by Brianna Jean
I leaned back against the kitchen counter and crossed my legs. “We found it at TJ Maxx.”
She took a sip of her drink and quirked an eyebrow as if telling me to continue. When I didn’t, she huffed out a breath. “God, that’s it? You people suck.”
“Big football fan, Minx?” Quint asked, walking to get himself some coffee. He brushed past me and flicked my forehead as he went. I slapped him upside the head.
“Hell yeah, always have been. It’s the Bills for me though.” She grabbed more bacon, chewing as she looked at me. “Alright, let’s get on with this. If I’m supposedly an Angel—hilarious, by the way—and now I’m your prisoner, I would like to know why.”
“Hold the fucking phone, sweet cheeks.” Quint took a sip of his coffee and placed it next to her before he leaned down and put his elbows in her lap, looking up into her eyes. “Did you just bitch about the Dolphins and then casually say that you like the fucking Bills?”
She laughed, and it was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. “Yes, I did.”
He used his fist to knock on her forehead. “Is anyone in there? Hello?”
She slapped his hand away and pushed him off her lap, still chuckling. Her whole face was lit up, bright and shining. She was radiant when she laughed, when she was truly happy. I couldn’t really understand how this situation didn’t freak her out, but she seemed relaxed—like she was used to not really having a home, so she made herself comfortable in whatever situation life gave her. This could be her new home, or it could be a pit stop; either way, she didn’t care as long as we weren’t a threat to her.
I expected more yelling, a bigger fight, her threatening to call the police, but none of that had happened yet, and instead, she sat there looking like she belonged. Either she was in survival mode and was panicking inside, or she felt the bond with us as well, and her natural instincts told her we weren’t a threat.
I doubted she knew which one it was.
“The Bills suck, I know. But they also have potential, and I like an underestimated underdog. They’ll come back, especially with Tyrod gone and their new QB being ripe as hell. Just give it a few years.” She grabbed a few more pieces of bacon in her fist and jumped down from the counter, picking up her coffee on the way. “Besides, my best friend, Brinley, used to have dreams that she had family in Buffalo, a brother. I knew it wasn’t true, but I couldn’t tell her that, so we watched the Bills play every Sunday or listened to the radio if we couldn’t see the game on the TV we had in the house. And if you know anything about football, you know that the Dolphins are one of our rival teams. So this household is officially becoming a Bills fanbase if I’m fucking ‘stuck’ here.”
She used air quotes around the word stuck, mocking laughter in her tone…she knew as well as we did that she could leave whenever she fucking wanted.
All four of us looked at each other, a mixture of emotions displayed on all of our faces. She didn’t seem to like the idea of being our prisoner, as she called it, but she just basically told us that she was staying, even still.
We stood motionless as she walked with purpose from the kitchen, entering the wide-open living space and then planting her ass on our black leather sofa like she owned it.
I was surprised by how casually she talked about Brinley when I knew the amount of pain she was in over her loss. She either didn’t want us to see her weakness or simply didn’t care. I was betting on the former.
“Do you guys have any blankets? If not, we’ll have to go and get some because I don’t fuck with air conditioning. It’s like Antarctica in here.”
I looked over at Lanier who was trying very hard not to laugh. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop my own chuckle from coming out. This girl was the fucking opposite of what we expected.
Quint ran down the hall into his bedroom and came back holding a black hoodie with white letters that read “GET FUCKED” on the front. He tossed the clothing at her, and it landed on her head, covering her face and forcing the sleeve to dip into her coffee. “There ya go, Minx. That’ll warm you right up.”
She didn’t answer, just pulled the hoodie off her head as she laughed and put it on. It dwarfed her small frame, but now she looked ridiculously comfy sitting on our leather couch like she belonged there. I walked around the island and moved to take a seat on the arm of the sofa. Lanier came forward and sat in the stark white loveseat to the right, and Quint sat down on the floor in front of where she was curled up in the middle of the couch. She patted his head twice. He grabbed her hand and bit down, causing her to yell out, “Ow, you bastard!”
