Demon Retribution (Shadow Quest Book 3)

by Kiersten Fay

  “No, it’s fine. I should have figured…” She ran her hands though her hair. “I just didn’t want to consider it. But of course that’s what’s happening.”

  “Try not to think of it.”

  She squared her shoulders. “I’m not soft. I’d rather know, than not. It’s best to know,” she added as if trying to convince herself. “Please, don’t think you need keep anything from me to spare my feelings.”

  He gave a tight nod, and they walked up the broken stone path to the front door where Zoey waited, peeking in through the windows.

  The inside matched the outside in its decadence. This was one of Kyra’s favorite escapes, so she spared no expense. Tall windows let in the evening light. At the touch of a button, heavy shades would drop, if desired. Sparse but intricately placed lighting bathed the large main room in a warm glow. The furniture was designed to be as comfortable as any bed, and more than once she’d fallen asleep on the soft couch while reading.

  A bar counter top separated a kitchen area that was full of all the amenities needed for proper cooking and storage. On the drive up, they’d picked up a few food items to fill it.

  A wooden staircase led to the second level, where a U-shaped balcony lined a hallway leading to the bedrooms. Kyra was glad she’d decided to keep them fully furnished as well. It was done with the intent of putting the house on the market. Luckily, the recession put a hold on that plan.

  “This place is amazing!” Zoey declared. Then she planted herself on a chair, gripping a decorative pillow like it could anchor her in place. “I am never leaving.”

  Kyra laughed. “How about I give it to you?”

  Eyes wide, she gasped. “What?”

  “Yeah. You’re going to need a new identity anyway. And I have a few hundred years worth of wealth that I can’t take with me. I will just need to do a little forging—”

  Zoey jumped up and wrapped her in a tight hug. At first Kyra took it as a thank you, but a bit of sadness seeped into the gesture. “I’m going to miss you,” Zoey said.

  “Me too. But I’m not gone yet.”

  A sarcastic groan made them both glance at Cale. “I’m just waiting for you two to kiss and get it over with.”

  Kyra pulled away to punched his shoulder.

  He put his hands up. “Fine, fine, but in my head, that’s what’s happening.”

  The girls rolled their eyes and grumbled in unison, “Men.”

  * * *

  “What do you mean she’s staying on the ship?” Nadua’s outraged holler reached Sonya all the way across the salon.

  Not many had gathered for the morning meal, but the few crew members that lingered glanced toward Nadua and Marik. Though no one could be confused as to whom Nadua eluded.

  A Serakian witchling had arrived, to everyone’s disappointment, only a week ago.

  Her initial purpose had been to attempt a mate bond separation between Nadua and Marik, who had thoroughly botched the claiming—worse than thoroughly, nearly irrevocably fucked it up forever.

  Reversing the mate bond had never been attempted, at least in known record, and there was no guarantee that the Serakian’s magic would have even worked, which was probably why their council had agreed to try.

  The Serakians were an extraordinarily curious faction, made up of gifted individuals recruited from throughout the universe.

  However, the transmission that the witch’s services were no longer needed, had apparently gone un-received and the witchling, with no transport home, had demanded she be allowed to stay on the ship until other arrangements could be made. She insisted she needed to contact her Serakian council regarding the change of events.

  As of yet, the council had sent no reply.

  Sonya wondered what effect it might have had on Marik, had the witch been allowed to sever the bond—assuming it would have worked. Demons only get one chance at claiming a mate, a fact that had been scientifically explored a few years before the destruction of their planet.

  In those years, scientists had argued with philosophers over the “theory” of the mate bond—the whys, the hows, and the inevitabilities—only succeeding in displaying that no one had any real answers beyond the biological process, called the claiming: a process of combining natural, but complex, chemicals in the body that would be excreted through the fangs upon biting one’s mate.

  It was a one shot deal.

  That was the kicker! One time, and one time only did a demon yield the necessary mixture to mark a mate. Since Marik had used his up, would he have been given a second chance?

