by C. R. Jane
Jake clapped Thomas's shoulder, and the two of them headed for the porch. Jake was tall-even by my standards, and I was used to be surrounded by big guys-and broad shouldered in his rain-splattered navy jacket. Thomas was shorter, compact and muscular with spiky brown hair. He was fiddling with an unlit cigarette, turning it over in his fingers like a nervous habit, but Jake said something to him and he put it away in his jacket pocket.
The two of them headed up the stairs to pause in front of us. Thomas's eyes roamed across the four of us, his lips widening as if he was amused, but he didn't say anything.
"Thomas here is an old friend," Jake said.
"This is Nim," Jake said, pointing to the other Alexander with dark, curly hair-so much like Jake's-and supernaturally bright green eyes. Then he pointed to Ryker, who had his motorcycle boots up on the porch rail, his tattooed biceps crossed between his broad pecs and the narrow taper of his waist. "Ryker." He nodded at the gentle giant with the blond hair and scarred knuckles who was currently tending my aching feet. "And Levi."
"Hey, nice to meet you," Thomas said. "I have a job I was hired for here in the states. Getting a dangerous relic out of a museum."
"Does getting mean stealing?" Nim asked cheekily.
"Does it count as stealing when it's for the museum's own good?" Thomas asked.
"Yes," Nim said. "But that's fine. Stealing is fun."
"So you're the demon," Thomas said easily.
Ryker shifted forward subtly in his chair, his muscular arms braced on his knees. The tattoos on his biceps stood out in sharp relief under the cuff of his t-shirt.
"We all like a bit of well-intentioned thievery now and then." Levi said, defusing things, like always. "Keeps us limber."
"Got something against demons?" Nim asked cheerfully. He didn't take much to heart.
"Not today." Thomas flashed him a tight grin. "I'm hoping you'll help me. Turns out my old contact here stateside is dead."
"Turner," Jake filled in.
"Yeah, he made some bad life choices," Ryker deadpanned. The memory of the man who betrayed Jake and me to the demons rose again in my mind. I'd been so stupid then; Turner had tricked me into breathing in poisonous gas. When Jake helped me down to the ground that day, his hard demeanor had cracked for the first time. "I should've taken better care of you," he'd whispered.
I hadn't asked for revenge, but I'd gotten it; I would never forget the Hunter's Council in their black armor, ripping Turner out of that house. His screaming still rang in my ears when I thought about it.
Both memories made a shiver run down my arms, as if the rainy-cold of the night had finally sunk through my skin. Nim pulled me in tighter, resting his chin on top of my hair.
"I can't break into a museum solo," Thomas said. "I need supplies."
"You need more than supplies," Jake said. "What was Nigel thinking, sending you alone?"
The air changed, grew chillier, as Ryker and Levi stiffened at the nameNigel.
Thomas shrugged, as if he didn't want to tell us anything about Nigel. "Anyway, this relic, it's dangerous. It's infected by a ghost or something. Apparently, people have accidentally let this thing out of the box before, and it's gone…badly." Thomas pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and showed us all a photo of a small box that looked like something from the time of the pharaohs. "Like, people turn up dead."
Jake frowned. "You're sure it's a ghost?"
"No. That's why I said or something." Thomas said pointedly.
"We'd better know going in. Send that to me. I've got research to do." Jake ordered.
"All right." Thomas's thumbs were flying across his phone keyboard when it rang. He hit send and then answered the call, already turning and jogging down the stairs, as if he had to put some distance between us.
"Hey, Nigel," he said, just before he walked into the rain, out of earshot.
Chapter Three
Levi
"I've got to get going," Thomas said when he rejoined us, tucking his phone back in his pocket.
"I thought you were going to stay the night so we could start planning the heist," Jake said.
"I'm off it, for now anyway." Thomas raised his hands in the air, as if saying he had no responsibility. "Nigel says there's a more pressing situation. Might be a Nephilim."
Jake's jaw worked. "All right. I thought you said this relic was dangerous."
"It is. You're welcome to chase it down if you want." Thomas clapped Jake's shoulder. "Listen. I've got to go. I've got a trail to lose."
Jake raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms.
"I'm not going to let Nigel get his hands on another kid like you," Thomas said. "Give me some credit, Jake. There are reasons I stay close to him."
Jake nodded. "All right. Stay safe-sooner or later, you know he's going to turn on you."
"Eh, he's an asshole, but he's my dad. You know all about that." Thomas threw an arm around Jake, and the two of them exchanged a quick hug.
"Call me if you need me," Jake told Thomas.
"And drag you back into all that shit?" Thomas took a step backward down the stair, a grin splitting his lips.
"I don't mind some trouble," Jake said bleakly. "Nigel would find things have changed."
"He hasn't," Thomas said.
"Doesn't matter," Jake promised.
Sooner or later, Jake and Nigel would have some kind of reckoning. But for now, Jake's friend walked down the gravel without a backward glance and threw the tarp off his motorcycle. The bike gleamed under the moonlight as he threw his leg over it and started it with a roar.
Jake leaned over Ellis and dropped a kiss into her hair. "Good night, princess."
