by Milana Jacks
I sit on the lap of the most selfless man in the world. Tears sting my eyes.
Pryus frowns. “What’s the matter?”
“I think the baby is making me sappy.”
His lips turn up. “How far along are you?”
“Not sure yet.”
“We need to see a doctor.”
“We will.”
“Together,” he warns.
“Okay.” I scrunch up my nose and gaze at the waves. “About the mind link…”
“You’re worried about the marking.”
I nod.
He hugs me tighter. “Mating is something that can’t be denied. You’re putting off the inevitable, and I won’t stop until I mark you and make you mine.”
I sigh. I knew this already. Pryus is amazing. “I’ve always been yours.”
“Mark. You. End of discussion.” He picks up his phone and puts my head back into the crook of his neck.
Pryus’s breaths are measured, his heartbeats steady. Mentally, I’m going through my to-do list when I feel him tense.
I lift my head.
Pryus is staring at his phone.
On it is a picture of Collin and me with yesterday’s date stamped in the bottom right corner.
“It’s not what you think,” I tell him.
Pryus snaps his eyes up and locks them with mine. Gray eyes that are the color of storm, and his wolf is surfacing. A growl builds in his chest. I’ve never seen Pryus so mad, and it’s a bit scary. I stand and step back.
He sits up and reads the news section. I don’t know what’s it saying, but it can’t be good. Articles like this one are written to excite the public, and they blow a normal situation out of proportion. A business dinner is misinterpreted, and I’m presuming that’s what they’re suggesting. That it was a romantic dinner.
“You went to dinner with the man you defended in the rape case? The same man who broke into this loft?” Shock registers in his eyes as they train on me.
I fist my hands. “I did.”
“You didn’t think to fucking tell me about it!” Pryus grips the railing as he cages me in.
“Don’t believe anything you’ve read. It’s all lies.”
“Oh, that’s big coming from a demon.”
I say nothing.
“Tell me the truth,” he bites out. “Do it now, Amy.”
His wolf’s dominance is pounding in my head. I look away. “I need to do this on my own.”
“Do what?”
“The…man owes me a debt. All debts have to be paid. We made a deal, and he lied. I defended him without a sliver of doubt. I never probed his mind for truth. I failed all those women.”
“The system failed them. You should’ve lost the case.”
“But I won.”
“Because you are an excellent lawyer.”
“Because I tried to be human! I failed because I didn’t probe him. Not just him, his victims. I probed no one. I worked for years without ever using what my daddy gave me. I seek to collect a debt.”
“Look at me,” he says.
I lock eyes with his silver ones. They glow. “You will leave that man to me. Promise.”
I pinch my lips. Collin isn’t a man at all.
“Promise me!”
“I can’t, because it would be a lie.”
I watch Pryus enter the loft, dress, and walk out on me.
Chapter Eight
Pryus
I ride out of Amy’s and my fucking place like a bat out of hell, surprised the cops didn’t pull me over. When I first saw the images of the motherfucker reaching for Amy’s hand across the table, I nearly leapt of my chair and shifted so I could gun after him. If I don’t take care of this guy, Amy will. He owes her a debt, and her soul can’t rest without collecting. Amy tried to go straight, meaning she’d tried the human ways without using her natural abilities in her cases. What ended up happening was that evil prevailed anyway. She must feel as if she helped evil walk the streets. She doesn’t want to correct the wrongs, she needs to correct what happened. For once, her motives aren’t self-serving, even if she tells herself the sole reason she’s after that man is to collect a debt. Amy feels for the victims and needs to see this through. But she picked the worst fucking time for angelic deeds.
She’s having my baby.
I’m in daddy mode. It’s a crazy sensitive state for me, and the rapist gotta be dealt with. The right thing to do is to approach the authorities. When my little sister went missing, they couldn’t spare the fucking resources, then the guy who killed her paid off some cops to shut them up. Everyone could be paid. Money spoke all languages. And that Hollywood billionaire had money that bought him a great lawyer who got him off.