  Luckily, it was moot, Sonya thought. Nadua had refused to give Marik up, and Sonya was happy for the couple. Of all people, Marik deserved the happiness he was finding with the little redhead Faieara.

  Still, Nadua remained distressed by the Serakian’s presence.

  The salon doors whooshed opened and Ethan strolled in, searching the room.

  “Shit,” Sonya muttered under her breath and then scooped up the last of her breakfast before plotting her escape.

  She’d been avoiding him since they’d returned from that ice cube of a planet, Undewla, and he’d been trying to do the opposite. Though she couldn’t understand why. They hated each other. Made no secret of it.

  He had even gone so far as to humiliate her by taking advantage of her on a day when her demon nature had been particularly unmanageable. She had wanted to appease her body’s needs with a quick sparring match, and he had wanted to appease them by taking her virginity. Not that she had cared overmuch for her virginity, but the experience had been less than favorable. At least…there at the end.

  To her dismay, Ethan spotted her and made a fast approach. She had an idea why he was here now. Her latest scheme had clearly backfired. She stood, pretending not to notice him by brushing imaginary crumbs from her skirt.

  “What the fuck, Sonya!” Thankfully he wasn’t as loud as Nadua, so he didn’t draw the attention of the entire room.

  “Morning, Ethan.” She proceeded past him to the door. He followed her out, his infuriated gaze burning into her back. “How is Jade getting along?” she said, knowing it would set him off.

  He ran his fingers through his white-blond hair, giving her a glimpse of his pointed ears. “Jade is standing behind my bar, thinking she’s a new employee.”

  “It’s my bar, Ethan,” Sonya chided. “And Jade is a new employee. I hired her yesterday. I need some time off.” She turned a corner and picked up her pace, hoping to keep this confrontation short.

  “That’s crap and you know it. You’re using her to avoid me.”

  “I have no reason to avoid you.”

  “We need to talk about what happened.”

  “There’s nothing to say,” she insisted.

  “I have plenty to say.”

  Sonya paused, catching him off guard. He stumbled to a halt, and she rounded on him, crossing her arms. “Go ahead then.”

  He suddenly became uncomfortable. “Well, not here in the hall.” As if on cue, a small group of children came barreling down the corridor, ignoring them as they passed.

  Sonya started walking again, exasperated. “Look, Ethan, what happened between us meant nothing. Okay? Nothing. You did nothing wrong, and I’m not mad at you.”

  “No, I’m mad at you.”

  Sonya snorted. “Oh, really? What possible reason could you—”

  “You know why.”

  Sonya stopped again, flicking her tail with irritation and spearing him with a killing look. Her brother, Cale, would have put him on his ass by now.

  “You have the audacity to be angry with me! When you are the one…” She trailed off as his lips curled up in a mocking grin. He was just trying to get to her. Doing a damn good job of it too. Her horns had started to darken with the onset of her rage. “Just get back to work, pirate.” She sneered.

  His jaw clenched, erasing any traces of good humor. “Stop calling me that.”

  Sonya was never good at taking orders, and she wasn’t
about to start with him. Leaning in, she growled, “Pirate.”

  He moved swiftly, pinning her to the wall, holding her wrists by her head. His face deepened to a nice shade of crimson.

  He was the only man she’d met, besides her brothers, who could best her in a fight. A tiny part of her thrilled at that, but she pushed the silly little thought out of her mind. Any intelligent or witty verbal retaliation failed as her anger walked a fine line.

  “Pirate,” she repeated, though her voice had gone husky.

  Shit, this wasn’t going as planned at all.

  “Demon witch,” he murmured before his lips pressed down on hers.

  A betraying whimper escaped her, and she cursed her reaction to him. She may hate his guts, but her body didn’t seem to share the notion—didn’t the stupid thing remember what happened last time it was in this predicament?

