Renegade Hunter: A WhyChoose Demon Romance (Mates of the Realms: Mortals Book 1)

by Lacey Carter Andersen

  While they might not have been blessed with true magic, that they could use on Earth, they were incredible in the demon-realm. There, magic-welders became powerful through the knowledge of spells and the ability to focus, even in chaotic situations. And she and Elaina, they knew more spells than any of their peers.

  Just two nerds killing like we were born to do it.

  Beyond that, their combat abilities amazed others. No one expect two awkward women to be able to kick ass the way they did. But, they’d both had their own private reasons for always being able to fight as if their lives depended upon it.

  Everyone knew we’d both become Leaders.

  They’d connected so seamlessly that Sharen had felt like she’d known Elaina her whole life. They’d become more than friends, they’d become each other’s family. And for someone like Sharen, a person who felt like an outsider in her own family, she’d desperately needed someone like Elaina.

  And then I met my ex and ruined everything.

  She suddenly realized that she’d been brushing her dark hair for God only knows how long. Enough freaking out, Sharen! Time to put on your big girl panties! Pulling her hair into a ponytail, she glared at herself in the mirror.

  You’re a damn demon-hunter, act like one!

  Without her weapons, or the magic she could harness in the demon-realms, she felt completely out of her element. But it didn’t matter. She’d deal with this the way she dealt with everything: head-on. In uniform or out of it, they wouldn’t find her to be some frightened human who’d let them destroy the world.

  I have to keep it together, for Elaina.

  There was a soft tapping at her bathroom door. Alec’s sensual voice came, “you planning on coming out? Or are you going to hide in there all day?”

  Squaring her shoulders, she put on the emotionless mask she hid behind in difficult situations. I can do this. Opening the door, she looked up, up, up into the face of the tall demon. He gave her a reassuring smile that transformed his face from dangerous into one that was sexy as hell. Without his red skin and horns, he was without a doubt the most stunning man she’d seen in her life.

  Swallowing, she tore her gaze from his eyes. Which was a mistake as it immediately went to the large bulge in his pants. Breathing hard, she forced her gaze slightly higher. His sweat pants were pushed so low she could see far past his eight-pack and down to a level that was so tempting it made her thighs squeeze together. And the sight of his bare chest, which was strangely enough now covered in tattoos, made her remember every second of touching him the night before. Every inch of him screamed sex. Even his tousled hair and dark eyes looked like a man who did nothing but tempt lonely women into bed.

  No one should look that good.

  Biting her lip, she remembered what it was like to kiss him. To touch him. To have him inside her. Against her will, her body seemed to heat up

  “You thinkin’ about skipping breakfast, sweetheart, and getting right to dessert?”

  Her inner-muscles clenched. Damn it. It’s not like I’ve never been hit on before!

  She scowled up at him. “That’s the worst line I’ve ever heard.”

  He chuckled, a sound that slid along her skin like velvet. “Can you blame me for trying? You were looking at me like I’m your favorite new treat. Which I don’t mind, in case you were wondering.”

  Sharen felt her cheeks heat. How did this demon know that flirting was her kryptonite?

  You don’t know anything about what these Level 10 demons are capable of. Don’t forget that. They could have all kinds of abilities you never imagined. So be smart. Stay calm and ask the right questions.

  “Why do you look different here?” Demon magic maybe? She frowned. “Actually, you even sound different here...”

  “Because the human parts of us are coming back to life here.”

  Against her will, her gaze slid back down.

  “Want to see what other ways we’re different?”

  Her heart raced. “Let’s just get this over with.” Squaring her shoulders, she did her best to push past him.

  He chuckled again. “Whatever you say, boss.”

  Instead of turning around to glare at him, she continued through her bedroom out into the rest of her tiny home. Ryder stood over her little stove, using a spatula to push the bacon around. On her kitchen island, pancakes, eggs, and even more bacon was piled high.

