by Larissa Ione
A grinding noise yanked Runa out of her thoughts. The door to the cell swung open, and the Nightlash and the two imps dragged Shade inside. He was naked, his arms and legs bound, his chest and thighs caked with dried blood.
His eyes, glowing gold, fixed on her. An instant, uncontrollable urge to go to him had her straining against her chains. He bellowed, battled his captors as he struggled to get to her, and although she didn’t know why he wanted her so badly, she could feel his desperation right down to the way her body heated in response.
The Nightlash slammed a thick club down on Shade’s skull. The sharp crack echoed through the cell like a gunshot. Shade grunted and settled down, but his eyes still glowed, and he still watched her …
Watched her with the single-minded intensity of an aroused male who wanted one thing.
And wanted it now.
Three
“Talk to me, Shade.”
Runa stretched to the end of her chain. Their captors had left him secured to the wall with a collar around his neck and just out of her reach. He’d gone crazy at first, leaping at her like something possessed, giving her a glimpse of the demon beneath the human appearance. Eventually, when his throat began to bleed from the struggles, he’d curled into a fetal position and lain there, panting and moaning, for what had to have been half an hour. His vulnerability broke through the barrier of anger she felt for him, until her fingers had itched to smooth his hair away from his face, where sweat had beaded on his brow.
Idiot. The man … creature … whatever … had tossed her away like garbage. She didn’t give a crap about his you-know-my-nature bullshit. For the first time in her life, she’d taken a risk, had believed that maybe it was time to put aside the past and let herself be happy.
Her anger roared back, and she welcomed it like an old friend.
“What did they do to you?” she asked, her voice steely.
“Need …” He broke with a shudder. “Pain.”
“I know it hurts. What can I do?”
“Pain. Hurt … me.”
“Yes, they hurt you—”
“No.” His face twisted into an agonized grimace as he stretched until his toes made contact with her fingers, at which point he hissed. “I need you … to cause me pain. Make it … hurt.”
“What? No.” She jerked away from him. “I’ve been dying to do that for a long time, but if you want it, it sort of takes the pleasure out of it.”
“Please.” He opened his eyes. Dark shadows framed them, and the gold was gone, replaced by the near-black that always sucked her in.
She stared at his foot, wondering what she could do. There was nothing within reach she could strike him with. But maybe … no, if she shifted into a werewolf, the manacle around her ankle would hurt like hell as her size doubled.
“Runa.” He shuddered so hard his chains rattled. “I’ll die … if you don’t.”
Oh, damn. No matter how angry she was at him, she couldn’t let him die. He fell still as she stripped off her shirt, as though he knew she’d decided to help. She peeled off her jeans, as well, but had to leave them hanging off the cuff around her ankle.
Bracing herself, she shifted. Skin stretched. Bone popped. Excruciating pain ripped through her face as her jaws extended and teeth erupted. Sure enough, the ankle manacle squeezed like a vise, sending such intense waves of agony up her leg that her vision blurred. Shade watched with wide eyes as she leaped to the end of her chain. Her larger size and canine muzzle gave her the extra length she needed to clamp down on Shade’s foot with her mouth.
He yelped, a brief shout of pain before he smothered the sound with a moan. Between her teeth, she felt bones give but not break. His skin didn’t fare as well, and she tasted blood.
“Enough,” Shade growled, and she released him.
Her leg throbbed as she shifted back to human form. She lay on the ground, exhausted from the transformation, feeling spent and hoping no one had seen. If their captors learned she could voluntarily shift form into a warg, they might not wait until the full moon to take her pelt.
She gagged at the coppery taste of blood in her mouth and spat into the straw.
“Thank you,” he said hoarsely, and if she didn’t know better, she’d think his shredded voice was the result of hours of screaming. But he’d endured his torture and suffering in silence. He sat up, pulling gingerly at his foot, but he seemed much better despite the amount of pain the wound must have caused. “Why can you shift at will?”
