Demon Warriors 3: Rainerio

by Lynn Hagen

  Yes! Dillon began to dance around. Jake stared at him with a bewildered expression on his face.

  “It’s called a happy dance.” Dillon giggled and then sucked on his smoothie.

  Jake chuckled, his eyes lighting up as he stared at Dillon. “I’m aware of what it’s called.”

  Dillon heard a low growl behind him. He spun around to see Rainerio staring daggers at Jake. This was interesting.

  He ignored Rainerio as he reached his hand out and shook Jake’s.

  “Thank you for giving me a chance. You won’t regret it. I hope.” He winced at his honest tongue and then hurriedly walked away before he could say something else stupid.

  “I got a job,” he said excitedly to Phoenyx as he raised his arms into the air and did his dance once more.

  “Good for you. Do I get free drinks now?” Phoenyx asked as he opened the shop door for Dillon.

  He snorted as he pointed a finger at Phoenyx from the same hand that was holding his drink. “Let me get in good with the boss first before you show up wanting anything free.”

  Rainerio growled again, but Dillon ignored him. Why should he care? It wasn’t like Rainerio showed the least bit interest in him. He sucked on his smoothie as he followed the warriors to the grocery store. He was in heaven thinking about his new job when someone grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks. “Hey,” he shouted.

  “You’re human.” The man sneered at him as his grip tightened.

  “And you’re an ass. Now let me go.” He tugged, but the man held firmly onto him.

  “I’d let him go if I were you.” Rainerio’s face was pulled back in raw anger as he stalked back toward Dillon.

  Dillon was transfixed by Rainerio’s expression. It was powerful and frightening. Hell, he wanted to let the man go who held him. It was that damn scary.

  The man hesitated for a split second before common sense prevailed, and he released Dillon. “I wasn’t aware he was with you.”

  “He’s not with me,” Rainerio snarled. “That doesn’t mean I will let you go around grabbing people.”

  Dillon’s heart sank. If he had just one thread of hope of being with Rainerio, the warrior had just cut the string. He openly rejected Dillon, letting everyone in earshot know that Rainerio didn’t want him.

  Dillon tossed his smoothie into the nearest trashcan and walked away, heading right into the store. He was humiliated and hurt. All the times he had thrown himself at Rainerio came flooding back to him.

  Dillon wanted to crawl under a rock from the embarrassing way he had displayed his attraction to the warrior.

  “Wait up, buddy.” Phoenyx caught up with him.

  Dillon shoved his hands in his pocket as he began to walk down the aisles aimlessly. “Don’t you have shopping to do?” He wanted to be alone, lick his wounds in private. He felt the tears prickling at his eyes but refused to allow them to fall.

  Phoenyx snagged a loaf of bread from the shelf. “Done, now let’s get you home.”

  Dillon knew that all the warriors were aware of how he felt about Rainerio. Phoenyx must be feeling sorry for him, and that was the last thing he wanted. Pity was something Dillon hated. “Do your shopping. I’m fine.”

  Phoenyx grabbed a few more things and then insisted he was finished. Dillon shrugged, feeling indifferent about the whole situation. He was tired of throwing himself at a man that didn’t want him. So what did it matter?

  He could feel Phoenyx watching him. He knew he was being a big sourpuss right now. Dillon had just been ecstatic about his new job only to have his euphoric bubble burst by Rainerio’s denial. It had hurt more than he cared to admit.

  “Is there anything you need or want while we are here?” Phoenyx asked as they walked down the aisle.

  Dillon shook his head. “Nothing that I can think of. Kane pretty much bought me all the things I would need.” He had everything at home as well in the human realm, but no one would let him go back and retrieve anything.

  “Then I guess we are officially finished here.” Phoenyx paid for his items as Dillon headed for the door. Rainerio was standing there as if he were guarding it. Dillon got a devilish idea and walked back over to Phoenyx.

  “There is one thing I do need.” He picked the item up and placed it on the conveyor belt. Phoenyx raised a brow, but Dillon ignored him. He plucked the item up once it was scanned and headed back toward the door, Rainerio watching his every move.

