Succubus Blessed (Paranormal Prison: Shackled Souls Book 3)

by Heather Long

  “Hey, Beautiful. Alfred and Rogue will be here any minute. I left them outside to cool off and came in here to make sure he was behaving himself. But I have a feeling you and I should make ourselves scarce for a little while.”

  “You’re not taking her anywhere…” Maddox began, even as something on the far side of the cave gave the most powerful crack, and then a huge stone slab fell and Alfred stalked inside.

  Holy shit.

  He radiated black fire, and his expression was like hell had opened up.

  “Maddox!”

  “Or we could just stand here and pretend we don’t exist,” Fin muttered out of the corner of his mouth as he slid an arm around me and tugged me backwards. “I don’t think they’re gonna kill each other, but we might want to give them some room.”

  Wait.

  “You don’t think they’ll kill each other?”

  CHAPTER 11

  “All’s fair in love and war, my ass.” - Fiona

  “Y ou don’t think they’ll kill each other?” The words came out far screechier than I intended. As it was, the rage in my blood had turned almost incandescent. Yes, I was pissed at Maddox. But I didn’t want to hurt him. Okay, maybe hurt him a little, but like bruises and things that would heal, maybe a little sexual torture, ’cause that would be fun. But I definitely didn’t want to kill him.

  As for my asshole wreathed in dark fire? Holy shit, that was hot and sexy and did all kinds of things to me, but I didn’t want him dead either. A little pain was good for the soul, and honestly, I’d probably enjoy it if they dished it out. But that wasn’t the point.

  I started forward, but Fin hooked that arm around me and dragged me farther back.

  “No, Beautiful,” he said against my hair, even as I struggled. “Let them deal with it.”

  In the flickering shadows behind him like a blade of ice, Rogue stalked out of the darkness, and I might have drooled a little. Okay, that’s a lie. I drooled a lot. Rogue had always had this kind of intensity about him, calm, unflappable, and steady. His gaze tracked from where Alfred and Maddox glared at each other, power pulsing around them both, to fix on me, and the tension around his eyes and mouth both eased a fraction.

  I blew him a kiss because…well, at least he looked at me. Alfred was too busy getting ready to thump Maddox to notice.

  “He noticed, Beautiful,” Fin murmured against my ear as he kept me pressed right against him despite my squirming. “But Maddox and he need to sort this out.”

  “I don’t want them to hurt each other.”

  “Shh,” he soothed, his arms locked around me, holding me steady like we’d developed deep roots. “I know, Beautiful. It’s going to be okay.” Trust me?

  I hesitated and then dared a look up at him. He still held the apple in one palm, but he had both arms secured around me and pinning me to him. His eyes held so much kindness and hope in them, and I sighed.

  Please trust me?

  “I do trust you,” I whispered, and the minute I said the words, I sagged against him. I did. I trusted all of them. Even when they frustrated me, I trusted them. He pressed his lips to my temple and murmured something in a language I didn’t understand. But I didn’t have to understand it to feel the swell of emotion bundling around me or the very real bubble that suddenly appeared as Alfred and Maddox actually came to blows.

  One minute, Alfred and Maddox were glaring at each other. The next, Maddox flew through the air to crash into mounds of gold and jewels. The avalanche of it might have been hilarious, if we were in a cartoon. As it was, I cringed.

  Fin kept rubbing soothing circles against my abdomen, but the magnetic effect of the dark fire surrounding Alfred and then Maddox’s rippling transformation from man to dragon held me in place. When he belched out a plume of pure fire, I was pretty sure I let out the most inelegant of screams.

  Fuck inelegant.

  It was straight out of a horror movie.

  The flames utterly engulfed Alfred, and for a second, I lost sight of him and Rogue both. Then Rogue appeared, taking up a position between where Fin and I stood and the battle. The heat must have stirred up a breeze, because his long hair blew back from his face. Then the fire vanished, and my dazzled eyes struggled to see in the abrupt darkness.

  “Are you done?” Alfred demanded, and everything about his cool, biting tones sent relief cascading through me. He dusted off his shirt like he hadn’t just been swallowed in a swirl of fire. The black flames dancing over him seemed to flare back like wings, and all the breath backed up in my lungs.

