by Larissa Ione
“You sound like you know this from experience. Are you an assassin, too?”
“Another gold star for you.”
“My online degree has served me well,” he said dryly. “So who hired him?”
“Even if I knew, I couldn’t tell you, nosy-ass.” She swung her legs to the opposite side of the bed and leaped down. “Now, unless you plan to tackle me again, I’m going to go find my brother.”
Eidolon blocked the door, fully intending to physically restrain her if he had to. “I just want to ask a few more questions. And maybe I can help find Lore.”
She seemed to consider that, and though she narrowed her eyes at him, she nodded slowly.
“How did you get hurt?” he asked.
“That’s none of your business.” When he cursed, she huffed. “What? It’s an answer.”
Gods, she was starting to make Wraith look agreeable. “What’s your gift?”
A plastic model of a set of lungs crashed to the floor, startling Eidolon and making Sin jump. “What the hell was that?”
“Ghost.” Damn, he was getting sick of this shit. “Your gift?” he prompted.
Glancing at the shattered model as if it was going to launch at her, she rubbed her bandage, but when she realized what she was doing, she let her hand drop. “Gift isn’t the word I’d choose for it.”
“Ability, then. What is it? You don’t wear a glove, so I’m guessing it’s not the same as Lore’s.”
She laughed bitterly. “No, but it’s still fucked up. Apparently, only you purebreds get the cool stuff.”
“Apparently.” He waited for her to answer his question, but she didn’t, and he gnashed his teeth. “So… your ability? What is it?”
“I can cause disease at a touch.”
“Disease?” he repeated, just to make sure he heard correctly.
“D-I-S-E-A-S-E. Disease. You should have learned all about them in one of your internet classes.”
Deep breath in. Deep breath out. “What kind of disease?”
Turning away, she rubbed her injury again. “It’s different in everyone. It’s like I send a spark into someone, and the spark searches out the most horrible, personalized disease it can find to kill that individual.”
Gods, Lore and Sin couldn’t be more the opposite of Eidolon in terms of abilities. He healed; they killed. “And you do this, why?”
She rounded on him, jabbed her finger in his chest. “Don’t you judge me, asshole. You’re not exactly an angel, either. I do what I have to do. And if it makes your highly educated, superior self feel any better, I do it quickly. The werewolf was an accident.”
“What werewolf?”
She jerked. “It’s nothing. I have to go.” Sin shoved at him, but he seized her arm and hauled her up so she was on her toes, off-balance, and couldn’t possibly mistake how through with her games he was.
“The warg that came in,” he growled. “His death was your doing, wasn’t it?”
“Fuck off.”
“Sin, dammit, answer me!”
“Yes, okay?” Her black eyes glinted with flecks of gold, a Seminus trait that couldn’t be faked, and every last drop of doubt left him in a rush. “You happy now?”
“Not really,” he muttered, releasing her. Gods, his mind was still having trouble processing all of this. Lore’s existence had been unexpected, but a sister? A brother with a human mother was fucked up enough, but Eidolon couldn’t even begin to imagine what could go wrong with a Seminus female. “I was hoping to help Lore deal with his gift… maybe I can help you with yours.”
She laughed and put a few steps between them. “Help? Yeah, okay. If you really want to help you’ll chop off the warg’s head and bring it to me in a bag. That would be a big help.”
He let out a disgusted breath. “You need proof of his death.”
“There goes the brain surgeon again.”
“You’re not getting his head,” he said tightly. “I won’t let you desecrate his body.”
“You have to!” Panic snuffed out the gold flecks in her eyes. “I need proof.”
“Or what?” When she said nothing, he repeated himself, his voice cracking in the still air. “Or what?”
“Or I’m going to be sold to Neethul slave traders.”
Eidolon inhaled sharply. As far as punishments went, it didn’t get much worse.
“Hey!” Sin jabbed him in the biceps. “You stroking out or something? You’re pale. And you’re not being all superior. Something’s wrong.”
Oh, she was a riot. “Will anything other than his head be acceptable?”
