Watcher United

by J. L. Madore

  Magik blood. Thea remembered the reports of the Watchers recovering the corpse of a Cherub who’d been staked and drained of blood. That was last summer, at the beginning of the Darkworld rebellion led by Stryker, Thrash, and Cassi’s sire.

  Thrash nodded and gestured for him to come closer. Thea struggled against Erich’s hold, coughing and sputtering with the exertion. No use.

  He was far too strong, and she had no breath.

  Thrash laughed as she collapsed into his hold once again. She grabbed Thea’s jaw and forced her to face the dwarf. “As my father said, Darkworld business can be dirty at times. Other times, it’s rewarding as hell. Be proud of your sacrifice, angel. You’re a key player in the next phase of the rebellion.”

  “Me?”

  “Well, your blood. You’ll be dead.”

  Pyrac accepted Thrash’s invitation to examine her and advanced. He unsheathed a jagged-toothed blade from his hip and drew the steel tip down her cheek. She hissed as a line of blood rose to the surface and dripped from her chin. He pressed the blade to the blood and then licked it clean. He crinkled his nose. “She’s fouled up with tainted. Magik bloods smells bad.”

  “What?” Thrash said, glaring at her. “What do you mean, tainted. She’s a pure-blood Power.”

  “Mights be pure, but she’s twos toos. Second angel part is Watcher filth boy.”

  Thrash grabbed her coat and unzipped it, releasing the round of her belly. “You’re pregnant . . . with a Watcher brat?”

  A boy? She was having a son?

  Thea pulled against the hold on her shoulders, the plastic rope on her wrists cutting into her flesh behind her back. She had no idea what to say to keep her child safe. Would they skewer her because she carried a Nephilim’s child, or would that spark fear enough to protect him?

  “Can’ts take the blood till it’s pure. Hasta wait.”

  “We’ll cut the kid out of her,” Erich suggested.

  Thrash held out both sides of her coat and tilted her head side to side. “We’d waste blood . . . and maybe an opportunity.”

  “What opportunity?” Erich said, sounding intrigued.

  “She looks ready to drop. With the way time works in the Otherworld Realms, what takes a month in the Human Realm will be over in a day or two here. I say we wait and take the kid. That way, Pyrac gets the angel whole and we have a new pawn to play with going forward.”

  If Thea had any breath or strength in her to fight, she would have torn that bitch’s arms off her body and beat her with them. As it was, she fought not to faint.

  “Give me another mask,” Thrash said, snapping her fingers.

  A moment later, the blonde Shedim Mistress of Hell slid the safety gear over Thea’s head and pressed the seal against her face. The moment she turned the air filter on, oxygen flowed against her face and she gulped for air.

  These people would never take her child.

  She rubbed a platinum cuff with her finger, praying Zander and his men had realized she’d been taken. They would track her down. The Watchers would come for her. Seth would come.

  He had to.

  Even if she was a fool, Seth’s son was one of them.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Kyrian bolted upright, gasping as his heart thundered in his chest. Cassi screamed from a chair beside the bed, clapping her hands over her mouth. He searched the surroundings, his beast bursting forward to protect her from whatever danger frightened her. Mint walls. Recovery bed. There was no danger. He’d simply scared the shit out of her.

  Cassi launched forward, taking him down to the mattress like a pro wrestler pinning him for the count. He wasn’t about to complain. In fact, if there was a proper door on the room, he’d show her how much he appreciated the affection.

  “Fuck, why is it so cold in here?”

  Cassi pulled back and long, springing locks of ginger hair boxed the rest of the world outside their little curtained area. She blinked down at him, covering his face with a million little kisses. “You’re awake. I’m so relieved.”

  More with the kisses.

  Who was he to interrupt a female with an agenda? He wouldn’t have either, except her hands were like ice and that brought him back to his question. “Seriously, Cass. Why’s it so flipping cold in here?”

  “Phoenix’s powers blew out all the windows,” Storme said, smiling from the doorway. “Bo and Tanek put up plywood, but it’s not much better. Welcome back, Kyrian.”

