by Lynn Hagen
But he still felt as though that unseen hand was close by. Edward swallowed and whispered, “Who are you?”
The only answer that came was the breeze. It ruffled his hair as he sighed and kept walking, passing a stray cat that darted between the buildings as cars passed by.
He was starting to feel exposed and wondered if he should just hightail it home.
“Go home.”
Edward jumped, screamed, and spun around at the sound of the deep, masculine voice. But no one was there. There were a couple of teenagers across the street, but they weren’t paying him any attention, and he doubted any of them could make their voice sound close to his ear.
So close that Edward had felt warm breath skitter across his lobe. It had been a soft whisper, a gentle nudging, and Edward’s heart pounded so hard that his chest hurt. Was he losing his mind? Cracking under the pressure? It would be a miracle if he weren’t. Edward never did well with pressure. Hence the damn loan that got him into this mess in the first place.
If he could go back in time, he would’ve declared bankruptcy instead of dealing with that shyster fairy. Being charmed by good-looking men was going to be the death of him. He was a sucker for pretty eyes and an even prettier smile.
He cut down a side street to get to his house, that presence still with him. Shadowing him, making sure he did as it said. Ice cubes formed in his gut, and he sped up, damn near running the rest of the way.
When he entered, Edward slammed the door behind him, pressing his back against the wood. He wasn’t sure what in the hell was going on, but the disembodied voice had saved him from getting hit by a car.
He stayed there, at the front door, for what felt like hours before his legs were finally able to move. Edward sat on the couch, scrubbed a hand over his face, and wished he’d never delved into that unseen world.
“Nice place.”
Edward screamed and looked around, spotting a stranger standing in the kitchen archway. The guy was sort of shimmering, barely there, and Edward could see his kitchen through the guy.
It was more than he could handle. Edward’s eyes rolled back as he passed out.
Chapter Two
Phoenyx decided that maybe suddenly appearing wasn’t the wisest way to introduce himself. He sometimes forgot how jumpy and irrational humans could be. How fragile they were. He moved to the couch and checked Golden Eyes’s pulse. It beat steady and strong, and damn if Phoenyx wasn’t relieved he hadn’t killed the human by his sudden appearance.
Then honey-gold eyes stared up at him. He backed away when the male tried to climb over the back of the couch.
“Relax. I’m not here to harm you.” Phoenyx dropped into a recliner and tossed one leg over the arm. “In fact, that’s twice I’ve saved you.”
The human froze and looked Phoenyx over. “You’re the guy from last night. The one who got Anton off me.”
So Golden Eyes did know Anton. It hadn’t been some random act. Why did that feel even worse? If this human had been attacked for no reason, that would’ve set better with Phoenyx, but now he looked at the guy with suspicion.
“Why would Anton attack you? What did you do?”
The male visibly bristled. “I think it’s time for you to leave, whoever you are.” He narrowed his eyes. “Whatever you are.”
“Clearly I’m your savior.” Phoenyx lowered his leg and sat forward. “It seems you need a guardian angel on your side.”
His words weren’t winning him any points. Golden Eyes seemed to take offense to whatever he said. The guy was stubborn and full of pride. It was in his beautiful eyes—eyes that were currently shooting daggers at him.
That pissy look made Phoenyx smile. “So here I am, at your service, to protect you until Anton is caught.”
The male could use Phoenyx however he wanted. Shit. The guy was sexy with a side of sassy. A spitfire who had Phoenyx’s interest piqued. His gaze slid over Golden Eyes’s body as Phoenyx bit his lower lip. “So what’s on the agenda?”
The male simply stared at him. “Are you insane? You just show up out of nowhere and insert yourself into my life?”
“Got anything to eat? I’m starving.” He got up and left the room, giving the male time to process what was going on. In truth, Phoenyx had no clue what was going on. He just knew he needed to keep the human safe, even from himself. He seemed to get himself into a lot of jams. Intentionally and otherwise.
“Wait.” Golden Eyes hurried behind him. “You’re not staying. I don’t even know you. Thanks for helping me, both times, but you have to go.”
