by Marie Harte
“We are so fucked.” James groaned.
Teban chuckled. “Yes, we are.”
“You know what I mean.” James sounded worried. Teban watched him stroke Kihra’s back like a protective mate. “She seems so fragile, but she’s so strong. I don’t know what to make of her.”
“She’s special. We talked for a good bit while you were unconscious.” He took his digs where he could, and seeing James’s blush was satisfying. “Kihra has a big heart, and she needs a purpose, something more than guarding stacks of bones. She won’t sway souls, and she’s not meant to be a dragon Guardian, I don’t think. But I can sense she has a part to play in our future as more than our mate.”
“That reminds me. I’m not a breeder.”
“Nor am I.” Demons and dragons often had a certain sect of their kind who did the breeding for their kin. “From what Kihra has said, the havoc don’t have breeders. They all procreate, just not very often. Since her deity seems to have blessed her with us—her words, not mine—she’s game to keep us and have babies.”
James paused. “Do you think this Kingu is real?”
“I haven’t heard of this being, but that’s not to say Kingu isn’t real.”
“It’s just odd that Asael never mentioned the guy. Girl. Whatever.”
“Perhaps you can ask him when you introduce him to your mates.”
“You just had to say that, didn’t you?”
Teban smiled. “I did.”
“You’re pretty damn smug for a dragon who’s no longer able to fuck anything that moves.”
“I was never averse to settling down. Things are changing. My mother will soon take her eternal rest, and the first blue dragon born in over fifteen thousand years will rule our kingdom. The angels and dragons are brewing for another war, and we’ve finally met the havoc, a race that’s done its best to secede from the lower realm. Blood elves have souls, and apparently the havoc do as well.”
“So much shit changing. Blows my mind, to be honest.”
“Mine too,” Teban admitted. “But we have something special, James. Something most dragons, demons and humans would kill to have. A connection so strong it crossed the borders of the lower realm.”
“Yeah.” James blew out a breath, and Teban wondered if he’d gotten through to the stubborn demon after all.
“There is no going back. Now we have to face an uncertain future and make our world right. The dragons will be curious, antagonizing and maybe even brutal until they realize you two can hold your own. I’d imagine we’ll fare no better in havoc lands. I don’t even want to think about the demons. Asael has a tendency to get a bug up his ass if he’s not the last word on everything.”
“You think?” James groaned and turned to his side. He propped his head up on his elbow, watching Teban with bright blue eyes glowing in the shadows of the room. “I can work around my father. I always have.”
Hmm. Perhaps having an illicit relationship was working in their favor. Teban hadn’t considered that being objectionable might be perverse enough to get James to accept them.
“He won’t approve.” Teban paused. “Maybe you’re right. We should end this before it begins.”
James frowned. “Bullshit. I won’t bow to anyone telling me what to do, not even my dad. I mean, if my sister could mate a dragon, and my brother took an angel right out of the upper realm—”
“Technically she’s a nephilim.”
“Angel, human, who cares? The point is she’s not a demon or wholly human, and Asael didn’t pitch a fit about it,” James said. “Did you ever think that maybe we don’t need to be the ones adjusting to being together? Maybe the rest of the Ethereal do.”
Teban bit back a grin. “You plan to continue as though our mating is the most natural thing in the world, eh? I have to hand it to you. You’ve got real balls on you, James.”
“You’d know. You licked them in the shower.”
“And you sucked mine in the kitchen. Whose are bigger, do you think?”
James snickered. “Between your bites and her claws marking me up, I’m in orgasmic hell. The way she teethes my dick…yeah. The pain feels so damn good.”
Teban chuckled. “You’re so easy.”
“And you’re damn big up my ass. Maybe next time I take you?”
“I don’t know if you could handle it.”
Small hands slapped them both on the chest. “Shh. My brain and body need rest.”
Teban took her hand and kissed it. James did the same.
“Our owner has spoken,” James teased.
“Then we should obey. Good night…mate.”
“Good night, my prince, you poor lower being.”
“Ass.”
“Dick.” James poked him in the chest. “But man, you pack a big dick, I just have to say.” He snuggled closer to Kihra and hugged her. “Now shush. You heard our fanged mistress. Go to sleep.”
Teban wrapped an arm around both his female and his demon, truly content for the first time in seven hundred years. He slept the sleep of the blessed damned.
In the same dive bar James, Teban and Kihra had recently vacated, one of Joey Flintano’s boys stood outside talking to a man with long red hair, large muscles and blue eyes that seemed to look right through him.
“All three of them, together, hmm?” the man asked in a voice that seemed to sing with purity.
“Nah. I know Jamie boy, and he ain’t with any guys. Was trying to one-up Joey is all,” Mike said. “Now the chick? Jamie was eye-fuckin’ her the whole time. And man, was she hot. Big tits, ass you want to bite into. Guaran-damn-teed he’s hitting that.”
“Good to know.” The man handed Mike a wad of cash. “You’ve been a big help, Mike.”
Mike smiled. “Sure thing, Annie.”
“Annua.”