Weakly, she faced him, her gaze dropping to his naked body before she could catch herself. Even sitting there, chained up and injured, he radiated masculine power. She raised her eyes to his caduceus pendant. She’d recognized it as a medical symbol back when they were dating, but now that she knew where he worked and what he was, the odd design made more sense. The common staff had been replaced by a dagger circled by two sinister-looking vipers, and the wings above their heads were batlike and tribal.
“You first,” she said, as she pulled her jeans up. “Why do you feel better even though I just gnawed on you like a Rottweiler’s chew toy? What did they do to you?”
He threw his head back against the wall and stared at the ceiling. “They forced a female on me. It’s a curse of my species that once we’re aroused beyond a certain point, we need release, or the pain becomes disabling. If it goes on long enough, we die.”
“Oh. So the female …” she trailed off, not wanting to know what the female had done to him.
“She pleasured me with her mouth until I was crazy with lust, and then she stopped.”
“So … didn’t the fact that you’re in a chamber of horrors put a damper on your libido?”
“My mind wasn’t willing, but my body responded.” He drilled her with a hard look. “I’m an incubus, and she was as aroused as I was. I couldn’t help it.”
Right. His nature again.
“So if you sense arousal, you have to respond?” When he nodded, she bit her lip, thinking. “The day we met, you said you sensed my need. Is that what you meant?”
He nodded again. “It’s why I generally avoid public places. A nightclub, especially a demon nightclub, can be hell. No pun intended.”
That would explain why they’d never gone anywhere during the month they’d dated. Their entire relationship had revolved around his place or a hotel, sex and food. Once, they’d taken a walk in a park—at night when the area was deserted. At the time, she’d thought it romantic. Now she knew better.
“Then, no matter where you are, you have to stay if you sense need? You can’t leave?”
“Not if a single female wants sex. I’m compelled to find her. If she’s with another male, the results can be violent.”
“Why not just, um—”
“Release can’t come by my own hand.”
Which was why he’d tried to get to her when they first brought him in. He’d been frantic with pain and lust, needing release, and she’d been the only female in sight. They’d chained him just out of reach to torment him. Sick bastards.
“And you needed me to hurt you … why?”
“It was a gamble. I hoped the pain would overwhelm the lust-agony.” He studied his foot and applied pressure to a gaping wound that was bleeding badly. “Your turn. Why can you shift at will? Wargs only shift during the full moon. And shapeshifters turn into true animals, not were-beasts.”
“I’m not sure why,” she lied. “I was hoping maybe your hospital could help me find out.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “How do you know about the hospital?”
“I’ve been hunting for my sire, which means I’ve met some nonhumans. And your uniform pretty much gave you away.” More lies, but the truth wasn’t an option. He couldn’t know that the R-XR knew about his hospital and that one of the reasons she’d been looking for Shade was to learn more about it.
Shade had told her he was a paramedic, but it wasn’t until the R-XR was given a caduceus pendant taken from a shapeshifter doctor The Aegis had
killed that she realized Shade must work at the demon hospital. The shapeshifter’s pendant had been identical to his.
Normally, her job with the R-XR was to literally sniff out other were-creatures. The military would then secretly tag them, and their information would be added to a giant database, allowing for monitoring.
But Runa’s familiarity with New York City, as well as her past association with Shade, had earned her this assignment.
“You shouldn’t hang out with nonhumans,” he growled. “You aren’t ready.”
“I didn’t ask for your permission.”
“You’re a baby in my world, Runa. Stay out of it.”
She waved her arm in an encompassing gesture. “Look around you, Shade. I can’t get in much deeper. I certainly don’t have a choice.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s your fault I’m in this world in the first place.”
“You do realize that as a warg, your lifespan has quadrupled, right? So you should be thanking me.”
“Assuming I don’t die in the next couple of days. Or get killed by The Aegis. Or by other wargs.” She huffed. “If you’re expecting gratitude, you’ll be waiting a long time. Not that we have a long time.”
