by JL Madore
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Layne studied the warehouse raid footage Tanek supplied her and shook her head. The twelve Rugaru Bo and his brothers dispatched in the warehouse were magical decoys. They hadn’t had souls to collect and there’d been no transfer of power. They were there, but were they real? And if not, where were Linsale and his men? And how did the decoy thing work? And how had she not seen the switch? And who helped them do it?
Sweet Prince, her mind was awhirl with dozens of questions and no answers. She’d get these bastards. She’d vowed to her sister she’d find those responsible for killing Taid, and she wouldn’t rest until they paid.
“Hey,” Bo said, padding naked into the loft dining room, running a towel over his damp, blond hair.
Straight from the shower, her Viking’s body glistened with droplets of water, and she sighed at the sway of his cock. “Nope. Still not used to the view.”
He flashed her a sexy grin and winked. “You should’ve joined me. I was filthy after last night. You could’ve lathered me up and ensured my night was thoroughly washed away.”
She laughed. “We use more than our fair share of municipal water as it is. There’s a thing called ecological preservation. Ever heard of it?”
Bo sidled up tight to her ass and wrapped his massive arms around her. One hand found her breast, the other thumbed open the fly of her jeans. “There’s a thing called insatiable husband. Ever heard of it?”
She smacked at his groping hands and spun to face him. “I’ve become somewhat of an expert on that lately.”
His fingers pushed the denim open and down her thighs. With a grown, he knelt before her and nuzzled against the baby blue cotton of her underpants.
She swallowed, trying to hold on to the train of thought she’d been on before he’d charged in and derailed her. Rough fingers at her hips pulled down the barrier keeping the warrior from what he was determined to claim.
“You’re a beast,” she groaned, lifting one foot to kick out of her pant leg and panties.
“Thank you for noticing.”
Her laughter was cut short as his mouth latched onto her core, and she gasped his name. Gripping his hair, she leaned back against the table and gave him full access. The room dimmed as she saw spots, his tongue spearing inside her, hard and fast, as his thumb brushed over her clit.
“Come for me, little Djinn. I thirst for you.”
Weak-kneed, she fought to remain standing.
Bo must’ve sensed her plight because a split-second later, her back pressed against the sturdy, wooden table, her legs wide and slung over his broad shoulders.
As he devoured her, consumed by her most intimate parts, his ebony wings unfurled and spread out to the sides above them. Mmm, the sexy power of those wings. The beautiful shimmer of blue in the ebony— “Oh, yes!”
Two skillful fingers filled her and her back arched off the table. Her orgasm detonated like fireworks. Sparks flashed behind her closed eyes in recurring bursts of light and sensation.
Breathless and mind spinning, she blinked up as he shifted to enter her. She shook her head and crawled back on the table. Smacking the solid wood surface, she cast him a seductive smile. “Right here, warrior. I want to ride my wild beast.”
The growl that tore from his chest was nothing short of animalistic. His eyes flipped white, and his beast took control. Up and on his back in an instant, she straddled his hips and impaled herself on the slick head of his cock.
They both shuddered.
His hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs flicking and teasing the tight buds of her nipples. After taking a moment to absorb his size, she gripped the platinum marriage torc around his neck and raised her other hand in the air like a bull rider.
“Get ready, Viking. I intend to break you.”
Austin directed the proceedings as Ringo and Tanek moved a few pieces of furniture down to the coven room. They took the large hutch, the old cookstove, and the round dining room table from the gatehouse cottage, and suspended a sheet of lattice from the ceiling to act as an herb drying rack. By the time they got those in place, the paint was dry on Ringo’s pentacle circle, and they were ready to roll.
“Not a word, boys,” she said, pegging them both with a serious look as they settled into the kitchen upstairs. “This is important to the wives, to feel like we can be part of protecting our mates from the brutality of our world. If the others get wind of it, they’re liable to poo-poo us and shut it down.”
