Darkest Night: Mercenaries and Magic: A scorching enemies to lovers romance

by Alessa Thorn

  "Fuck, Kon," she managed. Kon stood up and looked down at his handiwork. He undid his pants and kicked them off.

  Athena trembled at the sight of him naked and hard. Kon slid up her too sensitive body, his bare skin so hot, it almost burned wherever it brushed against hers.

  "Kon," she whispered.

  "Yes, Athena?" Kon's lips closed around her nipples, stubble and tongue moving over them in a maddening soft and sharp sensation.

  "I want you inside of me. Stop playing, and please, please fuck me."

  Kon lifted her hips with a sudden, violent jerk and thrust his cock all the way into her, kissing her at the same time, so her desperate cries were smothered by his lips and tongue. His finger went to her lips.

  "Shhh," he whispered, eyes full of mischief.

  Athena put his hand all the way over her mouth like she had done to him that morning. Kon's expression turned savage, his hand tightening over her mouth right before he began to pound into her. Athena's heels dug into the mattress as she lifted her hips high to meet his.

  Working together, having feelings, playing nice…it hadn't changed a damn thing. They both fucked like it was a competition to see who could turn the other into a weeping mess first. Reckless. Violent. Intense.

  Athena knew it would always be this way. She was obsessed, addicted to Kon's brutal side when he fought and fucked. Craved the gentler side he only showed her.

  Kon hissed as her teeth sank into his palm hard enough to taste blood. He rolled her, so she was straddling him.

  "Just for that, you can work for your next orgasm," he snapped, grabbing his ruined belt and placing it back into her mouth. Athena jumped as both of his hands came down hard on her ass and gripped it tight. "Ride me, Edgeworth, and don't be gentle about it."

  Athena grabbed him around the throat with one hand, the other twisting roughly a handful of his hair. Kon's pupils blew out as the pain of her grip clashed with his pleasure.

  "Do you need another smack on the ass to get you moving?" he snarled. Athena shrugged to sass him, and his hand cracked against her flesh hard enough to make her groan. She started to rock into him, his dick so hard and wet with her arousal that another tremble shot through her.

  Kon buried his face into her neck. "Always feel so damn good. Harder, my goddess, that's it. Fuck." Athena slammed into him, grinding her clit against him. Kon's hand tightened and began pulling her faster onto him, his other hand going between them to play with her clit. Athena spat out the belt and took his mouth, thrusting her tongue against his with every pounding of her hips.

  "I want you like this always," she panted, pulling his head back so she could bite his throat. "Underneath me. Hard and willing and coming undone for me. Fuck, I'm never going to be able to let you go."

  "Don't you even think about it. I told you that you're mine now, but it seems like I need to fuck a reminder into you every day until it sinks in," he whispered, voice harsh and deadly. His wet fingers pressed a slow circle around her clit.

  "Are you going to come for me, or are you going to fight with me about that too?" Athena bit into his shoulder as his words started to undo her. Kon laughed breathlessly. "That's it, I can feel you. Fuck, I can't…."

  Kon flipped her again, snapping his hips into her in a way that had his cock hitting the bundle of nerves inside her. Athena smothered her scream of pleasure into his skin, light blazing across her vision as she came.

  Kon's cock swelled in her, making her groan again as he came deep inside of her. Their bodies were slick with sweat, but neither one let go. Athena tasted blood and quickly let her mouthful of Kon go. He pressed his forehead to hers, kissed his blood from her lips.

  "I want you. Not just until this job ends. I want you permanently," Athena stammered, her throat getting thick with emotion she didn't know how to express. Kon's stern gaze went soft above her. He kissed her cheeks, her nose, her jaw with aching tenderness.

  "I'm yours for as long as you want me, Athena. I'm not going anywhere until you want me to go. Understand?"

  Athena smiled, wrapped her arms and legs around him so they were as close as two people could get. "Okay."

  Kon could feel the words in his mouth. Those three little words he never thought he would say to another person…that he hadn't spoken since his mother had died.

