He leans in close to whisper in my ear, “Don’t talk about too many details, you never know who’s listening.”
What the hell? Wow. How can one live like that? To question if you can talk openly about stuff while being in your own damn home. Talk about knife cutting reality when you’re surrounded by men who should form a unity instead of watching your every move not to have a knife stabbed into your back. It does make me want to observe and see if I can find out who likes to buddy up with Vapula.
An idea comes to mind. “You know what? Me and Dio will head to our room first to talk things through and then maybe wait here later so we can have a drink or two, sound good?”
He raises an eyebrow in suspicion. “What are you up to?” he grumbles, making me laugh at how observant he is.
“You got your things to deal with, I have mine. But don’t worry, we’re not leaving the compound and won’t do anything foolish. Good enough to ease your suspicion, oh mighty Demon Prez?” I croon.
He grips my waist and hoists me up so I’m suddenly holding onto his shoulders while I tower over him.
“Careful, sweetness, the words you so carelessly purr give me quite a few visuals we need to play out later today,” he growls and lets me slowly slide down his body until our mouths are perfectly lined up.
Then he takes my lips. Yes, takes. I have no other description in the way he leads the kiss. He pulls me in, dances with my tongue until I completely lose all sense of being in the middle of a clubhouse. It’s just me and him and the need to devour each other.
Hollers rip us apart and I can feel my whole face heat. That was close. I really wanted to have sex right here in the middle of the clubhouse. What the hell is wrong with me? I unlock my ankles and let myself slide down to the floor.
I pat Vike’s chest. “Okay, well, you go on and do your thing and I’ll do mine,” I tell him, as if I’ve got my act together and we weren’t trying to climb inside each other a breath ago.
His chuckle is all knowing but the way he shoots me a wink is panty wetting and it makes me sigh in adoration. I swallow hard and turn toward my sister who’s still kissing Gunnar. Yeah, if I can’t have sexy time, neither can she.
“Hey, you two. Gunnar, Vike needs you. Dio, you and me...girl time,” I state and don’t even wait for a reply but snatch Dio’s hand and drag her with me.
“Crap, Tria,” Dio complains when we’re in my room as I close the door behind us. “Where’s the fire? You could have just waited a minute.”
“Yeah, sure, Dio. The way you two were going at it? Maybe next week or the week after you’d have some time for me. Ugh,” I groan. “And we really need to do something. Something important.”
“Like what?” Dio plunks down on the bed.
I move to stand in front of her and point a finger in her face. “Do you know the time we were blamed for eating all the cookies Grandma made?”
Dio’s whole face lights up as her eyes gleam with mischief. “Ah, you mean when we cast a spell to turn the one who actually stole them green?”
My cheeks hurt from smiling. “Uh huh. Gosh, what a doofus. I can’t believe Grandma’s neighbor kept sneaking inside her kitchen to steal cookies.”
“Yeah, when all he wanted was her cookie.” Dio’s eyes go wide as she cringes and slaps a hand over her own mouth. “Oh, gross. Why did I say that?”
“Yeah, you most definitely shouldn’t have thrown out that visual,” I cringe right along with her. “Anyway, it reminds me of something I’d like to try but I don’t think I can do it alone.”
“Do what alone? Is someone stealing your cookies? What the hell, woman? You can’t even bake so you can find whoever stole them outside puking,” Dio snorts.
I smack my flat hand on her forehead. “Very funny, nutcase.” I roll my eyes, sit down next to her and lower my voice to a bare whisper. “Our guys have a clubhouse filled with members and some are working with...you know who.”
Dio stares at me and I can see the wheels in her head start to turn. “It might actually work,” she muses. “But instead of turning green for all to see, maybe you can adjust your magic a little. We could hold hands and focus so the color of the tag is only visible for us.”
“Perfect,” I beam. “Because then no one else will notice anything.”
“There’s still one dilemma, though,” Dio sighs.
“To get everyone in one place, and to get the magic flowing around?”
