Defying Instinct (Demon Instinct Series)

by Jaye A. Jones

  I hadn’t seen Benn in a few days, and needed to. I never knew not seeing him would have a physical effect on me, but when he walked into the urban coffee shop a few minutes after Rowan and I arrived, some wound up part of me unraveled.

  When Benn saw Rowan sitting very close next to me, he stopped, and a shadow of something darkened his face. My Sentinel leaned his knee into mine under the table, and went to stand across the shop by the jars of coffee beans.

  I ogled him. Thick arms folded, muscular body tense as he stared out the front window onto the bright street outside. Beautiful.

  Benn stumbled into Rowan’s seat, his mouth drawn in the way it does when he was troubled about something.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  He whispered, “Something happened today.”

  My temper flamed. I’d been so concerned about his safety before my glamour was lifted. After, I thought he was safe. Safe enough. I was the target. If the damage had been done, then it was done. He was fine. How stupid was I to think he was safe now? He was still my best friend. Even if I didn’t think Division would be going after him, someone might.

  “What?” I finally managed to ask after the visions of all the terrible things that could have happened while I was off being selfish died down.

  “Two full-caste females…hit on me.”

  I stared at him, expecting him to say he was kidding. Full-caste demon males loved human females. They were notorious for it. But full-caste females, unless they were Tempter females paid little to no attention to human males. Demons were bigger, stronger, more…well, less breakable.

  Occasionally, Razer females mated with human males, but not often. That was another reason it was so strange that Iliana and my dad got together. Though, now I knew that Tempters and Razers were related. Guess it made sense.

  Then my temper rose again, because Succubi were dangerous for human males. Extremely dangerous. “Were they—?”

  “A Hammer and a Mischief demon.”

  I thought of Flora. Glamoured, the Mischief female had been gorgeous, all red hair and blue eyes, radiating charm. The demon Benn met would have been lovely. Though, if he knew that she had wings and veiny, glass eyes, he might not be able to see past it.

  They hadn’t hurt him. He may have even welcomed the attention from them. I was able to relax, feeling stupid.

  I grinned. “Your hotness transcends species.”

  Benn looked uncomfortable for a moment. I’d never commented on his looks before. When he’d called me gorgeous in front of our demon defense class, it made me feel strange too.

  “Come on, Savvy. What the hell do you think it means? Is it you? Did you do something to me?”

  He didn’t say it like an accusation, like he was nervous I’d done some creepy, half-caste demon thing to him. I had no idea why two non-Tempter females would hit on a human male. But I couldn’t say I hadn’t done anything. Maybe I had.

  “Or do you think they were trying to get to you?”

  All I could do was shake my head. How was I supposed to know?

  I looked over at Rowan, wondering if he had any theories. The Hammer’s look could only be described as wolfish.

  With eyebrows raised, I was about to interrogate him. Rowan knew something. That look was too sly, and not one I’d seen him make before. Had he done something? He knew what this was about. I could feel it.

  Before I could ask, glass crashed, the unexpected clamor making me jerk, sending the entire contents of my coffee cup down my front. The pain of the burn had me wheezing before it eased, starting to heal in moments.

  Rowan loomed in front of me blocking my view of what was happening when I looked up from my sodden shirt. I grabbed Benn’s arm, urging him to duck under the table. He didn’t have to be asked twice, but he didn’t exactly cower either. Blue eyes peered over the table as I stood, and stepped closer to Rowan’s back.

  “Sentinel,” a female voice that sounded like metal rubbing on metal screeched. “We have come for our Scion.”

  “You’ve been sent.” Rowan’s response was different than he usually spoke. It was flat. Empty. But more than that too. Stiff and formal. I didn’t know what quality bothered me more.

  “Her Royalty wants her,” a male voice announced in no way screechy and irritating like the female. He commanded, “Now.”

  “Iliana doesn’t get to have her,” was Rowan’s constrained response.

  I knew the other demons, though I couldn’t see their faces, didn’t like Rowan using their Royal’s real name. But he was a Sentinel now. Evidently, they couldn’t do anything about it. That made me feel good.