  He deepened the kiss, swiping his tongue out, coaxing her to do the same. She did. Damn it! Why was she permitting this? He groaned when he felt her submit and released her arms to lace one of his around her waist. Against her will, her eyes closed, and she drowned in his passion.

  Voices echoed down the hall.

  She stilled.

  Sebastian!

  Ethan realized it as well and tore away from her, both of them panting. She used the wall for support. When their gazes collided, his eyes went wide and he took another step back. She got the sense that it wasn’t because her big, overprotective, demon brother was headed their way.

  Then something grabbed her attention. The tip of her tongue ventured out to examine one small, elongated fang. She gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. Her heart revved into hyper drive, sinking low into her gut like a whirling vortex.

  No!

  She glanced at Ethan despairingly. He’d gone pale.

  Had he seen? Could he know what it meant?

  She didn’t wait to find out. Her body reacted on instinct and took off down the hall, blasting past Sebastian and Aidan.

  “Hey, Sunny,” Sebastian called in a surprised greeting.

  She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Her throat was closing as panic engulfed her. Blindly, she followed her feet to her room and locked herself inside. At some point, tears had begun to stream down her cheeks. Cold and wet, yet burning at the same time.

  Feeling dizzy, she flopped on the floor and pulled her knees to her chest.

  There was a bright side, her subconscious offered. If he had seen, if he knew what it meant, Ethan would do everything in his power to stay away from her from now on.

  For some reason, that did nothing to cheer her.

  * * *

  After only a couple of days, everyone had settled in to their new home with a surprising amount of ease.

  Cale had seemingly won Zoey over in the two days Kyra had been unconscious, and it was as if Zoey didn’t even care that he was a demon or that they were both from alien planets.

  In fact, as Cale had observed, she was full of questions, and Kyra had been like a mother to a child that continuously asks why. Zoey wasn’t satisfied till she knew her entire history. Kyra was able to smooth over a few of the more difficult decades in her past, but Zoey was so fascinated she’d hardly noticed.

  Cale was turning out to be a fairly easygoing guy, except when it came to safety. He was constantly checking the area around the cabin and probably knew the grounds better than Kyra.

  One evening, while Cale left for one of his routine perimeter checks, Kyra joined Zoey on the upper deck, overlooking the lake. She’d been puzzling over Zoey’s blasé attitude for some time, and finally asked, “Why aren’t you wigging out, Zo, for real?”

  “Ha!” Zoey replied. “If you hadn’t passed out on day one, you would have seen me totally freakin’. I almost straight up ditched you after…” She cringed. Kyra still hadn’t inquired what her friend had witnessed that day. “Anyway, before I got out the door, Cale threatened to chase me down and rip out my organs—”

  “What!”

  “—if I didn’t drive you to safety. I think I may have puked a little after that.”

  “I would have killed him.” Kyra seethed.

  Zoey laced her hands together and brought them next to her cheek. “Aw, how sweet. You would have avenged my death?” Kyra laughed, and Zoey dropped the pretense. “Anyway, I don’t think he really meant it. He was just worried for you. At least, that’s what I told myself later.”

  “Nah. He’s worried he won’t get his revenge on those monsters.”

  “I don’t know, maybe. But the way he carried you to the car, and then later into the motel room, it was like he was afraid he’d break you. He was so protective. That’s what made me start to trust him, I guess. That and he’s insanely hot,” she added.

  Kyra snorted and shook her head. “He could have been a body snatcher for all you knew. But I suppose as long as he’s hot…”

  “Uber hot,” Zo emphasized. “He can snatch my body any time he wants. But it’s not mine he’s interested in.” She looked at Kyra then and bumped their shoulders together. “Has anything happened between you two?”

  Kyra shifted and felt her cheeks grow warm. Cale hadn’t really said much to her on the subject of their kiss. And he definitely hadn’t put any more moves on her. She had tried a couple of times to get him alone, merely to talk, but he always found an excuse to get away.

  Zoey waited patiently, knowing there was a yes in her silence.

