by Nora Ash
Kesh led her down a marble-floored hallway and into what most of all looked like an old fashioned library or drawing room. Floor-to-ceiling bookcases in dark wood lined the walls, and a chesterfield sofa with matching armchairs sat by one of the two large windows that probably offered a lovely view of the grounds in the daytime. By a large, open fireplace stood a tall, broad shouldered man with a glass of amber liquid in a crystal tumbler. He was wearing a loose shirt and black pants, and his naked feet suggested he’d gotten out of bed to meet them.
“Father,” Kesh greeted the man. “I’m afraid we have a problem.”
“Of course we have a problem,” Kirigan said. His voice was dark and rich, and reminded her painfully of Kain’s. His hair was black as Kesh’s, but she could see the resemblance to both of them in his angular features and soft lips. He also looked to be exactly the same age as his two sons, but before Selma had a chance to reflect on that startling realization, the demon’s black eyes landed on her, and all contemplation halted as she tried to suppress a shudder. Something was off in his deep gaze—like she was staring into an abyss, not a person’s soul.
Thankfully, he shifted his disturbing eyes back to Kesh after perusing her for only a few seconds.
“Why else would you come? I take it the woman is the Breeder your brother claimed a few days ago? Is he dead?”
The calm tone made Selma frown. He was talking about his child’s potential death with no more emotion than if they had been discussing the weather.
“No, but the Prince attacked him, and gave him away to the Queen so she can breed him. He needs our help!” She hadn’t meant to draw the disturbing demon’s attention back, but his seeming lack of care made her push past Kesh’s protective shoulder to glare at the man who’d raised her mate.
“Our help, little Breeder?” Kirigan’s eyebrows crept up a few millimeters. “You care what happens to the beast who raped you?”
Unexpected anger flared in her chest at hearing the gentle giant who’d protected and cared for her spoken about so crassly. “He is no rapist! He was going to set me free. Yes, I care for him—he’s my mate and the father of my child, and I don’t care what fucked up relationship you obviously have with him! He needs saving—are you going to help me or not?”
Something shifted in the dark, dangerous depths of his gaze, and realization of what she’d just said set in like a cold shock. Reflexively, she stepped back, plastering her back against Kesh’s strong torso in instinctive search of protection.
“Well, well, aren’t you a little firecracker,” Kirigan mused before taking another sip of alcohol. “And pregnant? I suppose that explains why Kain would send her to you for help.” He raised an eyebrow at Kesh.
The demon behind her let out a low rumble, almost imperceptibly putting his shoulder back in between her and his father. “Apparently. Nevertheless, if he’s still alive as she says, I’m going to go get him. I assumed you would care what happened to your oldest son, too, or I would not have brought his mate here.”
Kirigan’s upper lip curled back in a silent snarl—the first expression of emotion she’d seen on him. “Of course I care. You and he are the only reason I still suffer through the torture of walking this Earth, despite what hatred for me still festers in your hearts. However, one does not simply charge into battle against the Queen, nor sling accusations of betrayal against our King’s progeny. We need to plan, and you need to take care of the female—she’s dead on her feet, her sharp tongue notwithstanding.”
“As you wish.”
Kesh’s large hand found her shoulder again, and when he practically herded her out of the room she got the distinct impression that he was happy to put distance between them and his father.
“And Kesh?” Kirigan’s deep baritone called after them, just before the door shut behind them.
Kesh paused, and she could have sworn she heard a muted profanity slip past his lips. “Father?”
“Make sure the Breeder does not roam around unescorted. It would be a pity if she came to any harm.”
Selma felt her heart jump into her throat at the casual threat, and gladly followed Kesh when he steered her down long hallways and up a winding flight of stairs.
“What the hell did he mean by that? Did he just threaten me?” she finally asked, when she was absolutely certain they were out of earshot.
