Rage Against the Devil (Wild Beasts Series Book 2)

by T. Birmingham

  Nicky’s own hunter green aura with hints of darker brown and Ginny’s Darkness mixed with shades of silver joined the circle, and he gasped as he felt their combined power.

  There was a tearing as the power took hold of the Fae and ripped the creature down the middle. But now two forms stood in the center of the ring of power. A ghostly form of a Shade, a female Shade who looked a great deal like Eire. And the other form was more solid, and yet flickering. Switching so quickly between so many different forms of men and women it had been over the years, that the image was unclear even to Nicky’s Clan eyesight.

  Lina stepped forward, surrounded by the protection of her Light, and instead of shying from the flickering form of the god who had hurt her so deeply, she plunged the knife into the heart of the beast.

  “Henry Fenwick Jones, you are dead to me.” Lina’s voice rang clear across the clearing and the young Azima woman watched, face impassive, as the once powerful god, once loyal wolf, once fated mate to Titania, faded and then turned to ash before blowing away in the wind and landing on Titania’s ghostly form.

  A wolf appeared at her side, and whereas before, she had been unable to shed tears. Now, the silver tears of the goddess fell silently as she leaned down to finally pet the wolf who had once been hers.

  Survival was a funny thing. It was actually sort of anticlimactic. Well, actually, there’d been a shit ton of climaxes that night after they’d gotten back and Eire had gotten Nicky all to herself.

  But all in all, she felt a little lost still.

  She walked up to the newly finished Lodge, afraid to step inside. Girls’ Nights had always been at Carrie’s place, but Carrie had left almost a week ago now. Disappeared. Packed up her belongings with only a note for Eire to see.

  Eire,

  I can’t hurt him.

  Thanx for being the one star who understood me, for being the one person who loved me just as I was.

  Hold onto Nicky. He’s a keeper.

  A tear drop had been right above the last part of the message.

  And look out for my brother and Danny. Other than you, they’re the two best people there ever was.

  Peace out, you adorable Fae freak.

  Your almost best friend,

  Carrie

  She’d only shared the message with Nicky, and he’d told her his conversation with Carrie. She’d wanted to be mad at him, but she also knew Carrie. Carrie had been running and hiding for almost two years now. Nothing Nicky had done or said had changed anything.

  But Eire wasn’t one to give up on a friend, and as much as Carrie wanted to wallow and escape, and as much as Nicky was worried about Danny, that just wasn’t possible. Eire knew first hand, from what she’d experienced with her mother, that being Fae touched did not go away – ever.

  She stepped into The Lodge, the scent of pine hitting her full force and she smiled as she closed her eyes. Damn, she loved that smell. Another smell hit her not long after. Caramel. The girls had the Ben and Jerry’s out.

  The Lodge was enormous, the entrance open, but warm and inviting. Three fireplaces spanned the large room that would soon bring in business and also protection for Clan members as well as Others. This Lodge would be different. Eire, Nicky, Ginny, and even Alexia had fought for that right, no matter that Alexia’s father, James, had paid for the building of the place. The upstairs had over twenty rooms for guests as well as a full-service spa that they were in the process of hiring for. There was a basement with every investigative gadget Eire, Ginny, Gimp, Nicky, and even Damon could ever want. And the main floor with the large front room also had a full service restaurant where Carrie would have been cook, but now they were in the process of hiring for that position as well.

  Eire walked back to the kitchen, hearing the laughter from her friends, but she stopped when she got to the door. Ina was there. She hadn’t spent much time with her long lost friend this past week.

  Hell yes, she’d been avoiding her.

  Ina knew the truth now. The truth about Eire, about Damon, about Lochlan and Nessa. But the Azima hadn’t shared the revelation with Damon, something Eire just knew would turn out badly in the end. She didn’t know why Ina had kept it to herself.

  So, yes, she’d avoided her childhood friend.

  Jesus, she’d thought she’d grown up. But she guessed growing up wasn’t something that happened in an instant. It was a gradual process covered in a litany of scars and accidents and joy and pain, and a lifelong journey of becoming the best version of you.