  Cassi rolled off him, but he didn’t let her escape. He couldn’t. He was sporting an indecent bulge under that navy blankie and wasn’t fit for company.

  “Is Phoenix awake?” The hopeful apprehension in Cassi’s voice helped Kyrian piece things together.

  Storme shook her head. “Not yet. I heard you scream and came running. I’m glad to see one of them awake. Hopefully, Phoenix will be too before much longer.”

  “I guarantee it,” Kyrian said. “Nothing holds us down for long, sweetheart. He’ll be up and at it before you know it.”

  Storme stepped back and let Drina come in to poke him and flash light in his eyes. After he’d had enough, he brushed her away and sat up. Fully clothed, he was only missing his boots and his vest. “Where are my things, love? I gotta check in and see where we are.”

  Cassi sighed and brought his boots to him regardless. “Seth and Zander are fully recovered. Hark and Brennus are back on their feet as well. Tanek and Danel are tracking video feed from the club to figure out who took Thea, while Zander and Seth try not to lose control feeling helpless.”

  Kyrian blinked at his bride without the slightest clue where to start with any of that. “How long have I been out?”

  “Two days.”

  Holy shit, Phoenix packed one helluva punch. He pushed to his feet, slid his arms into his double-shoulder holster, and grabbed his weapons vest off the little table against the far wall. As he checked his guns and slid them into place, he stumbled over all that. “Did you say Tanek, or is my brain shorting out?”

  She held out her hand to him and tugged him up the hall. “You missed quite a lot.”

  No shit.

  Cassi filled him in on all he missed as the two of them closed the distance from the clinic to the house. Zander’s tunnel idea was really paying off for them. The whole coming-and-going thing worked so much better when they didn’t have to face the outdoors all the time.

  No matter how many winters he lived in Toronto, he was still a Mediterranean man in his heart of hearts.

  Kyrian heard his brothers long before he reached the man cave they used as a War Room. Formerly the racetrack counting room, he and Z souped it up with an ebony boardroom table, two Brunswick pool tables, a stocked bar, and a projection TV as big as a drive-in theatre screen on the back wall.

  The men called it the War Room.

  Austin called it their clubhouse.

  “Greek!” Brennus said, setting his cue down and jogging over to give him a chest to chest. “Glad to have ye back, my brother.”

  Kyrian broke away from the Celt, his sights set on Tanek standing with Zander at the bar. He clutched his commander’s outstretched palm and pulled him against his chest. “Cassi told me you were here but seeing is believing. Are you truly back? Are we whole again?”

  “I am, and we are, thank you.”

  “How are you feeling, sugar?” Austin asked, rushing over.

  Kyrian fielded all the welcomes with his two girls hugging him, one under each arm and honestly, he felt guilty being so content while Phoenix was still out, and Thea was missing.

  “What do we know for sure?” he asked, getting back to the reality of their volatile lives. Seth and Zander filled him in on the search they’d begun but Hell was a big place—they’d needle-in-the-haystacked that when he’d been taken prisoner by Cassi. “Could Storme do a locator spell or something?”

  Bo shook his head. “She’s drained to exhaustion keeping Phoenix steady right now. She hasn’t left his side.”

  “Did we check
Wandread?”

  “First stop.”

  “What about a Darkworld gathering of demon masters? Would Shayton do us a solid and host a little gathering?”

  Cassi grimaced at his use of the Dark Prince’s first name. That always got her panties in a twist but after millennia of getting drop-down polluted and sharing women with the ruler of the Darkworld, it felt weird to call him by his title. Not that he cared to explain that to his wife.

  Nope. That was in the vault.

  Zander emptied his tumbler and exhaled. “His answer was, and I quote, ‘What? You don’t stop by, you don’t call, and yet you expect a favor? Show me some love and I’ll consider it.’”

  Kyrian read the subliminal message in Zander’s gaze and couldn’t agree more. He hugged the females on his hips a little tighter and sighed. They absolutely could not go on a ball-crawl with the Prince of Hell. Those days were over.

