Ash and Stone (Hidden Truth Book 1)

by Rose Alexander

  Michael swings at one head, while another grabs his right flank, causing him to howl with rage. He whips his head forward, head-butting the middle head and Cerberus whines as the body goes down, the middle head out cold.

  Oh no, he did not just hurt my men! I let out a war cry and rush forward, just as he impales Asher with his sword. He looks up and waves his fingers at me and smiles, before jumping through the closed window, glass crashing to the ground behind him. The Stone’s are at my side, Donavan grabbing me to prevent me from following him out the window.

  "Motherfucker!" I wail, throwing my sword to the ground.

  I move in front of Asher, who is staring glassy eyed at the ceiling. There's no coming back from this. I thought gargoyles were made of stronger stuff, but that lousy excuse of a man wasn't.

  I take a deep breath and turn my attention to Cerberus. The outer two heads are whining, while the middle head is out cold, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Is he ok? Kneeling in front of the large dog, I reach out and stroke the middle head, glad to feel his hot breath on my chest. I let out a sigh of relief.

  "Don't whine. It'll be ok. You did your best to protect that piece of shit." I coo as I continue stroking whoever's head this is.

  "We're stuck like this until Berwyn wakes." Cerek's voice enters my head.

  The head on the left is staring at me with a sad expression.

  "I'm sorry you're stuck like this." I reach out and pet the side of his muzzle. "Gideon, do you have smelling salts?"

  "You can still hear us?" Relief washes over Cerek's eyes. "I wasn't sure if it would work. At least we still have that."

  "I don't know if they will work on a demon dog or not, but I'll check the first aid kit." Gideon replies.

  Donavan has shifted back to his human form and kneels next to me. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

  He meets Cerek's eyes. The humor that normally dances is surprisingly absent. I wasn't sure if the man could be serious.

  Cerek shakes his head before lying it on the floor. Usiah whines one more time before following his brother's lead.

  "I hate to be that guy, but we need to clean this up before the police arrive." Josiah picks at the skin on the side of his thumb. "There's no way the neighbors ignored this."

  "He's right." Donavan groans as he pulls his phone from his pocket. He dials a number as he stands up and places the phone on speaker phone. "Edith, love, how are you?"

  "What happened?" Her voice sounds oddly unconcerned.

  "A rogue angel decided to assassinate a gargoyle we were questioning. We're fine, but the apartment is not and we have a dead body that needs disposing of." Donavan winks at my gaping face.

  He's telling the building manager the truth? What the hell is going on? I assumed she was a human, but now I'm questioning everything.

  "Oh, dear. Hold on and I'll come take care of it." The phone beeps as the call is disconnected.

  "What is she?" I stare up at him, my jaw still dropped.

  "Edith is a talented witch. Her family and ours have had an arrangement for centuries." Donavan grins. "They take care of keeping us hidden from humans, and we keep them safe."

  "It meant more to my family when witches were hunted by humans, but a deal is a deal." Edith clucks her tongue from the doorway. "I thought I told you no pets, Donavan."

  She steps into the room; her coiffed grey hair bouncing with her steps. Her grey eyes widen as they land on Cerberus.

  "He's not a pet, love." Donavan winks. "If we can wake the middle head up, he won't even be a dog for much longer."

  "Is that the Cerberus?" She leans forward and adjusts the glasses on her nose.

  "It is." I nod.

  "Why is the demon's pet in your apartment?" Edith jumps as if she didn't notice me before.

  "She's not a demon's pet; she's our mate." Josiah frowns at the elderly woman.

  "Trouble, is what she is." She shakes her head.

  Sirens blare in the distance, getting louder as they approach. Edith tilts her head and sighs. She raises her hands above her head and chants in a strange tongue, similar to the one Krista used at my ritual. Pressure builds as a bright pink fog covers the room. The front door comes back together. The glass mends itself, as if the scene is running in reverse. I twist and watch as the front door flies back on its hinges, as if Michael never came through it.

  "Now for the body." She surveys her work.