  “Move aside, Warrior. We still have to obey our Royal.”

  Rowan was about to lunge, to defend me, to protect me. I knew, but had no reason to know. My Sentinel didn’t move, didn’t tense or make a noise, but I knew.

  “Wait.” I stepped around Rowan.

  Our attackers blinked at me. I knew his face from Benn’s Gateway magazines. He was Matteo, the Razer advisor. The deep ridge on his forehead and striking, cobalt eyes made me think of Dmitri. Of course, all Razer males would look the same glamoured. Now that I understood glamour better, I knew it was true that certain traits couldn’t be hidden. All Mischief demons did have red hair. All Hammer’s eyes were subdued versions of their natural color.

  The female was a Sorcerer. Red skin and piranha teeth, but she was more petite than Astor. Her straight black hair only reached her shoulders and the two black horns on her forehead were only a few inches long. There were no laugh lines on this female’s face. Black, empty eyes flicked over to me, and the Sorcerer nodded her acknowledgement of my Scion status, then looked away.

  “Ah,” Matteo said, appraising me after his own, small nod. “Half-caste Razers are always so exquisite, are they not, Warrior?”

  Rowan shot them a threatening warning from deep in his throat, showing his emotions for the first time since they broke the front window.

  Matteo laughed, a strange, crackling sound. “Yes, that’s what I thought. The skin, the figure, the fierce spirit. How could a youngling like you resist?”

  Rowans muscles bunched. I had to do something.

  My mother wants to meet with me?

  The female Sorcerer and the Razer male stared, taken by surprise for a moment. They hadn’t known I could telepath. Which meant my mother hadn’t known what traits I possessed. The demon in me liked that.

  Yet, she would know I could telepath now, as soon as her advisors returned.

  “Our Royal requests your presence in court, Scion,” the demon bowed. He could have telepathed, but protocol had to be followed. Suddenly, I was grateful to Grayson for never being formal with me. No matter his motivation.

  I swallowed, hardly believing what I was about to say, but desperate to ease the tension in the air. My Sentinel will take me there.

  Without missing a beat, Matteo took two strides and was right in front of Rowan who was right in front of me when he declared, “Unacceptable.”

  Before the male could make another move, Rowan grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and jumped halfway across the room, then smashed Matteo’s nose with his fist.

  It all happened in less than a second.

  Rowan was stronger. But Matteo wasn’t outmatched, and seemed entirely unconcerned that deep maroon, almost purple blood was gushing from his nose. They fought, and Rowan was jumping all over the place, blinking from one spot to the next, first in front of the Razer demon, then behind, then to the side. He was so quick, so agile, but the Razer was too.

  The Sorcerer female was casting a field around the fighting males, the same as Hadrian had when he unglamoured me, except I could see them. But I didn’t think Benn could, by his confused expression. No human could see what was going on, so Rowan didn’t have to keep from jumping.

  This was nothing like how he fought with Grayson. Now I knew that had been him holding back. Fangs and claws thrashed and ripped at Razer flesh. For the first time, I saw how dangerou
s those canines and razor-sharp nails were. They were lethal.

  Benn was standing next to me. I didn’t want the advisors to turn their attention on him. He was the weakest link, being human. They could use him against me. I would do anything they asked if they threatened him.

  “We need to get out of here,” Benn said, urgent words in a soft tone.

  Not yet. Not without Rowan.

  I knew Benn didn’t like when I telepathed with him, but I needed to say what I wanted to say and know only Rowan and Benn could hear me.

  Matteo landed a punch to Rowan’s face and sent him staggering back towards me and Benn, away from the Sorcerer’s energy field, into the table we’d been peacefully sitting at only a few minutes ago. But Rowan was fast, and jumped before tripping over the falling table.

  The next second, my Sentinel had his arms around me. The next, we were in The Bookstore.

  CHAPTER 32

  “Bennett, go home,” Rowan commanded, and I was immediately relieved Rowan had jumped Benn along with us.

