by Erin R Flynn
“Bain apparently talked to Caden who we know, and the tiger suggested he come to the next event and got an invite for you.”
I shrugged. “We’ll see. I don’t know how long I’m staying in town, and it depends what the event is.”
She nodded like it was no big, but not about to tell me what it was, so that was suspicious. “How was your Thanksgiving?”
I shrugged. “I crashed a few friend parties who put out a spread, but I’m a demon, Tahnee, it’s not like I have family I have holidays with.”
Her eyes sparkled to hear that confirmed. Something was clearly off in a way I was a step behind on. “Well, it was good to see you. We’ll catch up Monday at the gym. I have to boss around some staff.” She gave Aidan an appreciative look. “I’m sure Mr. O’Malley is more than able to escort you tonight. It’s his first event with us, but maybe you can entice him to make some purchases.”
“Yes, I am that good after one handshake a while ago, and now hearing a story of a tiger unable to perform with me, I’m sure he’s thanking you for dumping me on him,” I drawled, giving him the perfect out.
Except the idiot didn’t take it. He simply gave an easy shrug. “I’d love nothing more than to escort you around to see the art, though I think the designer who made your dress wins for perfection tonight.”
Tahnee walked off chuckling like she’d just set up her daughter with the perfect match or something. We weren’t even all that great of friends, so I had no idea what was going on. Did she think getting in tighter with me would lock in more big names or money? I mean, Bain had to have money now, right?
My mind was racing, so I didn’t catch Aidan leaning in until his arm brushed my back. “More wine?” He settled his hand on my lower, naked back and guided me to the bar. I think he caught on that I wasn’t there for fun when he recognized one of the demons on my team working with the caterers.
“What can I get for you, Ms. Delany?” the demon asked, shooting Aidan a quick glance as if saying he was trying to help fill in the gaps. “Another glass of wine?”
“No, I think I’m done with wine,” I said, setting down the glass, both of them knowing I didn’t like wine personally. “How about a screwdriver? Do you have any orange juice back there?”
He quickly glanced down to hide his reaction, as I was never one for pulling the plug. “I’m sorry, we don’t.”
“Thanks, I guess I’m done with the party anyways,” I chuckled, giving Aidan a heated look. “I maybe found something more fun if you’re up for a drink at my place?”
“I would love one,” he said, setting down his glass and pulling me closer.
We headed for the exit, and I made sure to find Tahnee and give a subtle wave like I was off to have fun and would tell her all about it later. Aidan muttered he had a driver waiting and helped me into the vehicle when it pulled up.
The moment he opened his mouth to ask me what the hell was going on, I quickly started asking him questions as if we didn’t know each other. I gave him a look to play along as I kept watch of what I was focused on. Then I gave the driver the address to take us to.
“Have you ever been to the San Diego Zoo?” I asked, interjecting to what he’d been saying. I made sure to stare at the driver in the rearview mirror, glad when he glanced at me. “I hear they have some cute red pandas. Those are the ones with the big fluffy tails, right?”
His eyes flashed something, and then he checked his side mirror, nodding he knew what was going on.
“I love animal lovers,” Aidan muttered, hopefully catching on as well. He leaned in, taking the chance to nuzzle my neck, but I caught him checking out who was behind us. “It’s why I never buy women furs. Killing for meat and using the leather is fine, but killing just for fur is barbaric to me, always has been since modern inventions to keep warm.”
“Plus, silk is so nice against the skin,” I flirted, glad when we arrived. “Did you want to order in or send your driver for food?”
“No, I think he’s done for the night. Thank you, and I’ll call you when I’m ready in the morning.”
“Presumptive,” I teased him.
“Just to talk of course,” he chuckled.
Yeah, right. I would never put him as a person who talked with a woman all night.