  “Here you go, big boy. We’re going to need these once you get your head out of your ass.” Dillon dropped the box of condoms into Rainerio’s hand as he walked out of the store. He giggled once he was out of earshot. Rainerio may have publically denied him, but Dillon wasn’t giving up. It had thrown him for a loop, but he was back on track now.

  Nothing was going to deter him from getting the man he wanted.

  Not even Rainerio himself.

  The warrior was going down. Dirty images plagued Dillon’s mind at that thought. God, he hoped Rainerio would go down. It would be such a tragic waste to not have those kissable lips wrapped around his cock.

  That image lead to another as his hole clenched at the thought of having Rainerio fuck him senseless. It had been too long, and Dillon was going out of his mind with want. If Rainerio didn’t get his act together soon, Dillon’s cock would fall off from so many jack-off sessions. It wasn’t working anymore. He needed a rock-hard cock to play with—that wasn’t his.

  Dillon cursed when he realized he needed a warrior to get back into the building. So much for his dramatic exit.

  He waited a block over as Phoenyx and Rainerio caught up to him. Rainerio was staring at him strangely, but the box of condoms wasn’t in his hand. Oh well, can’t blame a guy for trying.

  He glanced up at Phoenyx and saw a smile tugging at the guy’s lips. So he had seen what Dillon had done. Good. Maybe that would make Rainerio take notice and do something about it. His balls were going to fall off it he didn’t get some of that hot-ass warrior soon.

  Dillon groaned. Why was he acting like a sex-starved pervert all of the sudden? That wasn’t him, and that wasn’t who he was. Rainerio was driving him mad. Dillon turned onto King Kennedy and headed for the apartment building.

  It was dark out, but it was always dark out here. The sun never came out in the demon realm. That didn’t bother Dillon. He was one of those rare humans who actually liked the nighttime. If he didn’t hate the damn cold so much, he would have moved to Alaska where it was dark all the time, or mostly. He had heard somewhere that it was.

  “Are you ready to go through the shadow?” Phoenyx asked as he held his hand out.

  “Hell no. I need to get some of those queasy pills to take whenever I have to.” Dillon raised his hand to take Phoenyx’s when Rainerio inserted his hand in between, grabbing Dillon’s tightly.

  Well, well, well, maybe the condom trick really did work.

  Dillon began to dance around. “Happy dance.” He beamed up at Rainerio when the warrior quirked a brow. “I knew you would come around.”

  Rainerio snorted as they walked to the side of the building. Dillon smashed his eyes closed as the familiar feeling of wanting to vomit overtook him. There had to be a better way. His free hand clamped onto Rainerio as dizziness swamped him.

  “You’ll get used to it over time,” Phoenyx informed him as he set the grocery bags onto the countertop.

  Dillon hated to let Rainerio’s hand go. It was large, warm, and felt oh so good wrapped around his. Rainerio tugged, and then tugged again, trying his best to extract his hand.

  “But I don’t want to.” Dillon pouted but released him.

  “Spoilsport.” He grabbed a few boxes and helped Phoenyx put his groceries away. Dillon had to use a stool to reach the cupboard, but at the moment, he didn’t care.

  “Can I speak with you out in the hallway?” Rainerio asked Dillon.

  “You can do more than speak with me.” He sat the box down and looked over at Phoenyx. “I’m going to follow him and see if I
can’t get laid. Sorry to run.”

  Phoenyx shook his head as he waved Dillon off. “Good luck with that.”

  Dillon walked around the large island and happily followed Rainerio out of the door. As soon as Rainerio shut it, he had Dillon against the wall. Rainerio grabbed Dillon’s wrists, pinning them to the wall behind him as Rainerio inserted his leg between Dillon’s thighs, making his eyes roll back from the pure pleasure he was experiencing.

  Rainerio leaned close and growled into Dillon’s ear. “I don’t know what you are up to, but you are playing with fire, human.”

  Chapter Two

  Rainerio was going out of his mind with want. He had been enchanted with the little human since laying eyes on him. Dillon was feisty, sexy, compact, and driving him crazy. Especially his dirty little mouth. It turned Rainerio on big time.