  Maddox’s roar escalated in volume, and his wing span was incredible. I’d seen him in the prison. Then I’d had a lot of time to study him after we arrived here. But he’d been curled up almost like a cat.

  Right now?

  Well, he looked pretty badass.

  Then so did Alfred with his fiery wings.

  Did he even know they were wings?

  “Don’t take that tone with me,” Alfred reprimanded like he wasn’t facing down two tons of angry dragon. I squeezed my thighs together at the desire spearing through me. It really was fucking hot that Alfred just stalked forward like he wasn’t remotely scared. “You took her. You ripped her out of the safety of the four of us together and flew off like she was some sheep to be stolen away from the farmer’s pasture.”

  Sheep.

  Pasture.

  Yeah, okay, fuck you very much. “I am not a farm animal!”

  A huff and a smothered snicker from behind had me twisting to glare at Fin. His eyes danced, even as his lips twitched. “I’m not laughing at you, Beautiful, I promise.”

  He was lying. He was absolutely laughing at me.

  Incensed that even he would be cavalier enough to find this funny, I slammed my elbow back into his gut, even as I caught one of his fingers and bent his hand free of me. He let out a grunt as I shoved him off, but I rebounded off the bubble.

  Dammit.

  When I turned on him, he held up both of his hands. “Beautiful. I know you’re upset. But we have to let them sort it out.”

  “Let me out.” Bad enough Maddox dragged me halfway around the world or wherever we’d flown and secreted me away in some cave—as it turned, out not so secret, since Alfred and the others found us—but still. “Now.”

  “Little sváss,” Rogue said, and I glanced over my shoulder to find him holding out a hand. “If you want out of that safety, you still have to stay close to us. No one here wants anything to happen to you. Alfred and Maddox must work out this difference, but it would kill them both if you got caught between them.”

  I nodded once. “I won’t get between them right now.”

  His smile grew a tad wider. “Not good enough, little sváss. Right now ends as soon as the barrier is dropped. Allow them the opportunity to settle this, and if they cannot reach an accord, then I’ll help you negotiate with them.”

  “So will I,” Fin promised.

  Okay. That was a little better.

  Across the cavern, Alfred blazed up at Maddox and the dragon’s whole expression was absolute fury. He wasn’t backing down.

  Neither of them were.

  “I told you why we had to stay together. The others will not come one at a time, so it will require all of us to keep her safe. Or are you so selfish you would rob us of our chance with her because you are so careless?”

  Ouch.

  Arms folded, I bit back my salty response at needing to be “protected.” Foot tapping, I held Rogue’s gaze as he waited, even as Alfred pressed forward.

  “You are not the only one who has waited for her.”

  Behind me, Fin snorted. “None of them waited as I did. Not that I’m going to throw that into their argument.”

  “Probably a good idea to keep it to yourself.” Rogue nodded, never looking away from me. “Well, little sváss?”

  “Fine, I’ll stay out of it, but I don’t want them to hurt each other and I really don’t like this fight.” At all. I shook on the inside like I’
d been hopped up on way too much caffeine when, point of order, I hadn’t had coffee in forever.

  My stomach also took that moment to growl. As the bubble around Fin and I dissipated, he held out the apple to me once more. A gentle smile graced his lips as I took it, and then I leaned up to brush a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Sorry I elbowed you.”

  His grin grew. “I love whenever you touch me, Beautiful. And I’m very sturdy.” He winked as he nudged me closer to Rogue, who lifted an arm and gave me an inquiring look. Yes, I tucked myself up against him and then took a bite of the apple as Maddox and Alfred continued their glare-off.

  The sweetness from the apple flooded my mouth, and my hunger seemed to redouble. Rogue rubbed my shoulder gently while we waited them out. The barely restrained violence pulsing in the air left chills racing over my skin. The dragon shifted abruptly, then it was Maddox, skin steaming and expression fierce, who glared at Alfred.

  “I will not allow you to take her into war.”

  There was that word again.