My wolf is all up in my head, and I slide my sunglasses over my eyes as I enter the coffee shop, doorbells jingling above my head. With money on my mind, I get a cup of black coffee if only to clear my thoughts and allow my wolf to settle down. People are coming in and out, but the shop is quiet. Phone in hand, I sit in the corner and sip, deliberating whether I should do the job myself or hire someone trustworthy. I drum my fingers on the cup. Dirty and my pack mates come to mind. I don’t want my brother involved, and if I ask any one of my pack mates they’d tell him because he’s the pack’s alpha.
A wolf walks into the shop, and I recognize one of Svetomir’s boys, a kid maybe in his early twenties or less. He stands in line, surveying the shop, and when his eyes land on me, he nods in a greeting. Once he’s got his coffee, he stops by to shake my hand. We shoot the shit, and since I’d only met the kid yesterday, I’ve got little to say. I take the kid as a sign from a higher power. After he leaves, I call Svetomir and set up a meeting.
I don’t have a lot of time before Amy takes matters into her own hands. And I can’t let her go after the guy alone. I can’t stop her either. Letting a rapist walk around isn’t right, and she’d tried the case already. There’s no going back from this, only forward. When you cross a supe, we take care of our own business the same way my pack and I avenged my sister’s death and took over the biker club. We wear their MC cuts, and we ride their bikes. Collin won’t walk the streets for much longer.
I hire Svetomir. It’s his turf, so he needs to take care of this. He takes the job. He needs the money to save his sinking business anyhow.
Amy
After leaving, Pryus silences my phone calls. I dress, intent on finding him. As I step outside, nausea hits me, and I end up spending the day in bed. As soon as the night settles along with my stomach, I’m starving. Out of habit, I check the fridge, even though I didn’t go shopping. I find a paper bag. Pryus brought croissants from the shop next to my office. I eat four, thinking by the time I’m nine months pregnant, I’ll look like a whale.
Nausea hits me half an hour later, and I spend more time hugging the toilet. Pregnancy is tough. I googled and read that “morning sickness” goes away after the first trimester with most pregnancies. Let’s hope I’m having one of those.
It’s ten at night when I hear the door unlock. He walks in on silent feet, then I hear nothing at all. I lift my head yet don’t hear him entering the bedroom until fur brushes my back. I turn around and face his wolf. Pryus is a black wolf. His head is twice the size of mine, his eyes are silver and glowing, and he’d be scary if he wasn’t so cuddly. He lays his head on my belly.
I scratch behind his ears. “I love you, Pryus.”
The ears twitch, his sharp eyes on me.
We lie like this for a while, me staring at the ceiling, petting my wolf. He makes me feel safe and content, as if I don’t have a care in the world. I wince at the sound of bones cracking. Ouch. The muzzle retreats first, the front knees snap forward and become arms, the tail folds and joins the spine, the fur retreats, and a man finally forms. Pryus shakes his head.
Damn. “If I were a shifter, I’d change only during the full moon.”
He stretches on top of me, his eyes not entirely human, and when he smiles, his teeth are pointy, a
telltale sign Pryus isn’t completely a man. His wolf rides him, and the wolf isn’t a chatty creature. Between my legs, Pryus is hard. He takes my wrists and restrains them above my head. One hand holds my wrists while the other lifts my leg. His cock is a sword and needs no guidance. Pryus knows my body, and all he needs to do is jerk his hips and enter me. I throw my head back and bite my lip because Pryus’s cock is big. I’m always wet for him, though tonight, he didn’t prep me. He’s past that. He must claim what’s his, and I don’t resist. When he comes to me as a wolf, I know he’s reached the tail end of his patience.
While in bed sick all day, I mentally prepared for the marking. I’m ready for a mind link, and I’ve secured my secrets behind walls. Even if I love him and accept him as my soul’s mate, I own my secrets. I of all people enjoy privacy inside my head. I will lose that luxury tonight when I gain a soul mate. There’s no such thing as something for nothing. Pryus is worth everything, and since I’ve built my walls, I can protect him from myself. I’m ready for his mark.
The moment he moves in and out of me, I lock gazes with him. His face is different. Not wolf and not human either. The jaw is larger to accommodate those big teeth, the nose is flatter, and the eyes are sharper.