  I stared at the Hammer demon. “You can’t send him home. They’ve seen him. They’ll—”

  “They will not touch him, Savannah.” Rowan put his hand on my cheek. “Trust me.”

  Swallowing a lump in my throat, I put my hand around Rowan’s wrist, squeezed, then we broke apart at the same moment.

  I would trust him. I’d made this decision. Rowan got my faith. He was my Sentinel. He would never put my family in danger.

  Turning to Benn, who looked a little green, I said, “Go. I’ll explain later.”

  If there was a later. If they didn’t come and destroy us all before I saw my best friend again. Before he left, Benn hugged me. Quick and awkward, but it spoke volumes. Rowan nodded at my friend, and Benn nodded back, then was out the door.

  Grayson and Cyrus jumped in across the room a few seconds later.

  “You rang?” Cy asked, letting Grayson’s shoulder go, then quickly reading our frantic expressions, wiping a grin off his lips.

  “Octavia and Matteo came for Savannah,” was Rowan’s greeting. Whatever their hang-ups before had been, whatever the reason for the adolescent fighting, they worked together now without another word.

  “Yes, I feel them,” Grayson said, bracing himself against the counter as if the wind had been knocked out of him.

  I couldn’t figure out why Grayson would be afraid of two fellow advisors. Weren’t they a team? There was still way too much I didn’t know about this world. Someone should start filling me in soon.

  “Cyrus, go get Greta and Apollo.” Grayson put his hands on both of Cy’s shoulders, and I saw silver wisp across his eyes. “Stratton too, if you can.”

  In a blink, Cyrus jumped away.

  “Go change, Savannah,” Rowan said, the edge in his words freaking me out.

  “What? Why?”

  “It has begun. We must go to the ‘realm before they return without you.”

  My black t-shirt was wet and I stank of coffee, but I didn’t think we had enough time for me to change clothes. “They have a head start. We’ll never make it.”

  “They can’t jump. Apollo isn’t with them. It will take them…” he looked outside, squinting at the sun, “less than an hour, probably.”

  “But—”

  “Make haste, my love.” Rowan gave me a small, guilty smile, his champagne eyes exploding with white gold for a millisecond, then returning to normal the next. “We haven’t much time.”

  I nodded, my ears ringing with what he’d called me, and how deeply the twist of feelings ran inside me, and went for the stairs. I wasn’t sure what I had to change into. Anything would be better than being covered in heavily-sweetened coffee, though.

  “Dress for heat,” he yelled as I climbed the stairs, not knowing what was going on, but understanding completely how huge the agitated edge my usually composed sentries had.

  I found a box on my coffee table that hadn’t been there before. Only for a second did I wonder how it got all the way to my apartment. I decided, right now, that didn’t matter. Quickly, I grabbed the small envelope on top and tore it open. It was from Mina.

  I accept. M.

  Smiling, getting a kick out of the concise note because it fit the half-caste Razer’s personality so well. I’d written her a letter before I left Division. I’d told her I needed her help. I told her she was the only female I felt could comprehend what I was going through. I asked if she could help me realize what I had inside me, help me make sense of my feelings, of my strengths and weaknesses. I’d asked her, if I were to join Division like they wanted, if she would be my trainer.

  I’d never thought of myself as long-winded. But compared to Mina?

  Grinning, I opened the box filled with clothes. Sam said they’d send more for me, but I hadn’t known when. Perfect timing.

  More plain t-shirts of an unknown material, soft, jean-like pants were folded neatly. Another pair of leather-like boots that somehow didn’t make my feet hot or chafe nearly as badly as I would have thought. And tons of underthings. Guess they knew my sizes, which would have embarrassed me before. Today, I thought it was hilarious and thoughtful.

  I changed in a hurry, choosing black, jean-like pants and a white, short-sleeved t-shirt. I didn’t know if I was supposed to dress more formally. All I had was t-shirts and jean-like pants.

  My demon mother would have to deal with it. If books and movies were accurate, mothers didn’t like how their daughters dressed most of the time anyway. Maybe we’d uphold the tradition.

  As I left my apartment, not bothering to close the door behind me, I combed my fingers through my silky hair and tied it into a high twist so it was completely off my face and neck.