The demon by her side sighed. “He is … not entirely stable, and he will occasionally … lash out. It was not a threat—he doesn’t want to accidentally hurt you if he comes across you while he’s in one of his moods, and that was just a reminder for me not to let you out of my sight.”
She glanced up at Kain’s brother, frowning. “Is it because I might remind him of your mother? My scent, I mean.”
An odd expression crossed Kesh’s features, and he gave her a long look out of the corner of his eyes.
”He told you?” he finally asked.
“About how she died? Yeah. I’m … I’m sorry. You were even younger than Kain—it must have been so hard for you too.” Despite the horrors of the night and the near-debilitating exhaustion that was starting to creep up along her limbs she felt sadness—and a stab of guilt for springing the subject so unexpectedly on him—for the tragedy that had ripped this family apart.
His dark eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “He knew you before that auction, didn’t he?”
Selma bit the inside of her cheek as she remembered the first time she’d seen Kain. “Yes. He saved me. It’s a long story. I didn’t think he was going to come to my auction, but he did—to save me again.”
“So that’s why he went. When I heard my brother was going to attend a Breeder’s auction I didn’t believe it—until I saw him march down the stairs and challenge the Prince of Demons himself. Never thought he’d bid on a mate.” Kesh opened a wooden door, revealing a rather large bedroom with a plush carpet and antique looking furniture.
“Wait …” Selma paused as she realized what that sentence meant. “You … you were there?” Her mate’s brother had seen her naked—had seen them have wild and obscene sex in front of a bunch of strangers. Heat flushed her face, and she had to fight herself not to hide it in her hands. Fucking demons and their fucking barbaric customs!
“Yes.” He walked into the bedroom, pulling her with him before shutting the door. “I heard Kain would be attending, and I was … curious. Of course he was going to save you—I should have realized there was some noble motive behind it. Always did have a soft spot for vulnerable women, after ….” He fell silent for a moment, but then seemed to gather himself with a deep intake of breath. “But he got you pregnant, you say? I bet that came as a nasty surprise to him.”
Hurt and some oddly protective instincts made her press a hand against her stomach to shield the small life growing there. “He was happy,” she said, more than a note of frost in her voice. “Scared, but happy. Don’t you insult him, or me, by insinuating anything else.”
A wry smile pulled on Kesh’s devious lips, offsetting the look of mild surprise. “You really are a little firecracker, huh? Back talking a Demon Lord mere days after your claiming. Is that why he chose you?”
In truth she had no idea why he’d chosen her, but she didn’t feel like telling this stranger anymore of their private business. He may be Kain’s brother, but she was done talking about Kain when he wasn’t here. If Kesh hadn’t heard about his brother’s decision to attend the auction directly from him, they obviously didn’t have a close relationship.
Selma set her jaw and looked up at him. “Instead of worrying about that, maybe you could tell me when we’ll go get Kain?”
“As soon as we’re able. My father isn’t wrong—it’s a rather delicate situation and we, at the very least, need to know where he’s being kept before we can act. But this is not something you need to worry about, Breeder. I will take care of it—you just need to rest.”
Great. Another overbearing male who’d decided she was too delicate to do anything but nap. However,
she was pretty exhausted, and that four poster bed did look pretty inviting—and despite how annoying Kesh’s assurance that she didn’t need to worry because he was in charge now was, some embarrassing part of her responded to his self-assurance by letting go of the anxiety and fear. Apparently, somewhere along the line her hormones had gotten the upper hand, and she now instinctively trusted big brutes who said they’d take care of everything so she didn’t have to.
It was pretty infuriating.
Annoyed with herself as much as him, Selma turned towards the bed. However much she wanted to throw a fit she needed to sleep more than she needed to assert herself right now. Tomorrow, however, was another case entirely.
Determined to climb in and disappear from the world under what looked to be extraordinarily thick and fluffy blankets she kicked off her shoes and unzipped and removed Kesh’s leather jacket—and was halted by a sharp intake of breath from the demon behind her.