Tanek shrugged and accepted a large glass of lemonade. “I’m sure they’ll know soon enough. Now, if you could ward us all to repel the white coats, that would be truly beneficial.”
Austin chuckled and set out a plate of baked sweets for Ringo. The boy had been downstairs painting alone for hours. She’d wondered where Ren had gone, but since Hark was missing too, she had a good idea.
She smiled to herself and pointed toward the door to the loading dock storage room.
“Could one of you boys help me fetch something from the big freezer? I feel a celebration dinner coming on soon and have a new recipe in mind.” She opened the second drawer of the kitchen curio and pulled out the brail card Lady Divinity sent with Ren. The way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, after all.
Both men looked at her like she’d grown a second head.
“Celebration?” Tanek said, rising from his snack. “I think your radar might be off, cowgirl.”
She giggled. “We’ll see.”
Tanek walked her out to the back room, which had once served as the delivery storage for the racetrack jockey’s club. When he hefted up the freezer lid, he leaned in and looked around. “Okay, what are we looking for?”
She sidled up beside him and pointed into the frosty air. “There were two large venison roasts in one bulk package, wrapped in butcher paper. I think it was over—” She squealed as strong arms wrapped around her and the scent of her husband filled her senses.
The erection pressed into her backside was flattering, but really, they were capable of everyday life with their family, weren’t they?
“Excuse us, T?” Zander’s voice rumbled deep and filled with lust.
Before Tanek could answer, she was slung over his shoulder and carted off. “Zander! What are you doing?”
“What I’ve wanted to do all afternoon. Where’s Nio?”
“Having a tea party with Scarlett and Sunshine.”
“Good enough.” Zander took the first door on the left as they left the storage room and sealed them into the pantry off the kitchen. He set her on her feet and in the same second was kissing her neck.
“Zander, slow down. What’s gotten into you. What’s happening?”
“I want inside my wife,” he said, his skin bursting neon blue. “I need you, cowgirl.”
Something about this didn’t feel quite right, but she wouldn’t fight him on it. He’d tell her what was going on in his own time—if he knew. Sometimes, when his beast ran the show, he didn’t even know why he needed her so badly.
She pressed her lips against his and relaxed into his possessive hold. His pants were down, and her skirt was up a second later. There were moments when Zander, mighty Sumerian assassin, made love to her with a delicate reverence that amazed her.
This wasn’t one of those times.
She gripped his shoulders as her back pressed against the pantry door. The first few glides in and out had him buried to the base of her quickly dampening core.
He might have had a head start on the arousal, but she caught up fast. As he increased the pace, the sense of invasion intensified. She wrapped her legs around the backs of his thighs and locked on his hips. Moving as one, their frenzy gained momentum.
Zander was all male—virile, demanding, and passionate.
She brushed his wavy hair along the line of his brow as her breath caught: the hunger blazing in his eyes, the twisted ecstasy in his expression. He stole her heart, every time.
Running her fingers over his features, she paid
homage to his harsh angles. The tight clench of his jaw, the broad span of his back, the muscled cords of his ribs and hips.
Her military commander.
She arched, tension building, bringing her closer to climax with every hungry stroke. He felt incredible inside her, ribbed and powerful, hitting her deep and hard. Her breath quickened as her release built hard and fast.
A growl escaped his lips, and his hips pounded on.
Tanek set the two large roasts into the double refrigerator to defrost. As quickly as he could, he signaled to Ringo to grab his plate and vacate the kitchen. Whatever was happening between Zander’s legs had shorted out his sense of privacy and decorum. It was so much easier when they fucked females for the physical exertion and then didn’t have to make eye contact across the table at mealtime.
“What’s with everyone this afternoon?” Ringo said, following him down to the war room.
“What do you mean?”
