Feral Craving

by D. C. Stone

  Mackenzie’s eyes widened after a passing beat of their hearts. The room held its breath. He recognized the link drawing them together. The bond blared bright, its sparks shooting within his mind. He studied it as she studied him. He saw the braid in her green eyes, the small thread he recognized as Byron shooting and weaving its sparks deep in between their strands. It was amazing, beautiful, and breathtaking all at once. It was his family, his heart, his soul, and his life all wrapped down to three distinct strands.

  Bari moved forward, his intentions clear, and gave her time to react. One arm wrapped around her waist, holding her to him while the other lifted to tangle in her hair. Mackenzie didn’t resist, but instead gave a soft sigh and molded her body into the hard planes of his. He kissed her deep and pulled her closer, her body, sweet and irresistible, pressing against his own. He wanted to crawl inside of Mackenzie and set up shop, possess her in ways she never knew and would always remember. The kiss spoke what words he couldn’t say, showed in the unhurried, sensual act just what she meant to him. He wanted her to understand he was jumping in with both feet, already waist high involved and entangled with her.

  Bari drew back and trailed his lips across her cheekbones, over her eyes, down the side of her jaw before pulling back.

  “I can’t promise you things you may want, Angel, or even a happily ever after. But I can promise you myself. And what I can promise is that I am going to try to give you all that I got. I’ve never done relationships, and I’ve relied on myself to get me what I need. You understand? Outside of my team, I’ve always been on my own.”

  “You waited long enough, Bari. But I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit with all the cheese.” She smirked.

  Bari laughed and lifted her in his arms, spinning her around before dipping his head again to take her lips. She shuddered beneath his touch, and Bari hid his smile, taking advantage as her lips parted on a sigh.

  “Oh gross!” Byron’s gag held a wealth of affection, and Bari winked at him, lifting his head. With Mackenzie in his arms, her body so soft and perfect against his, the words unneeded, simple actions speaking louder than anything else. There would be no hearts and flowers in their lives, no sweet words one would expect. None of that would ever fit into their relationship. What they would have with one another was loyalty, understanding, and honesty. All of it would make this last.

  With Mackenzie in his arms, he felt the deep sigh of contentment, the animalistic growl of his demon, and the man’s primitive urge to mark her as his, the only one who had ever pierced his dark, stained soul. He’d get to that soon enough and when he was finished, she’d know his stamp of possession, just as well as she knew herself.

  It wasn’t a matter of if, but a matter of when. But how much time it would take until they got there. And right now, he had all the time in the world.

  Epilogue

  Bari woke engulfed in warmth. Long, dark tendrils wrapped across his chest, the silk of Mackenzie’s hair brushing against his chest like velvety rose petals, each movement of his chest giving him a teasing taste. He looked down and found her draped very possessively across his body, her head resting on his heart, her legs intertwined with his in a tangling mass of limbs, like vines growing up the side of a house.

  Before, the sight of this, of home and commitment would have sent him running for the hills. It wasn’t as though the act of a relationship scared him. No, it was more than that. His fear centered and orbited around what his father had become. His father had chosen his mother, a woman who by all accounts was one of the most wonderful and precious beings in Bari’s life—but not his father’s true mate. The evil that the Justice Demons were forced to take in built to a point where his father had been unable to resist the malevolent whisper. With an immoral decision, his father finally gave in to the iniquity and lost the fight, lost his will in the fight between good and evil. It was the man his father became—not the one he’d been—that killed his mother. Bari understood that now, comprehended just how important this female in his arms was. He’d resisted her on his fear alone for so long, but as his father had given in to temptation, now Bari embraced the link between him and Mackenzie.

  Shifting, he let Mackenzie slide off of his body, bereft for a moment at the loss of her heat against him. While his link, the solid and robust braid holding him to Mackenzie, was strong and pulsing with what could never be denied as anything other than love, Bari was unable to ignore the quaking link to one of his brothers.

  Mike.

  Bari snapped a pair of nylon pants low on his hips and tossed a long sleeve white shirt over his head, then headed downstairs to meet with the others. He could feel their anxiety and worry over the very same thing that had awoken him this morning, too. They all recognized the struggles Mike fought with, and the long ago fear he had for his father now invaded the relationship Bari held with his friend. Mike battled for control now, one tilting precariously close to the side they always fought against—evil. The bond, a faint one, kept Mike linked to this side—the good side—of responsibility, but with each passing moment, each painful second, that bond weakened.