  The stable of single Nephilim males was shrinking. Tanek would be his first choice but couldn’t leave the property. Seth had a kid in the mix and was invested in staying put. Hark or Bo? Brennus? Hark didn’t drink enough or embrace the free love movement. The Celt could keep up with the drinking, but he wasn’t sure where Shayton stood on male-on-male Dom fun.

  He laughed at himself. The guy was the Prince of Hell.

  He had no inhibitions.

  “Brennus and Bo?” he suggested.

  Zander nodded. “That was my thinking. The problem is, if we send them now and get a lead, we’re down two fighters. If we don’t send them and Shayton is our chance for a lead, we’ve screwed ourselves.”

  “Couldn’t you just call them back?” Cassi asked.

  Ah, the naivety of his beautiful wife never ceased to warm his heart. No way would any of them explain the hedonistic ins and outs of one of Shayton’s drinking parties. “Maybe, maybe not, sweetheart. It would be a risk.”

  Kyrian looked to Zander and then to Tanek for a decision.

  Who was actually in charge now?

  After a moment of consideration, Zander nodded. “Brennus and Bo, are you on board to be our ambassadors of goodwill with the Dark Prince?”

  “Yeah,” Bo said, checking with Brennus for a nod. “We’re good to go.”

  Shayton’s private parties were the talk of many drunken conversations among the nine of them. And though those two thought they knew what they were in for . . . they had no idea.

  Seth snuck away from the War Room once Bo and Brennus left and headed upstairs. They had nothing to go on and nowhere to begin their search. The hum in his head had risen from the buzz of wasps bouncing around inside his cranium to the powerful whine of semi-trucks barreling through his skull with the pedal to the floor. He needed some quiet. He needed to think.

  Ha! Since when had he ever uttered those words?

  Despite his best efforts to cling to a life he’d always loved, times had changed. He hated it.

  Nothing felt familiar in his life anymore—nothing fit. The apartment without Phoenix wasn’t a home. And the ranch? Yeah, that didn’t fit either.

  At the end of the third-floor corridor, he entered the suite Austin prepared for him and his twin and closed the door.

  Where would they be if he’d accepted her offer and moved in here with his twin? Would they still be at odds? Would he have been able to save him from himself and the witch? Would they even be in this tangle with Thea and the baby?

  Was this all his fault?

  The midday sun burned his retina and he winced. He needed to lie down. Despite what he told Drina and his brothers, his pipe bomb ordeal had taken more out of him than he’d admit. He needed a minute to recoup.

  He headed into the room that had been intended for him.

  The room he’d flat-out refused.

  After pulling the curtains, he dropped to the mattress, adjusted one of the king-sized pillows, and closed his eyes. He was so fucking tired. Linking his fingers across his hips, he settled and breathed deep.

  Thea’s scent filled his sinuses.

  His cock reacted instantly.

  The angel’s silky skin had a floral scent that was her own.

  If a sprig of blooming lavender hit the horizontal with a beam of summer sunlight, their love child would be the natural scent of the angel. Breathtaking.

  He should’ve told her that. His beast roared in agreement.

  Yeah, like they were in a place to share.

  Part of him wished they were. Phoenix had been right from the get-go. She deserved better. His twin picked a Darkworlder for a mate instead because the angel was far and away too good for them. No question.

  No matter how much he denied it, turned out, he was his mother’s son. Selfish. Single-minded. And, if he was forced to admit it, a carrier of Dark magic. He’d never had the interest, or the proficiency Phoenix had, but he felt the darkness pulse within him. It mingled with the toxic souls of thousands of kills and emboldened his beast.

  Stupid fucking magic.

  And as much as it galled him, if he knew a locator spell, he’d try it. For Thea. For his kid. For the beast raging within him. But all he’d learned as a dumb kid were parlor tricks.

  His eyes snapped open and he rolled to the bedside table. Grabbing the framed photo of Thea, Austin, Cassi, Ronnie, and Storme laughing, he placed his finger on her image and closed his eyes once more.

  Be asleep, angel. Please be asleep.

  Thea would never sleep again. With Thrash and her Shedim soldiers eyeing her from every angle, she knew she didn’t have long to live. The Dweorg blacksmith wanted her blood. Thrash wanted her son. The moment she gave birth, this campout would be over, and she’d meet her end.