He chuckled, not letting go of her hand.
“Alright, time for some answers, boys. Start from the beginning, prove you’re not totally insane.” She looked to me, then looked at Lanier. Quint just played with her fingers.
I cleared my throat and looked down at her. “You’re Nephilim. You’re half Angel and half Human.”
“Okay…” she drew out. “So do you know which parent was the holy one and which was the heathen?”
Lanier barked out a laugh. “Jesus, you’re something else.”
“I’m adapting to my surroundings, Stony. You’re pretending to not be affected by me, so I’m pretending I’m not affected by you. We’re all just here, in a penthouse, having coffee, and talking about supernatural creatures while we ignore the fact that for some reason, I want to strangle you every time you glower at me, but I would also cut out the eyes of anyone who looked at you the wrong way.” She gave Quint’s shoulder a squeeze. “Well, everyone is pretending except for this one, he seems to be following his instincts.”
I wanted to laugh it off, tell her she was being ridiculous, but she wasn’t. She said what all of us were too pussy to say. She fit into our world and she knew it, she just didn’t know the how or the why.
“It is an instinct,” Quint spoke up quietly, no laughter in his voice. He looked up at me and over at Lanier, his red eyes glowing brighter. “It’s like my brain is wired to be near her, plus my Bull wants to be close to her. So I’m doing it, I’m not making it weird, because it’s all just innocent fun, but I can’t pretend that I don’t want her around. You two might be able to deny it, but I don’t know how you’re actually fighting the urge.”
Annalise gave his hand a squeeze before letting go. “Alright, so we know this isn’t normal and not all of us are on board. That’s fine, I’m certainly not on board and won’t be until this gets explained to me. You corner me in an alley, one of you shows up at my house in the middle of the night…fucking invisible…to invite me to Hellhound, which turns out to be your fucking bar, and then the next thing I know, I’m being attacked in an alley by what I’m sure was a Demon. Now you’re telling me that the beast I’ve had inside my head for eleven years has turned me into an Angel. Why don’t you just tell me everything in one go, and then we’ll see how I feel after that.”
Her words were smooth and graceful, like a leader. Her voice wasn’t girly like some women—no, it was husky and sexy. She was beautiful even in yesterday’s makeup and her black hair a mess from sleeping off the Transition. I wanted to go to her, everything in my body wanting to be near her. Close enough to touch, close enough to get a hint of her scent, close enough to hold her to my chest. I wanted so badly to kick my brothers out, giving us the opportunity to talk about everything I saw—everything I knew about her.
She watched me closely for a few stolen moments. I locked my gaze with hers, looking into her eyes, letting her see everything I had in my soul. I wanted her to see all my light, all my dark, everything that haunted and chased me. Awake and asleep…it was her, everything in me was dipped and smothered in her very existence.
She must have found something in my eyes that made her smile, because she tilted her head and spoke softly, “I think I’m going to like you, Cabe.”
She was sincere, curious even. I gave her a grin. “I already like you, lilac girl.”
“Interesting,” she hummed, smiling into her cof
fee mug. She looked at me for just a second longer before her smile faded into something different, something more sinister, as she looked at Lanier. “What about you, Stony? You going to make this hard on everyone?”
The question was a challenge, a dare—she wanted his fight. He had a look of mischief in his eye, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think he was having a little fun. “I haven’t decided yet, Vix.”
“Fair enough,” she replied, stretching her legs out from underneath her and putting them on the floor. “Start talking, Lanier, we all know you’re the man of the house.”
That comment almost pissed me off until I remembered how true it was. Lanier was our leader, our glue. It didn’t take long for Annalise to realize it, apparently. Without Lanier, I wouldn’t have Quint, and without Quint, I wouldn’t have Lanier. The three of us couldn’t be more different, but he was still the center of our brotherhood.