Dio nods. “Well, I was thinking about getting everyone in one place, but even if they were all under the same roof like they are at night...how are we going to spread the magic? I mean, with the cookies it was easy enough because we filled the kitchen where we knew Grandma’s neighbor went to steal the cookies, but now...I have no clue.”
“Shit,” I growl, frustrated about having a plan but not knowing how to execute it.
“Yeah,” Dio growls along with me and snaps, “You should ask Vike, he knows the building and might have something smart to say. Damn. Don’t repeat that. Men are idiots when you give them compliments. Their egos are big enough as it is...no need to feed them to make it swell even more.”
I have to laugh but at the same time I know she’s right. About all of it. I don’t even think twice but close my eyes, focus, and bring Vike to me. He visualizes before me but apparently he was sitting on a chair before I brought him here and, well...there’s no chair here so he falls back on his ass, looking bewildered until his eyes find mine.
He’s standing before me in a flash. “What the fuck, Tria?”
Oops.
“Quick, we don’t have much time,” I tell him, deciding it’s better to rattle off the plan than to have him angry at me. Or at least I hope it works. “We thought of a way to see the rats within this Charter but we don’t know how to spread the magic.”
“Spread the...what?” Vike rubs a hand over his face. “More details, Tria. But hang on.”
He steps out of the room and into the hallway before he bellows, “My Old Lady fucking teleported me to my room. I need to put her in place, so I’ll be back in a few fucking minutes.”
Only soft laughter trails back through the hallway.
Vike steps inside the room again, smirks about the fact he just plainly put himself on a superior level, and locks the door. I should tell those others how he landed on his ass just now but Vike crosses his arms in front of his chest and spreads his legs slightly. He’s bracing himself for the discussion but he makes it seem so freaking sexy, allowing me to forget the whole ‘put me in my place’ comment he made to his guys.
A smack on the back of my head rips me out of the gutter my mind was rolling into. “Snap out of it, Tria. If I can’t kiss my Old Man because you have a plan...you can’t go all dreamy on me.”
Vike smirks down on me again, making a rumble flow through my chest. Asshole. It’s all his fault standing there all hot and fierce.
“Come on, sweetness, tell me what you have in mind.” Good thing he’s now cupping my face and letting his thumb slide up and down my cheek. Sweet. Not quite the asshole who spiked my anger a breath or two ago.
“Okay, quick and fast. Our grandmother makes awesome cookies. When we were little, we were blamed for eating them all while we did no such thing. Dio and I used magic. We filled the kitchen with it and made the one who stole the cookies green. Because we knew the one who stole them would return. Long story even shorter...we can tweak it so we’ll be the only ones able to see the green tag to indicate who’s a rat within this MC but we don’t know how to fill the clubhouse with magic when everyone’s inside,” I sigh in defeat from having a plan but no option to execute it efficiently.
“The ventilation system,” Vike states. “Just blow it into the unit outside and let it trail through the whole clubhouse. Do it now while everyone is in Church.”
“Brilliant.” Dio elbows me. “Let’s go.”
“Can you somehow make it possible for me to see the tag too?” Vike questions.
I connect my gaze with Dio. “Hey, do
n’t look at me, you’re the one with the most magic. I have to use my necklace to tap into mine.”
She’s right. Dio is more connected to her Phoenix side. A good thing too since she was able to burn straight through the floor to get to Gunnar and even have her healing flames surrounding the two of them. While I’ve been more connected with my Fae side, not even needing the necklace to tap into my magic.
All Faes possess a necklace that makes it easier to tap into your magic. You get it the moment your powers are settled so you can slowly ease into it. But like I said, I’ve never needed it because my magic flows freely.
I hold out my hand to Vike. “Show us the ventilation system.”
Chapter Seven
***Vike***
I’m back in Church and glance around the table in a whole different way, hoping to see some green tag Tria was talking about but nothing yet. She did mention it could take a few hours. Something about magic needing the time to spread.
Even if this is a good thing—because we need to know who the rats are—it’s also very confronting to finally know who you’ve kept close, while they on the other hand, lie right to your face. It’s for this exact reason I call this meeting to an end. It’s been one hell of a day already and I need something to clear my head.