  “You’ve destroyed everything.” Grayson’s desperate and heated words stopped me from taking another stair. “She will never have me now. I had a limited amount of time before they came for her. And you’ve…dug your fangs into the female. She looks at you the way she should be looking at me. You have ruined—”

  “You never had a chance with her.” Rowan’s calm coolness made Grayson sound like he was losing it.

  Grayson snapped, “she should be tied to me, doing what I ask of her,” not for a second believing Rowan.

  My Sentinel laughed, just as I was rolling my eyes and had to make a conscious effort not to snort.

  “You don’t get it at all, do you, Gray?” Rowan said, his tone paradoxically kind.

  I said nothing, waiting at the top of the stairs, even though I knew we were in a hurry. I had to hear this. Our need for haste was no match for my curiosity.

  “You think she is likely to obey your commands, even if you did manage to claim her?”

  “She is part human,” was the Tempter’s certain response.

  “You will never have her.”

  “I have to find the right enticement. I was getting through to her before she decided she was more interested in you.”

  No, he wasn’t. I never had feelings for Grayson. It had always been Rowan.

  Only the pattern on his skin had any influence on me. It occurred to me why Grayson’s tried and true Tempter tricks hadn’t worked before my glamour was lifted. My human half, the part that would be dangerously susceptible to a Tempter, had been only functioning on a basic level. His attempts to peak my interest before couldn’t have worked. I’d had no interest. I was nothing but a shadow then.

  Letting the pattern on his skin infect me was the last power in his arsenal, and it worked. Anything would have worked after my glamour was lifted probably. Only, I’d been able to resist it. Thanks to the strength-and-light of the demon part of me.

  How many times did my Razer half have to save me before I stopped being surprised about how valuable it was?

  “Though I ought to know better than to give you pursuing advice for the female I myself would like to pursue,” Rowan said, and I blushed. “I also don’t want you making Savannah uncomfortable. So I’ll tell you this. It isn’t what you say to her. It
isn’t even how you make her feel. She believes none of it.”

  “I don’t understand,” Grayson said.

  Rowan chuckled, a low rumble. “No, you don’t.”

  But instead of taunting the Tempter, my Sentinel explained. “Look at her relationship with her father. Victor is practically cruel to her, yet it doesn’t faze her. It’s only what we do that she cares about. She only sees that her father shows up when he says he will. She only sees Bennett cares for her, not the way he once treated her.”

  “What do you know, Warrior,” Grayson bit out, and I chose that moment to finally come down the stairs.

  Rowan smiled as he saw me, all white gold and champagne. “You look nice.”

  I batted my eyelashes, having no clue where I’d learned to flirt. “Nice of you to look.”

  He didn’t fight the smile this time, but a second later, his expression changed, as if he heard something none of the rest of us could hear.

  “Cyrus needs my help.” He jumped in next to me, took my hand, and kissed it. “I’ll return in a moment.”

  He was gone again, leaving a warm tingling in my hand. I smiled goofily, only briefly considering Rowan might not realize how affectionate he was being. I would savor what I could get though.

  “Scion,” Grayson said, wiping the grin off my face. I didn’t like being in a room alone with him. Not after the last time. “I would like to…have honesty with you.”

  Funny the way he said it, as if he didn’t have enough experience being honest to even know what the right way to describe it would be. But apparently Rowan’s speech had gotten his mind working, and Grayson figured out being honest was the only thing he could do. And he was right.

  I sighed, and nodded.

  “I hoped you would help me get my sister released from your mother’s court. My fellow advisor, Greta, told me you would join with me, and be Tanis’s only chance of freedom.”

  My eyebrows drew together slowly as I sorted through his words. “How would Greta know?”

  “Reapers glimpse the future.”

  A week ago, I wouldn’t have believed it. Now? I accepted Hammers could teleport. I knew firsthand what a Tempter’s purple and silver pattern did. I’d seen a rooftop filled with unglamoured Mischief demons flying on bat-lizard wings. I didn’t have the luxury of skepticism anymore.