  He held off, Silas's comments about Athena needing time to process things ringing in his head. She had admitted that she wanted him permanently, and that was all he needed.

  "You know, I've been thinking," he said, trailing his fingers up her bare spine. She had her head on his chest, and it felt so damn good to have her pressed against him.

  "That sounds dangerous," Athena replied and lifted her face to look up at him. "What's on your mind?"

  "Liddell. If we manage to get him, and his actual residence is in Scotland, we will have our hands on a large collection. We will have to deal with that," Kon began, his fingers gliding back down her skin. "I'm going to need your help. I thought that we could figure out exactly what everything is, and then you can return them to their traditional owners."

  Athena broke into a smile that was so sweet, it made Kon feel stupid in the head. "I'd like that. I was also thinking about Liddell's collection. The main snag I had was, what if we find something magical and dangerous? Something that no one should have or be able to use? We can't give them to people like Altun and Ryker."

  "I suppose it's a good thing I bought a warehouse," Kon said thoughtfully. "We won't know until we see it. I'm sure he's got a lot of books about magic too. I want those for myself to go through and learn more about it. I like using magic. It sounds dumb, but it makes me feel closer to my parents."

  "That's not dumb at all, Kon. You loved them. It's okay to miss them," Athena replied. Kon tightened his grip on her, pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Just don't get sappy and soft on me, Konstantius. I like your hard edges."

  Kon laughed. "I don't think there is much of a chance of that. I might be trying to connect to my heritage again, but I was the Basty of Istanbul for a long time. It's who I am, just like you're the wolf from the woods. There's no changing who we are, güzelim."

  Athena kissed his chest. "Good. Otherwise, I would have to start stealing from you and force you to hunt me down again."

  Kon rolled on top of her. "If you want me to hunt you, goddess, you only need to ask."

  Athena's smile was sly. "I'll keep that in mind, Basty."

  25

  Kon and Athena arrived in Scotland the following afternoon. The others had all left Istanbul at different times and on different airlines. Kon had toyed with the idea of taking a separate flight from Athena, but she wouldn't hear of it.

  "They want us both, and we will be weaker separated," she had said, and he had to agree. Being alone would make it easier for an ambitious bounty hunter to take them out. Together, they were a bigger target but also a more formidable one.

  Leo and Izabella had fixed them a new set of identities, and they had risked the flight together.

  Kon had to admit that it was nice to have her sit beside him and steal his in-flight snacks. He couldn't wait until Liddell and the hit out on them were dealt with so he could find a beach to lie on with her beside him. They had earned it.

  Edinburgh was cool and cloudy when they landed and took a cab to their hotel in the Old Town. He had always thought that Liddell would have a mansion in England with his prim British accent.

  It might be the Aurora history that makes him come here.

  Liddell's motivations didn't matter. Only finding him did.

  Kon's hand drifted to the medallion about his neck. He would make sure no one else died like his parents had, their bodies slashed up for whatever ritual Liddell had been trying to perform. Like they had been nothing but meat.

  "Silas and Dante have picked up the cars for us," Athena said, from beside him, her fingers dancing on the screen of her phone.

  "Good. One less thing to stress about. Any idea if Leo is still calm?" Kon
didn't like the idea of using the hacker as bait, but he was the one that had offered.

  "As far as I know. I'm sure if he changed his mind, Dante would've said something. I think he's hoping Leo won't go through with it."

  "It's good Dante doesn't like the idea. It means he will keep a closer eye on him."

  Athena smiled knowingly. "He keeps a pretty close eye on him as it is."

  "What is it with you Edgeworths trying to play matchmakers?"

  "I'm not playing anything. Dante will handle it on his own. He's like a dog with a bone when he wants something."

  Kon laughed. "How did you guys meet?"

  "A few years ago, he took a job in Baghdad and bodged it up. Silas was a part of the crew that got sent to clean it up. He pulled Dante out of a basement, half-dead from being tortured for three days," Athena replied, lowering her voice so the cab driver couldn't hear them. "Silas looked after him and his wounds. After that, Dante asked him to be his mentor. Silas is soft as shit and agreed."

