Blood of the Demon

by Lario, Rosalie

  “Without telling me?” Ronin grabbed the collar of Keegan’s jacket. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Fuck off.” Keegan pushed him away.

  Ronin careened backward, but came at him again, shoving him against the wall. Keegan fought back, snarling, before his brother tore away from him. “Stop. Let’s stop. This isn’t helping anything.”

  Keegan’s chest heaved as the bloodlust dissipated. Ronin was right. Each moment they stood here fighting each other like dumb assholes was another moment when Brynn could be getting farther away.

  “Could she have been taken?”

  Ronin thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “No. At least not here. I would have known.”

  “Okay. So she’s out there somewhere. We’ll go look for her. She’s probably wearing a mask,” he said, and described it.

  “Got it. Do you think she’s in the hotel somewhere, or could she have left the building?”

  The most dangerous thing for her to do would have been to leave the building. Somehow, Keegan had a feeling that was exactly what she’d done. “Let’s look outside.”

  They raced downstairs, neither of them bothering to mention the obvious fact that finding her among this crowd would be nearly impossible. He wasn’t going to think about it. They had to find her, for their sake. For her sake.

  When they reached the outside, Keegan motioned to the right. “You go that way. I’ll head over here.”

  “Done.” Ronin rushed off.

  Keegan raced down the street, searching every alley and corner along the way. He found a few women wearing Brynn’s mask, and when he’d ripped them away, one screamed, another stared at him dumbfounded, and two giggled and tried to kiss him. An hour later, evening neared, and he’d had no luck finding her.

  With a heavy heart, Keegan walked back toward the hotel. What was he going to do? What if she’d been taken? It would mean disastrous things, not only for the world but for Brynn.

  He was two blocks away when he saw a woman up ahead, moving in the same direction as he. She carried a shopping bag in her hand, a mask tied around her head, and her clothes and hair matched Brynn’s. He raced to her and whirled her around.

  She jumped, a fearful look in her eyes, until she recognized him. “Keegan,” she breathed, looking relieved.

  Damn, he’d thought he’d lost her. He’d thought...

  He hugged her to him, burying her head in his chest.

  “Argh, you’re suffocating me,” Brynn choked out.

  “Sorry.” He pulled away, closing his eyes for a moment. “I was worried about you.”

  “I’m sorry. I just—”

  Relief suddenly gave way to fury. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “I—”

  “Do you know how dangerous this was?”

  A passerby saw them and stopped. “Ma’am, are you okay? Do you need help?”

  “Fuck off,” he said, shooting the man an icy glare.

  The man appeared frightened, but he stood his ground. “Ma’am?”

  Brynn turned to give him a shaky nod. “I’m fine, thanks.”

  “Suit yourself.” The man shrugged and stalked off.

  “Come on.” Keegan took her arm and half-dragged her toward the hotel. Standing inside the elevator, he punched the button for their floor, taking deep, full breaths to calm his rage.

  “I... I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Take off that fucking mask.”

  Fingers trembling, she obeyed.

  When the elevator opened on their floor, he led her to their suite and ushered her inside. “Go to your room. I have to call Ronin and let him know I found you.”

  Keegan was half-surprised when she didn’t argue or bristle at his tone, and walked into her room and closed the door. He took out his cell phone and called his brother. A low beep came from the room he shared with Ronin. Following the sound, he found his brother’s cell phone lying next to his laptop.

  “Shit,” Keegan said, hanging up the phone. Ronin must have forgotten all about it in their haste to find Brynn.

  He gave himself a few minutes to calm down before he went to Brynn’s room and opened the door without knocking. She sat on the bed, her coat thrown haphazardly to the floor in front of her.

  He couldn’t hide the note of accusation in his voice. “Don’t you realize what could have happened to you if Mammon’s minions had found you?”

  Fire burned in her eyes. Her voice quivered. “I was upset, and I needed to paint. It’s the only thing that calms me. So I went to get some supplies.”

  She motioned toward her shopping bag.