“We’re going to be okay.”
“And you know this how?”
“My brother can sense me. He’ll find us.”
Too bad her brother couldn’t sense her. Heck, neither he nor the R-XR would know she was missing until after the full moon when she was supposed to check in. She watched as Shade checked his bleeding foot and returned pressure to the wound. He didn’t so much as flinch, his movements precise and coldly efficient.
“How many brothers and sisters do you have?” She’d asked him the question a long time ago, but his answer had been vague—a few—and then he’d changed the subject as deftly as a politician.
“One sister—the Umber. Two brothers. Wraith and Eidolon.”
“Are they Umber demons, too?”
He shook his head. “No. They’re Sems like me.”
“How is it that you have an Umber sister?”
“We share a mother. With my brothers, I share a father, but our mothers are all different species.”
“So … you’re half-breeds?”
“No. All Seminus demons are purebred and male. There are no female Sems, so after s’genesis, we impregnate females of other species. The offspring are born purebred Seminus demons, though everyone inherits minor traits from his dam.”
Interesting. “Why would these other species volunteer to have Seminus children?”
“They don’t. Sexually mature Seminus demons gain the ability to shapeshift into the males of other species. So basically, we trick them into having sex with us. If that doesn’t work, rape does.”
“Nice.”
Shade rolled his eyes. “We’re demons. But if it makes you feel any better, most of us are disgusted by our destiny until we go through s’genesis. Then we don’t give a shit anymore.”
“So you do care?”
“Right now, yes. The idea of deceiving or raping any female in order to knock her up disgusts me. So does the reality of what happens to the infants.”
“Which is?”
“Most are slaughtered at birth. Few demons are willing to raise a demon of another species, let alone one that was conceived through trickery or rape.”
“So I’m guessing the fathers don’t have anything to do with the children.”
“Most of us never meet the male that sired us. All we know is the family that raised us, though we can sense our brothers.”
“So you never knew your father?” She shifted to get more comfortable, wincing at the dull ache in her ankle.
“All I knew of him were secondhand stories.”
“Do all sexual demons reproduce like that?”
“Nope. Most incubi and succubi use humans for reproduction, but Sems can’t. Impregnating humans results in cambions.”
“Cambions?”
“Sterile half-breeds.” The way he said it, with a slight sneer, told her what he thought of breeding with humans.
Apparently, screwing them was just fine, however. She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice as she asked, “So your mother’s an Umber, right?”
Shade nodded. Runa didn’t know much about the cave-dwelling species, had only skimmed the information she’d found while researching demons to identify Shade’s breed. Apparently, they were gray-skinned and humanoid, though they avoided contact with humans. They were extremely social in their family orders, but were isolated within the demon world—probably because they were the natural prey of some of the more vicious species of demons.
“What about your brothers?” She leaned forward, intensely curious. She’d had a rude introduction into the demon world, but once she got over the shock, she’d dedicated every spare minute to learning as much as she could. “What species are their mothers?”
“My older brother, Eidolon, was born to a Justice demon, and Wraith’s mother was a vampire.”
She blinked. “I didn’t think vampires could breed.”
“They can’t. Wraith’s an anomaly.”
Somewhere in the dungeon, something screamed, and Runa shivered.
“What about your parents?” she asked quickly, and a little shakily. “Was what you told me when we were dating true? Your mother lives in South America and your dad is dead?”
A long, awkward silence filled the cell. Finally, just as Runa was about to give up on getting an answer, Shade said, “My mother was killed a couple of months ago.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“Did you kill her?”
Her voice cracked with astonishment. “No.”
“Then don’t be sorry.”
“Am I annoying you with my questions?” she snapped.
“Yep.” He shrugged. “But it’s not like we have a lot else to do.”
As if on cue, footsteps pounded outside. Runa crouched, ready to attack, but Shade remained where he was, looking for all the world as if he was lounging on a couch with a beer. If the fact that he was nude bothered him, it didn’t show.