“All right you guys, go grab a beer and relax while we still have some time to kill before we hunt down this fucker,” I tell them and stand, the others following my movement and head to the door.
Hell, maybe my statement makes the rat—or rats, ‘cause I have the idea there’s more than one amongst us—relax or even tell Vapula we’re relaxing so he’ll attack.
I’m always ready to go, any second of any day. Hell, even if I would be balls deep inside my Old Lady, I’d gladly face the fucker and kill him once and for all. I swallow hard because I’m reminded of the legend Jagger and Alastair asked me about today. I know it by heart because it involves me and my brother.
One Demon twin will be cursed while the other will pay for revenge at the expense of his life. For there are reasons why choices are given in an effort for selflessness to prevail.
Whatever the fuck it all entails. I’m sure it will make sense at some point in time. Probably when it’s too damn late because it clearly states I’m paying for this shit with my life.
“Hey,” Tria quips when I stroll right up to where she’s leaning against the bar in the corner of the main room.
“Hey, yourself,” I sigh.
“Dude,” she groans. “The way you’re sighing it’s like you’re bound to fall face forward against the floor the first chance you’ll get.”
“Never gonna happen,” I chuckle. “Pretty sure you’ll snatch me up before my pretty face hits the floor. You like staring at it way too much.”
I shoot her a smirk and it draws out the effect I was going for. Sweet lust swirls in her gaze before it flashes to feisty because I challenged her...me being confident in her adoration for me.
But she surprises the hell out of me when her shoulders sag and she grabs her drink while muttering something that sounds like, “Ain’t that the truth.”
Damn, this woman. “Come on, we’re gonna turn in early.”
I don’t even wait for an answer but drag her along with me instead. Her giggles trail through the hallway behind us but fall dead when I’ve pulled her into our room and close the door behind us.
I want to kiss her so damn bad but I have a few uncertainties I need answers to. I couldn’t ask her before because we had to do the ritual in front of the ventilation system and right after I had to return back to Church so I wouldn’t draw any attention.
“The tag, does it work for everyone?” I hate asking this but it’s too damn vital not to know.
All giggles and smiles gone, she answers me. “Yes, everyone. Even you, me, Gunnar, Dio...no one is excluded.”
I nod and fire off another one. “How long will it last?”
“The color tag? Not sure.” Her eyebrows scrunch up. “The neighbor ended up marrying our Grandma and he was still green at their wedding.”
My eyes bulge and the little shit doubles over laughing.
“I’m kidding,” she squeaks. “Well, not about the them getting married part. But okay, it’ll last a few weeks. And you should know Gunner might get the tag too because I’m not sure how it will affect him. He’s been cursed by Vapula so he might carry some kind of link or mark. You know because the curse made him want to kill and the magic might tag it as working or worked for Vapula. But I’m sure he’s to be trusted because he’s your twin and he was a victim in all of this.”
I’m swallowing hard at the emotion clogging my damn throat. This woman who has been thrown my way, how I dragged her off and kept her fucking sister prisoner...all while being my mate, but fighting it until it was inevitable, is standing before me now; helping. Having my back and even my brother’s too.
“Yeah, sweetness,” I croak and lean forward to nibble on her bottom lip. “And just so you know...you’re absolutely getting lucky tonight.”
She giggles but when I grab her ass and pull her flush against me, the giggles switch to a gasp when she feels how damn hard I am for her. Though we don’t get to do anything about it due to knocking on the door. The both of us groan in frustration.
Flipping the lock, I open and see Dio standing there, panic on her face. She pushes me inside and closes the door behind me. She starts to pace back and forth. Tria and I share a look and she shrugs her shoulders as if to say she has no clue why her sister is acting this way.
“Talk, Dio,” I growl, frustrated at the whole being interrupted and then not knowing why she’s even here.
She stops pacing and ping pongs her gaze between her sister and me before she swallows hard. “He isn’t in on it with Vapula.”
“Oh, shit. What’s going on?” Tria rushes toward her and grabs her by the shoulders. “What happened?”