The car pulled over and he got out first, checking over the condo building as he helped me. I noted the tail didn’t follow the driver but stayed with us as I walked into the building. I gave a wave at the security guard, having done this several times since starting this investigation. All they knew I was staying there with a friend, but they didn’t know which place.
I brought Aiden to the parking garage and grabbed the scanner we’d hidden in the tire well of the SUV we had blocking the portal we’d put in. His eyes flashed shock as I ran the wand over him, glad when nothing reacted. I activated the portal and walked into home base and froze, Aidan crashing into my back and only his quick reflexes keeping me on my feet as he hugged me to him.
Kyle held his hands up in surrender. “You said to talk to Elijah, and I did and said I had an idea.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re so glamouring as me next time Kiera needs a buffet.”
He shrugged. “Totally worth it.”
I glanced at Dylan Hammond who was watching the exchange like he didn’t have a clue what was going on and maybe had just gotten there. He was a bear shifter who worked for ISLE (International Supernatural Law Enforcement)… And wanted to be my lover. His long, wavy brown hair was tied back, looking wet from a shower, and his normal scruff was gone so he’d just shaved.
His stern, piercing, light brown eyes focused only on me and what I was wearing as I came into the room. He looked good in relaxed jeans and a long sleeve Henley that showed off his large frame and build like a fucking brown bear but with a ton more muscles. His expression flashed shock as his gaze flickered to Aidan.
“It was a shock to me too,” Aidan quickly said.
“You called a bail out?” Kyle asked, frowning at his phone.
“Yeah, things got dicey fast,” I grumbled, gesturing to Aidan as if to say he was part of it. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say next, but Kiera came through the portal… With the twins, Owen and Evan. My jaw dropped as I looked between them.
She cleared her throat and gave a shrug. “They’re club owners, and given the situation, I figured they might have some insight as to how to get dirt or find the source.”
I snorted. “Right, and you’re pushing for me to be with them, and Kyle votes Dylan.” I smirked at Aidan. “No one ever picks you.”
“The angels do,” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Wait, we were told you asked for us,” Evan muttered, shooting Kiera an unfriendly look. “She asked us not to push.”
“She needs a push,” Kiera grumbled.
“I do not,” I snapped. “We’ve got trouble all over the place, and you guys are focusing on my love life.”
“Five of six,” Mason’s silky voice said from behind me. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I found something you need to see, goddess.”
“Goddess?” several men growled.
Great, just great. I let out a deep groan and waved them all off before focusing on Kyle. “The situation has changed and gone nuclear. You got the address for the wolf?”
“Yeah, here,” he said, handing me his phone and what I needed.
I nodded and went to the portal, changing what I had to before activating it. “I’ll be right back. Everyone just take a fucking time out.” I walked through the portal and into Bain’s bedroom… To find him jerking off. “Well, this wasn’t what I imagined.”
“Crikey!” he bellowed as he dropped his dick and reached for the towel next to him. He pulled it over his lap and blinked at me. “Bloody fuck, I’ve been dreaming of you showing up and you look better than a choccy biccy.”
“Thanks?” I muttered, not sure that was a good thing or not. “You wanted to talk to me, and you ca
n if you come with me now.”
He muttered something about needing pants and yanking on shorts before hurrying to me. I rolled my eyes when he moved to hug me, instead grabbing his hand and yanking him back through the portal. I didn’t need to look at him to know he wasn’t happy that he walked into anything other than my bedroom.
Too bad. I dropped his hand and went to the kitchen to grab a water before turning back to him. “You walked into something you have no idea about here, wolf, or you’re involved and I will skin you alive, so I’d recommend answering honestly.” I waited until he nodded. “Who did Caden tell you to contact?”
“Wait, what does this have to do with why you were at the art auction tonight?” Aidan asked.
I blinked at him, feeling several other gazes that he was slow on this one as well. “They weren’t selling art, Aidan, but demons. Lust demons.” I felt better that he wasn’t involved at least when he gave me a look that sounded crazy. “We’ve been looking into this coven for a bit now, working this case for over a week.” Still he didn’t seem to buy it.