  So, Eire sucked in a breath, pulled on her big girl panties like Carrie would have told her to do, and walked into the large kitchen. Ben and Jerry’s was everywhere. This was her first sight, and then her vision was barred because she felt the strong arms of Alexia and Ginny and Gemini surround her in a huge hug.

  “Fuck, guys,” she said, but her statement lacked heat. “Give a girl some room.” Except she was afraid of room because Ina stood at one end of a large, stainless steel butcher block that looked more like a gorge of space that separated them than a traditional mass producing kitchen staple.

  “Eirey,” Ina said with a smile. “I don’t bite.”

  Eire smiled at the comment.

  “And what, may I ask, is wrong with biting?” Alexia asked and Gemini and Ginny stood by her side, the same expressions on their face.

  Everyone laughed, and Eire walked to Ina’s side.

  “I’m still learning the emotions thing,” Eire said, leaning against the steel. The cold helped center her, as cold always did.

  “Everyone is still learning the emotions thing,” Ina said, using her fingers to make quotes when she said, ‘emotions thing’ and Eire smiled at the gesture.

  “We’ll work on it, right?” Eire asked, unsure if she meant her emotions or their friendship, which had ended so long ago, but which had meant the world to her at one point.

  “Yeah, we’ll work on it,” Ina said and pulled her in for a hug. Eire held on tight, accepting that they were starting fresh, new, and that it would take time to build a new type of relationship with the powerful Azima in front of her.

  They’d both been through a lot since childhood. They were the same in so many ways, and still so very different from who they’d been. Changed. Darker. None of that was bad. Just different.

  “We ready to tackle Rocky for the next couple Girls’ Nights?” Ginny asked, bouncing up and down like Tigger on crack.

  “I’d tackle Sylvester Stallone any day,” Ina said, and the group was silent for a beat before they broke into laughter, grabbing the Ben and Jerry’s and walking into the small movie theater off the dining area.

  “Sylvester Stallone? Really?” Alexia asked. “I’m more of a Keanu Reeves or Shemar Moore kind of girl.”

  “Oh, definitely Shemar Moore,” Ginny said, putting the movie into the player and turning on the projector. “But no, who’s that guy who plays in the Twilight films?” she asked, turning off the house lights and sitting down next to Eire who was now squished between two Skröm.

  “Guys, really?” Eire asked. “We have a theater with six couches and various chairs and we’re all going to sit on these two couches?”

  Ginny, Gemini, Ina, and Alexia all gave her looks that basically said what Carrie would have called duh looks. Jesus.

  “Fine!” Eire said. “Fine! Crazy ass Clan weirdos.” But she loved her crazy ass Clan weirdos, so she smiled as she settled in, her caramel ice cream sliding down her throat and causing a delicious shiver.

  “You’re gonna make me jealous, Vanilla.” Nicky’s face was right next to hers, and she didn’t know what had happened to her senses that she hadn’t noticed him come in. When his lips touched hers quickly, a different kind of shiver skated down her body, making her feel warm and melting her cold.

  “Damn it, Nicky,” Alexia said, as she stood up and walked to Devon. “Don’t get all gross in front of everyone.” Of course, Devon plastering himself at Alexia’s back only made them all laugh. Damon, Gimp, Danny, a
nd Matt entered the room laughing as well.

  Not Ben, though. He didn’t laugh. He came in behind Gimp, stoic, silent, and Eire wanted to help him, heal him, but she knew instinctively that it would not be welcome, but also that his wounds were deeper than Eire’s capacities.

  Nicky pulled her chin toward him and she felt the couch shift as Ginny got up.

  Eire saw his brown eyes darken and his pupils expand, and she loved how magical his eyes were even without a magical change to them. He was her wolf. Her protector from her own stupidity.

  She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, his hand touched her cheek.

  “I love you,” he whispered in her ear, and she felt his warm breath there.

  “I know,” Eire said, rubbing her face against his, and he chuckled at the movement. Damn, she was becoming more wolflike. Nuzzling. Cuddling. Liking a pack of people around her, except when it was just her and Nicky.