“I want the name of the one who did this.”
Selma blinked at the angry tone, and then remembered what state Marathín had left her clothes in.
“Oh. It’s … a bit of a long story. One of Naharan’s accomplices chased me down when I fled.” She pulled uncomfortably on her ruined shirt, ensuring that she wasn’t flashing him anything inappropriate, and then—finally—climbed into the bed. It was soft and heavenly, and she felt her muscles relax into the mattress immediately.
“Who is he?”
The low growl from the end of the bed had the small hairs on her arms standing on end. Selma cracked her eyes open halfway to look at the Demon Lord. “I think he’s dead. I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay? I’m so tired.”
Kesh grunted a confirmation, though he still looked rather scary and angry as he hovered by the end of the bed. When she let her eyelids slide closed again she heard him move quietly around the room, undoubtedly to turn off the light and ensure that everything was safe for her.
A small smile pulled on her lips. As infuriating as it was to be treated like a china doll, there was still something rather endearing about these big brutes’ obsessive need to care for the women whose scent drove them loopy. Besides, the somewhat familiar pattern reminded her of Kain, and she dozed off with a feeling of being safe in the hands of people who would help her save her mate.
* * *
The pleasant scent of male musk slowly penetrated her conscience as sleep released its hold on her. She was warm and comfortable, and the feeling of hard, sculpted flesh by her side made her body hum appreciatively, desire stirring lazily down low.
Still with her eyes closed Selma stretched contentedly and rolled over, hiking a leg over the sleeping male’s thigh before nuzzling into his arm and stroking a hand down between his strong legs. He smelled amazing, as always, and she inhaled deeply before nipping at his bare skin, hoping he would wake up and take the hint.
The big body next to her stirred, and she felt rather than heard a deep growl vibrate through his wide chest. The thick pole of flesh underneath her hand grew solid.
The next moment she was wrapped up in strong limbs, with one large hand trying to wedge itself into her pants.
Wait, pants?
Her memory of last night set in a split second after the hand succeeded in its quest and thick fingers stroked underneath her panties, making her muscles tense in shock, and her eyes pop open.
“Do you prefer to be mated in a specific way?”
Kesh’s dark head was bent, undoubtedly so he could look at what his fingers were doing, but her frozen silence made him look back up at her with a frown. “I’ll do it however you want.”
“What …” There were about a million questions whirling around in her brain at that specific point in time, but the complete lack of shame on the demon’s face after being caught with his hands down her pants, along with his outrageous question asked in a completely calm tone of voice, had her struggling to word even one of them.
“What are you doing?” she finally managed. That was about the time she realized her hand was still firmly planted on his obscenely large cock.
His dark eyebrows quirked slightly at her question, and a tad more when she pulled her hand away as if she’d been burned.
“I would have thought that was reasonably obvious. I’m preparing to mate you.”
“….”
“So I think there’s been a minor misunderstanding.” Selma scooted backwards, carefully extracting herself from the demon’s loose grip. “See, I thought you were Kain. I’m sorry I, er, touched you, but it wasn’t a suggestion that you and I, um, mate. Just a misunderstanding, you see.”
She was well aware that her voice was considerably higher pitched than normally, but the knowledge of his kind’s hyped up sex drive was in fresh recollection, and she had unwittingly spurred it on. Though she’d like to think Kain’s own brother wouldn’t flat-out rape her, they weren’t always in complete control once the hormones took over—and this Demon Lord looked way too unfazed about her misstep.
“You don’t need to be frightened, Breeder,” he grunted. “I won’t hurt you, but I will offer you my semen until we can retrieve Kain.”
“….”
“….”
“No … thank you?” This morning was rapidly spinning out of control, and it hadn’t exactly started on the best note.