“Right. Sorry, dude. Weird name, but you’re all right.”
“I try.” Annua left Mike behind and rejoined his companions.
Annua noted that Zephon, as always, had the patience of a saint.
“Was it James Sinclair or the other one, Duncan?” Zephon asked in a calm voice.
“It was James. He’s with the dragon prince, as we suspected. And a female as well. One he’s apparently quite attached to.”
Daniel ended a call on a cell phone. “Much as I detest these devices, they do come in handy.” He shared what his contacts had told him about James and the female. “A lot of perversions going on in Sinclair’s condo. My informant saw James fornicating with the female against the paned glass wall of his place. And he saw the dragon there too, watching and participating.”
Annua grimaced. “Then we make our move. It’s time the lower realm learned that angels aren’t to be trifled with.”
“Well…there’s more.”
Annua frowned.
“My source in the catacombs mentioned something else.” Daniel relayed what he’d learned.
“The havoc?” Zephon rubbed his chin. “I don’t know…”
“Well I do. I’ve spoken with their chieftain a time or two over the past few centuries,” Annua said. “Myfere won’t appreciate a havoc female cavorting with dragons and demons. I’ll have a word with him. You two, report to Uriel after you capture the female. And remember, leave traces of demon and dragon all over the site. Let war come to the lower realm, and may it be on James Sinclair’s head.”
They nodded, prayed and resolved to break the unholy joining of demon, dragon and havoc—because it was the righteous thing to do.
Kihra sat outside on James’s patio, overlooking Philadelphia, and sighed with happiness. She couldn’t say why or how it had happened, but she no longer felt so alone. At home, among the familiar, she’d never been joyful. Not truly. She’d done her duty, cared for those of her kind and had sex to fill her energy stores. But she’d never connected with the ha
voc in that deep way she had with a dragon and a demon.
Teban was so gentle while also being an utter beast. He’d ravished her again this morning before leaving for the catacombs. He supposedly had some business to discuss with his brother, the king. A summoning to return home he could not refuse. But before he’d gone, he’d breathed a special flame all over her, and he’d called her his mate.
“I own him too.” She shivered at the remembrance of so much heat. Normally she would have burned. Even the havoc were not immune to dragon flame. But when given to one with whom a soul connection had been made—according to Teban—no harm would come.
James joined her outside and stroked her cheek before sitting at the table. He plunked down a tray filled with decadent sweets and a strong aroma of something hot.
“Cinnamon rolls and coffee. The devil’s own breakfast.” He smiled.
“You seem quite ordinary, almost human at times, and at others I sense great chaos in you.”
His smile widened. “You say the nicest things.” He winked. “That’s the power of the demon.” He chuckled. “Temptation seems so innocent. A simple thing to ignore. But I’m here, whispering. Then I’m inside you, spreading like a drug.” He leaned close to kiss her and cupped her breast through the robe he’d given her to wear. “And you’re coming, and it’s so hard not to fall into the void of pleasure and escape, uncaring of the consequences.”
He kissed her again, then pulled back, and she’d swear that for all her talk of owning him, he had just claimed her. Thoroughly. “Yes, very devious,” she said on a breath and laughed at his grin.
“Are you still set on returning to havoc lands?” he asked after a moment. “You said something about living with me or Teban, but you also seem to want to head back. I still don’t know that much about your kind.”
“We are natural protectors.”
“Of the havoc.” He shrugged. “Like the dragons, I’d guess. We who serve Asael aren’t as invested in species loyalty. At least, I’m not. I have better things to do than kiss my father’s ass.”
She frowned. “My purpose was not about false flattery.”
“Kihra, you guarded stacks of bones. What’s the use in that?”
She might have taken offense if he hadn’t sounded genuinely puzzled. “It’s not the bones we guard, it’s the memories of a great wonder. Kingu, our maker, gave much to our kind. Unwavering strength, a connection to the core. Powerful pleasure that facilitates our needs.”
“Connection to the core? What does that mean?”
“I am strong. Stronger than you and our dragon. My connection to the Earth gives me power, just as the carnal pleasures we share strengthen me.” She frowned. “Yet it is not the same here, in the Ordinary.”
“Are you feeling okay? You’re not sick or anything, are you?”
“No. But I feel a distance from the core of my being. It’s not bad, just different.”
“I’m used to being here. I sense the souls I need to sway, and I’m good at my job.”
“At seducing your prey,” she corrected, and saw him nod. “You should take great pride in that. You are very hard to resist.”
“Thank you.” He looked her over and shook his head. “I’m still not sure how you hooked me so fast. One minute I’m facing death by fanged kid, the next you’re sexing it up with Teban and I can’t look away.” He paused. “You’ve had a thing for him for a while, hmm?”
“Since I first saw him,” she confessed, then added, “as I have for you.”
“Come on. I’m not buying that one.” Yet he sat up a little straighter next to her.
“Teban is fierce and scary and so handsome. His dragon form is the envy of those havoc who have seen him. We do not interact with the dragons, but we keep a watch for those near our borders. The blood elves, some mystics, demons and devils, the occasional lost soul—all need to be handled. We do not get many dragons. And we certainly have never gotten a demon who could command blue flame.”