  “I don’t recall asking your permission,” Alfred retorted, his cool, precise tones utterly at odds with the fierce, dark image he painted. “She needs all of us, Maddox. Or did you think she only belonged to you?”

  “Standing right here,” I muttered. “Not someone’s luggage.”

  Fin let out a little laugh next to me, but he dodged my elbow this time. Rogue gave my shoulder a squeeze before he slapped Fin upside the head. Did that dissuade the druid? Not even a little. He just grinned, all cheeky and shit.

  Assholes.

  The lot of them.

  I was almost done eating the apple. Man, that went quick.

  “She’s pregnant,” Maddox snarled. “You cannot expect me to let her…”

  I started keeping score. Because they were starting to really piss me off with these declarations.

  “I expect you to trust me, old friend,” Alfred stated as he narrowed the distance between them. While the dark fire still writhed over him, stretching back to create the sense of wings, it had diminished a fraction. “I expect you to honor the bond we’ve shared for so long. Have I ever failed you?”

  Maddox’s shoulders bunched so tightly, they made me ache. When I was down to just the core of the apple, Fin plucked it away and discarded it, then offered me another with a flirty smile. I rolled my eyes but took it, and leaned up to kiss him in thanks before taking another bite.

  “No,” Maddox admitted. “But it’s been so long, Alfred.”

  “I know. I remember when the last of your kin fell. I was too late to prevent it.”

  Tears burned in my eyes for the depth of sorrow in Alfred’s cool tones.

  “How could you have made it when I didn’t tell you?” Maddox argued. “I didn’t trust you to stand against your own kind.”

  “You are my kind, Maddox.” Alfred had made it the last step, and he braced a hand against Maddox’s shoulder. “My friend. My brother. She is your mate, but she is also my queen and Fin’s lady and Rogue’s chosen. We will all lay down our lives to protect her, but had I disappeared with her…”

  Maddox glared at him. “You did.”

  “To transition her, yes, and you couldn’t see straight for how she fought it. You knew that part of transition required death, but it was hurting you. So yes, my friend, I did keep her from you then, but you always knew where she was.”

  The kindness in the way he said that, like I was some bone that they negotiated or shared, was almost sweet. Almost. I mean, I liked the kindness, I did.

  Not sure how I felt about being a bone.

  “But Fiona is not our possession, Maddox.”

  Three points to Gryffindor. I grinned at Alfred. I was so proud of my asshole.

  “No matter how much it drives us all to protect her, we cannot treat her as such.”

  I’d take it. I must have let out a pleased little sound, because they both paused to glance over at me. “Oh, look, you remembered your bone was here. Please, don’t let us interrupt your moment. I need you two to kiss and make up before I thump you both. Well, thump Maddox. I might kiss Alfred.”

  He chuckled. “Hellion, I will absolutely kiss and make up with you, though I wasn’t aware we were fighting.”

  “Oh, I’m sure we’ll come up with something.” In the meanwhile, I leaned against Rogue.

  “The last time a real war broke out amongst your kin, Alfred,” Maddox said, his smile sad and strained, and all at once, my heart just hurt for the echo of loneliness and anguish resonating through him, “they eradicated so much.”

  “I know,” Alfred said slowly, his gaze leaving me for Maddox, and I swiped at my eyes before I looked too weepy. “That is what I plan to avoid this time. Those losses happened because we were apart.”

  “And I didn’t trust you,” Maddox admitted. “I could not see you choosing my people over your own.”

  “Yet I would have because you are my people. We didn’t know it then. We also didn’t have Fin.”

  “Ha,” Fin declared with a pleased little grin. “I make everything better.”

  “Shut up, Fin,” both Maddox and Alfred said at the same time with equal amounts of exasperation, and I laughed.

  They all loved each other so much. I stole a look up at Rogue. His stoic expression hadn’t shifted as he watched them.

  “Alfred, if I lose her—”

  “If any of us lose her,” Alfred corrected him. “Or if she loses us.”

  My grin faded, even if a part of me soared that Alfred had noticed.

  “She left us to retrieve you, Maddox,” Rogue said softly, the vibration of his voice thrumming through me. “She left us and security, risking possible capture and death, to retrieve you and Fin.”