“Sometimes a unique identifying feature will work, but you need a damned good reason for not having the head.”
“Would your employer accept my word as a Justice Dealer and physician?” Granted, he was no longer an enforcer of demon law, but he had powerful connections and a fucking great game face.
She leveled a look of disbelief at him. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I can make it look official. I’ll include an autopsy report and a photo.”
“I guess that’s not a horrible idea.” She slid him a puppy-dog look with a side of pout and batting eyelashes that must come standard on every sister, because Omira, the Judicia sister he’d grown up with, used to try the same thing. “You sure I can’t have his head? Pretty please? It’s not like he needs it.”
“I’m sure. Come back tomorrow for the report.” He paused. “About Lore…”
Sin froze as she reached for the door handle. “What?”
He told her about Lore and Idess, and everything that had gone down, though he left out the details about Kynan’s Sentinel status.
“So this chick is protecting Kynan? Why?”
“I don’t know,” he lied.
Sin erupted with a creative flow of curses, and when she was finished, she asked, “What does she look like?” Sin asked.
“Like she’d look good on a mattress.”
Sin jammed her fists on her hips. “That tells me nothing, and aren’t you mated?”
“I’m also a male sex demon. I didn’t go blind when I took a mate.” He had, however, lost all desire to so much as touch another female. He only wanted Tayla. Wanted her constantly, and even now heat began to kindle at the mere thought of her. “Long, dark brown hair she keeps in a ponytail, light brown eyes. Tall. Right ear is pierced at the top.”
“That bitch.” Sin’s voice went low and deadly, her body coiled like a predator about to strike, and he suddenly saw the assassin she was. “She attacked me, too. And she had Lore’s Gargantua-bone dagger. I got it back.”
Eidolon blinked at that. Those daggers were rarer than acid sprite mana and just as priceless. “Did it taste her blood?”
Sin’s grin was downright evil. “Yes. Come 3:00 A.M., I’m hunting.”
Eidolon had no doubt Sin would find Idess. He hadn’t known his… sister… for long, but already he knew she’d inherited their family’s single-minded determination. And stubbornness. “Sin, you can’t kill the female when you find her.”
“Oh, I plan to kill her. Like, a lot. After she tells me what she’s done with Lore.”
“She’s an angel. You’ll only get yourself killed.”
“You might be surprised. But what happens when I do find Lore?” she asked quietly. “He’s after your friend. You just going to stand by and let Lore have him? Or will I be rescuing him just so his own brothers can kill him?”
“Nothing is going to happen to him,” Eidolon said, but he doubted she believed him, because he didn’t believe it either.
Warmth surrounded Idess like a blanket. A heady, masculine spice tickled her nose. Wriggling, she burrowed closer to the scent and warmth. After all the years of loneliness and feeling as if she didn’t belong—or deserve to belong anywhere—she finally felt at peace. She must be dreaming… except, she didn’t dream. She had nightmares. Not that she was going to complain. She was going to enjoy this wonderful feeling while she could.
&nbs
p; “Idess?” The husky voice floated down to her. “Angel?”
“Mmm.”
“I gotta take a leak.”
She jerked upright, blinking, trying to focus her eyes and her brain. It took several seconds to recognize her bedroom, her bed… her demon that was chained to said bed.
Stunned by the realization that she’d fallen asleep on him, she muttered into her palm, “Oh, I’m… sorry. Are you okay?” Her weight had to have put extra pressure on his shoulders and arms.
“Yeah.” His voice was gruff. Maybe he’d fallen asleep, too. A sudden tenderness in her groin nixed the sleep theory, as arousal pulsed into her through their blood connection. Grr. She knew it had been a mistake to feed from him. “I just gotta take a piss.”
Flustered by the powerful sexual need coursing through her, she scrambled awkwardly off him, wondering how they were going to manage this. Wondering how much longer she could keep him prisoner.
She checked her watch and let out a mild curse.
“What is it?” Lore asked.
“It’s almost 3:00 A.M. in New York, which means that in about fifteen minutes, your girlfriend is probably going to be hunting me down with your Gargantua dagger.”