  Moving in front of Asher's corpse, she chants again, this time the fog concentrates on his body. I watch in rapt fascination as his body hardens, turning to stone before my eyes, until he appears to be a gargoyle statue.

  "Is that what happens when you die?" I glance over at Josiah.

  "It is." He nods.

  "It would have been nice to know coming into this." Edith frowns. "It looks like you'll have to carry this over to the church yourself."

  "We didn't consider that your method was rapid decomposition." Donavan breathes out, his lips flapping in a raspberry. "How can I make it up to you, love?"

  "Don't let another angel kill one of you here. That will be enough." She chuckles as she studies the gargoyle in front of her. "Push this over and it will explain the noise. You can tell the police you were carving it or something."

  "Slight problem with that." Gideon emerges from the bathroom. "We don't have any carving tools."

  My eyes light up. This is something I can help with. I swirl my wrist and picture the tools appearing on the coffee table, with a drop cloth covering the floor under the area.

  "That's useful, but not a demon power." Edith frowns.

  "It's not a gargoyle power either." Josiah tilts his head and studies me closer.

  “I've been able to conjure things my entire life. I'm sure it's a demonic power. Lilith can do it too." My eyebrows bunch together as I think harder about it.

  Have I ever seen another demon with my abilities? No but there were rumors about the oldest demons having similar powers. That’s why no one ever questioned mine.

  "Well... that leaves another enormous gap in our thought process." Josiah groans as the sirens stop.

  "I need to go to the office and meet with these officers." Edith sighs. "I'm getting too old for this mess. It's about time Jessica takes over."

  She continues muttering to herself as she lets herself out of the apartment, closing the door behind her.

  "Here's the smelling salts we have." Gideon hands me a small plastic container. "Let's hope it works because I don't think we can explain him to humans."

  I pop the top off of the container and wave it under Berwyn's nose. He wrinkles his muzzle and lets out a soft whine as his eyes blink open.

  "Welcome back." I pull the salts away and recap them. "Not to rush you, but we need you to shift back to your human form now. The police are here."

  He lifts his head, and the other two follow his lead before their body begins to ripple, leaving behind the three men sitting in its place.

  "That didn't go so well." Usiah smacks his forehead as someone bangs on the door.

  25

  Donovan

  Josiah opens the door as the rest of us stand around the statue, pretending to discuss the best way of moving it.

  "We received a call about a disturbance at this location. Your apartment manager assured us it was nothing, but do you mind if we take a look around?" A deep baritone floats in from the entryway.

  "Come on in, officer." Josiah's tone is friendly. "Sorry you were called out. My brother was sculpting a gargoyle, and it fell over. We apologized to poor Edith, but it was too late. One of our neighbors called it in."

  "These things happen." The officer appears in the living room with his partner. "Your brother is talented."

  "Thank you, sir." I grin. "It's just a hobby. Our friends came down from upstairs to help us move it."

  I watch as both officers nod their heads, though their eyes are darting around the room, looking for something amiss.

  “How did you get the stone in here i
n the first place?” One of the officers furrows his brow.

  “Strong carts and lots of manpower.” Donavan grins.

  "If everything is in order, we'll let the caller know there's nothing to worry about. Try to keep it down with the yelling if it happens again." The officer grunts.

  Josiah leads them out of the apartment and closes the door behind them before rejoining us.

  "That was fun." Usiah grins. "Who knew it was so easy to fool the police of this century."

  "Humans see what they want to see. It's much easier to believe what their eyes are telling them than the truth." Josiah rolls his eyes. "It works in our favor, so why question it?"

  "Truth." Gideon nods his head. "Now back to the bigger questions. What do we do about this angel bastard?"

  “We have bigger questions. Asher said the first seal was broken when Cerberus was brought here. Lilith brought him…” I take a deep breath and let my words hang in the air. “Did she do this intentionally?”

  “Probably. Lilith has a way of manipulating the system. Or she didn’t know, which is doubtful.” Usiah groans. “But why would she want to start the apocalypse? She has the rule of the roost in Hell.”

