Shit. She was going to brand another demon. Not a chance this one would run off.
“No! You disobedient bitch.” Locking his hand around her wrist, Jesse hauled her back before she connected with Red’s defiant face. “What did I tell you about your temper? Now you will pay double.”
She glared at him over her shoulder and thrashed around like she was trying to get away. “Torture only works if I like your touch. And I’m sure I won’t. Asshole.”
Good. She chose to role play. At least he hoped so. If not, well, it wasn’t like he hadn’t warned her.
He forced out a hearty laugh and grazed their joined hands across the tiny patch of red lace between her legs. “Trust me. You’ll beg. They all do.” He wound her around until their joined hands pressed into the small of her back, and her free arm was pinned to his side. “Now lower your head before your master.”
“I have no master.” She squirmed with all her might.
With another laugh, he slapped her bottom hard enough to produce a convincing whelp. “When I say obey. You. Obey.” He spanked her again, careful not to actually hurt her.
“Owww!” She wailed and gave a little sob. With a sniffle, she lowered her head slowly, and he wondered for a second if he’d really smacked her too hard. Then she turned her head just enough to sneak a look at him and winked.
It took all his strength to stifle a grin. She was fine. They were going to make it.
“As you see, you were wrong. She’s a long way from submissive.” He narrowed his gaze at Red and spoke with authority. “This one is slated for a special, extended punishment. And as you’ve already noticed, I’m eager to get started.”
“Well, well, well. Lucky you. She’s a firebrand after all.” Red raised an eyebrow. “I suppose you’re headed to the arena?”
“Yes.” He tried to dodge around her, but she quickly cut him off.
“I love to watch a good denial. And a good beating. Big man like you, I bet you give one to remember.” She snapped her fingers and produced a riding crop. “Here’s the deal. Give me a demonstration of your mastery or I take her.” She smacked the rod in her palm. “Don’t doubt me. I have the power.”
He didn’t doubt her. But there was a world of difference between a spank in fun and downright abuse. He’d never hit a woman in his life. He wasn’t that kind of man.
But if he didn’t—he’d lose Princess forever.
Jesse ripped the crop out of her hand.
Winging the flexible rod up and back, he felt Prudence brace against him, and then he chose the only option he could live with.
He whipped it forward, slicing the air with a whoosh before lashing across the exposed thighs of Red, the seductress.
She shrieked so loudly the entire pit fell silent.
“Thought you’d want to know if I gave a good beating firsthand.” He tossed the crop aside and shoved a finger in her shocked face. “I warned you bitch. Stay out of my business,” he barked through his clenched teeth and tightened his grip on his partner.
Grabbing Red by her bare shoulder, he shoved her aside and marched forward.
“You had your chance, Big Man,” she called after him. “Now your girl will pay for your giant ego. She will pay and pay and pay.”
From behind him, he heard her command the forces of Zephyr. Icy winds blew hard and fast across the entire mansion. All mewling ceased, and bodies dropped to the floor.
Prudence collapsed, barely clinging to his arm. “Jesse. What’s happening?”
He wrapped an arm around her to hold her upright and felt his own knees give under the bitter temperatures.
“What the fuck is this?” he said, turning to face Red.
“I reset the tortures. Keeps things fresh. Soon all the mortal souls will cool until the last vestige of sex is erased from their minds. Then my eager little workers start their torments anew. Your girl’s slipping away already. But I’m surprised to see you succumb as well.” She cackled and sashayed toward him until they were mere inches apart. “You’re not a demon at all.” Boldly, she rubbed her hands over his freezing chest and sighed contentedly. “But you are a prize. A living, breathing man, struggling against what he’ll never overcome.” Leading with her lips, she leaned into his face. “Me.”
Unable to pull back, Jesse was forced to endure her mouth pressed against his.
With one taste from her poisonous lips, a rage torched him deep inside. He seethed with anger. With hatred so pure, his sights washed scarlet, and then he swelled—swelled with an immense, uncontrollable power.