“He’s not,” Dio sobs.
“Dammit, Dio,” Tria snaps. “Tell me already because he could have a reaction to the magic because Vapula cursed him. It might have left a fingerprint of sorts so the magic will cling to him.”
“Let’s go,” I snarl, not liking the sounds of this.
With my next breath I’m in my brother’s room, Tria and Dio appearing right beside me. My brother is on the bed wrapped in a green haze.
“What the fuck?” I mutter, not believing what I’m seeing and I have no damn clue what to do.
“Shit,” Tria grumbles and stalks over to stand in front of the bed. “Quickly, hold hands like we did in front of the ventilator system. Vike, on my left. Dio...Dio, come on. Now, dammit.”
Dio shakes her head and dashes forward to grab her hand. Tria closes her eyes and starts to chant. It was the same thing she did when she let her magic flow through the clubhouse. Except now she lets go of our hands and leans forward to touch my brother’s leg. The green haze swirls and pulls back to disappear into Tria. Gunnar groans and flashes up, his eyes confused as if he’s unsure where he is.
“Are you okay?” Tria asks.
He shakes his head. “What the hell happened? Did Vapula attack again? Is the curse not completely lifted?” I hate the damn panic in his voice.
“No, this was all me,” Tria sighs. “I should have known it might have a different effect on you. I even mentioned to Vike how the green tag could affect you. Shit. I’m sorry.”
“Come again?” he growls, clearly confused.
I take a step forward to make his gaze connect with mine. “The girls thought of a way to highlight the rats in our MC. Tria let her magic flow through the ventilation system so anyone who is working with Vapula will have something green only the three of us will see. This way no one knows except for us so we can take out those who compromise our mission to kill Vapula.”
“And you didn’t think to mention it to me? I’m the damn VP around here or don’t you fucking trust me either? Fuck, Vike...do you even trust your fucking mate for that matter?” he grow
ls and it hits me straight in the chest because he might be right.
My head swings to Tria and even if I want to say something, the words are lacking.
Her face doesn’t give anything away, her voice either when she says, “This isn’t about trust issues, Gunnar. We could have waited and told you before we decided to go through with the plan I suggested. That’s why I teleported Vike to my room when you guys were in Church. It was a spur of the moment thing, but it doesn’t matter at this point because you weren’t there when the magic flowed or when Vike agreed and decided we needed to do it right that second. That’s the reason only the three of us can see. And it takes time for it to flow through the whole system, and with it the whole clubhouse. Well, with you getting hit we can assume it’s in full affect now. My point is...there wasn’t time for Vike to tell you and I’m pretty sure Dio didn’t get a chance to do so because she was in our room only a few minutes after we entered. There, feel good now? Good. I’m completely drained from the overuse of magic. I need a shower and some shut-eye to be ready for tomorrow since I’m looking forward to killing a few Demons.” She doesn’t even wait for me but is gone within the blink of an eye.
Dio charges up to me and pokes me in the pecs. “You asshole. Maybe you’re oblivious to what just went down, but let me enlighten you. My sister never, ever, gets tired of magic. Hell, she powers up the more she uses it. So, fuck no she’s tired and needs a nap. She’s hurt, she’s,”
“I fucking know, okay? I screwed up. There’s no need to get in my face about it,” I growl before I’m shoved against the wall with my brother’s arm pressed against my neck.
“Tone it down,” he states through clenched teeth. “That’s my woman you’re talking to. Have some damn respect.”
I could throw him across the room but what will that get me? I’m fucked in the head as it is and my chest...hell, my whole body is hurting with the mere thought of my hesitation ripping a hole in the bond me and my mate have between us. And who can blame her?
My hesitation was my own thought process, it had nothing to do with my trust in her. She’s my mate. She can blink to wherever the fuck she wants but she chooses to be with me. Me. The fucked-up one in the head who faces shit alone like I’ve been doing all these years. While she’s found a way to help me out with the rats who have been living in here comfortably.
Demons (Death by Reaper MC, #3) Page 5