“You stole it from me?”
He sounded so indignant. “I borrowed it. But she took it.”
“And she knifed you?”
“Please. It was just a scratch.”
The morning sun streaked through the window and fell across his body but cut off abruptly at his neck, leaving his face in shadow. His espresso eyes seemed even darker in the gray wash.
“What do you plan to do?”
A note of jealousy rang through her at the way his voice had gone low and dangerous at the mention of his girlfriend. His fear hit her as well, a psychic blast that gave her a headache.
“Nothing,” she snapped irritably. “I’ll flash around and make her chase me, but I won’t kill her.”
“Why not? She hurt you and killed your Primori. Why not take revenge?”
“I’m an angel. I’m above that kind of selfish pettiness.” Liar.
“So you’re saying you’ve never let your emotions rule your actions? You’ve never done anything shitty to someone in your entire life? Not buying it.” He jerked on his chains, and her heart jerked in response. “What are you going to do to her, Idess?” He tugged on his chains again, more violently, and sparks of gold pierced the coal in his eyes.
His concern rattled her, became her concern. No matter how desperate she was, she would never feed from him again. “Lore—”
“Tell me!”
“I already said I won’t hurt her,” she said, but his doubt screamed in her mind so loudly she wanted to cover her ears. “We try not to mess with Primori lives if we can avoid it.”
His breath caught. “She’s Primori?”
“No, you are,” she blurted stupidly. So stupidly. Primori were never to be told what they were. The idea of being watched didn’t sit well with many of them, and in the past, they’d found ways to hide themselves. She had to get away from Lore. Now, before she said something else that compromised her. Or Kynan. Or the entire universe, with the way she was going. “I’ll be right back.”
Ignoring his irate curses, she hurried to the garage and found another length of chain. He’d stopped swearing by the time she returned, and he remained silent, watching her with shrewd, intelligent eyes while she rigged the chains so he had some freedom to move around. Not much, but he could at least get to the bathroom five feet away.
She stood back as he came to his feet smoothly, if a little stiffly. Instead of moving directly to the bathroom, he stalked toward her. More accurately, he stalked her. And now that he was on his feet, he was much bigger than she’d remembered, a wall of muscle and male flesh that filled her vision so there was nothing else but Lore. Every step made her heart skip a beat, as if the heavy thud of each footfall shocked it out of rhythm.
Though she knew the chain would stop him, she couldn’t help but take a step back.
The chain yanked him short two feet away. He stood there, dark eyes drilling into her and holding her as captive as he was.
“I’ll get free,” he growled. “And when I do, you’re going to experience everything I have. I promise you that.”
Swallowing dryly, she stepped forward, resisting the urge to flinch when he strained against the chains so he was no farther than an inch from her.
His gaze dropped to her mouth, surprising the wind out of her, and she suspected that if he could, he’d kiss her.
“You can’t best me,” she ground out, a little breathlessly.
“Yeah. I can.”
Oh, he was arrogant and intimidating and way too sexy for his own good. And worse, he might be right. She was vulnerable to him in a way she’d never been vulnerable to anyone before. Especially now, with his blood coursing through her veins, and his every desire and emotion channeling into her, making her sympathize with him. Empathize. Want him.
“Maybe we don’t have to best anyone,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as choked with lust to him as it did to her. “We can help each other.”
He smiled and lifted his gaze so their eyes were locked. “Agreed. You let me go, and I’ll do whatever you want.” He inhaled deeply, and his smile grew sinister. “And I know exactly what you want.”
Her body tingled and her heart raced, pushing super-heated blood through her veins. Yes, he knew exactly what she wanted. And it was something she could never have.
Nine
Wraith really hated family fucking meetings. Always had, always would. That he had a mate and kid now didn’t mean he loved to sit in Eidolon’s den and listen to his brothers chew him out for something.
Not that this would be an ass-chewing. Wraith had been a good boy—relatively, anyway—since Serena and his son had come into his life, and he wasn’t about to jeopardize the happiness he’d found.