  As Ryder began to hum, her gaze snapped back to him. He looked too damn good. Unlike Alec, who screamed sex, he looked like every woman’s fantasy of a sexy down-to-earth man next door in his jeans and plaid shirt. Like Alec, there were changes about him since she last saw him in the demon realm. Not having red skin or horns was the first thing, but the second was that his slightly long sandy brown hair had been styled, and he sported a dusting of facial hair.

  When he turned his baby blue eyes onto her and gave a shy smile, her heart sputtered, and her thoughts scattered. “Hungry?”

  His question seemed to hang between them, and she knew he was asking about more than breakfast. Don’t let him get to you. He isn’t just some melt-in-my-mouth, hot man, he’s a demon.

  Who might be playing with the memory of your best friend to keep you from sending him right back where he belonged.

  “It looks like you guys made yourselves at home.”

  Ryder had the decency to look apologetic. “We thought you might have worked up an appetite after last night.”

  A flash of a memory came to her. Of him stroking her folds gently as he eased into her from behind.

  This demon was pure trouble. One minute he seems all sweet, and the next he’s just as much of a dominating alpha as the other two. I better watch out for him.

  He dropped the spatula loudly against the pan. “If you don’t stop looking at me like that right now, I’m going to have to fuck you against the counter.”

  “I’m not looking at you like anything!”

  He scowled and flipped more pancakes in a pan. “Alright, but I never want anyone saying my wife has needs I’m not meeting. Because, honey, I’ll meet your needs any time you want.”

  Wife? Geez. I can’t even think about that right now.

  She hurried to the stool in front of her kitchen island and climbed onto it, watching the demons as Ryder cooked and Alec washed dishes. Both chatted cheerfully, as if this was their favorite morning ritual.

  She felt like she was having an out-of-body experience. Before yesterday, demons were vile little creatures she’d made her mission to stomp out. To kill. And keep the world safe. Now, apparently, demons had become the best sex of her life. And her husbands? None of it made sense.

  The truth was that she had no idea what she was thinking or feeling. For now, she had to put aside what the discovery of intelligent, and seemingly non-violent, demons meant to her and to their world, because she needed to focus on her goal.

  And because finding these demons means my superiors have been lying to me. Either because these demons aren’t as dangerous as they led us to believe, or because they are even more dangerous. But either way, it was a problem for another day. It was her best friend that took priority.

  There were so many things about Elaina’s death that hadn’t made sense. That had every instinct screaming inside her. But she wasn’t sure if she believed the demons about Elaina being alive, or if she just wanted to believe them. She just knew that she would never forgive Alec and his brothers if they were lying to her about her friend.

  Never.

  Yet, even if she was angry with them, could she actually send them back to their realm? They defied everything she’d ever been told about demons, and she felt a connection to them that made no sense. It wasn’t just that they were hot and made her feel things she thought had been long dead. It was... something... more.

  Whoa. I can’t deal with this right now. I just need to stay calm and find out about Elaina. The rest can wait.

  Instead of pelting them with difficult questions, she decided her best bet w
as to play it cool. Start slow. So, she reached for the pancakes, and piled scrambled eggs onto her plate, then grabbed the crispy bacon and started eating.

  “So, where’s your brother?” she asked, hoping she sounded nonchalant.

  Ryder spoke over his shoulder. “Taking care of some business.”

  Okay, that wasn’t elusive at all.

  Alec sat down beside her and put a mountain of food on his plate, then used the syrup to coat everything on his plate.

  For some reason it intrigued her. “Do demons like sugar?”

  He frowned. “No, I like sugar. I always liked sugar. And the crap they grow in the demon realm isn’t exactly tasty.”

  She looked back down at her food. For some reason she felt guilty. Even though it made no sense.

  Of course demons eat crappy food. They were thrown into a horrible realm for being bad people in our world.

  Ryder smiled at her, his soft voice breaking the tension. “This is a nice little place you have here. Do you want to keep living here? Or would you like something bigger?”