  Keegan sighed and closed his eyes, racked with guilt. He was such an ass. He’d never bothered to ask her if she needed anything to help her relax—hadn’t even thought about it.

  “Why did you act like that earlier?” she asked.

  “Doesn’t matter,” he replied, ruthlessly tossing those guilty feelings aside. No matter how shitty he’d behaved, she shouldn’t have left the room. She should have known better. And he should have known better than to leave like that. “You are not to leave this hotel without me or Ronin, understood?”

  “Listen,” she said, standing. She walked toward him, stopping just a few feet away. “I know you’re trying to protect me and all, but you need to chill. You said it was safe enough out there.”

  Protect her? That was a laugh. Little did she know, she wasn’t his ward. She was his prisoner.

  “Even if there weren’t demons out looking for you,” he said, “the streets are filled with drunk, crazy assholes.”

  “I had my mask on, for God’s sake. Besides, have you forgotten what I can do to humans? In fact, one drunken idiot did try to feel me up, and all I had to do was touch him with one finger and he fell to the ground.”

  “Someone tried to touch you?”

  “And I protected myself,” Brynn said. “Like I’ve done all of my life.”

  His fury built to a crescendo. But not at her, at the nameless guy who’d tried to grab her. He wanted to head downstairs so he could find the man, but it wasn’t like he knew who it was—he’d have to kill every guy on the street.

  “Brynn, you are not to go out alone.”

  She stared at him, chest heaving as her gaze shimmered with unspoken fury.

  “Why did you act that way earlier?” she asked.

  He refused to back down, and he wouldn’t give her what she wanted, wouldn’t bare his soul. She was the one who would answer to him. That was the way it had to be.

  Keegan ground his teeth together as he pushed off the wall and walked to her, knowing full well that his height would intimidate her. But he used it anyway. She had to understand that she couldn’t just waltz out of here whenever the mood struck her. “You stay in the suite. Do. You. Understand?”

  “Don’t talk to me like that.”

  She hurled her fist toward his face. At the last moment, he caught it and swung her around, her back knocking against the wall. He stood in front of her in an instant, imprisoning her with his body. Taking her wrists in his hands, he pinned them above her head.

  This time he didn’t feel so guilty about the fear in her eyes. Not when they unmistakably intertwined with excitement.

  “Don’t push me,” he warned, his face inches from hers.

  She gulped, and after a moment, her eyes hardened with challenge. “I’ll do whatever I pleas—”

  Before she could finish, he captured her lips in a punishing kiss, thrusting his tongue inside her sweet-as-honey mouth, swallowing her gasp as he kissed the air right out of her lungs. She moaned, and his already hard cock twitched. Keeping her arms restrained, his tongue moving with hers, he poured all of his emotions into that one kiss.

  Something rammed into his groin.

  “Son of a bitch!” He broke away, dropping both hands to protect the sensitive spot. Brynn stayed plastered to the wall, her chest heaving. He looked at her in disbelief. “You..
. kneed me.”

  “It’s no more than you deserved.” Her eyes blazed as she glared at him. “What did you expect? First, you kiss me, then you insult me, and then you jump me all over again. And you think I’m going to take it without any argument? What is your malfunction?”

  “I... ” Straightening, he backed up a few inches when she poked her finger in his chest.

  “Did you mean what you said earlier? Am I really just an inconvenience to you?”

  “No.” What a vision she made. Anger flushed her cheeks and darkened her normally calm green eyes to the color of the sea during a raging storm. He didn’t know whether to be wary or turned on, but right now he was a little of both. “You aren’t an inconvenience.”

  “Then what?” she persisted, her brow crinkling. “Why did you push me away?”

  “Because... ”

  “Finish it. Why?”

  “Because I shouldn’t want you, that’s why,” he admitted, unable to stop himself from saying the words, despite the fact that he fucking knew better. “But I can’t help it. I do.”

  Her eyes narrowed in on him and he drew back, raking a hand through his hair as he pondered where they would go from here.

  “Keegan... ” She jumped him then, and kissed him deeply.

