by Lynn Hagen
He knew Jaden would keep his promise about going after the two shifters.
Panahasi stilled when he inhaled the scent of bile. The smell was not only offensive and unfamiliar in his home, but told him that something was wrong. The two shifters were nowhere in sight, and Phoenyx sat on the couch, his expression grim.
“Where are they?” he demanded. Phoenyx only paled even further as he stood.
“Asleep in the guest room.” Phoenyx swallowed hard, backing away, his eyes flickering over the blood and bruises no doubt.
“What has happened to them?” he asked as he looked around. Nothing seemed out of place, but Jaden had spooked the hell out of Panahasi. He needed to see Drake and Casey if only to confirm that they were unharmed. Jaden was the cause of famine and disease, his presence inciting riots and wars. He didn’t trust the man. Jaden knew about Casey and Drake. Nothing would stop him from going after the two men, if for nothing more than to take awayPanahasi’s one hope at happiness.
“They snuck out. I found them at Malcor’s. Someone drugged Drake, but I managed to get the drug out of him. He’s sleeping it off now.” The explanation was bullet fast.
Panahasi took in several deep breaths. He had to calm down. He had to rein in his fear and anger. He found his center and concentrated, blowing his breath out slowly and releasing his highstrung emotions. As he felt the negative energy slowly leave him, he also felt his calm returning.
“Do you need me for anything else?” Phoenyx asked.
“No.”
Panahasi didn’t wait for Phoenyx to leave. He was heading toward the spare bedroom. He still needed to talk to the keeper, but the two men currently sleeping in his penthouse were his top priority at the moment.
He stopped, remembering the mess he must look like. After a quick trip to his bedroom to clean himself up and change his clothes, Panahasi made his way toward the spare bedroom.
He pushed the door open, leaning against the doorframe as he gazed at the men curled around one another fast asleep. He studied the men, feeling a loneliness so profound fill him that his heart felt as if it would burst from his chest. If he didn’t know any better, Panahasi would think that ten thousand years’ worth of being unmated was coming to a head all at once.
Staggering slightly from the building pain, he took a seat in the chair by the door. Panahasi ran his hands over his face, feeling his age as the waves of loneliness washed over him. He pinched his bottom lip between his index finger and thumb, gazing at the men that could possibly be his mates and the cure for this feeling brewing inside of him.
He marveled at how their looks were not only contrasting with one another, but their personalities as well. He smiled to himself as he thought about how there were two very gorgeous men lying in bed, and he was sitting in a chair across the room. Panahasi knew the two would welcome him, but was hesitant.
For one, Drake was still looking a bit pale. Panahasi would love to know who drugged the shifter. He would stop the man from breathing…permanently.
But the main reason he was still rooted to the chair was because he wasn’t sure he was ready to find out that these two men belonged to him. The thought equally frightened and excited him. Could he have possibly found his mates after all this time? And if he had, could he keep them safe?
The second thought was what worried him the most.
Jaden was still out there somewhere, along with a multitude of enemies that would gladly end the shifters’ lives if they were truly Panahasi’s mates.
If he slept with the two and found out they were his mates, Panahasi would destroy the realms to keep them safe. He knew this. He accepted this. He just wasn’t sure he was ready to end the world.
As Panahasi watched very vivid blue eyes open and begin to stare at him, his cock became impossibly hard. Casey’s gaze felt like a smoldering touch from across the room, but Panahasi didn’t move from the chair. He watched Casey watch him, both staring intensely at each other.
The languid blue gaze was making Panahasi’s skin begin to heat as Casey lifted his head, stretching his body like a lazy cat. Panahasi could just imagine what it would feel like to have Casey stretch like that while lying lazily over Panahasi’s body.
It would be amazing.
“I called for you,” Casey said as he lay back down, resting his cheek on Drake’s bare chest.
“I heard you,” Panahasi said softly, but his eyes were drinking in the pair. His mind began to play images of him crawling between the two, showing both of them just how skilled a lover he truly was.