The cold burned off instantly, and with spring-loaded reflexes, he thrust the butt of his hand into the demon’s breastbone, sending her reeling across the floor.
“No more warnings.” Determined to win, he stormed after her.
Eyes round and in shock, Red scurried back on all fours to get away from him. “I…I…I’m sorry master,” she sputtered, rolling to her knees. Head lowered, she stammered her apologies. “I don’t know how, but you fooled me. I…I was only doing my job.”
The feeling of power was intoxicating. He bellowed at the cowering demon. “Your job is to monitor. No self-pleasure. I’ll have you—”
“Please. Don’t.”
The request hadn’t come from the demon but from Prudence.
In his rage, he’d forgotten he’d been dragging her along.
“Master, please.” Prudence stroked his arm. “She passed the test. Remember our purpose.” She paused and swallowed. “We must return or suffer the consequences.” A tremble quaked across the tops of her breasts. She bit into her bottom lip, and hesitantly, her gaze reached his face.
When her terrified eyes met his, he suffered a blow that deflated his overshot wrath.
Prudence was scared.
Really and truly scared.
Of him.
“Yes.” He trembled and shook as the burst of power receded, but more with his own brand of fear. Fear of what he’d exposed to his partner.
They needed to get out of there. Fast. Remaining in character, he pointed a finger at Red. “Remember. You’re being watched.”
He scanned the body-covered floor and relocated the path and then hoisted Prudence into his arms. Her skin was cool and dry from the freeze. She might not be Holy Water free for long, but he’d take advantage while he could. “Don’t bitch about being carried. You’re too weak from the cold.”
She didn’t say a word. Didn’t nod. She simply linked her hands tightly behind his neck and buried her face against his shoulder. But when her hot tears shot little blisters into his skin, Jesse knew one thing for certain.
Everything had changed between them.
Chapter Seventeen
Prudence anxiously paced in front of the Gate, her eyes never leaving the portico ceiling.
Where was the light to release Ellie? Why was it taking so long?
Had her dalliance with lust interfered with the soul’s salvation? It wasn’t Ellie’s fault she’d been weak. Surely, the poor mother wouldn’t be blamed.
The tap of shoes on concrete made her jump. She glanced down at Jesse walking up the steps. A rag from the saddlebag of his motorcycle bulged around his hand. He’d claimed hitting the demon had blistered his palm, but she could have sworn the burned hand had been the one that had held her so tightly.
Concerned about Ellie, she probably wasn’t remembering clearly. Some of it she didn’t want to remember.
Especially not the change in her partner. But the loop of Jesse towering over the demon kept playing over and over in her mind. It pained her to keep seeing his face contorted into an angry mask, the fiery, amber eyes she’d admired for so long turning solid black.
Under the wrong circumstances, his buried darkness surfaced.
Fortunately, from the moment she’d read him their connection hadn’t completely disengaged. The heat of his rage thawed her, and with some common sense, she’d been able to bring him back to reality.
But she couldn’t wait any longe
r for her partner to confess his secrets. Tonight, he would have to bare his soul.
“No first aid supplies in the bag?” she said when he stopped halfway up the stairs.
“Had ointment and one gauze pad. Finished the job with the oil rag. It’ll hold until we’re home. I’ll go to the doctor tomorrow.” Somber, he hadn’t made eye contact since they’d left the Passion Pit. “You ready?”
“Not yet.” She sighed, raising her sights. “I’m waiting for the light to come.”
“I thought I’d missed it.” Lips pursed thin, he headed toward her. “It should have been instantaneous.”
Arms wrapped her waist, she hugged herself. “It’s not coming at all, is it?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “This has never happened before.”
“I want to wait a while longer.”
“We don’t have a choice. But I need to rest my dogs.” He perched his now denim covered butt on the top step and leaned back on his elbows, stretching out his long legs.