"Do you want me to come up with you?" She looked up, her eyes wide.
He shook his head. "Nah. I want to be alone. Do some research. I have a funny feeling the Brits missed a few things about that box."
She nodded. "Come find me if you want me. I am going to bed."
"I always want you," he said, his voice low. "But I-" He shrugged, then turned and walked into the house. It was the most emotional my brother ever got.
She leaned forward, her eyes worried, chewing on her lower lip. Then she kissed Nim's cheek and got to her feet. "If we might be breaking into a museum tomorrow, I feel like I should get some rest tonight."
She ran her fingertips over my shoulder, as if it wasn't sleep she wanted when she needed rest.
"Isn't tomorrow Halloween?" Nim asked, glancing at his watch. "Demons' night?"
"You think every night is demon's night," Ryker scoffed.
"I think it's a bad day to mess with weird things. But nobody listens to me." Nim shook his head as he got to his feet. "I'm going to see if I can get Jake to let me help. You all are going to get yourselves in trouble, like usual, and you're going to need the demon…"
"Half," Ellis chided gently. Her slender fingers folded around mine. The sound of my brothers' banter faded behind us as we headed into the house. It was warm inside, the fireplace crackling in the living room as we walked through it toward the stairs. To our right, in the dining room, there was a rustle and thud as Jacob pulled books off the shelves. My desire to have Ellis in my bed warred with my worries.
"I think he needs you tonight," I said quietly, once we were out of earshot.
She squeezed my hand in hers. "He needs his books first. Later on…when he's done…then he'll want me."
"Want and need are two different things," I said as I walked into my room. "He wants to find answers on paper. He needs to find them in people."
She closed the door to my bedroom behind her with a soft click, and when I turned, she leaned against it.
"What if I need you for strength between one long day and another?" she asked. "And what if I want you, now?"
Things between Ellis and I have always been easy. Her relationships with my brothers can be angsty, but there's always rest and comfort when we're close. There's a joy in that, in being thenice guy, in being the one who holds her close and refuels her when she's exhausted by our dangerous world.
"Then I'm here," I said simply.
She bobbed across the room. I caught her around the waist, and her arms looped around my shoulders, tugging me down to her.
"I miss you sometimes," she said softly into my ear. "Isn't that funny? When we live in the same house?"
I tucked a strand of long, dark hair back behind her ear. "Sometimes I don't get as much of you as I want," I confessed.
She bit down on her lower lip as she looked up at me.
"But I guess I'd always long for more of you." I took her delicate face in my hands and kissed her lips, a quick, chaste kiss. "You're the woman I love, after all. This job tears us apart over and over, but we always find our way back to each other. Always have, always will."
There was a tug in my soul at the words, as if I could feel fate already pulling me away from her. It was a strange feeling, as if I were nostalgic for a time that hadn't yet passed, and then it was gone.
"I wish the job would just bring us closer," she said softly. "Shouldn't that be the way it is? The five of us together all the time?"
"We've got to tell those ghosts and demons to get it together." I ducked down, sliding an arm behind her thighs, and she grinned as I lifted her up against my chest. "They're interfering with our lives. How are we ever going to get away for a honeymoon?"
"I don't know if I want to marry any Hunters," she said, but now her voice was teasing. I'd chased away her worries, for now, and that always made my own heart lighter. "You all are trouble."
"And you're the queen of trouble."
Her lips met mine as her fingers ran through my hair, catching and gently tugging at the roots. Each tug sent my desire for her, always a constant low fire, blazing higher.
I tossed her onto the bed, and she laughed when she bounced on her elbows. She crooked a finger at me.
I stopped to pull my t-shirt over my head, and even though she saw me every day, the same abs and biceps and tattoos, her eyes widened, then crinkled at the corners. A glow of warmth spiked through my chest.
I threw myself on the bed beside her. Her fingers traced across the ridges of my abs as she leaned forward to kiss me. Her lips were still cool from the night air, and they parted against mine.
Then she knelt on the bed, her hair falling around her face-and mine-and I breathed in the faintest scent of old, putrid vamp.
"Nope." I rolled out of bed, away from her. "You were just supposed to be doing recon tonight, but no…"
She stared at me, perplexed, then pulled a strand of her hair in front of her face before she crinkled her nose in disgust. "Oh. That's a turn-off, huh?"
"It's fixable." I ducked into the shower and turned the water on, crazy-hot, the way she liked it. "You'll be back to your usual irresistible sex-goddess self in a few minutes."
"This job is not glamorous!" She complained as she peeled off her shirt, pulling it over her head as she crossed the floor to the doorway of the bathroom. "You and Ryker fooled me. There isn't anything sexy about it."
I leaned against the side of the tub, crossing my arms. "Nothing?"
A mischievous grin crossed her lips. "All right, maybe there aresome sexy parts."
She was looking pretty darn sexy in nothing but jeans and her dark, lacy bra right now. I shook my head, trying to stave off my lust, as I drew open the shower curtain. "It'll seem a lot more glamorous once you've washed your hair. Twice."