Kesh sighed, running his fingers through his dark hair in a visible sign of annoyance with her resistance. “You said you were pregnant. Without demon seed to strengthen and nourish your body you will rapidly deteriorate, and you will die. When Kain sent you to me, I became obligated to ensure your well-being, which at a minimum means making sure that you survive. Trust me, I’m not thrilled about this part either, but I’m not about to let you die because my brother was stupid enough to let himself get kidnapped after claiming and impregnating his mate.”
Selma bit down on her lip, hard, to keep from voicing her disbelief at his lack of enthusiasm. His erection was still making a rather intimidating tent in the blanket that covered him, after all.
“Look, I … appreciate your help, but I’m feeling fine, and I have no plans of letting Kain remain kidnapped for very long. I’m not going to have sex with you, okay?” She tried her best to sound stern, but it was pretty difficult to be assertive when sharing a bed with a near-stranger strong enough to force her without effort, should he choose to.
He arched an eyebrow at her, but then huffed out a deep breath of air, and fell back down on his back. “Fine. But if you grow weak while we look for him, we’re doing this. Understood?”
She nodded, having no intentions of complying. Sure, Kesh wash devilishly handsome, but after that moment during her auction where it had all clicked into place—where Kain had become hers as much as she was his—she had no desire for anyone else. It was as if a switch had been flipped in her brain, focusing the flow of her hormones purely on the man she called mate.
However, she had no delusions that the high-handed Demon Lord by her side would care much about that, so she chose to feign compliance. For now.
“Why are you in my bed anyway?” Selma glanced at his shirtless body. At least she’d felt fabric covering his private parts when she had unwittingly groped him. A blush crept to her cheeks at the embarrassing memory. Groping your brother-in-law. Just great.
“It’s technically my bed. This is my old room. You were having nightmares and whimpering in your sleep, and you wouldn’t shut up until I climbed in and held you.”
Oh. The morning just kept getting better and better.
“Um, sorry.”
Kesh grunted dismissively. “It’s fine. Are you done sleeping? I’ll bring you down for breakfast after you’ve had a shower.”
* * *
Selma spent the better part of the morning pacing the ground floor of the house while trying to keep a hold of her patience.
Kesh had produced some overly elegant—and absurdly expensive—silk garments with the price tag still attached when she got out of
the shower, and had then proceeded to hover over her while she ate, insisting she piled on the cream cheese and sliced meats ‘for the baby’. He was even worse than Kain, who at least hadn’t threatened to force feed her, and she was beginning to find his special brand of protectiveness more than a little aggravating.
Her mood wasn’t helped any further by the lack of apparent movement towards freeing Kain.
“You should sit down. You need to conserve your energy.”
Selma leveled a glare at the big man who casually stood leaning against the door frame to the study, watching her with slightly narrowed eyes as if she was to blame for his apparent need to keep her under constant watch.
“You do realize that this fetus was conceived like five days ago at the most, right?
“You do realize it’s a demon’s offspring, who will suck you dry of energy if he needs to to survive? You’re not carrying a human child.”
Well, wasn’t he just great at making her feel all at ease with being a newly expectant mother. Just as she opened her mouth to hiss at him to back off, a large, dark form appeared behind him, and her jaw clamped shut at the sight of Kirigan. She may have given him attitude the night before, but the sight of him still made her insides tight with fear. There was just something utterly disturbing about him, from his dark gaze down to his unsettling aura.
“Do not argue with the Breeder, Kesh.” Kirigan moved easily past his son and walked towards her, fixating those terrifying eyes on hers. It was all she could do not to shrink back when he stopped right in front of her and placed a single finger under her chin to tilt her head up. “There is spark left in this one still. Do not seek to quell it.”
Kesh seemed to materialize by her side out of thin air, looming in over her shoulder as if to press his father back a little with his presence.
“Kain left her for me to protect. I will care for her as I see fit. Father.” The last word was tagged on in a somewhat more demure tone, when Kirigan lifted his unsettling gaze from her to his son.