“Actually, you’d be better off staying at my apartment. You’d be protected there.” Phoenyx searched the fridge and came away with some string cheese.
“Hold up.” Golden Eyes waved his hands back and forth. “Did you say until you find Anton? But I thought you got him last night.”
“He got away.” Phoenyx ate the cheese and then looked for something else. That was what he got for skipping meals.
“How?” The guy shouted the word. “There were two of you. How did he get away?”
The human paled as he dropped into a kitchen chair. He looked as though he’d be sick. Phoenyx closed the fridge and crossed the room. He wasn’t sure what kind of trouble the guy was in, but it looked as though it was weighing heavily on him.
He took a seat and crossed his arms on the table. “Tell me what you’ve gotten yourself into and maybe I can help you get out of it.”
Golden Eyes looked like he was mulling over Phoenyx’s offer. “What are you?”
Phoenyx had been around for a very long time, and his instincts hardly ever steered him wrong. And now it was telling him to keep his trap shut, not to tell Golden Eyes too much. “Does it matter?”
“It’s just…” The human looked past Phoenyx. There were deep shadows of trouble in those honey-gold eyes. He came out of that look with a body shiver, and his eyes hardened. “I don’t need your help.”
He was straight up lying. A soul-sucking demon didn’t go after a person unless…honestly, they went after innocents all the time. Still, Phoenyx’s gut told him the human was in trouble. He couldn’t shake the feeling and wasn’t going to simply walk away.
He also didn’t want to force his help, so he’d just have to let his corporal form fade if he was to protect… “What’s your name?”
Golden Eyes leaned back and placed his hands in his lap. He looked down at the table and shook his head. “This is crazy. I’m talking to someone who used his voice when he wasn’t even around. I’m attacked by a soul-sucking demon who’s gotten away. Fuck my life.”
Did the guy always talk to himself? There was just something sad about him, and Phoenyx wanted to make things right, to wipe that look from his face, from his posture, and see him smile. He’d bet Golden Eyes had a beautiful laugh.
Phoenyx knew all too well what it was like to hate your life, to wish you had another, any other besides the one you were cursed with. Every single demon warrior came from a hard, violent background, and Phoenyx’s wasn’t any different.
Cruelty, abuse, pain, and anger. He knew those emotions too well. But he’d tried hard to change his outlook, to bring some sunshine into his constant darkness, to not take life too fucking seriously. Demons’ lived for thousands of years, and that was a long time to harbor so many hateful feelings.
He rapped his knuckles on the table. “I’ll get out of your hair. By the way, my name is Phoenyx. If you ever need me, just shout my name.”
He wouldn’t recapture Anton sitting in Golden Eyes’s kitchen. He also wanted to know why Rainerio hadn’t shown on time. Phoenyx had a lot of things to do in the demon realm, and as much as he wanted to sit around with the male, he did have to go.
But he would be back to check on him. No way was he leaving the human for too long. Not when Anton was still out there and not when Golden Eyes looked as though he needed a friend.
* * * *
Phoenyx emerged from the shadows by Serenity Savings and had t
o jump out of the way when a body flew past him. What the hell was going on? Three unmoving bodies lay on the ground, and four of the warriors were battling…
Holy crap. Was Phoenyx actually seeing them battle….what exactly was that thing? The creature was a good ten feet tall, wide as fuck, with a tail lashing out behind him. Horns protruded from its head, and it was red. As far as Phoenyx could tell, because the damn thing was on fire.
“Don’t just stand there,” Donnchadh snarled at Phoenyx. “You can jump in anytime you feel like it.”
“What the hell is that thing?” Just because Phoenyx was a demon warrior didn’t mean he knew every single creature that existed. There were a lot that dwelled in the underworld and Hell that he’d never laid eyes on.
Like this behemoth.
Donny used his teleportation skills to grab Phoenyx and move him out of the way just as the creature’s fist came down. It would’ve crushed him if the warrior hadn’t used quick thinking.
Gah. Phoenyx’s head wasn’t in the game. That had been a rookie mistake that had nearly cost him. His mind was still in Brac Village, still focused on Golden Eyes.