  "Soft is the last thing I would call Silas," Kon said with a frown.

  "Oh, he's a tough bastard, but he's got a thing for strays. Me, Iz, Dante…he can't say no. He's already collected you under his wing even if you don't know it yet."

  Athena told Kon how they had found Iz in Belarus, and Silas had looked after her until she was clean again.

  "He's a good person," Kon said, taking Athena's hand.

  "One of the best. He's also a cold-hearted, murderous son of a bitch."

  Kon grinned. "Aren't we all?"

  They pulled up in front of their hotel on Holyrood Road, and Kon scanned the streets, the rooftops, the people walking by. He turned to see Athena doing the same thing. Her glacier blue eyes were taking notes of the cars, the exits of the hotel, the windows.

  It made Kon want to pull her into his arms and kiss her.

  They really were perfect for each other.

  They checked in, pretending to be a couple of tourists. Athena went so far as to ask the concierge for their recommendations on local restaurants and attractions. They picked up the extra suitcase Silas had left for them earlier and gave them a hefty tip for looking after it.

  "You are so good at this. I can't believe you made that poor receptionist draw tourist spots on a map for you," Kon said when they had been shown to their room.

  Athena checked the windows, the wardrobe, and the bathroom. Kon opened the suitcase of weapons, courtesy of Silas, and tucked a handgun into his coat pocket.

  "Maybe I want to see some sights when this is over," she replied before pulling him close and giving him the reckless kiss he had been craving. He ran his hands under her jacket and squeezed her ass.

  "Hmm, don't start that. We are going to have visitors any second," she said between kisses.

  "You should've told them we were delayed, then I could've bent you over that sofa—" There was a knock at the door, and Kon groaned.

  "I told you," Athena said, giving his ass a pat before going to answer the door. Her hand turned the handle, and the door was suddenly forced in. Kon saw the barrel of the gun and dove behind the couch as bullets sprayed. He pulled out his handgun and went to return the fire.

  Athena was faster, two blades left her hands, and the shooter collapsed, a knife in his cheek and the other between his eyes.

  "Fuck. Just what we need," Kon snapped. He checked the hallways, and seeing no one else, he kicked the dead man's feet the rest of the way inside and locked the door. Athena had already wrapped a towel around the man's head to stop any blood drips.

  "Grab his feet," she said, and they carried him into the large shower stall. It had a shower head at each end, and Kon lamented not getting a chance to use it before the bodies started to drop.

  "I want to know how he knew that we were here," Kon muttered. He went through the man's pockets and found a phone. He used the dead man's thumb to open it and checked the last message.

  Think I just saw Athena Edgeworth. Going to check. Payday, fucker!

  Kon swore, took a deep breath, and messaged the number back. Mistaken. Just a hot blonde with a great ass.

  Athena had cleared out the dead man's ammo and was checking his gun over. "One more to add to the collection."

  The phone in Kon's hand buzzed with a return message. Didn't think your luck would be that good, dumbass.

  Kon filled the sink with water and dropped the phone into it. He glanced at Athena, but she didn't look half as worried. She took out her phone and put it to her ear.

  "Please tell me you have a kit ready to go. Ah uh. Yeah, the guy tried to do both me and Kon in our hotel room. The audacity. Okay, I'll get him ready." Athena hung up. "Silas is on his way. Just breathe. We will sort it out."

  "Had to get rid of unexpected bodies often?"

  "More often than you would think. And this bathroom is nice and big to work in. Help me strip him."

  Kon took off his jacket and shoes. "For the record, this wasn't what I was planning to do with you this afternoon."

  "Every day with me is an adventure, Zalam," Athena said, pulling her knife out of the man's face and passing it to him.

  By the time Silas and Izabella arrived ten minutes later with two suitcases, the body was stripped and laid out. Kon had cleaned up the small amount of blood that had marked the tiles.

  "Fucking amateur," Silas grumbled when he looked at the body. "The size of that shower stall is going to make this easy."

  "Did he start shooting when he was already inside or out in the hall?" Izabella asked, sitting on the couch and opening her laptop.