Looking down at Annalise, I fought the urge to run my fingers through her silky hair. She was so close, and I honestly didn’t think she’d stop me if I did, but something held me back. Maybe it was the fact that I didn’t want my brothers to see my affection toward her, I wanted her to experience everything I had to give before I shared it with my brothers.
So instead, I gave her a small smile, hoping to show her that I wasn’t denying what I felt—I just had no interest in forcing myself on her in front of them. I wanted us to be alone first. I wanted to give her a chance to open up to me without the greedy eyes of my brothers on us.
Because what I felt for her was different than how Quint felt, or even Lanier. To them, she was theirs to keep…but I would give myself to her. I’d let her own me, body and soul. She was already burned into every corner of my brain, every fiber of my being. I was a man, I could handle my own, but without her, it all felt pointless.
She must have read all that on my face because her smile dropped and her eyes flew around my face as they took in my serious expression. She looked shocked by the depth of my affection, sending me into a slight panic as she quickly looked down.
Fuck.
After all this, she and I would talk. I had a lot to say.
I wasn’t kidding when I said I was pretending not to be affected by the three guys in this room, but for fuck’s sake…it was hard. I was practically buzzing with the energy of it all. I felt them everywhere. My body still ached, but every minute that passed, I felt stronger. I felt whole and complete—like I belonged here.
If it weren’t for Quint and his inability to fake it, I’d be a mess. Touching him, laughing at his stupid jokes…it took the edge off the sting of Lanier not wanting anything to do with me. I knew it was irrational to be upset, because I just fucking met them, but this was an instinct, something out of my control. It felt like I needed his approval, his acceptance, and I didn’t know why. I just wanted to understand.
I looked away from Cabe and over at Lanier. He was watching me and Cabe closely. Our exchange was clearly on display. Cabe did nothing to hide the desire on his face. I felt it tingle and burn along my skin. I itched under the weight of his feelings. They scared me, feeling too real. Clearly, these visions he had of me had given him a pretty solid glimpse into my life if he was able to develop feelings for me.
I wasn’t sure if I liked or disliked his feelings, I just knew that I wasn’t ready to deal with them. Quint made me comfortable. He felt familiar unlike Cabe and Lanier. Quint felt like a playmate, a kinky equal. Cabe felt like a safety net, someone who would be there to catch me if I fell—not something I was willing to desire. Shit like that, feelings like that, only led to heartbreak when they eventually went away. And Lanier? Well, he felt different.
What I felt when I looked at Lanier was terrifying. In all my life, I’d never been so captivated by another Human being—or whatever he was—but with him…captivated seemed like too weak of a word.
I turned my gaze to meet his. His jaw clenched as his eyes flared, the seafoam color fading to inky black as his pupils dilated. The air in the room grew so hot I almost choked on the flames.
Fuck me. His eyes.
Yeah, there was no doubt about it…I was in trouble. I wanted Lanier as much as I needed my next breath. But not just in the sexual sense. I could fuck him any day of the week, but what I wanted from him went deeper than sex. It was imbedded deep in my DNA. He was my equal. My perfect match.
It was as if I was watching myself from outside my body. Like this new version of myself cast the old version away and began to get comfortable in the new life that was handed to her.
Lanier’s flames danced with mine, sending hot pleasure down my spine and deep into my core. His eyes flashed as he sucked in an unsteady breath.
Why did I feel this way about them? All of them seemed to fit into my life, all of them would have a place in my life if I let them in. Why? How?
Before I could ask, Lanier broke eye contact, shook his head, cleared his throat and said, “I don’t know who your parents were. That was never told to us. But here is what you need to know first and foremost: you are more Angel than you are Human, which is why your powers began to develop before your Transition took place. Nephilim are a race that lives amongst the Humans to help aid them, keep them safe. Police officers, firemen, teachers, social workers, therapists, even psychics. We do what we can to blend in, but our main goal is to protect and enhance the Human race.