“It’s true,” Kyle added.
I nodded. “Did you see how the art was never being taken down even after it was sold?” I pushed, trying to get him to realize what he’d walked into. “Paintings were being marked as sold, but then those signs were taken down after a while? Those paintings represent demons and they were saying who was spoken for.”
His eyes flared with rage but not at me, well, maybe I got a bit of that. “Why did you not tell me? You know who I could alert.”
I gave him a look like he was seriously dense before I got annoyed too. “We’ve told the vampire council when we’ve come across this before, as it’s not a new play by vampires. You want to know what they did the last time? They yelled at the coven for drawing attention. That was it. They didn’t give a fuck about the demons they abducted and used as sex slaves. No, it was that they were getting noticed doing it.”
“So we gave the information to ISLE, and they did nothing,” Kyle added, just as angry about it as I was. “They buried it before it could even land on an agent’s desk like Dylan said he’s worked before because it was just demons, so we went in and got them out and started a bunch of other shit so someone cared to punish them for anything.”
Aidan opened his mouth but then closed it again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know about that. I wouldn’t have contacted them either, but you knew I could help. I’m ancient.”
“We get along just fine doing things ourselves,” I reminded him, miffed he was saying it like we needed his help. Except Kiera and Kyle both snorted. “I’m sorry, do you guys have something to say about how I run my department?” I gave Kyle a pissed look. “Or do you want to talk to Elijah, as he’s not your boss?”
Kyle’s eyes flashed anger as he fisted his hands on the counter. “How were you going to handle the club owner?”
“Like I normally do,” I snapped. “There’s nothing wrong with how we handled this shit, and we do it well.”
“Yeah, we do and have, but we can always do better,” he yelled, throwing his hands up. “Jasmine, there is an eight million dollar pay day if someone can rape and humiliate you on video. What happens after you go in and beat the piss and shit out of the owner? He tries to trap you into that and you flatten him as you always do. Then what?”
“Then it becomes a hit because now there are more pissed and you aren’t just some weak woman,” Kiera muttered, worry in her tone as well. “They’re almost at nuclear with that option. Willing to put up that kind of money is crazy.”
“I don’t disagree, but what does Dylan have to do with it besides meddling in my personal life while we’re this deep in shit?”
“Someone would have to be insane to go after the woman dating the new deputy director of ISLE,” Kyle snapped.
I blinked at Dylan, noting he winced. “Deputy director?”
“I wanted to tell you in person,” he sighed, rubbing his neck. “I agreed to take a promotion and an office job after we’ve cleaned out so many and the corruption. The new elected director promoted me to deputy director after I’m sure several people suggested it.”
Aidan snorted. “I wasn’t the only one who wanted it. Your record is stellar and impressed all of us involved. That and the more pull you have, the safer she will be, so yeah, I made sure to suggest it firmly, but so did others.”
I bobbed my head but then shook it. “So you want Jasmine Stewart, VP of Heavenly Entertainment to date the deputy director of fucking ISLE, and that’s your answer?” I gave Kyle a look that it was stupid. “You’ll put another target on me because he’s ISLE. You’ll ruin his career being tied to us after what we did, me especially as I’m just the ex-whore who finds other—”
Dylan grabbed my arm and spun me to him, his lips on mine and kissing me gently before I even realized it. He lowered his forehead to mine. “Don’t ever talk about yourself like that again. People run their mouths about everyone, and everyone at ISLE is impressed by what you and the others have done. You helped save ISLE that needed saving.”
“Why would you even consider this?” I whispered, not able to hide my shock.
He chuckled, kissing me again before letting me go. “Because it gives me reason to be around you more, sweetie, and the more I’m around you, the more I worm my way into your heart. You run and try to reset, but you won’t be able to run so far or for so long. That alone makes me thrilled for Kyle’s idea. I’m missing huge sections on the rest of this, but yeah, tell everyone I’m dating Jasmine.”