  She bit into a piece of bacon and studied him over the coffee cup that he’d placed in front of her. “Why would I need something bigger?”

  He poured himself a mug of coffee. “Well, we all don’t mind living in a cozy house. But it might get a little crowded.”

  She choked on a piece of bacon and started coughing.

  Alec pounded her on the back until she was able to take a sip of her warm coffee.

  “You okay?” Alec asked, frowning.

  The second she caught her breath, the words came pouring out. “What in the hell makes you three think you’re gonna live here with me?”

  Ryder laughed, a deep sound that made her nipples harden. “We’re married now. What makes you think we’d live separately?” He reached across the counter and brushed the back of her hand with his thumb. “We could never be away from you.”

  She ignored the tingle that ran through her body at his touch and pulled her hand out of his reach. “We met yesterday. How do you even know you would enjoy being around me? Or do you guys not even care about that? Is this all just some sick game to stay in the human realm?”

  Both men stiffened, but Alec was the first to speak. “Sharen, if we were using you to get into the human realm, well guess what, we’re here. We don’t need you anymore. But we want you. We didn’t have to pledge ourselves to you. But we all felt the same thing. The connection between us was so powerful, you were able to reach for us through your mind and bring us into your dream. A connection like that’s rare. Do you really want to waste it?”

  She took a deep breath. But couldn’t think for the life of her what she wanted to say.

  What’s wrong with me? These are demons. So why don’t I just tell them to get lost?

  Suddenly unsure of herself, she changed tactics. “I want to find out what happened to my friend. You guys said she was still alive?”

  But before anyone could answer, her front door opened. And Alec’s twin, Kade, came walking in, carrying a TV. Kicking the door closed behind him, he moved across the room as if the massive set weighed nothing at all. He set it down on her wooden floor, and then looked up, his dark gaze meeting hers. A small smile curled his lips. “Looks like sleeping beauty is finally awake.”

  She swallowed. Hard. And tore her gaze away from his.

  “How did it go?” Alec asked, his casual words holding a slight edge.

  A hardness came over Kade’s features. “We had a little chat, and the situation is handled. Oh, and the back of her car is loaded with the rest of her stuff.”

  Sharen stared at him, feeling confused. “Who did you have a chat with?”

  Looking at the TV more carefully, her eyes widened. “That’s mine!”

  Kade nodded and walked over to her. Before she could even comprehend what was happening, he pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Don’t worry, babe. Your ex won’t be bothering you again.”

  My ex? Oh shit. “You visited him? Is he okay?”

  Kade folded his big arms over his chest and widened his stance. “Why do you care about him? He was an asshole who treated you like garbage. After last night, I could tell he fucked with you a lot, but I wanted to find out how bad. So, I paid him a visit. He spilled his guts about your entire marriage, and I got to tell you, he deserved exactly what he got.”

  Her heart raced, and it was hard to breathe. She hated her ex, but no one deserved to have their stomachs split open from a demon. Or their heart eaten out. “Did you kill him?” she whispered.

  There was a tense moment when not a single one of them moved.

  And then they burst out laughing.

  Alec stood from his chair beside her and wrapped her in a half hug. “He just scared him a little, sweetheart. And made sure he wouldn’t be bothering you again. Guys like that need to be put in their place. And Kade was only too glad to do it. Actually, we all wanted to go, but figured you’d need us here this morning.”

  She nodded, sucking in deep breaths. “You guys are acting like demons never kill anyone. “

  Kade snorted. ”Yeah, demons kill, but not half as much as humans do.”

  Shaking her head, she reached for her coffee with hands that shook. “I don’t get you guys. Don’t demons usually come to this realm to wreak havoc? Not that I’m complaining! But why threaten my ex? Why waste time with breakfast and all of this?”

  Kade looked at the two other men, his expression irritated. “Haven’t you guys explained it to her yet?” Before they could answer, he put his finger under her chin and titled her head up. “We are back on earth to enjoy the lives we deserved before they were taken from us. And we’re here, making you breakfast and scaring the shit out of your ex, because you are our everything now. Our soul mate. Our wife. We will do anything for you.”