When I stepped into the hot spray of water behind her and my cock brushed across the curve of her ass, she leaned back into my arms. I grabbed the bottle of peppermint-scented shampoo and squeezed it into my hand, then ran the rich lather through her long, dark hair. As my fingers massaged her scalp, she relaxd into me, a soft sound of pleasure escaping her lips. Her head rested against my shoulder. I brushed my lips over her shoulder and kissed my way up her neck.
Then, resting my hands on her hips, I turned her around into the spray of water, and she grinned as my fingers teased her scalp. Her dark hair slipped through my fingers as the water streamed through it. As her head fell back, her eyelashes resting on her water-freckled cheeks, I leaned down to kiss away the droplets beading across her nose. Her arms tightened around my shoulders, pushing her breasts against my chest. My cock rose between us, rubbing between her wet thighs, throbbing so hard with desire that I ached.
My hands slid down her hips, and when my fingers ran over the curve of her ass, her hips rocked forward into mine. I held those curves in my palms, a smooth, perfect weight against my palms, as her lips nuzzled my jaw. Our lips met, and she exchanged sweet, tender kisses with me as my cock teased back and forth between her thighs. Then her lips parted, the tip of her tongue sliding against my upper lip.
I traced a circle around her nub, feeling her sweet slickness, and her hips rocked forward again, a small sound of pleasure vibrating inside her mouth and mine. As I traced that circle relentlessly, over and over, her breath caught. She buried her face in my shoulder, biting down on her lower lip.
Then she grabbed me in her hand, and it was my breath that gave. Her fingertips slid down my shaft to take my balls in her hand, her grip firm and sure. I wrapped my hands tighter around her hips, my forehead meeting hers. The ache I'd felt for her was a desperate throb, a mix of pleasure and pain as my cock strained for her, and yet I was in no rush.
Suddenly she pulled away from me, kneeling so that the spray of hot water hit my chest and abs. She looked up at me, her eyes alight, and then wrapped her mouth around me. When she swirled her tongue around my tip, I almost exploded. I grabbed the shower curtain, bunching it in my hand.
Every time her tongue ran up my shaft, I felt a powerful spasm of desire, and when I looked down at her face-her mischievous eyes, her hair falling into her face before she swiped it away-I was overwhelmed by how much I loved her. She was the smartest, kindest woman I'd ever met, and the thought that she wanted to make me happy with this sweet, intimate act never stopped amazing me.
When my knees trembled and I had to put my palm against the cool, slick tile wall to steady myself, I started to pull away. We could finish together. But instead, she took my balls firmly in her palm, and I yanked the damn shower curtain right off the railing. The curtain hooks hit the floor-ping, ping- as the curtain fell over both of us, a white plastic tent collapsing inward before I pushed it away. Nothing, including a rogue shower curtain and minor property damage, could distract me from the high when Ellis was between my thighs.
She ran her perfect tongue up my balls and all the way down my shaft, and I bit down hard on my lower lip. I was going to tear this whole damn bathroom down. The shower curtain was not going to be the only fatality.
Looking distinctly self-satisfied, she brought me back into her mouth, taking her time, a long constant pulse over and over. And I shattered, my muscles shaking for her as I filled her mouth. Then I fell back against the cold tile wall at the back of the shower.
She rose, smiling, her fingers tracing up the hard edges of my abs.
"I love you." I took the lean curve of her waist in my hands and nuzzled her ear yet again.
"Of course you do, right now," she teased.
"You know damn well," I said, and she nodded, her eyes suddenly serious, before she kissed me. The two of us were still trading kisses as I stepped out of the shower.
As soon as my feet were on the tile, I reached back for her. She laughed her sweet, lilting laugh as I threw her over my shoulder and carried her into the bedroom.
"I can walk, you know," she teased me.
"I'm amazed I still can. I'm showing off." I let her slide off my shoulder onto the bed, then braced myself over her with a forearm on either side of her waist. I kissed the side of her navel, debating whether I should continue up or down.
There was a quick tap on the door. Ellis pulled a face, pushing her tousled hair back from her face, which glowed pink-cheeked and sexy as hell.
"One second," I called back, grabbing my jeans.
"Don't let me interrupt." Ryker's voice was his usual gruff rumble.
"You know damn well you are." I buckled my belt and threw the covers up over Ellis, who pulled them around her.
When I swung the door open, Ryker leaned against the door frame, one eyebrow quirked. "I don't know I'm interrupting. Even Hunters sleep sometimes."
"What is it? What couldn't wait for morning?" I jerked my head, inviting him in to my room, even if he wasn't exactly welcome right now.
"We can't leave that Nephilim out there," Ryker said bluntly.
"I know," I said. "It's got to be fucking with Jake's head."
Ryker pursed his lips. "Wait. We all agree, for once?"
"Well, I wouldn't say that to Jake," I said. "And I don't know what the hell we're going to do with a Nephilim."
"We'll figure something out," Ryker said. "We always do. I don't like to plan too far ahead."
"I know." And it drove me fucking crazy.
Ryker nodded. "All right. Sorry to interrupt. It just-"
He shrugged instead of finishing the thought.
"You were worried about your big brother and you couldn't stand it?" Ellis asked, with a teasing glint in her eye.