The door swung open. The Nightlash who had dragged Shade out of the cell earlier entered and dropped a gym bag on the floor. A robed figure slid inside behind the other demon, its face hidden inside a deep hood, though she thought she caught a glimpse of some sort of mask. Only the creature’s hands were visible—clawlike, skeletal things wrapped in leathery skin. Some of its fingers were missing, but that didn’t stop him from holding a wicked-looking spiked club.
It turned to Shade. “I see you’ve recovered from your ordeal.”
“That’s what happens when you hire second-rate whores like Solice. You should have instructed her in the proper art of blowjobs.”
The thing hissed. “I’m going to make you suffer.”
“Promises, promises,” Shade drawled, turning away to study his fingernails.
Runa could practically feel the rage billowing like steam from the robed creature. “I will make what I did to your sister look like fun.”
Very slowly, Shade lifted his head, his dark eyes narrowed and gleaming with hatred. “Where is she? What did you do to her?”
“Do you really want to know?”
Shade leaped to his feet. “Tell me!”
The creature nodded to the Nightlash, who opened the bag on the floor and pulled out what looked like a leather blanket.
Oh, God. Runa’s stomach lurched. She felt the blood drain from her face as the robed one cackled.
“Umber skins are worth a fortune on the underworld market. She’s going to make someone a fine cloak.”
A blast of darkness hit Runa a second before the icy wind, and then Shade let loose an agonized wail that would stay with her for the rest of her life.
Kynan Morgan was probably the biggest pain in the ass on staff at UGH. Scratch that. Not probably. He was, and he knew it.
He also didn’t give a shit. He didn’t give a shit about much anymo
re. His give-a-shit meter had broken nearly a year ago when his wife betrayed him and then died at the hands of her lover. One of her lovers, anyway. The human one.
Then there was Gem, with her black and blue hair, Goth clothing, piercings, and tats. He’d forgiven Tayla for being a demon. Mainly, because she hadn’t known the truth of her paternity until Eidolon figured it out. But Tayla’s sister, Gem … not so much. He’d met her a few years ago at the New York City hospital where she’d worked, pretending to be human. She’d talked to him, laughed with him, seen him nearly naked during exams.
Truthfully, it wasn’t a betrayal; she’d owed him nothing. But he’d liked her, trusted her, and all along she’d been the enemy.
But even that wasn’t entirely true. Since the violent night nearly a year ago, he’d come to the disturbing realization that not all demons were evil, that some strove to be good. The knowledge, on top of his wife’s betrayal, had shaken his moral, spiritual, and emotional foundations. He’d pulled away from The Aegis, from one of the two things he was good at: killing.
Which had left him with only one skill remaining, something he hadn’t even been sure he had the stomach for anymore.
Healing.
At that point, Eidolon had stepped in and offered him a job at UGH, as one of the half-dozen humans already on staff. The irony was flat-out, fucking funny. He’d spent years killing demons, and now they wanted him to heal them.
He’d accepted, but on the condition that he chose who he helped. He would not be responsible for putting evil back on the streets. Eidolon had understood, and he’d even made Kynan a doctor, since the hospital was short on physicians with degrees, and Kynan had a shitload of medical experience thanks to his Army medic training and years of patching up Guardians after battles with demons.
Still, this was a temporary gig. Hanging out with demons was a perfect mirror for where he was mentally, but he had to believe it would come to an end, that he could find himself again. He wasn’t sure he could go back to being the Regent of the New York Aegis cell—hell, he didn’t think they’d even want him. If the Sigil—the twelve supreme leaders of The Aegis—knew he’d been working with the enemy … well, he’d become the enemy. They could never know what he was doing at the hospital. And if they knew that the New York City cell’s temporary Regent, Tayla, was half demon and mated to a demon, he and Tay would both end up with death warrants hanging over their heads.