  Bari stepped into the kitchen and greeted two pairs of grave eyes with his own. Tyler’s green gaze held worried lines around his eyes. Being the most serious of the group, that the man was worried sent Bari’s own heartbeat pounding against his chest.

  “The bond is only holding through our links. She’s cut him off from her, and I think she’s done it without realizing it, or at least I hope so.” This came from Tony. Bari pulled out a chair, turned it backwards and straddled it as he sat facing the two of them. His arms rested along the back of the chair as he thought over Tony’s words.

  “Why or how would she do something like that? She understands Mike needs her, right?” Bari could scarcely believe Samantha would do such a thing to Mike. When the two of them were together, the love and affection the pair held for each other practically lit the air. It was so thick, so undoubtedly true. Tony shrugged and sat back, crossing heavy arms across his black t-shirt covered chest. “I wish I knew, brother. The grief pulsing through Mike’s bond is so strong, so thick…”

  “You can basically taste it,” Tyler finished.

  The bond, the links were a beautiful thing to a Eurydice. Bari now understood and embraced it just as much as he welcomed the woman lying in a warm bed upstairs into his life. Each of them—Tyler, Tony, Mike, and Bari—could see the bonds, the impression of when one was in trouble, and could communicate through such ties. That was just one part of how a Justice Demon stayed on this side of good. The link, the bond held them, especially when so much evil subsisted to take in.

  There was another way to keep a Eurydice grounded—through the mated bond of their perfect half. Very few rare females existed on the planet, came along only at moments in time, the flawless match to a Justice Demon. These females had enhanced abilities to push peace into Eurydices and soothe the tortured soul. The mated bond, once made, kept the female in the same state as the Justice Demon, longevity reaching her in order to keep the Demon grounded. Rumor had it Themis set these tests in place with the mating in order to make sure the demons had something to look forward to rather than dealing with death and hatred day in and day out.

  And now, since she had been taken, Samantha closed off from Mike, had shut him off. Their precious six-year-old daughter was ripped from their lives by an enemy Bari knew only too well … his father.

  “Any news on Rosalie?” Bari directed the question to Tyler, who shook his head and frowned before his gaze snapped outside.

  Bari sensed it, too, the sudden rise of fear tearing down the link holding them to Mike. His pulse thundered up his throat, threatening to choke him, and Bari recognized it all coming from Mike—the emotion so strong he was unable to shield them from his agony. The call for help, a silent and unknowing one coming from Mike, pulled at Bari, and he fought with answering for only a blink in time before he flashed out of his kitchen and traveled over two hundred an
d fifty miles with a simple thought.

  Bari appeared in Mike’s living room first, Tyler and Tony emerging less than a second later. He had only taken a step across the ivory, thick carpet before Mike’s words breached silence, floating down from the top of the stairs in front of them.

  “I lost her too.” Mike’s voice was soft, choked. “I lost her too! Don’t make me lose you!” Mike’s roar echoed in his ears, and then a rumbling noise drowned out all else as a body fell down the stairs, legs over head, rolling and slamming into the hard, unforgiving wooden steps. It only took seconds, but seemed in slow motion, and Bari watched in horror as Samantha landed in a heap at the bottom. Thunder of footsteps followed, and Bari’s gaze snapped up to Mike as he darted down the stairs after Samantha. Bari took a menacing step forward, Tony and Tyler flanking each of his sides. Try as he might, Bari couldn’t shake the feeling, couldn’t see through the red haze clouding his vision, memories of his mother’s abuse splintering through all reason. He gave pause though, felt the hesitation in Tyler’s and Tony’s bond to his own, something out of place with the entire scene. Even before Samantha’s body settled, Mike had his arms wrapped around her, cradling her to his chest. Mike’s head tilted back, and the anguished cry that came from his mouth sounded like nothing human and sent chills skittering along Bari’s spine.

  They had to do something—they were going to lose this male. It wasn’t a question of if … but more so, when.

  The End

  www.authordcstone.com

  Other Books by D.C. Stone:

  www.evernightpublishing.com/d-c-stone

  If you enjoyed this book, you may also like:

  Two Knights of Indulgence by Alexandra O’Hurley

  Black Lust by Karyn Gerrard

  Catching Death by Virginia Nelson

  Evernight Publishing

  www.evernightpublishing.com