He rocks into me.
They say you can fall in love with someone just by sharing the intimacy of looking into each other’s eyes. They really are gateways to the soul. His cock stretches my pussy, and Pryus picks up the pace. I hitch a breath. We’ve never had vanilla sex, and the act is intimate. I lift my hips so I can rub my clit on his pelvis. Pryus groans. “Baby girl, you are mine.”
“I know.”
“Give me your neck.”
I turn my cheek.
Pryus strikes the soft spot near my shoulder. I scream in surprise at the pain and fist my hands. His teeth clamp onto my muscle, and blood trickles down my skin. He’s pounding me with such force, the headboard is gonna fly inside the neighbor’s bedroom on the other side of the wall. The friction of his pelvis on my clit helps build my orgasm. And while he’s fucking me into oblivion, I’m trying to pay attention to what’s happening inside my head. But the physical pleasure takes over, and I stop thinking. The heat flushes down my pussy, and I squeeze his dick with all my might, milking his cum as it shoots up my body.
He releases my wrists but not my shoulder. Growls vibrate from his chest, and he’s not pulling out. I hug him. “Take your time,” I say. I search my head and find my walls, the ones that shielded all the evil shit and definitely my recent plans, gone. I panic, all my muscles locking up. I’d spent the day building those walls around my memories, and now they’re all out where they used to be as if I did nothing. Before I freak out, I search for intruding brain waves. “We should be mind linked, right?” There’s nothing in my head, and when Pryus stays quiet, panic rises in my throat. I choke on a sob.
Pryus’s rough tongue licks my wounds. It’s gross yet soothing, and I’ll heal better. Seeing as I’m a demon who heals faster than a human, I should sport scars, not open wounds, unlike my sister, who got patched up at the local doctor’s office after Dirty marked her.
Pryus finishes up and lifts his head. I expect him to address my surging anxiety at the lack of a mind link but he’s staring down at the sheets, his face and eyes human. “I should’ve gotten a towel. The sheets are ruined.”
“Fuck the sheets, Pryus. Where is your mind?”
“In my head,” he says. “Yours?” He smirks and pecks my lips.
“There’s no link.”
“No.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means we didn’t mind-link.”
“But we’re mated?” I don’t breathe.
“Yes.”
I sigh in relief. “Okay, then.” Why aren’t we mind-linked? It bugs me.
“I have…shields,” he says.
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“Try to see.” He points to his temple. “Go on in.”
I believe he’s inviting me inside his head. I hesitate. Pryus is my sacred ground. I don’t want to invade him.
“Go on.”
I swallow and reach inside his mind. Immediately, I see through his eyes as he looks down at me. Gosh, I have dark bags under my eyes. This is Pryus’s thought right now. He’s concerned that I’m tired. I hesitate to dig in further than this moment, but I’m also a demon, a curious little fucker, and I want to know about his day. Where has he been? I stroll past the current time and hit a wall. My mind reaches for it, but it’s a black hole, kind of like a blank screen. Behind it are his memories, thoughts, and secrets. The tendrils of my mind touch the surface of the black wall that appears as an infinite space. The work, or texture, if you will, feels familiar. “You have walls,” I say.
“Shields.”
“Where did you learn how to do this?”
“I didn’t. You gave them to me.”
“When?”
“Just now.”
I blink. I didn’t even know I transferred my walls to him. This mating bond is a power in its own right. “Why would I give you my shields?”
“To protect me.” He cups my face. “Here’s the thing with you, Amy. You’re not as selfish as you aspire to be. There’s a part of your soul that knows I’m the man who gets protection. Even from itself.”
Chapter Nine
Pryus
I jerk my head away from the fluffy pillow and look around. Amy’s sleeping next to me, and the digital clock on the nightstand reads 2:13 in the morning. It’s the middle of the night. Below us, a latch pops, the sound muffled.
Maybe it’s a stray animal or rats or something.
I listen.
Faint sounds of shuffling steps, then nothing again.