  “I kissed him,” she finally offered. “Well…he kissed me to be more precise.”

  “And?”

  “There are no words to describe it.” Remembering even now sent a shiver running through her. “If we hadn’t been interrupted, I would have definitely been body snatched.” They both giggled at the silly euphemism. “But he hasn’t looked at me like that since.”

  “Are you kidding? He looks at you like that all the time.”

  “Huh? When?” She thought back to small amount of interaction between herself and Cale, and had never noticed a stray look that might give away a hint of interest. He was always so blank and cool.

  “Why do you think I haven’t snuck into his room yet?” Zoey teased.

  “Because he’s an alien species?” she replied sarcastically.

  “Alien or not, he’s a keeper.”

  A deep voice made them both jump. “But does he want to be kept?” Cale stood, leaning against the house, a devilish glint in his eyes.

  Kyra’s laugh came out awkward and high-pitched. “How long have you been there?”

  He smiled and replied in a mocking tone, “There are no words.”

  Cheeks flaming, she covered her face and flipped back around, suppressing a mortified groan.

  Before slipping away, her traitorous friend mumbled, “I think I left something in the oven.”

  She sensed Cale take Zoey’s place by the banister and reluctantly dropped her hands.

  The sun was beginning to find its way behind the mountains. And though the sky was still a pale blue, bird songs had already transitioned into a symphony orchestrated by creatures of the night.

  When she finally gathered the nerve to peek at him from under her lashes, she found him staring down at the lake, his expression serious.

  Cale had been trying to find a way to start this conversation, as well as avoid it. His curiosity of her and the strange intensity she brought out in him were hard to brush aside. Simply being near her clouded his mind.

  He was always quick to jump into bed with a woman, but he could foresee a slew of complications if he indulged in Kyra. Even if his need for her was beyond anything he had ever experienced.

  “I wasn’t lying when I said I was attracted to you,” Cale started and then trailed off, unsure how to finish.

  “But,” she prompted.

  “But I have a job to do, and some things are more important than short term pleasures.” Mentally, Cale laughed, thinking he would have knocked Sebastian on his ass with that one.

  “No, I get it.
No need to explain. That was just girl talk. I’m really not that into you. The kiss was good, sure, but…I mean, aside from the fact that you’re not even my species, you’re not really my type.”

  For no reason he could understand, he turned to her, needing the truth of it in her eyes. “Liar,” he said, when she refused to look at him.

  During their kiss, he’d noticed her irises had changed to amber. The sight of it had driven his lust to new heights. Later, he recalled that Anya’s eyes would go silver sometimes when Sebastian was around.

  Kyra was just as attracted to him as he was to her, if only by the fact that her breath picked up every time he came into the room, and her pupils would dilate whenever he allowed himself to look.

  “I thought you were the one who wanted honesty,” he teased.

  Her jaw clenched. “Fine, I’m a teensy bit attracted to you. But you’re right. It’s not a good time to start a relationship.”

  “That’s the thing. I don’t do relationships. Ever. A few nights with me is all you’d get, nothing more. Often, I find females have a hard time understanding that.”

  She finally faced him, and he wished she hadn’t. Her eyes narrowed and traveled over him as if he were completely transparent to her. “Ah, so you’re a player.”

  He shrugged, making a mental note to figure out what that meant. “I just don’t get attached.”

  “We’ll you’re in luck, then. I’ve had four hundred years to practice not getting attached, so if that’s what you’re worried about—”

  “You seem pretty attached to Zoey.”

  “True. That’s the difference between friendship and a one-night stand, I guess. Besides, I would have left her behind eventually. Started a new life. It’s what I do.”

  “How many times have you started over?”

  “Too many to count.”

  They stood there, silent for a moment.

  “So you would just discard your life completely? Never contact Zoey again?” Cale asked.

  “That’s what I’ve done all this time. To survive. It’s what I’ll be doing once your ship comes.” She looked to the sky. “If it comes.”