He was hiding a secret, and Phoenyx was determined to learn what it was. Later. He would think about it later, because if he didn’t concentrate on the fight, Phoenyx was of no use to anyone.
The creature tried to smash him again, but Phoenyx was ready this time. He twirled out of the way, yanking his blade from its sheath. With lightning speed, he sliced the creature’s fist several times before it had a chance to pull back.
It threw its head back and roared. Kobe stood there with his eyes closed. The guy had mind control powers and was more than likely trying to soothe the savage beast.
Kane kept freezing time, and while it worked on the civilians who had gathered to see what was going on, it was ineffectual on the creature.
Rainerio doubled in size and tried to put the creature in a headlock and was successful to some degree. The creature howled as it tried to free itself. If they didn’t get more warriors on scene, they were in deep trouble.
Cadeym showed up and blasted the thing with lightning bolts. He looked at Phoenyx, his greenish-yellow eyes sparkling as he winked. “I got this.”
“Hey, watch your fucking aim!” Rainerio shouted when one of the bolts nearly struck his head. He flipped his body and slammed the creature into the ground, keeping his full weight on it.
Donny pulled out a pair of neutralizing cuffs, looked at them then at the creature’s wrists, and cursed. “This isn’t gonna work. His arms are too damn thick.”
Phoenyx was trying to figure out what to do when he saw someone approaching. Panahasi walked with determined purpose toward them, a deep scowl on his face, his whiskey-brown eyes narrowed and his lips set in a thin line.
Midstride, he transformed into his beast. His talons were as sharp as the finest blades and grew until they were twelve inches long. A row of deadly teeth emerged, and his skin turned crimson as a tail grew four feet in length. Horns burst from his scalp, his body contorting into the likes of which no one had ever seen. He was Life, his genetic makeup containing every creature ever born.
Cadeym released the creature and backed away as Panahasi threw his arm out, creating the biggest portal Phoenyx had ever seen. The creature dropped through it before the demon leader closed the black, swirling hole. As soon as it was closed, Panahasi transformed back into his human self.
“Where’d you send him?” Donny asked.
“Back to Hell.” Panahasi looked around then went to the people lying on the ground. He touched each of them, and their eyes fluttered open.
“But I thought you couldn’t use portals to transport to and from Hell,” Phoenyx said. “We couldn’t use one when we fought Crypt.”
Now that creature had scared the crap out of Phoenyx. He’d been twelve feet tall and dumb as a box of rocks, but his brute strength had made up for his lack of brains.
“Normally I can’t,” Panahasi said. “But this once Jaden gave me permission because he didn’t want Surkath outside the gates of Hell.”
“Surkath?” Rainerio furrowed his brows. “What’s so special about him that would have Jaden worried?”
That was a damn good question. Jaden was Death, the Grim Reaper, and Phoenyx hadn’t thought anything scared the guy.
Panahasi shrugged. “I don’t know, and he isn’t saying. You guys help clean this mess up while I go have a talk with my brother.”
Phoenyx turned to Rainerio as Panahasi walked away. “Where the fuck were you earlier when Hondo and I needed your help?"
Rainerio narrowed his dark brown eyes. “Don’t start. Hondo was all over me about that. He told me to give him thirty minutes when you two went after Anton. I gave him thirty minutes. How is it my fault that you guys made it back before that?”
“Can you clean up this mess without me?” Phoenyx wanted to get back to Golden Eyes. He also wanted to hunt Anton down. The sooner he got rid of the threat, the sooner he could spend time figuring out what fascinated him so much about the human.
“Do I look like a goddamn maid to you?” Rainerio huffed. “The sooner all of us get this done, the sooner we can get back to what we were doing.”
“What’s with the attitude?”
Rainerio grunted. “I was in the middle of having sex, if you must know. Nothing worse than being called away right before… You get the picture.”
Phoenyx hid his smirk. He knew that Rainerio had his hands full with his mate. Dillon worshipped the ground Rainerio walked on, and vice versa.