Careful not to wake Amy, I get out of bed and throw on my jeans. Maybe Dirty came with Natie? Nah. Natie handed me the loft’s spare key. Unless she kept a spare of a spare. Why they’d come at this hour is beyond me, but not beyond Dirty. I approach the bedroom door as if to open it. Many footsteps up the stairs. Quiet, but I hear them just fine.
This ain’t Dirty. He’d have waited downstairs or called my phone. From my saddlebag on the gray footrest near the bed, I grab my gun and leave the bedroom. Before I round the corner, I glance downstairs. Svetomir sits on the couch, his face grim. A man I recognize from yesterday’s picture leans against the wall, his gaze on the loft as if admiring the fucking architecture. I don’t give a shit who the fuck is walking upstairs, and I don’t ask questions, but round the corner and point the gun at the pair of males coming up the stairs. “Show me your hands,” I tell the males climbing the steps.
One of them is the boy from the coffee shop. They came here carrying garrotes. They planned to strangle us in our sleep. Fucking Svetomir sold me out and sent kids after me. Honestly, I’m offended he believes he can take me. “Drop the wires and walk out of the apartment.”
They stand there.
One advances, but the kid from the coffee shop remains where he is. He’s not moving but not following my orders either. He fears me, as he should. He’s a beta wolf and about to brawl with an alpha wolf. Zero chance of survival. The stupid one kicks out with his right leg. I sidestep and use his momentum to push him over the upstairs rail.
He face-plants on the bottom floor and groans, shaking his head.
“Stay down,” I tell him.
The kid before me is frozen. I ain’t even worried about him anymore. Svetomir shrugs off his jacket, his shoes, and I know what he’s got in mind. Still, this Collin fucker is examining the loft, and this shit ain’t normal.
“Fuckaface,” I call out to him.
He snaps his gaze my way, and something pleasant slithers down my skin. The only reason I know something’s weird is because those shields in my head stir. The sensation of their stirring comes back to me from the part of my brain I recognize as my wolf’s instinct. Collin’s got his eyes locked with mine when his brighten ever so slightly. The eyes are windows to the soul, and I would b
et my balls I’ve got another demon in here. Recognizing demons is tricky. They are humans who carry a demonic soul. They smell human but slightly different, and I haven’t smelled the guy yet. It explains why Svetomir betrayed me. Collin is a supe in possession of a wealth Svetomir always wanted to attain. It’s worth betraying another wolf over alliance with a demon.
Amy has no idea what she’s been dealing with. Or does she? Well, fuck, she might. And she would try to handle the demon, now more than ever.
I wonder what kind of demon I’m dealing with until my balls swell and my cock rises. Incubus. They prey on our primal urges. I’m aroused, but I don’t feel like going after Amy, and I don’t feel his presence in my head. Svetomir is watching our silent standoff, his hand cupping his balls as Collin spreads his mojo all over the house. The poor kid upstairs is whining and curled up in a ball, one hand over his man parts. The one downstairs is crawling to Collin.
I chuckle and point to my head. “Can’t get in there, hm?”
“I don’t need to.”
The pain in my lower belly makes me bend over. My balls and dick feel like they’re gonna explode. I grunt and grit my teeth.
“Sooner or later, you will succumb to my power, return to your bedroom, and fuck that demon whore inside. You will not stop until you are dead or she has killed you. Either one works for me.”
Physically, I’m struggling through the pain. Mentally, my wolf is with me, and I’m shifting. My bones crack and rearrange in record time. I leap over the rail and land on the couch, my lips pulled back as I show him he’s about to die. Collin’s gaze is focused up the stairs. I growl and snarl, bend my hind legs, poised to jump and tear out his throat.
“Pryus!” Amy screams.
Svetomir is shifting. His bones are cracking. While he’s doing that, I gotta kill Collin, then take on Svetomir, while also keeping an eye on the kid upstairs and near Amy. Svetomir strips me of choices. He tackles me, and we rise on our hind legs, biting anyplace we can land our teeth. He’s fast and strong. We’re snarling, snapping, biting, scratching. In a ball of fur, we tumble to the tile and wrestle. I’m doing everything I can not to get pinned down, to avoid his teeth on my belly or throat. My shoulder bleeds, my back leg is probably broken, but I pay it no mind.