  Whoa. Why is it suddenly so hard to breathe? His dark eyes seemed to stare straight into her. It was strange that after all her time dating, no man had ever made her feel the way these three demons did.

  Before she could respond, he leaned down and kissed her.

  Someone set her coffee down as he pulled her out of her chair and into his arms. Her thoughts floated away as his hot tongue slid into her mouth, and the kiss deepened.

  She whimpered, her hands moving to his hair, pulling him closer.

  When he picked her up, their kiss broke for less than a second, and then he was kissing her once more, carrying her through her house. A minute later, he was laying her on the bed.

  “Again?” she whispered, barely registering anything but that they were inevitably going to have sex again.

  He leaned over her, his eyes even darker with arousal. “You’re telling me you don’t want us?” Reaching down, he brushed his thumbs lightly in a circle around her hard nipples. “You wore this just to drive us crazy.”

  Looking down, she realized for the first time that the white tanktop she’d worn had gone almost entirely see-through when she’d put it on still-damp from the shower. And her boy shorts without underwear suddenly seemed like the most ridiculous idea in the world. It’s been so long since I thought of myself as an attractive woman. Does this... does this really turn them on?

  The thought made something inside her come to life. She’d let her ex make her feel like an ugly, old woman, but she wasn’t. And if she needed proof, all she needed to do was to look at the three handsome demons who seemed like they couldn’t get enough of her.

  She sensed the other demons as they came into the room.

  Kade moved back from her.

  She could’ve gotten up, but she didn’t. Nor did they come towards her. They’re waiting for me.

  “If we do this...” she began, feeling her cheeks heat. “It doesn’t mean I’m accepting all of this ‘wife’ nonsense.”

  One corner of Kade’s mouth twitched up. “Agreed.”

  But still, they didn’t come toward her.

  It gave her time to remember what it was like to touched by them. To be wi
th them. She longed for that feeling of closeness, for a release from the tension that seemed to eat at her day after day.

  Feeling her arousal grow, she shifted on the bed. “Uh, what are you waiting for?”

  “Just making sure you’re sure.” Alec’s gaze ran over her like a caress.

  “I’m sure,” she whispered, so softly she wasn’t certain they’d hear.

  But, they obviously did, because Ryder immediately pulled off his shirt and slid off his pants, revealing his massive erection. “We’re going to make love to you now, Sharen. And you’re going to enjoy every second of it.”

  His hurried movements were almost comical, but there was nothing funny about the need he awoke within her. Suddenly, she was imagining licking every inch of his hard, perfect body.

  When Alec knelt between her legs and pushed her thighs apart, she let him, watching with anticipation. One of his hands slid slowly up and pushed aside her boy shorts. A second later, she cried out as his thumb began to rub her wet folds.

  He moved slowly. Unrushed. And as embarrassing and strange as it should have been, she instead found that she was rubbing herself against him.

  When Kade pulled down her tanktop and began to pluck at her nipples, she felt her orgasm building deep within her. His hot mouth lowered and captured one of her sensitive nubs, causing a moan to slip past her lips.

  Her eyes opened when she sensed Ryder over her. Trembling, she reached for his naked cock and brought him into her mouth.

  He made a sound, almost a growl in the back of his throat.

  The noise thrilled her. Taking him deeper and deeper, she hummed around him.

  He swore, thrusting into her as he gripped the back of her head.

  She moved her hips in rhythm with the cock that moved in and out of her mouth. Alec sucked on her clit, and she cried out around the shaft that continued to pump into her.

  At last, Ryder shouted, “enough! I need her sweet ass!”

  There was yet another moment she could have protested. But instead, she watched as Alec and Kade stripped off their clothes. Alec lifted her and then sat at the edge of the bed, with her straddling him. His erection pressed against her wet folds. And without waiting, she wiggled, positioning him just right, and then took him inch by inch inside of her.