“Why didn’t you come then?” Casey asked in a gentle conversational tone.
Because I was fighting to stay alive.“I knew you would be okay, Casey.” A shiver ran through Panahasi when he said the man’s name. It was an electrifying and sensual feeling, like caressing his hand over satin.
Panahasi pushed to his feet, fighting not to go to the bed, and finding himself walking around it smoothly, watching the two men as he made his way to the other side. It was as if he couldn’t stop himself, as if his body had a mind of its own. Warning bells sounded in his head, telling him to get the hell out of the room and away from these men. Sleeping with them was not wise because of not only Jaden, but other enemies.
Panahasi knew this but still slid onto the bed, sitting upright behind Casey. The man turned, gazing up at Panahasi with his liquid blue eyes.
“Why did you leave the safety of the penthouse?” he asked, tucking his finger under Casey’s chin, lifting it slightly as his finger played across the man’s soft skin.
“Because he was following me,” Drake said as he turned his head, his whiskey-brown eyes heavy with sleep. Damn if the man didn’t look edible.
“And?” Panahasi prompted Drake.
“I wanted to get out and explore,” Drake stated matter-of-factly as he reached a hand up and ran it down Casey’s back. Panahasi could tell that these two were not only comfortable with each other, but familiar as well.
“Are you two mates?” he asked. They had to be if they were mated to him, but Panahasi was confused by their relationship with one another. They had been in foster care together. They had known each other their entire lives. What would it have been like to have met his mates when he was first created?
“Yes,” Casey answered.
“Then you two are very fortunate.”
“We are,” Casey admitted. “Now explain to us what exactly a demon is and why you need warriors.”
Panahasi sighed. “A demon is exactly as you would think, but not.” Gods, he was starting to sound like the keeper, spinning riddles instead of giving answers. He had been hanging around the old coot for far too long.
“That’s not an answer,” Casey said a bit skeptically.
“I will let you meet the warriors later. Maybe that will help you with your understanding.” He wasn’t sure how to explain what a demon was. It would be like trying to explain what a human was. “Fair enough,” Drake said. “But why do you need warriors?”
“As humans need police to help them, so does Serenity City. Only we use demon warriors for the baddest of the bad,” he said with a smile. “The things demons can do are far worse than what a mere human or even a shifter is capable of. They can not only do great damage with honed powers—albeit, weaker powers than the warriors—but they can suck souls from a body, leaving nothing but an empty shell behind.”
Casey looked horrified as he gazed up at Panahasi. “Why would they want someone else’s soul?”
“Because, they can take the other’s powers that way, and it gives them a rush.”
“There went my plans ofrunning around the city,” Drake said as he unsteadily sat up.
“But the worst are the creatures that hate the demon warriors and would stop at nothing to steal one of their mates.”
“And you being the leader, Casey and I would be the ultimate coup de grâce, except there would be nothing merciful about it.”
“You catch on fast,” Panahasi said to Dr
ake.
“I can tell you have enemies. We weren’t outside five minutes before someone was watching us,” Drake said. “And then that bitchass waiter brought us that bottle of drugged wine. It’s so good to see that our mate is very popular among his peeps. Your groupies are definitely one of a kind.”
Panahasi was beginning to like Drake’s spicy personality. After being alone for so long, Panahasi didn’t think he would welcome such a shaking up, but Drake was starting to prove that thought wrong.
“It wasn’t his fault,” Casey said as he smacked Drake’s arm. “You can’t be a leader and expect to have friends. If he is any good, then he should have plenty of enemies.”
Strangely enough, that made sense. But Panahasi’s enemies were not run-of-the-mill. They were dangerous, lethal, and had no conscience whatsoever. They had no morals, no beliefs in what was right and wrong, and couldn’t care less about who they hurt to get what they wanted.
And most had deadly-ass powers.