  How these people were, in any way, related to or associated with Cassi and Dougal, she had no clue. The violence. The bloodlust. The sheer pleasure they took in describing what they did to humans when feeding was monstrous.

  It made her sick.

  She winced as her belly twisted and tightened, and her muscles contracted. That wasn’t nausea.

  No! Not yet, baby. Please, not yet.

  Every hour she spent in the Hell Realm brought her closer to delivery. Her baby fell still a few hours ago and, according to Austin’s books, that was a sign he was resting up to be born.

  Sweat stung her eyes behind the mask, the condensation and humidity of the apparatus making her face itch. She couldn’t wipe it away or dry her eyes with her hands bound behind her back. Instead, she focused on her saviors.

  Who would come for her?

  Seth, for sure. If not out of affection for her, then certainly for their son. She’d heard his argument about not being the child’s father and despite what she’d thought at first, it wasn’t that he didn’t care about the child—it was that he did care.

  Despite rocky beginnings, she’d glimpsed the angry child behind the bravado of the man. Seth held tight to what was his and cherished it. He didn’t like change. He didn’t handle it well.

  And though his protests came out as anger and selfishness, she saw the rawness of his fear. Yes, he would come.

  Austin once said that for all their vast experience in the three realms, the Nephilim warriors held no understanding about the power of love. Seth didn’t trust in anything except his brothers and his purpose. Those two things had been his foundation for thousands of years.

  Now, warriors were mating, and instead of a life of drinking, fighting, and sex with endless anonymous females, they sought different futures. The foundation of Seth’s life had shifted beneath him and he hadn’t found his footing.

  Who was she to cast stones.

  She’d used seduction to secure Phoenix’s affection, but he’d found what he needed in Storme. Owww. Another contraction took her, and she fought to remain silent.

  Braxton Hicks . . . it had to be.

  This wasn’t the way things were supposed to go.

  Maybe Austin was right, and everything happened as it was meant. If that was true, Seth would come.

  Their son needed hi
s father.

  Down to the very fiber of her being, she knew Seth would never abandon his son as his parents had. He’d find the courage and strength to rise to the challenge.

  He was a fighter, after all.

  Cassi finished entering the contact information for the latest DonorWatch distribution partners. Kang, the Atlanta garrison commander, would oversee a feeding clinic to serve the four races of organ/blood feeding demons in the area. With Storme’s help using some of the Queen Hotels across North America, that brought them up to eleven DonorWatch feeding centers supporting thirty-two communities of demons.

  She didn’t fool herself into thinking that this would protect human innocents entirely, but it would help. Demons killed for one of three reasons: necessity to provide for their families, bloodlust, or the sheer pleasure of it.

  DonorWatch could eliminate the first two categories and Kyrian and his Nephilim brothers would have to take on the last. After all—not everyone wanted to be saved.

  Stretching her neck to the side, she pulled at the tension in those muscles and shut down her desktop. She jumped as warm, firm hands kneaded the knots in her shoulders, and then relaxed into the familiar touch.

  “Did you catch up enough to head home, love?”

  Cassi dropped her head back and closed her eyes, soaking in the feel of her husband, so vital and healthy once again. “Yes. Though, I wish you were coming too.”

  Kyrian kissed her forehead and left his lips on her flesh to breathe her in. He often did this when he was stressed, and she loved that it seemed to help him find peace. “As soon as we have Thea back, I’ll be right there in that bed next to you. In the meantime, I’ll content myself with escorting you home and knowing you’re safe.”

  It was on the warriors to fear for the safety and well-being of the females they loved. Her heart ached for Thea and her child. For Seth too.

  They hadn’t realized it yet, but she and Austin had noticed the early signs of bonding. “I pray to the Dark Prince that you find her soon.”

  Kyrian helped her into her coat. Hugging her from behind, he nuzzled his face into her hair. “I seriously doubt the Dark Prince is accepting prayers at the moment, but I’m sure your good vibes won’t go unnoticed. Come on. Let’s get you home.”