  Dillon tensed for a moment and then a slow, seductive smile crossed his lips. “You don’t scare me, Rainerio. I can handle you, I think. I hope. If not, I’m sure as shit gonna have fun trying to.”

  Dillon never ceased to amaze Rainerio. He kept his face stoic, refusing to allow the human to see how much he really was affecting him. “You need to get it out of your head. It’s never going to happen between us.” He released Dillon while every nerve ending in him screamed to haul the man to his apartment and fuck him until neither of them could walk properly.

  Dillon pointed up at Rainerio as his foot rose to scratch his calf.

  “I’ll have you, Rainerio, if it’s the last thing I do. You are going to be in my bed. Mwuahaha.” He walked off and slammed Snooke’s apartment door.

  The human was off his fucking rocker. Rainerio stared at the door for a moment before he jogged upstairs to his apartment, wondering what he was going to do with Dillon. It wasn’t that he didn’t want him. Hell, Rainerio was itching to fuck him into next week. But he had seen Chris and Snooke be used against their mates.

  Dillon wasn’t his mate. There was no way he could be. He was human, after all. Did fate pair demons with humans? Rainerio shook his head at his straying thoughts. He knew one thing for sure, though.

  It would drive him crazy if someone tried to use the human against him.

  The warriors had enemies that would stop at nothing to harm or kill them. Rainerio couldn’t understand for the life of him how Hondo let Chris work in such a public place. And now Dillon was going to work there, too? That didn’t set well with him at all.

  Rainerio took a shower and then headed upstairs to Panahasi’s apartment. He took a seat as he listened to the leader tell them about the dead man they found down at the Black River. He had no clue who the guy was, but he could see Kane’s lips had thinned. “The man was someone that had frequented Diablo’s Club.”

  “Did you know him?” Rainerio leaned over and whispered to Kane. The warrior gave him a short nod.

  Rainerio left it alone for now. He would find out after the meeting who the victim was. His mind went back to Dillon. Admittedly, he had been shocked when Dillon had placed the box of condoms in his hand. They were in his dresser drawer in his bedroom now. Not that he needed them. Demon Warriors couldn’t give or get human diseases. They were there as more of a keepsake.

  He sat there listening as visions of tying Dillon down played in his mind. Rainerio could feel his cock growing at the mental picture. He remembered sitting in Kane’s apartment and watching the love-struck fool daydream about his mate. Now Rainerio knew how Kane felt.

  But he wasn’t trailing behind Dillon with his nose wide open, not like Kane’s had been.

  Rainerio glanced up at Panahasi when the leader began to speak again. “I’ve been working with Diablo. From what we’ve gathered, the guy who was killed was working for Marino Malone. It seems he doesn’t like to pay for completed jobs. He kills his hired help off instead. The troll fought to keep the mystery dead man away from the Black River and paid the ultimate price.”

  Kane spoke up. “He wasn’t a mystery man.”

  “You knew him?” the leader asked as everyone’s attention focused on the warrior.

  “I didn’t know him personally, but he came on to me a few times at Diablo’s. I even took him to one of the back rooms,” Kane replied.

  Rainerio heard the resentful way Kane was speaking, as if he blamed himself. Sparks of anger practically shot from the man’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Kane.” Panahasi nodded toward the warrior and then turned back to the rest of the group. “Marino’s attempt at using the river to free those locked in the detention cells failed, which tells me he’s close to unlocking the crystal he stole from Falcon’s Fortune Bank if he took a chance at using the river. We need to find out where he is and get the crystal back before the creatures locked in the underworld escape.”

  “How do we find him?” Takeo, another demon warrior, asked.

  “We’ve searched every known and a few unknown places he frequents.”

  “I have the keeper working on a solution to our problem.”

  Panahasi sat at the bar, picking up the newspaper. “And as usual, the story was front page news.”

  “I don’t get how Sexton is finding things out. He couldn’t possibly know what’s going on every second of every day,” Rainerio said.

  “I agree. There’s something more to that man than we know. I just haven’t figured out what, yet.” Panahasi began to glance at the newspaper, the Daily Demon.

  It pissed Rainerio off to know that someone was getting one over on them. They were warriors, able to use powers to fight harder than any other, help the citizens of Serenity City with their everyday lives, and save most from having their damn souls sucked out of them. They were an elite group. So why in the fuck were they sitting here on their collective thumb?