  And right now, she couldn’t sit around and watch some damn movie, no matter that Rocky movies were the shit. No, she needed her wolf, and he needed her.

  “Hell on wheels,” Ginny said loudly, and Eire turned to see her sitting on the couch next to Ina, who had a secret smile on her face. Damn it. “Go get laid, Eirey who is still a bitch, but not an über bitch anymore.”

  “Thank you for that,” Damon said, and she saw her big brother cringe.

  “Yes, thanks,” Eire said, scrunching her nose. “That’s exactly what I want my big brother to hear.”

  Ginny didn’t look at all contrite. She just turned back to her ice cream and shrugged her shoulders, muttering to herself.

  “She’s yours to deal with,” Eire said to Gimp, but he just gave her a dark look before chucking her chin and moving to sit down in the chair next to Ginny.

  Eire moved to grab the shoes she’d taken off earlier and her brother came up beside her while Nicky talked with Danny.

  Alexia and Devon headed out, waving goodbye to everyone and the only mated couple who stayed was Gemini and Matt.

  Because she and Nicky were for sure leaving.

  “Eirey.” Damon moved into her side, and she had such a calm strength overtake her at her big brother’s closeness. She looked up at him and smiled, but her smile fell when she saw his serious face. “I’m sorry, Eirey,” he said, and she straightened.

  “Sorry? What the hell for, big brother?”

  She felt his emotions touch her heart, and instead of letting him speak, she wrapped him in a hug. Hell, she hadn’t hugged Damon since she was twelve years old.

  Not when she’d gotten out of the Veil at eighteen.

  Not when she’d seen him over the years.

  Not even in the last few months.

  And his hug felt like coming home.

  She loved living in yurts or on four wheels, but there was something about having people in her life who felt like the grounding she needed on occasion, especially with her rollercoaster emotions and learning to use her physical and emotional empathic abilities.

  His tall frame was like a shadow of comfort that shaded her. She knew she had her own strength, yes, but her big brother was just as much her protector as Alexia or Nicky.

  She stood back from him and gave his large arm a squeeze.

  “Nothing to be sorry for, Garrison Damon Trappe.” She used his name to give him some much needed healing in the way of their relationship. “Zeke will find Loch, and we’ll get him help. He wasn’t hurting Carrie. Only trying to help her… We’re going to be okay,” she added as she felt her wolf’s presence at her back, another shadow offering support.

  Damon smiled at her, gave her hair some messing and went to sit with the others. She was glad he’d come. He needed this. With Zeke off looking for Loch, and because of who he was, Damon was always so alone. The leader of the Other Enforcers. The keeper of so many secrets. He needed friendships and people.

  She and Nicky rode his Harley home, the engine causing the bike to rumble and heat her core as she laid herself against her mate’s back.

  She could feel and see, when she closed her eyes, her colors swirling with his deep green and dark brown hues, and she loved their connection. Wanted to grab onto it and never let it go. She was also curious to see what their particular magic, their mating would bring. Each pairing of fated mates had a little something different.

  She walked inside of their yurt, and Nicky followed. They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to.

  They just gave and took and she felt the rush of emotions as his lips met hers and his hands tore at her clothing. Her own knives came out, shredding his clothing, but her poison didn’t hurt him. He was immune to the toxin now, as they’d discovered when she’d accidently nicked him a few days before.

  “Fast. Hard. Need,” Eire said in panting breaths as Nicky tore her last two pieces of clothing off her. Her underwear and bra hit the floor in tatters and she secured her legs around his hips as he lifted her up, back against one of the beams of the yurt.

  He entered her, already naked, and she didn’t question when that had happened, because Nicky inside of her was like snow being melted by the roaring fire, and his body was her anchor when sensation lit every nerve ending from her brain to her soul.

  Her hand fisted in his hair as she brought his mouth from her lips to her jaw, and then finally to her chest. He sucked and bit at her breasts while sending shiver after shiver across every inch of her skin as he moved inside of her. Fast and hard. Just like she’d asked.