She plunked down beside him, miserable to her core.
“I need to say something,” he said in the low, serious drawl she often heard in her dreams. He twisted to look her square in the eye. “You should know it already, but—I’d never, ever hurt you. I’d never hit any woman for any reason. The demon didn’t leave me a choice and—”
“Your record’s still clean, Jess. Demons have no specific sexual orientation. They appear as they sense they need to be seen. And they’re demons, so they don’t count. In fact, I owe you a big thanks. For quick thinking and not falling into the trap.”
He sighed relief. “Well, like I said. Hurting you wasn’t an option. No matter what. I hope those spanks didn’t—”
“They didn’t. You didn’t. So no worries.”
He arched an eyebrow, the hint of a grin teased his lips. “I like the way you smile when you say that.” He lay back, stacked his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. “You giving permission to swat your ass again? ’Cause I kinda like it.”
“Cute, Thorne.” She’d said it teasingly but was glad he’d closed his eyes. It would be easier to ask the tough questions without his staring at her. And thanks to Connie, all the security cameras had been cut for the next few hours. Now was the time, and she needed answers.
“I have something to say, too. A couple of things really, but it all goes together. I think.”
Unsure how to start, she left a space of quiet between them.
“What’s on your mind?” Jesse slit one eye open. “You won’t give either of us peace until you spit it out.”
Her partner knew her too well. With a shaky breath, she started the most difficult speech of her life.
“I read you tonight—at your insistence, I might add. And I,” she stammered, suddenly afraid of her own confession. “I connected to you deeper and easier than I ever did with a lost soul. And while we were still behind those Gates, I stayed connected. I may not be able to read your thoughts, but I could feel everything—and I mean everything—pulsing from your center.”
He sat up in hurry. “What do you mean? Everything?”
“There’s no bluffing an Empath, Jess.” She laid gentle fingers on his bristly jaw. “First off—what’s between us isn’t over like we said. You want me the same way I want you.”
“You didn’t need to read me for that. You saw me naked for Christ’s sake.”
“Let me finish.” She had to get it all out before she changed her mind. “The difference between us is, a part of you screams no. And it was your hesitation that led me down. I fell into a darkness I had no idea you felt. Then I saw it manifested when the demon pushed your buttons.”
“That was because I was afraid. For you,” he said defensively through a tight jaw.
“But you wouldn’t have been able to frighten a demon without something powerful building inside. You’re hiding something wicked. Maybe a little evil? But for the life of me, I can’t imagine what. You’re one of the best men I’ve ever met. Integrity oozes from your essence like blood from an open vein.”
Expression stony, he got to his feet.
She popped up and grabbed both of his hands in hers. “I was scared at first, but not anymore. I know the good man you are. Tell me your big secret. I can share the load. It’s too dangerous for us to lock it away. Next time—”
“There won’t be a next time. We won’t need to travel below the First Ring again.” He wriggled out of her grip and walked into the shelter of the portico, grabbing his jacket off the floor. The zipper scrapped angrily across the concrete.
“That’s an excuse. Shit!” She stamped a foot in frustration and then stomped after him. “Why don’t you confide in me? Why not when we mean so much to each other?”
Chin raised and bottom lip drawn in, she thought he was going to storm away. “Some things can’t be shared,” he said. “Not even with your best friend. Or your only friend.”
“I’m more than a friend.”
“Yes. And there is no one to better understand me than you. You are the only person that gets what this job—what this life means to me. You actually get me. Isn’t that enough?”
“It’s not about enough. I need all.”
“I can’t give it,” he shouted.
“Not can’t. Won’t. I don’t know how you’ve gone this long without Hell tapping into your dark side, but now one demon has exploited it. What if we have to go below again? Will you turn into a black-eyed monster once more? Will I be able to stop you?”
She could tell by his expression that he had no idea how much he’d changed.