  There had to be a way to find out why chaos was breaking out all over their city. Rainerio knew for a fact that every single warrior was angry as hell that Marino had the crystal—the one thing that had the ability to unlock the cells besides the keeper—and all kinds of strange occurrences were happening.

  It felt like the old times, before the keeper was made judge and jury, and when criminals caused havoc and mayhem throughout the city. The demon warriors were born from those dark times, the need for the bad guys to be reined in. It wasn’t as bad as back then, but if they didn’t get a handle on things, it would be.

  “One more thing before you go.” Panahasi poured a glass of whiskey, his favored drink, taking a sip before continuing. “Maverick, the Alpha of the Timber wolves, called me to his realm. He said that humans were coming up missing. The reason he thinks demons are taking them is because he witnessed a human being taken and the kidnapper walked through a portal.”

  “How?” Takeo jumped up as if his ass had caught fire. “Only warriors can use shadows.”

  “Whoever it was must have used the Black River to get to the human realm and then marked his entrance close by. And used that same portal to get back here, if this is where he took the human.”

  “But we haven’t seen anything unusual,” Rainerio interjected.

  “Not as far as an explosion in human visitors.”

  Panahasi sipped his whiskey, studying everyone in the room. “I’m sure whoever is doing this isn’t allowing them to walk around freely.”

  Rainerio watched Takeo take off at lightning speed, heading straight into Panahasi’s hallway and disappearing.

  “Where the hell is he going?” Hondo asked.

  “He has a human friend he is helping out. I’m sure he is going to check on him,” Panahasi answered.

  “I knew he was knocking boots in the human realm.” Hondo chuckled.

  Rainerio waited to see if the leader was going to correct the warrior, but Panahasi seemed to ignore the outburst.

  Panahasi adjourned the meeting, telling them to keep their eyes and ears open for any possible leads on Marino or the missing humans.

  Rainerio walked out of the leader’s apartment and found himself standing in front of Kane’s apa
rtment door. He wasn’t sure why he was letting the little human get under his skin.

  Dillon was outspoken, sassy, and crude. Everything he avoided in a bed partner. So why was he so damn fascinated with the man?

  Dillon was like a car accident. Rainerio couldn’t watch, but couldn’t look away. As much as he tried to stay away from the little loudmouth, he kept coming right back to him.

  He wanted to pull his hair out in frustration. Rainerio kept to himself, liked his solitude—other than when he was working—and Dillon would blow the recluse in him away if he allowed the human into his life and bed.

  He was jerked out of his thoughts when Kane’s apartment door opened and Dillon walked out with his dog, Tulip.

  “I see you came to knock on my backdoor.” Dillon giggled as he closed the apartment door. “It’ll have to wait, though. Tulip has to tinkle.”

  “How were you going to get back in?”

  Dillon twisted his lips as he looked deep in thought. “Guess I forgot about that part. Looks like you’re coming with me.” Dillon turned and began walking the dog down the steps.

  Rainerio cursed but fell into step beside him. He didn’t like being alone with Dillon. The human would feel a need to converse, something Rainerio wasn’t looking forward to.

  “So, did you throw the condoms away, or do you have one in your pocket?” Dillon asked as they exited the apartment building. He slowed, allowing Tulip to sniff around. “I can’t be up too late. I start my new job tomorrow at Jake’s. So we may have to indulge in just a quickie.”

  How did they go from walking a dog to talking about sex? “We’re not sleeping together, Dillon.”

  “Oh my, say my name again. It sounds so sexy coming from you. Is that an Italian accent I hear? We’ll have sex. It’s only a matter of time, my sweet.”

  This damn human was impossible. No matter how many times he shunned Dillon’s advances, the short human kept coming back for more. Rainerio looked around, wary that they were being seen together. He didn’t want the little loudmouth to pay for being seen with him. “Is she finished yet?”

  “Nope.” Dillon walked on. They walked across the street to the park while Tulip tended to her business. Rainerio watched the young men shooting hoops just on the other side of the brush. There was a basketball court that seemed to stay occupied by players.