  “And did a kickass job, thank you very much,” I reminded him.

  “Yes, little sváss, I know.” He pressed a kiss to my temple before looking at Maddox once more. A pained look tightened around his eyes. “If she needed you so badly then, what would keeping us away from her accomplish? Would you torture her to satisfy your need?”

  All at once, Maddox sought my gaze, and the horror etched there had me forgiving him. “I’m okay,” I told him, and I would rather they were here. Even if Alfred arrived all badass and scary.

  His wings were gone, as was the dark fire.

  “Wait…” I said slowly. “You’re not burned at all.”

  He shot me a small smile. “I was ready for the fire. But even if I hadn’t been, I could have survived it, Hellion.”

  An image of the crispy figure staring back at me from outside the prison when Maddox unleashed on Cyril and his hordes flashed through my mind.

  Cyril was still alive.

  That was a problem.

  Still, I shoved that aside and focused on Maddox. I squeezed away from Rogue, and when he didn’t try to stop me, I hurried over and gave Maddox a hug. He folded me close and rubbed his cheek against my hair. “I’m sorry, Kitten. I wasn’t thinking. Just reacting.”

  Alfred exhaled a long sigh, and when I stole a glance at him, all I found on his face was relief. How worried had he been about fighting with Maddox?

  “A dragon with a clutch is the fiercest creature on the planet,” Alfred told me quietly, even as Maddox kept me close. “That was why Fin came in to get you out of the line of fire. Maddox would defend you to the death.”

  Great. I filed that piece of knowledge away. “Do I get a say in this?” Though I glanced from Alfred to Maddox, I was really asking all of them.

  A long sigh escaped Maddox. “I don’t even know if the child you’re carrying is mine, but it will be mine, regardless of which of us gave it to you.”

  “Skip the baby talk. I’m still firmly on Team Deny Deny Deny with that one. I’m talking about this—secreting me away and locking me in rooms or hiding me in treasure troves. Do I get a say in this?” Because there was only one correct answer.

  With a long, almost pained sigh, Maddox said, “Yes.”

  Alfred nodded on
ce. Then I glanced over to Fin and Rogue. Rogue inclined his head, but Fin just grinned. “I’m all about equal rights, Beautiful.”

  I exhaled.

  “But you cannot deny your state too long, Hellion. None of us knows what it means. So we need to make sure your needs are met, whatever they might be.”

  I made a face, but it was Maddox who pulled back and tucked a finger under my chin to tug my gaze up to him. “Why are you so upset? That is the part I don’t understand. This is a miracle.”

  “Yeah, I’m not big on those,” I told him. “I shouldn’t exist, right? The whole hybrid thing and the whole demon thing and now the whole angel thing. What even am I?”

  “Ours,” Alfred said softly, and his hands came down on my shoulders. “Everything else, we’ll figure out. From this new power of yours…”

  Oh for fuck’s sake, I was glowing again. Just stick a fork in me and call me a damn fairy.

  Maddox released me as Alfred drew me back against him, and then he buried his face against my throat and took a deep breath. The last of the tension cording through me eased. Wait…that tension hadn’t been all me.

  I stole a look at Maddox, who’d moved away and seemed to be searching amongst the crates and chests for something. The move of his muscles flexing along his ass and thighs had me clenching. It didn’t help that Alfred nuzzled at my throat or that everything in me yearned for more than just the cuddling.

  Don’t get me wrong, the cuddling was amazing, but I wanted so much more…

  Heat suffused me from multiple sides, and Maddox shot a look toward me that was all need and desire. There was an element of chilly adoration, and along with that came Fin’s soft laughter and the brush of his mind against mine.

  It wasn’t just my desire.

  Not all my feelings.

  But this wasn’t lust, and I wasn’t hungry, I just…

  I twisted to look up at Alfred and ask, but then his mouth closed over mine and the room faded away.

  Well, it did until the sound of flesh slamming into flesh and the flash of pain broke the heady spell. I pulled back to find Maddox on his ass and Rogue straightening as he flexed his right hand.