  “We need to find more information on these seals so we don’t break another one.” Josiah chimes in. “We can take another trip to the repository soon now that we have detailed questions.”

  “What should we focus on first?” Ash glances between our faces.

  "I vote for nothing." I sling an arm around Ash's shoulder. "We are busy stressing about all these things we don't know, and it sucks. Instead, we should be teaching our lovely mate the joys of this world."

  If I play my cards right, maybe she'll be experiencing lots of joy and pleasure... and a little screaming. Imagine if the cops were called for that? They could walk in to find us in the throes of ecstasy, my naked ass in the air.

  "Donavan." Josiah growls and I realize I was projecting the thought to everyone.

  "You can't say you haven't been thinking about it too." I shrug then wink at Ash. "But at least she knows I'm willing to show her a good time now."

  "As much as your little show turns me on, how do I choose?" She chews on her bottom lip.

  "Hey now, where's that confident demon that was ready to disembowel Asher earlier?" I reach out and caress her cheek with the back of my hand. "You don't have to choose. We're all here for you. If you spend a night with one of us, you'll just have to spend a night with someone else later."

  "That's fair. But let's just see how things go." She leans into me and I realize her wings are gone. When did that happen?

  "Ash your wings." I tap her back.

  She glances over her shoulder and smiles, her eyes shimmering like fireflies.

  "They went back in on their own!" she squeals. "I don't remember it happening."

  "Probably during the fight with Michael." Berwyn suggests. "They were still out before that."

  "We should have ice cream to celebrate." I clap my hands together before heading to the kitchen.

  "Ice is cold." Ash scrunches up her nose. "It's already cold enough here."

  I forget that demons are used to a much warmer climate than we can achieve on earth, even in summer. Hmmm... what's as good as ice cream but won't freeze my mate? That's it!

  "What about chocolate cake? We could even get the chili kind for some heat." I waggle my eyebrows.

  "You just want to go to Pinciotti's Bakery." Gideon throws a pillow at me. "But not a terrible idea."

  "Let's go before Gideon agrees with him again." Josiah shakes his head.

  That brother is too serious. One day I hope he will loosen up, but it hasn't happened in the last five decades, so I doubt it ever will. Maybe Ash will get him to now that she's in our lives.

  We leave the apartment building and the muggy heat hits me in the face. I can't wait for winter. Though, in our stone form, the weather isn't an issue. In this form, it's miserable. If Ash is cold now, she's going to hate it here in a month when it starts cooling off.

  The sun has set behind the horizon, and crickets are chirping. The lack of a breeze makes it hard to breathe, even with the slightly cooler temperatures the night brings. We round the corner and my hackles rise. The stench of angels permeates this area. There must be at least a dozen of them to reek this badly.

  "Should we turn around?" I ask Gideon. He's the best strategist, so even though I give him shit, I always defer to him when shit gets serious.

  "I don't know. They shouldn't be here." His eyes dart around as his hand clenches into a fist.

  "I didn't feel an alert." Josiah sounds worried.

  "Neither did I, brother." Gideon growls.

  "I vote we go get Donavan his cake. If they are going to mess with us, they'll do it whether we stay or go." Ash glances over at us.

  Gideon nods and we move forward, chatting idly like we don't have a care in the world, but my eyes survey the area, waiting for any threats that might present themselves. We arrive at Pinciotti's without incident, but if anything, the stench has increased. What's causing them to congregate here?

  We enter the bakery and the smell of fresh-baked goods washes over me and I inhale deeply. As we approach the counter, Ash is nearly bouncing with excitement. She's such an enigma. Her personality ranges from the excitement of a child to the stone cold face of an experienced torturer. I hate to admit how hot it was watching her threaten Asher. What's that say about me?

  "We'll be closing soon." A jolly, red nosed man smiles from behind the counter as he places a tray down.

  "Do you have any chocolate cake left?" I plaster my friendliest smile on.

  "I have one in the back." He nods. "How many slices?"

  "We'll take the entire cake to go." I rub my hands together.