  He stumbled backward a few steps at her unexpected weight and wrapped his arms around her, returning her kiss, knowing the whole time it was wrong, but unable to stop.

  She lifted first one leg, then the other, to wrap around his hips. Her movement brought his cock right in line with her core, and he rubbed up against her. Even then, it wasn’t enough. He needed her closer, until he was inside of her. He wanted it with a burning intensity that overwhelmed all sense of reason.

  “I told you not to push me,” he reminded her hoarsely, breaking away.

  Her luscious lips curved into a wicked smile. “But I want to push you.”

  That much was clear. With a muttered curse, he stumbled a few steps to the low dresser, and sat her on top of it. Her new position aligned her perfectly to his body, as if she were tailor-made for him.

  “Be careful what you wish for.” Bending down, he claimed her lips in another deep, searing kiss.

  §

  Brynn was on fire. Keegan’s tongue thrust against hers, matching the pulsing rhythm of his arousal rubbing between her thighs. It was almost too much. She arched her back as her hands traveled under the light fabric of his shirt. She tugged his jacket off, and tossed it to the side, gasping when he did the same to her sweater.

  He gazed at her black, lacy bra for a long moment before groaning and cupping each of her breasts with his hands. Then, with a simple flick of his hand, the bra came off, and fell on the floor alongside her sweater.

  “Damn, you’re beautiful,” he said, stroking his thumbs along her nipples. “Just as I’d dreamt.”

  Her cheeks warmed. “You dreamt about me?”

  He chuckled, obviously amused, as he lowered his head to take one breast into his mouth. She arched with a low cry, pressing his head to her body. Then he moved to lavish the same attention on the other, tugging and rolling his tongue across the nipple.

  She needed to feel him—not just the corded muscles of his back, which even now rippled under her touch—but his length pressing so determinedly against the front of his jeans. Keegan let out a harsh groan as she unbuttoned his fly. The hardened heat of his arousal felt like steel against the fabric of his jeans. What would he feel like under her fingertips?

  Nothing would stop her from finding out.

  “Brynn,” he gasped.

  She unzipped his jeans, then took his silky length into her hands. He was big and hard and oh-so-hot against her palms. Closing a fist around him, she slid her palm up, then down, reveling in the feel of his flesh. He tore his mouth from her breasts and buried his face in her neck, breathing in ragged bursts of air. “That feels so good.”

  He rewarded her with another kiss, keeping time with the shaky movements of her hand. But he broke away with a husky laugh and gazed down at her, an almost sad expression crossing his face. “If there was a Hell, I’d be going to it for sure.”

  Gently, he tugged her hands away from his arousal, and in response, she made a mewling protest that she could hardly believe came from her. She whimpered when he licked her belly button, and at the same time, his deft fingers unbuttoned her jeans and tugged off her boots. Faster than she could blink, he’d slipped her jeans down and off her.

  “Wow, you’re fast.”

  He chuckled, his breath caressing the bare skin of her belly. “Sometimes you have to live in the moment.”

  Her giggle turned into a soft cry as he knelt down and tore off her lacy underwear, just as easily as he’d done in her dreams. Tossing her legs over his shoulders, he cupped her ass and lifted her off the dresser. His tongue found her slick core and unceremoniously dipped inside.

  “Oh, God!” Her shaky arms supported her body while he pleasured her with his mouth and tongue. In seconds, her whole body shook uncontrollably as she panted, on the verge of orgasm. “Please... don’t stop.”

  She moaned her disappointment when he broke away and rose. She was almost there. But then he kissed her, slow and erotic, and soon she was squirming once more.

  He looked at her with marked satisfaction. “Just as I’d thought.”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “You do taste like strawberries and cream.” His lips found hers as he thrust a finger inside her wet core. She struggled for breath, pushing her hips upward. He withdrew it, then held her hips down with one hand. The other hand moved between her legs. Before she could brace herself, he’d thrust two thick, long fingers all the way inside. She cried out, arching her back. Her body convulsed in a mind-shattering orgasm that only increased in intensity as he continued to move his fingers in and out. He didn’t stop until the last of her spasms had died away.