He held up the sketch pad he’d been doodling in at the table, and it was a split-screen tableau of unfinished scenes. He didn’t blame the kid for abandoning the artwork in progress. It was straight-up porn. Image after image of his brothers ravaging their females. Kyrian and Cassie in the hotel elevator, Seth and Thea on the balcony, Danel and Ronnie in the back seat of his Mustang.
Zander and Austin in the pantry. Hell, he’d sensed Hark and Ren going at it in the change room downstairs. As far as he knew, up until that moment, the Moor was a confirmed celibate. A wave of W.T.F. rushed over him and he ducked into the war room. “Okay, yeah, what the hell is going on?”
The hair on the back of his neck tingled to life and Tanek cursed with feeling—in three languages.
“Hello, warrior,” Michael said, materializing from within a golden mist.
Tanek waited for the rest of the invasion to materialize but no onthers came. Michael never came alone. That couldn’t be good.
“Hello, boy,” he said, acknowledging Ringo with the same enthusiasm in his voice, as if the kid were no more than a chair in the room.
Ringo kept it tight. The kid didn’t give the Archangel the slightest inkling he meant any more than dust motes in the wind to him. Good lad. Well done.
“To what do we owe the pleasure?” Tanek asked. “I’m afraid if you expected an audience with the men of the garrison, you’ll be disappointed. Everyone is busy at the moment.”
Busy getting busy.
When Michael reached out to scan the household, Tanek blocked the probing energy and smiled. “Since when have our private affairs been any business of yours? Is there a reason for this impromptu invasion?”
Michael’s gaze swung toward Ringo. “Yes. I’ve come for the boy.”
“What? Well then, you can fuck right off. Ringo lives here with us. He’s not going anywhere.”
Michael arched an imperious brow and looked down his nose at him. “He’s a ward of the Choir and his transition is imminent. It makes no difference if he begins his time with the Seraph now instead of a week or two from now.”
“Then off you go. We’ll have this argument when his transition is complete and the time comes.”
Michael’s smile chilled him to the spine. “That you think you have any say in this is ridiculous. He comes now.”
“Why? When have you ever taken an interest in one of us early? You regard us lower than the dog shit you scrape off your fancy shoes.”
Ringo seemed to find that one amusing.
Michael didn’t. His frown deepened, and he made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “Recent developments have proven this garrison is unworthy of the task of rearing and training the next generation of Nephilim. For that reason, I feel I must step in.”
Bullshit. Tanek’s lie detector was going berserk.
Before he had a chance to fight, he vanished—and with him, their little brother.
Storme batted Phoenix’s hand as he reached up her shirt and went for the clasp on her bra. “Stop. I’m at work.” A couple was coming through the front doors of her hotel, and she wouldn’t allow their first impression of her to be that she was an unprofessional, sex-starved teenager. She turned and pushed her husband into the reception office behind the receiving desk. When he went for the hem of her skirt, she knocked him back with a jolt of her powers.
“I said, no.” Gold sparks crackled over his skin, jumping and igniting like an exposed wire. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Her warrior shook his head, and it was as if a fog lifted from behind his eyes. I . . . I don’t know. Kitten, I’m sorry.
She pointed a finger, but bit her tongue.
In no mood to communicate, she closed the door behind her and spelled it shut. “Hello,” she said, welcoming the loving couple. “Welcome to the Queen Hotel. How can I help you this afternoon?”
She checked them in with half her attention. The true focus of her mind remained on the screwed-up magical energy Phoenix had given off when he’d been groping her.
The man had magic in spades, it oozed from him, but the energy signature didn’t feel like him. Phoenix would never compromise her work ethic and reputation, so what was driving his train?
“Enjoy your stay.” She keyed in the details for the guests and caught Jack as he was about to leave. “Sorry. Can I be a bitch boss and ask you to cover for me? Something is wrong on the home front, and I don’t think I can let it fester until Chrissy gets here at seven.”
Jack’s steps didn’t falter—and that’s why she loved him so much. He simply changed the direction of his Ferragamos and joined her behind the desk. “Is it one of those ‘special’ problems that your squadron of testosterone come across. The ones that us mere mortals aren’t supposed to be privy too?”