“Why am I here if you have bludgers?” Bain asked, Owen and Evan shooting him pissed looks, which let me know it wasn’t a nice thing to say.
I hopped up on the counter and sighed. “The ‘club’ Caden told you about or whatever is what we’re talking about, Bain. You put my cover on their radar, and they very clearly plan to nab me and offer you access to me. I would guess Aidan now too.” I glanced at Kyle. “I called the bail out because Tahnee was there and apparently runs it all.”
“Fuck, fuck,” he seethed, turning and punching the wall. “That means they marked you as a lust demon the second we started. That’s aggressive and means they have the pull to make even someone like you with the social media footprint and more just disappear.”
“Yeah, it does. Did the others get out?”
“They’re fine,” he muttered.
I glanced over to Bain and saw he was crushed. “He said it was a matchmaking service or group. A club of wealthy that help fix people up so there aren’t scam artists or gold diggers.”
“And you thought that asshole tiger was part of that?” I asked, trying to keep the judgment out of my tone.
He shrugged. “Most don’t know he’s such a drongo and all ego. His image isn’t bad until smack talk for fights.”
“That’s true,” Kyle agreed. “He supports kid charities and the whole nine.”
“Beauty, who are you really?” Bain asked, staring at me with longing. “Besides the Shelia that haunts my dreams?”
“Six of six,” Mason muttered.
The look I shot him was not friendly. “You need to take another look, as the wolf who dragged me into such public shit and in the spotlight is not who a spy ever gets involved with, like ever.”
Mason simply shrugged, and my mind went somewhere it shouldn’t.
“Really?” Kiera purred, and I groaned, realizing she’d felt my desire.
“Don’t you dare,” I warned, but her mouth was faster than I could get to her.
“She wants another massage from Mason, Aidan’s oral sex, the twins to take her together, and then finishing with hot, hot bear sex all while the wolf watches as she enjoyed fucking with him after he slammed her skills,” she said as she darted towards the portal. “Love you.”
“Cunt!” I called after her, her laugh the last thing we heard as she went through the portal. I was not a happy person. “Kyle, I suggest you get some food and out of my sight for a bit.”
Inst
ead, he moved in front of me, balls the size of Mars given my temper. “You are the best boss ever, and you have made this company what it is as much as Elijah and Natalia and all the other big hitters. This is not your failing or you need help. This is us wanting to help you too. We would do anything to protect you just as you would us, and they can protect you in a way I can’t!”
That was when I saw it, the deep fear in his eyes. They were scared there were too many enemies on all fronts now after what had happened with ISLE and more and more popping up. “Tacos. LA is known for their taco trucks. I want them all, and I won’t beat your ass.”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Yeah, good deal, thanks. I hate sparring with you.” He took the out and left, and I headed back for my water I’d dropped.
Mason slid in front of me, adjusting his glasses when I almost bumped into him. “Do you want me to teach them how they should touch a goddess?” He took in a slow breath as his eyes bubbled with heat. “That’s a yes.”
“Yeah, she really wants that,” Evan agreed. “How much do you want what Kiera said?” He chuckled. “Nice. We missed you, dove.”
I cleared my throat, ignoring what they’d said, and turned to the twins. “I did think of you too. The big bar and nightclub showcase was here last night. I got you on some lists and ordered a few things I thought you might like or want.”
“We didn’t know Kiera was pulling a fast one,” Owen muttered, smiling when I nodded. I sighed and went over to them, greeting them with a kiss.
Neither was all that chaste.
“So you have five blokes?” Bain asked, his tone not happy.
“We wish,” Evan teased me, kissing my nose and giving me a wink. “We’re chasing her, and she’s doing her best to run.” He teased my hair. “You’re hot in red too. The rainbow might always be my favorite, as that’s who we met you as.”
