountain lion whose family had thrown Linc away as if he were garbage when discovering his gift was broken and he may be gay. First, horrifically, the pride hunted the cub and participated in tearing the little boy apart. Emile had been with a team scouting for Renegades who were reportedly hiding out in the Nevada desert. He never found the Renegades. Instead, he discovered Lincoln at the bottom of a ravine, barely alive. Linc was so traumatized, he lay comatose for months. Emile’s parents instantly adopted the little mountain lion, and with a lot of care, especially from Emile’s cousin, Sebastian, Linc
began to recover. Now, years later, Linc was a paramedic for the Sanchez soldiers, the cub having a desire to help others, though he was well protected by bodyguards.
As Emile was currently responsible for Lincoln, the need to protect his brother kicked in, and he tried to shift.
For Emile, shifting was a very simple, fast transformation, but now was torturous. He growled and contorted and finally managed to go through the change, only to find whatever chemical was in his system multiple and latch onto major organs. Linc called the doctors in Milson City and quickly followed their instructions, shooting Emile with a tranquilizer, pain reliever, and a drug that coursed through his body like fire.
Screaming in agony, Emile was thankful the sedative kicked in quickly.
* * * *
The plane landed smoothly on the tarmac of the Sanchez Compound private airstrip in Zurich, Switzerland. Emile was wheeled off on a gurney, thankful he was awake and coherent, if not still weak. It was preferable to the agonizing pain he had suffered. Now the pain was more a niggling irritation with mild, sharp jolts occasionally due to the high-level painkillers he was being given. As a shifter, his body naturally fought drugs and anything foreign, so human drugs only mildly assisted. Paranormals long ago developed drugs specifically for each species, for even amongst creatures their individual type reacted differently to particular treatments. Emile was a good example of different species requiring specific drugs and medicines. As a white lion, his body had difficulty breaking down drugs that worked perfectly well with a tigers system. Fortunately, as his mother was also a lion, the family was aware and kept drugs that worked well for each of the families and pride, as there was an assortment. The Sanchez pride didn’t limit their membership to one feline breed. The last thing Emile needed while suffering from the chemicals adverse effect on his body was to be given a drug that either had no beneficial use, or reacted poorly and only made the situation far worse.