The thought made Phoenyx’s chest hurt. Most of the warriors had mated, leaving just a few bachelors to envy what their brethren had. Phoenyx, Cadeym, Deandre, and Donnchadh were the remaining bachelors, the few who envied what their brethren had, envied the fact that the others had someone to go home to.
He’d been alone for so long that Phoenyx doubted he’d ever find his mate.
“Hey.” Rainerio clapped Phoenyx on his shoulder. “It’ll happen.”
“What, can you read minds now?” Phoenyx jerked his shoulder away.
“Nah. I’ll leave that mind crap to Kobe. It’s the look on your face. I know what you’re going through. Was there for too damn long before I found Dillon.”
That was the problem. A demon didn’t know who his mate was until he slept with the person. And the way he felt about Golden Eyes, Phoenyx wanted to bed the human just to find out if that ache in his chest was any indication that the male could be his mate.
He just had to get past Golden Eyes’s bristly exterior.
And to find out his goddamn name.
Rainerio sighed. “Go, you’re depressing the hell out of me.”
Phoenyx didn’t have to be told twice. He raced to the Black River and jumped in, the water taking him to the human realm. He emerged from the other side and had to get his bearings. Phoenyx knew Brac Village very well, but some residential streets weren’t as familiar to him.
“I don’t care. Not tonight, Bobby. It’s been a strange day for me.”
Phoenyx recognized the soft lilt, the cadence that made ripples inside his body.
Golden Eyes. But who was he talking to and about what? Phoenyx was on the side of the house, hidden by the darkness. That was the thing about the demon realm. Time always worked differently there. Although Phoenyx had been in the demon realm all of an hour, it seemed the day had already passed in the human realm.
“You said that the last time,” the stranger, Phoenyx assuming it was Bobby, said. For all he knew there could’ve been more than one guy at the door. “You can’t keep blowing me off.”
Phoenyx had no idea what was going on, but he was ready to show himself and then act like a goddamn fool if something wasn’t right.
He took a step forward and then paused.
“Look, we all have bad days. Just let me come in. You know me coming over always relaxes you.” Bobby’s voice was soft, coaxing, and Phoenyx wanted to slam his fist into the male’s fac
e.
“Fine.” Golden Eyes sighed.
Gnashing his teeth, Phoenyx came from around the house. He walked down the driveway and up the walkway. “Evening, gentlemen.”
“What’re you doing here?” Golden Eyes glared at him. “I thought I told you I don’t need—” He whipped his head around and looked at the… Shit, the stranger couldn’t be no more than fifteen or sixteen. He had a book bag hanging from one shoulder, brown hair in disarray, and his big blue eyes looked at Phoenyx as if Phoenyx had come to steal his soul.
“God, mister. You’re huge!” Bobby looked at Golden Eyes. “Is he your boyfriend? He’s so freaking tall.”
Phoenyx was six feet four inches of pure malice. But damn, he couldn’t act a fool with this kid. He also hoped Golden Eyes wasn’t fooling around with Bobby, because that would just be wrong.
“I guess we can do this another night, Edward.” Bobby shuffled around Phoenyx and took off down the street.
Edward. Phoenyx finally knew his name.
“You’re an ass,” Edward said with a hiss. “Thanks for scaring off one of my paying customers.”
“And exactly what was he paying for?” Edward looked to be in his late twenties, maybe early thirties, but no older than that. Once again Phoenyx was sucked into those pure-honey eyes.
“That’s none of your business.” Edward turned, grabbing the door to slam in Phoenyx’s face.
Phoenyx pressed his hand against the wood, stopping the door from shutting. “What did I do to you that was so rotten that you treat me like trash? I’ve been nothing but nice to you, going out of my way to save you, and you act as if I kicked you in the balls.”
Honestly, Phoenyx wasn’t sure why he kept coming back to be abused. If he wanted that kind of treatment, he would’ve stayed in the demon realm where a lot of residents hated, feared, or admired the demon warriors.
Mostly hated and feared.
Edward stood there staring at him as if debating what he should do. Phoenyx was tired from the earlier fight with that Hell creature and just wanted to chill.