  “Brynn... ” he groaned against her lips.

  Pulling away, she dropped her gaze to where his erection jutted out of his half-undone jeans. She circled her hand around it. “Please. I need you.”

  “I need you, too. More than you know.”

  Crushing her into his arms, he breathed into her neck for a long moment before lifting her off the dresser and carrying her to the bed.

  A loud knock cracked through the air a split second before they reached the bed. Ronin’s voice was barely audible through the wooden door of the suite. “Keeg, are you in there? I forgot my cell phone. My key. Fuck.

  Keegan?”

  The door rattled again, sounding perilously on the verge of being broken in.

  Keegan cursed. Dropping her on the bed, he broke away hastily, his expression equal parts lust, guilt, and regret.

  Feeling uncertain, Brynn watched in silence as he quickly zipped himself back up.

  “Keegan?” she whispered.

  “Get dressed” was all he said, before turning and striding out of the room.

  The door rattled after he closed it, like he was doing something to it.

  She found her clothes and pulled them on. When she stood in front of the door, Keegan’s and Ronin’s muffled voices filtered through the wood, though they were too low for her to pick up any actual words. Holding her breath, she carefully turned the knob. It stuck. Stifling a curse, she tried to pull it open, but nothing.

  That asshole! Somehow he’d jammed the lock as he’d left. Once again, she was imprisoned.

  Brynn willed herself to calm down as she slid to the floor, her back against the door.

  It’s okay. It’s for your own protection. You’re not a prisoner.

  The problem was, she wasn’t so sure she believed it anymore.

  Chapter Fourteen

  He couldn’t sleep.

  Ronin finally gave up trying and rose off the bed, staring across the room to where his big brother lay on the second double bed. He had a funny feeling Keegan couldn’t sleep either, but was pretending otherwise.

  “Keeg?” h
e said, testing his theory.

  His brother’s chest continued to rise and fall evenly. Not even a twitch.

  Yeah, he was definitely faking it. That fucker.

  He needed a drink.

  Ronin padded out to the parlor. After filling a glass to the brim with straight whiskey, he opened the door to the balcony and stepped outside. Even now, crowds of half-naked drunk people stumbled throughout the streets.

  “Idiots,” he chuckled. Damn, how he envied them. No cares in the world. No idea just how precarious the fate of their world was right now. They were so blissfully ignorant.

  Not once had he ever had that luxury.

  Ronin took a big gulp of his whiskey, feeling it burn down his throat and wishing it would drown his worries. But he knew it wouldn’t. He knew what Keegan and Brynn had been up to earlier. Was his brother stupid enough to think he’d buy the line of bullshit he’d tried to feed him about how he was “talking” to Brynn? Yeah, right. Talking. That he’d even tried to get him to believe that spoke to Keegan’s desperation.

  Keegan was in immediate danger of going over the edge, if he hadn’t done so already. And Ronin couldn’t do a damn thing to stop him. Worse was the realization that if Brynn wasn’t the heir, he wouldn’t want to stop him. Keegan deserved some happiness in his life. Too bad the woman who seemed most likely to give it to him was the one woman they might have to destroy. And if Keegan somehow lost his mind and tried to challenge the Council, they would kill him.

  Why can’t life ever be easy?

  Now he had to decide whether or not to report what had happened to Taeg. If Taeg knew, he’d probably flash over and terminate Brynn himself. Not because he was an asshole—which admittedly, he was—but because he loved Keegan too damn much to let him risk his own life.

  §

  Brynn was back inside her New York apartment. Some distant part of her brain recognized this wasn’t possible. She was dreaming. It felt real, though.

  A breeze blew in through the open window, fluttering her sheer curtain so that it resembled a butterfly taking flight on gossamer wings. She pulled the curtain all the way to the side. Instead of her familiar nighttime street view, she saw a never-ending backdrop of desert. Nothing but desert.