So if this meeting wasn’t about him, he had a feeling it would be about Lore.
So fucking cool to finally not be the brother causing the trouble.
Mickey, Tayla’s ferret, attacked him the moment he walked through the front door of Eidolon’s Manhattan high-rise apartment. Wraith handed his infant son, Stewie, to Serena, just as the weasel scampered up his body and onto his shoulder, all chatter and nuzzling.
Serena laughed, a sound Wraith didn’t ever think he’d tire of hearing. Sometimes, he wondered how he’d lived without it for so long. “You weren’t kidding when you said he likes you.”
“Yeah,” he said, as he stroked a finger over the critter’s narrow head, “bugs the shit out of Tayla, too. Cracks me up.”
Serena lifted their son so he could see Mickey, and between the baby’s toothless grin and the weasel’s chatter, Wraith figured they’d end up the best of friends soon.
He left his mate and son in the living room with Tayla and Mickey, and as he was heading to E’s den, Shade came in, a baby in each arm. Behind him, Runa brought in the third of the triplets. She was smiling, but Shade didn’t look happy to be here. Obviously, the fight earlier was still too fresh. Which was odd, since Shade had never been one to nurse a grudge against E or Wraith—and Wraith had definitely deserved some continued resentment.
Wraith left him to get the kids settled and walked into E’s den. As usual, his brother was sitting at his desk, nose buried in a medical text, his dog, Mange, at his feet.
E looked up. “Is Shade here, too?”
“Yeah.” Wraith sank down on the leather sofa and sprawled out, kicking one foot up on the cushions.
Shade slammed into the room. “What’s this about?” He didn’t sit, just stood near the door, arms crossed over his chest, jaws working overtime on a piece of gum. “Because if it’s about Lore, you’re wasting your time.”
“It’s about Lore,” E said softly. “But mostly it’s about his sister.”
Shade narrowed his eyes. “How does he have a sister? His mother was human, so any si
ster would be long dead or really fucking old.”
“He does have a sister, and she’s not going to be happy with us if anything happens to Lore.”
“So what?”
Abruptly, Eidolon came to his feet. “Gods, Shade! How can you be so cavalier about Lore’s fate?”
Shade’s eyes sparked gold, and Wraith braced himself for Jerry Springer, round two. “I’m not. I’m just not as in love with him as you are. And I couldn’t give a shit about the sister. I don’t know her, and I don’t want to.”
“Well, here’s the thing,” Eidolon said. “I do know his sister. And you’re both going to want to.”
Wraith yawned. “I don’t.”
Eidolon shot him an annoyed look—as if Wraith hadn’t seen one of those before. “Yes you do. Because she’s not just Lore’s sister. I think she’s ours, too.”
“Hell’s bells,” Shade muttered. “I must have hit you in the head harder than I thought.”
“Her name is Sin,” E continued. “She’s Lore’s fraternal twin. And she’s a female Sem.”
Whoa. Wraith sat up straight and wondered if he looked as stunned, confused, and skeptical as Shade did. “That’s impossible.”
“I know. But I met her. Unless she’s using one hell of an illusion enchantment to change her appearance, she’s not faking it. I took DNA samples to be sure. We’ll know something tomorrow.”
Shade paced, his long strides forcing a U-turn every five steps. “Bullshit. You’re wrong. She put a spell on you or messed with your head.” He halted and swung around. “Hell, you’re so fucking desperate to save Lore, I wouldn’t put it past you to invent this new sister.”
“You think I’ve manufactured this?” Frost formed on E’s words, and shit, things were going to go critical.
Wraith shoved to his feet. “Ah… look. E’s got a hard-on for Lore, but he’s not a liar.” Gods, when had he become the voice of reason in the family?
Shade barked out a laugh. “So you think we should just roll over and let Lore kill Kynan so this sister doesn’t get her little feelings hurt?”
“Fuck that,” Wraith said. “Lore isn’t touching Kynan. But it’s a non-issue right now, since the angel took him. He could be dead.”