“Exactly that kind, yes. Do you mind?”
“What? Me mind giving up two hours at the gym and a microwave dinner with a glass of wine?”
She kissed his cheek. “Order in from Jon Carlos’s—anything you want—and charge it to the hotel.”
“We wouldn’t have to order in if we had our own kitchen and sous chef.”
She pressed a hand against his cheek and laughed. “And how are we paying for a kitchen remodel like that?”
“We’re not,” he said, wiggling his fingers in the air between them. “Poof it up for us—or do you zap things? You’re going to have to explain to me how it all works.”
Her laughter died as she unsealed the door and found her mate pacing the small office, looking stricken.
I’m sorry, kitten
“You said that already.”
I wanted to come after you but could sense your anger. I didn’t want to break your seal, but it wasn’t easy. I don’t know what’s happening, but the intensity of how much I want to lay you out and consume you defies all logic.
“It’s magic,” she said, grabbing her purse from the desk drawer and pulling out her keys. “We need to get home, but I need to make a few stops on the way.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Zander was lost to the moment. Austin’s skin was hot against his own, the mixed scents of her rapture and their sweat and sex fueling his beast. This was what he lived for now. This woman. This feeling. Nothing else mattered.
“Z, I need you to slow your roll, my brother. We’ve got an emergency. Michael was here. He took—”
“Later,” he bit out, reclaiming Austin’s nipple in his mouth. She’d come for him so many times, the barbarian in him was in fine form. He had his fingers inside her, his thumb stroking her off, and his teeth and tongue were hard at work on her supple breast.
“No, Z. Something’s not right. You need to finish what you’re doing and get out here.”
Austin’s panting breaths told him they were there again. Fuck yeah. When her legs gave out, he swung her onto the floor and rode out her release with his mouth.
Fuck. She tasted good.
Tanek cursed. “Austin, I’m so sorry to intrude, honey, but you need to pry yourself away from him. Something’s not right. The entire garris
on is hyper-focused on sexing their plus-ones. There’s something happening.”
Austin’s grip in his hair lessoned and his beast roared.
“Fuck you, Tanek. Do not address her when we’re like this. She is mine.” Zander’s eyes burned as they flipped white. Normally, he fought losing control to his beast, but there was no stopping it. Austin was his.
Only. His.
Austin stiffened. Shuffling back, she gripped his jaw in her hands. “Tanek, leave us. Jackson’s here and he’s pissed. I’ve got this.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Go.”
Zander felt the presence of the other warrior retreat, and that did his beast good. He shared her enough with the members of the household. Now was his time. He needed her.
“I love you,” he growled, his voice not his own. “I need you to know how much I love you.”
Austin turned his head to focus his gaze on her. Her smile warmed his cold heart. “I do know. Calm down and tell me how you’re feeling.”
“Hungry.” He prowled forward, blanketing her with his body again. After all the orgasms, hers and his, he slid inside her effortlessly. No adjustments to be made. No worry of her body not being primed enough to enjoy a rocking connection.
Austin laid back, and his heart swelled to twice its size in his chest. The love that poured out of her was too much some days. Too. Fucking. Much. His hips got thrusting, and she gripped the globes of his ass with her nails.
“Harder,” he grit out between clenched teet. Fuck, he loved the burn of her piercing his flesh. He loved her rough and wild.
One hand left his ass, and she scored up his back. All nails. Definitely blood drawn.
He threw back his head and spilled inside her. Heightened as his senses were, he felt every hot jet pulse from his cock. There was no greater pleasure for him than releasing inside the pulsing grip of his better half.
He was home in her body. He was home in her arms.
“That’s right,” she said, raking her fingers through his long hair. “You’ve marked me. You’ve sated me. You’ve shown me how perfect we are together. Now I’m sore and I want to stop.”