“Just promise me that you won’t go anywhere without a few warriors at your sides.” It would take more than one to fight off the enemies he had collected in his lifetime. If Panahasi thought it were even remotely possible, he would keep these two locked up inside the penthouse for the rest of their days.
Casey might be easier to win over on that thought than Drake. There was no way Drake was going for anything like that.
“Is that going to be a permanent thing?” Casey asked. “Escorts?”
“I’m afraid so,” Panahasi replied as he stroked his knuckles over Casey’s cheek. He was stunned to see Casey’s eyes flutter as he leaned into Panahasi’s hand. The man seemed to eat up the attention.
“He likes his cheeks rubbed,” Drake said. “I’m still trying to find out if I can rub them long enough to make him come, but I can never hold out that long.”
Panahasi laughed. The deep sound was almost foreign to him because it had been so long since he had heard it. Drake laughed as well, but all Casey did was blush and bat a hand at Drake. “You are such a shithead sometimes, Drake.”
As badly as Panahasi wanted these two men, he needed to introduce them to his warriors. The men needed to know who Drake and Casey were, and the severity behind keeping them safe. His doubt about who they were was dwindling. His early thought about not telling the warriors was dwindling as well. Panahasi was going to need all the help he could get keeping the two protected. Panahasi had a feeling that these two shifters were indeed his mates.
But claiming them wasn’t going to be that easy. Not when he had Jaden to contend with.
* * * * Drake was impressed with the men lounging or standing in Panahasi’s living room. When Panahasi had said he would introduce him and Casey to the warriors, Drake had no idea just how truly big these men were. It made his five-foot-seven height seem dwarfed as he stood among giants.
And they weren’t all cookie-cutter warriors either. Their appearances were so vastly different that Drake was impressed and intimidated all in one. A few held the exotic Egyptian caramel coloring that Panahasi had. Their eyes were just as dark and beautiful. A few had that strong Nordic bone structure and fair skin, while others reminded Drake of strong Irish men. There was even a large, strong, black male that was introduced as Kobe who looked as if he would rather gut a man than shake his hand. The living room was a plethora of muscle-bound men, all swirled together in a melting pot of heavily dosed testosterone.
But none of them looked like demons.
As impressive as these men were, Drake’s concept of what a demon should look like hadn’t been educated in the least. They all just looked like guys who not only lived in a gym around the clock, but owned it.
“So,” Drake ventured, “these are your men?”
“They are my warriors, yes.” Panahasinodded. “They are the finest of the demon breed, capable of defending Serenity City.” The leader was standing over by the long row of floor-to-ceiling windows, his arms crossed over his chest, staring out into the night. Drake wasn’t sure what was going on with Panahasi, but he didn’t like the melancholy mood the man seemed to be in. The guy was a leader of warriors. He shouldn’t be looking sadder than a kicked puppy.
Casey must have felt the same wayabout Panahasi’s melancholy mood because he nudged Drake with his elbow and jutted his chin toward the leader.
“Why does he look so sad?” Casey whispered.
Drake had seen that look many times over the years. Hell, he had worn that look more often than he cared to remember. He was also familiar with the feelings that accompanied the saddened expression. It was a lost and desolate emotion that felt as if it were eating at his very soul.
Having no family or a place to lay down roots for Casey to enjoy, Drake was all too familiar with the entanglement of emotions that crossed Panahasi’s face. He had longed to give Casey stability. But what made the leader look as if he traveled a dark and lonely road?
The man had his warriors, a city to lead, and a penthouse to call home. The guy had it all. So why did he look so alone and lost? Maybe the leader didn’t want shifters as mates. It could be a very real possibility. Although Panahasi had brought them here, and told Phoenyx to watch them, the act of kindness could be just that, kindness.
Drake shook his head. “I’m not sure.” And he prayed he was wrong about the man’s melancholy state. Looking around the room, Drake saw that he and Casey had a family now. They were a wildlooking bunch, a mixture of blood and personality, but if Panahasi was their leader, then the warriors were now his brothers.