Jesse dropped his jacket and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her close enough to kiss. “It won’t come to that. It will never come to that,” he insisted through clenched teeth. “You have faith in a creator you can’t see. Have faith in me—the man that keeps saving your ass.”
“He has a valid point, Pruddy,” Swift said, joining them.
She surmised his silent entrance meant he’d snuck through the Gate. He pushed his hoodie back, and a shock of black hair fell in waves around his face. “Sometimes you have to accept what you cannot know.”
“Like you’ve ever followed that advice.” Jesse released his grip on her. “What are you doing out here?”
“Funny, I expected more of a thank you. You’d be showing your nuts off right now if it wasn’t for me.”
“Swift.” She pointed a finger at his chest. “I knew it was you all along.” The son of a bitch deserved an earful, and she was going to give it to him. “Where have you been? Do you have any idea what Jesse's been going through? The whole society—”
“Has their collective sphincter clenched.” He smirked, his hazel eyes dancing with mischief. “I take a good bit of pleasure in knowing that.”
She opened her mouth to continue, but he cut her off again.
“Save it. There isn’t time for you to read me a list of my sins. You have a soul that won’t release, and we need to get out of the Council’s crosshairs.”
He spoke to Jesse. “I know we agreed I should stay away for six months, but Pruddy’s taken on her first soul. The clock’s ticking to find Heaven’s Door.”
“Agreement? You've been talking with him?” She searched Jesse’s face, hoping to find a glimmer of denial. She did not.
“Last night was the first time since he took off.” Jesse set a glare on Swift so hot that his old partner should have burst into flames. “But I promised to find Ellie, and I knew he could help. So I struck a deal. I thought in six months he’d give up all this cloak and dagger.”
“You still should have told me.”
“She's right, you know,” Swift said. “Full disclosure is the only way. I told you everything.”
Despite his disarming smile and the fact he agreed with her, Prudence decided instantly she didn’t like Swift.
“Except you were going to take off on me,” Jesse groused. “This whole situation is bullshit.”
“What situation?” s
he asked, feeling out of the loop.
Swift raked a hand through his hair, the oily roots a telltale showers didn’t come regular. “Jesse and I will lay it all out. All the details. But not here. Connie’s jimmied with the cameras again. They play a loop of blank space, but it won’t last. Cameron and Lieberman’s doubleheader’s a bust. I figure we’ve got five minutes more at most. I’ll meet you both at McDevitt’s. It’s safe there.”
“Safe?” Why was her hangout with Jesse considered safe?
“McDevitt’s a former council member. He’s a supporter for Swift,” Jesse explained. “No other Hell Runners allowed at the barn.”
A knot formed in her stomach as she understood the complete implication. “Except us.”
“Pruddy, you don't know how long I've waited for you.” Not nearly as tall as Jesse, Swift swung an arm around her shoulders and squeezed until their cheeks almost touched. His wide grin radiated warmth as he ushered her across the portico. “This time, the Prophecy will be fulfilled.”
“Prophecy?” The single word incited panic. “Wait a minute.” She shoved his hand off her shoulder and twirled away. “Jesse? Do you know what he’s talking about?” She wanted answers from the person she trusted, not the rebel.
“I do. I’m just not sure I believe it.”
“How could you not? Especially after what happened tonight?” Swift urged them to follow him. “We’re a team now. All three of us. And we’re going to change the entire purpose of the Hell Runners Society.”
“Why would we do that?” she challenged.
From the step below, he glanced up from beneath the heaviest lashes she’d ever seen on a man. “To save more souls. The way you did tonight. You’re a Vessel, Pruddy. Born to collect the repentant, not release dumbasses who could probably find their way out of the First Ring with a little more effort on their part.”
Her partner snorted.
“And Jesse is the Pathfinder. He is your guide to find the repentant. And The Door.”
“What Door?”
“I like your curiosity, Pruddy.” He took to the stairs.
Rule Breakers, Soul Takers (Hell Runners Book 1) Page 19