  My mouth waters at the thought of the moist, gooey cake and sweet, thick buttercream. I can't wait to see my Cora's face when she takes her first bite.

  "Is there anything else we should get?" Ash examines the glass case in front of us.

  "There's plenty you should try, but we should wait for another time." Josiah slips beside her, lacing his fingers between hers. "It will give us an excuse to come back."

  The cashier returns and Gideon pays. We thank him then head home, on alert the entire trip.

  "Can we stay in your apartment tonight?" Ash chews on her bottom lip as we enter the building.

  "Of course, but why?" Gideon studies her.

  "Oh, um... because I'm scared to go home?" Her voice rises as she shrugs her shoulders.

  "I smell a lie." Usiah tsks. "Don't believe her."

  She smacks his stomach and growls. "Shut up."

  "Do it harder next time and I might return the favor." He leans in and whispers loudly in her ear.

  "Promises, promises." She winks at him as Josiah opens the apartment door.

  26

  Ash

  Damn Usiah for calling me out. I don't believe for a minute he can smell a lie. We settle around the dining table as Donavan and Josiah head to the kitchen. They return with small plates, forks, and a long knife. My mouth waters as I watch him cut the cake in triangles.

  The first bite is a bitter sweet explosion on my tongue. The creamy frosting pairs with the moist cake in a delectable combination as it melts in my mouth, making me moan in pleasure.

  "If you keep moaning like that, I'll have to take you to a bedroom, Sugar." Cerek's gravelly voice sends pulses through my clit, causing me to clench my legs together.

  I smirk as I slowly place another bite in my mouth then close my eyes and moan, drawing it out longer.

  "That's it." Cerek jumps to his feet and lifts me out of my seat. "We're going upstairs."

  "But cake." I protest as he slings me over his shoulder.

  "Save her cake." He calls out as he strides to the door.

  He dashes out the door then races up the stairs, my head bouncing against his back with every step. I brace my arms, holding my head steady as butterflies race through my stomach.
Something about this feels huge. I've had many partners in the past, but they were just sex. This feels like more. Maybe that's why I've been ignoring their signals.

  We reach the apartment and he flings the door open, then kicks it closed without missing a beat. Striding to the bed, he tosses me on my back and stares at me, his eyes burning with lust.

  "Drop your glamor." He orders as his shirt vanishes, revealing his smooth, tan, muscled chest.

  I comply and allow my horns to appear. He stalks forward and leans over me, his eyes boring into mine.

  "I'm not gentle." Cerek grins as he reaches down and rips my shirt open.

  "I'm not fragile." I smirk back, reaching up to undo his pants.

  He bats my hands away and shakes his head. "Nothing is going to happen until I say it does, Sugar."

  I groan in frustration, but moisture pools between my thighs. He runs a finger down my chest, barely touching my skin, which sends shivers through me.

  "What's off limits?" He meets my eyes, searching for his answer.

  "Nothing I can think of." I slide my teeth over my bottom lip.

  "Your safe word is pebble." He winks. "Now, conjure a candle, matches, ice cubes, and ropes."

  He sends a mental image of the items through our bond and I copy them into reality.

  "This is going to be fun." He breathes next to my ear.

  With one hand he lifts me from the bed as he tugs my bra off with the other, the fabric ripping with a satisfying sound. He drops me and turns to his arsenal.

  The rope snaps with a thwack as Cerek tests the strength. He smirks as he lifts me, the rope dangling over his arm. Once I'm where he wants me, he grabs my wrists and brings them over my head. He masterfully wraps my wrists then fixes the rope to the bed frame with nimble, experienced fingers. My heart races as I wait for his next move.

  Grabbing an ice cube, he rolls it over in his hand before returning to me. Without the use of my hands, I'm completely at his mercy and he takes complete advantage of it. He reaches forward and strokes the ice cube across my lips, the sudden burst of cold causing my nerve endings to fire. He slowly works his way down my neck to my chest, the anticipation of where it will go next, heightening my arousal.