“These two shifters could possibly be my mates,” Panahasi said as he turned from the reflective glass, staring at the men in the room. “I want them protected with your lives.”
Gasps and cleared throats could be heard, but hearing Panahasi say possibly felt like a steel-toed boot had just struck Drake’s gut. The man didn’t believe them? Did he not feel the pull of mates?
“What do you mean possibly?” Casey sounded downright pissed as he rose from the couch, glaring at Panahasichallengingly. “What fucking part of mates don’t you get, jackass?”
Drake jumped up and pulled Casey behind him when the entire room of men turned toward them, murderous scowls riding their faces hard.
“Don’t you talk to him that way.” One of the warriors growled the warning. “Counsel your tongue and show some respect.”
“He’ll get my respect when he gets his head out of his ass,” Casey argued. “He’s our mate. There is no possiblyabout it.”
“How dare you!” the warrior bellowed.
Panahasi held up his hand, and the warrior grew silent. A small smile tugged at the side of the leader’s lips as he turned toward Drake and Casey. Even his dark eyes seemed to have brightened, sparkling in the low lighting of the room. The guy thought this amusing?
“I say possibly, young shifters, because a demon warrior cannot scent his mate. We must sleep with a person in order for a bond to form.”
Oh. Well, that changed everything.
Chapter Four
Casey sat at the formal dining room table, feeling the sterility of the empty penthouse as he stabbed at his food. His mood had gone down the tank when Panahasi revealed that he wasn’t sure they were mates.
Talk about hitting a guy below the belt.
The only thing in life Casey ever wanted was a place to call his own and a family for him and Drake. He thought he had found that. But until the leader had sex with either or both of them, Panahasi was going to be in doubt. That thought only soured his mood further.
Why didn’t the leader of demon warriors just take Casey and Drake to bed? That would solve all the doubt lingering in the air. He wasn’t sure, but if the man thought he was going to deny their claim, Panahasi had another thing coming.
The leader was their third, and Casey wasn’t taking no for an answer.
Too many nights he had lain in bed with Drake wrapped around him, feeling as if there was more out there than what they had. Drake may be the adventurous
one of the two, but Casey followed his mate, hoping to find more out of life. He wasn’t quite expecting it to be demons and another realm, but he was here now. Panahasi was going to have to deal with that fact.
“Eat,” Drake said as he set a glass of tea down in front of Casey and then pointed to the plate already sitting there. “You need your nourishment.”
“What I need is for Panahasi to prove to us that he believes we are mates.”
“You know, if I were a negative person, I would be seriously annoyed at your sourness.”
“You are a negative person, Drake,” Casey mumbled and then smiled. “Sometimes.” He wasn’t out to hurt his mate’s feelings. It was the last thing Casey wanted to do. To hell with it. He was going to enjoy his time here. If it didn’t work out, he and Drake could hit the road once more. Life was too damn short to turn grumpy.
“I’m not negative, just mildly perturbed.” Drake ran his fingers over Casey’s shoulder, a smile playing at his lips and a familiar hunger in his eyes.
And it wasn’t for food.
Casey knew that look, and it always boded well for him. He set his fork down, pushing his chair back as Drake dropped to his knees between the apex of Casey’s legs. “You know, I’m feeling a bit perturbed right now.”
Casey ran his fingers through Drake’s dark hair, brushing the bangs from his gorgeous face. “Why?”
“Because I’m horny and you are still dressed.”
Casey laughed, feeling the sour mood slip away. Just looking into Drake’s whiskey-colored eyes lightened Casey’s heart. “Am I?”
“If you don’t know my lusty look by now, dork, you need inkblots.”
Again, Casey laughed. “I just might need them anyway living in this realm.”
Drake’s teasing smile slipped from his face as he reached up and cupped Casey’s cheeks. “You have me, Casey. No matter what happens here, I’ll never abandon you.”
Casey cleared his throat, refusing to cry when he, too, was horny as hell. Crying and sex was not something he indulged in at the same time. “Shut up and suck my cock.”