“However, The Maker, or God as you might know him, gives us a choice—in the form of a mating bond. Humans all have free will, unlike the four of us because were born as Nephilim, well, not Quint, but he’s another story. It’s in our nature to nurture Humans, but like any race or species, there are those few who fight their urges and deny their instincts. They resent what they are. So The Maker sends a mate to each Neph between the age of twenty-one and twenty-two, and they have the chance to turn down the bond and Fall.”
“Fall? As in a Fallen Angel?” I asked, my head swimming.
“Yes, exactly. We can go rogue and Fall, giving up the urges and instincts but also damning us to Hellfire. We lose the protection of The Maker. We were born into our duties without being given a choice, so He created a way for us to get one—or rather, the older generation got one.” He paused, looking around at all of us. I assumed he was waiting for me to ask questions, but I didn’t stop him; I wanted all the information at once. I didn’t miss how he insinuated that the mating process had stopped. “Except for the last twenty-one years. Not a single Neph has been mated during that time. None have shown up, no new bonds have formed.”
I took all that in, shifting in my seat and getting a little more comfortable. “So this is about me? You think I’m the reason that no…mates…have shown up?”
“We don’t know, Pup,” Quint said, leaning his head back into my lap so he could see me. He then gave up trying to see me from upside down and instead turned around, sitting with his back against the glass coffee table so he could stare straight at me. “We didn’t even know about you until my father told us that we had to find you, get you through the Transition and then keep you safe until he gave us the next step. It got more confusing when he told us that we had to bring you here and keep you off the streets. He never told us why.”
“What is Hellfire?” I asked quietly. My head hurt, and my heart was racing. I didn’t think I was going to like his answer.
“Hellfire is an in-between place for Fallen Angels and lower level Demons to hang out. They live there when they’re not Topside, or here on Earth as you know it, and Lilith governs over them,” he explained, searching my face. He looked worried.
He should be worried. I wasn’t buying this—any of it.
“Who is Lilith? What are you?”
He never broke eye contact as he said, “I’m a Warlock. Half Human, half Demon.”
“Like a male Witch? Can you do magic?” I asked seriously. This sounded crazy as fuck but also made total fucking sense—given his showing up in my room, completely invisible—which in turn, made no sense at al
l.
“Yes and yes,” he said simply. Well, that’s fucking scary.
And totally unbelievable.
“Who is Lilith?” I asked again, looking at each of them. I sat up a little straighter and gripped the rapidly cooling mug in my palms.
“Lucifer’s daughter,” Lanier answered, leaning forward and resting his arms on his knees.
Dread pooled in my stomach. Quint was part Demon. That shouldn’t turn me on, but… “Okay, I guess that checks out. So who is your father, Quint? Why would he want to protect me?”
He looked at both the guys before swallowing and looking at me. He winced, like telling me was painful. “Lucifer is my father, Minx.”
She took a deep breath, steadying herself before she closed her eyes and slowly shook her head, clearly stunned. It only took her a second to figure out how she was feeling before she looked back at me. “Lucifer?”
I nodded.
She looked confused as hell. I would have laughed if it weren’t such a serious conversation. She opened and closed her mouth multiple times before finally landing on the question she wanted to ask the most, “Like, Lucifer, Lucifer?”
Now I did laugh, loudly. “Yes, Pup, the very same.”
She glared at me for laughing, but I wasn’t about to go easy on her just because she had a hard time believing that I was the son of the Devil. I’d been living with it my entire life, and it hadn’t been easy. I was expected to cause chaos and set fire to everything I touched, but I chose to only feed when necessary, barely surviving.
I sat up straighter against the coffee table, bringing my fingers to my bottom lip gently pulling on it. Anna’s eyes trailed my movement, heat flaring up in her eyes. Sure, I was the Devil’s son, but all that meant was that I learned what to do and what not to do from the very best manipulator. Annalise may think of me as a play toy, someone she could sexually control, but she had no idea what it took to get me to submit.