  The glide of him inside of her, the hitting of their pubic bones, the movement as he adjusted her and hit her deeper and harder…

  She tugged on his hair, unable to stop her movements and her knives scored his upper back and his scalp, but he didn’t complain. He only chuckled.

  “Fuck, Vanilla,” Nicky said as he looked up at her, but his mouth was still near her breasts and his breaths, when he spoke, made her bite her lip in ecstasy. The warmth against her exposed skin had her grinding her hips against Nicky’s already quickly moving body.

  The breaths against her chest increased and his heartbeat pounded against her stomach as he moved in and out, over and over, bringing her to the edge of a mountainside cliff she knew she would dive off with Nicky any fucking day.

  “Jump,” Nicky said against her chest, his deep brown eyes drawing her in, pulling on every bit of tension and emotion she had rolling around in her. “Let go.”

  Flight.

  Emotion.

  A release of tension.

  Falling.

  Spark after spark after spark as she called Nicky’s name over and over and over again.

  He came inside of her, and instead of ending her orgasm, she was once again falling off the edge of that mountainside.

  And as they both came back around, she felt the cool, refreshing peace of a steady river cascading along her nerve endings and reminding her that there were always gifts, always surprises, and always joy that went with the pain.

  She’d grown up in an unstable home. She’d felt the bite of ice most of the days of her life. She’d lived in the cold, separating herself from the joy and always expecting the pain, but this world she’d found, this home she’d found with Nicky and with the others…

  This was the place, the people, the love that magic had been built on. Born to.

  Birth.

  Sacrifice.

  Joy.

  Pain.

  Destruction.

  Creation.

  She and Nicky. This was her everything.

  “I love you so goddamned much, Nicholas Dominic Arviso,” Eire said confidently after they’d moved to his bedroom. She’d thought her bed had been heaven. Fucking Nicky’s bed was a King size mattress of heavenly comfort and pleasure. And pleasure not just because that was where some of the sex happened. Nope. Pleasure because Eire fucking loved a good bed.

  “Yeah, I know,” Nicky said, repeating her earlier phrase. He laughed when Eire smacked his arm, but she got it.

  “I didn’t want t
he first time I told you I loved you to be in front of everyone,” Eire said, but she wasn’t defensive. She knew he got it. Knew he got her.

  Their connection was strong. She could feel his emotion, his love, his joy, and she breathed in that moment like it was the fabric that held her world together.

  Maybe it was. Or maybe she’d held herself together, and Nicky was the extra piece that allowed her to be her best self.

  Yes, that felt right.

  Her wolf.

  Her Vuković who had a Darkness that touched her own.

  “Your love, Eire,” Nicky said, and he breathed out like he didn’t know what else to say. And she got it.

  His love was the same.

  A gift.

  A surprise.

  The most unexpected feeling she’d never known she needed.

  “Yeah,” she answered, and they both laughed before making love once more.

  “Nicky,” Eire said, half asleep and 100% sated from the loving she had gotten the past week, but especially tonight.

  “Yeah, Vanilla?” Nicky asked, bringing her in closer and sniffing her hair.

  “You need to get a bigger water heater,” Eire said. She felt the silence as she looked up at the wolf who she was cuddling front to front. She didn’t do the spooning thing. She loved her wolf right against her front, so she could look at him when she wanted to.

  His warm, brown eyes met hers and she fell into his gaze, all stupid and mushy, but she didn’t give a fuck.

  “And a jetted tub like Carrie has,” Eire added. No shame. She had no shame. She hadn’t lied to Carrie. Her man’s place was near perfect, but he needed a goddamned larger water heater and she needed a jetted tub.

  His look turned mischievous and he gave her a kiss on her forehead.

  “As long as I get to join you in that fucking tub, Vanilla,” he said and he tucked her back into his body.

  “I could make the occasional exception, dickhead,” she mumbled into his chest, and he broke out in laughter again.

  Their laughter vibrated around the room and she fell asleep to the sounds of joy.