“You like it?”
“It’s very powerful. Your energy is perfectly aligned with mine. And Teban’s.” She watched him watching her, saw his lust and let her own build. “We are one, my lovely pet.”
His lips quirked. “We really do need to discuss this ‘pet’ fetish you seem to have. I’m not a pet, and I’m not wearing a collar.” He stood and shocked her by pulling her to her feet and lifting her in his arms. “But I’d be happy to see you wearing one.”
In the blink of an eye, he’d teleported them inside his bedroom. He removed her robe and his pants, leaving them both naked. He pushed her against the wall, his front to her back as she faced away from him.
“James?”
“I think it’s time I showed you what I can do, baby.” He turned her head for a kiss while he dragged her hands above her head and kept them there, using one hand to hold her wrists. With the other, he reached around to caress her breasts. The constant rubbing against her nipples excited her.
He stopped kissing her to trail his lips down her neck. She felt him large and thick against her ass, and she wondered if he meant to take her that way again.
“I need to fuck you. Long and slow.” He let go of her wrists. “Keep your hands there.”
“Yes.” She tried to think, but his touch erased thought. His hands seemed to be everywhere, and then his fingers slid between her legs, plucking her clit, shoving in and out of her slick sex. He owned her just now, making her his plaything as he stroked gasps and cries from her.
He pinched her clit then shoved two fingers in her, and she came, rocking back against him. Still he refused to enter her.
“Now, demon.”
“Not yet,” he said, his voice thick, his touch urgent.
He continued to kiss, nip and grind against her. Then he pulled her hips back, prodded her thighs wider, and positioned himself at her entrance. He slammed hard, penetrating fully, and she came again, this time on a shriek.
Like Teban had before, James took her without cease. Rough, forceful and thoroughly until she came again, right before he did. James roared his climax and poured into her, and it took her a moment to realize he was on fire again, and this time he’d poured some of that blue magic into her.
“Fuck, yes. So good, Kihra,” he groaned and spent the last inside her. They stayed locked for what seemed like forever but wasn’t long enough.
When he withdrew, her legs felt rubbery. James leaned against her and kissed her shoulders. “Okay, pet,” he teased. “Let’s clean up.”
She wanted to take offense at his joking, but having been loved so thoroughly, she couldn’t. To her surprise, he proved himself a tender lover as he cleaned her in the shower. He washed her hair, soaped her body and rinsed and dried her off with gentle hands, something she’d never experienced with any of her kind.
“You are being soft,” she accused as he brushed her hair while they sat on his bed, both wearing robes of the softest fuzzy cotton.
He chuckled. “Well, you wore me out earlier.”
“No.” She flushed. “I mean, your touch is tender. You are caring for me.”
“Trying to, at least. Your skin is so smooth, but the muscle underneath is unforgiving.” He seemed fascinated as he ran his hands over her robed body. “I love how you feel.”
She sensed the truth, could feel the heat of affection and desire pulsing in him. “You do.”
He blinked up at her. “How is it you can share sexual feelings with me? It’s almost like you’re a succubus, but I know you’re havoc.”
“There is some distant relation there. Kingu molded us from demons in the time before.”
“No kidding?”
She shrugged. “I have been told this.”
“Huh. Then I guess there is the possibility we could breed.”
She couldn’t tell what the look on his face meant. “Teban told
me you and he are not breeders.”
“Ah, no, not normally. But my sister isn’t either, yet she’s supposed to have demon/dragon young.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. She’s mated to Ranton, the legion’s commander. Asael even blessed the union.”
“You fear your father, don’t you?”
“Hell, yeah. Anyone with half a brain fears him.” Pride made his words shine.
“A worthy male, then.”
“Do you fear your chieftain?” he asked.
She had to think about that. “I suppose I do.” But not enough to obey his order to abandon her sacrifices. Teban and James belonged to her and no other. Her brother would either accept that or he would not. But she refused to let her mates go.
“Will you be sad not to go back?”
She realized she’d never truly answered his question from before, about where she wanted to live. “I love the havoc lands.” Yet she wanted escape from them too. “But I—”
What else she might have said got lost in the scuffle that followed. Intruders had entered the bedroom on silent feet and were intent on beating James into submission.
He fought three of them while she faced four others with white, fluffy wings.
“Angels, I take it?” She’d never seen them up close, but there were pictures in the rocks below. She dreaded the light she could see in their eyes, that purity that surrounded them like a fresh, ugly, flowery scent.
Two of them grabbed her, and she shrieked. The pain of their revolting touch burned.
“Kihra!” James fought off his attackers by burning them with flame. He launched himself at her, just as she knocked two of the angels off their feet.
Her strength faded fast, and she was shocked to discover she couldn’t move as quickly as she could below, that her punches and kicks lacked the force she normally had when brawling with monsters.
“Feathered scourge.” She swore as more of the winged freaks entered the room.
James lunged for her and managed to get her free from their holds. “Run. Get to the ground. We’re too far up for—”