  "Pretty sure when he got in, but scrub the footage of him entering the hotel. I don't want him being traced back here, even without any sign of a gun," Kon said.

  Silas opened the small suitcase he had arrived with and tossed some gloves at Athena. "You know the drill, Cubbie. Great aim with those knives, by the way."

  "Thanks, Dad," she replied with a beaming smile. She pulled off her boots and put on a disposable set of plastic coveralls. "I'll set the timer. Let's see if we can beat our personal best."

  "You're on, kid," he replied, putting on his own suit.

  Kon had disposed of bodies before, but he had never experienced anything like the Edgeworths working as a team and chatting like it was just another day…because it actually was.

  "It's better just to stay out of their way," Izabella said, not looking up from her laptop. "Any phone on the guy?"

  "I drowned it," Kon replied.

  "Good. Make sure it gets scrubbed and put into one of the bags with a body part."

  A high-powered buzz, no louder than an electric shaver, came from the bathroom.

  "Fucking hell, is that a saw?" he muttered.

  "Oh yeah, they are thorough. They have this thing about beating their personal best time. I once watched them cut up and bag a body within twenty minutes. Unreal. This guy is pretty big, so let's see how they do."

  Kon laughed. "And I thought I would be the weird one."

  "Not even close. Hang around the Edgeworths long enough, and you're going to get a whole new perspective of what you consider weird," Izabella replied.

  Unable to help his own morbid curiosity, Kon stood in the doorway of the bathroom and watched. Silas and Athena worked in tandem, Silas cutting the man's arms and legs in three pieces each. Athena went behind him, putting the pieces into bags and using a machine to seal them.

  When she was done, she repeated the process and placed the clean bag into a large suitcase. Izabella was right. They didn't say a word, didn't look up from what they were doing, just moved as one perfectly oiled machine.

  Just how many times had they done this?

  They managed to get the whole body packed into the suitcase without breaking a sweat.

  As Izabella had predicted, it took them less than twenty minutes, and that included bleaching down the shower, putting the gloves, coveralls, glasses, and hair covers they had been wearing into another bag. Athena had even used bleach wipes on the tiles Kon h
ad cleaned up the blood.

  "Time!" Silas called, and Athena stopped the watch.

  "Seventeen minutes, twelve seconds," she said triumphantly.

  "Fuck yeah, team Edgeworth for the win," Silas replied, high-fiving her. "You okay there, Basty?"

  "Are you? I've never seen anything like that in my life," Kon admitted, shaking his head. If he didn't love Athena beforehand, he would undoubtedly be in love with her after that display. A woman who could clean a body in seventeen minutes? She was a hitman's dream come true.

  "Welcome to the family," Silas said, winking at him as he zipped up the suitcase. "Damn, this guy was heavy. How did you do with the hotel security, Izabella?"

  "No problems, Jefe. He was good at avoiding cameras, but the few elbows and stray legs that were caught on the CCTV are gone." Izabella shut her laptop. "Now what?"

  Silas checked his watch. "Sundown in an hour. How about coming for a twilight drive with me and dumping some body parts in the North Sea?" he asked, giving her a charming smile that showed both of his dimples.

  "Only you could make that sound like a fun time. You better be buying me dinner too," Izabella replied, hands on her hips.

  "You got it. I feel like a steak. We'll see you two opposite the club at ten. Get room service, and don't show your faces out on the street. We have other shit to do tonight than deal with another fucking body," Silas replied, wheeling the bigger suitcase behind him. Izabella took the smaller one with all the equipment in it.

  Athena stripped off her shirt and wriggled out of her jeans. She gave a bemused Kon a dazzling smile. "Want to come for a bath with me?"

  He laughed, unable to do anything else. "Absolutely."

  26

  Athena had dressed warmly, the autumn equinox already turning the night chilly. There was a hum in the air and in the nighttime streets.

  Kon had stepped out of the hotel room and had become something sharper than he had been all day with her. She couldn't help the tiny thrill that tingled along her bones every time she looked at him. The Basty was on the hunt.