Broken: Hidden Book Two

by Vanderlinden, Colleen

  It all felt too good to be true. Stuff like this, feelings like this, do not happen to me.

  We were in bed, again, Brennan’s body hunched over mine under the cool sheets as he kissed me, nibbled my throat, my shoulders. I was, as always, almost drunk on the sensations running through my body when I was with him.

  I was so distracted, so enjoying his lips on my throat and his hands on my body that I barely noticed when there was a distinctive fluttering sound and Eunomia appeared in the room, at the foot of the bed. I froze, moved to push Brennan off of me, but he gave a small shake of his head and kept kissing my throat.

  “Don’t you people ever knock?” he muttered against my neck. I was blushing furiously, but he gave no indication that he was going to stop what he was doing.

  “We do not use doors, shifter,” Eunomia said.

  “Start. She’s busy,” he said, continuing to kiss my shoulders.

  “Yes, so I see,” Eunomia said, and though I couldn’t see her over Bren, I could hear the humor in her voice, sense it from her.

  “Go away,” he muttered, still focusing on me.

  “Did you need something, E?” I asked, trying for some sense of decorum.

  “I was trying to find you to see how you were. Obviously, you are just fine,” she said.

  “See ya later, E,” Brennan said, and I could feel him getting irritated.

  Eunomia laughed. “Oh, all right. Relax, shifter. By all means continue fornicating. I’ll talk to you later, Mollis.” And with that, there was that little fluttering sound again, her wings taking her into flight, and she was gone.

  He shook his head and started kissing my stomach, and I smacked him on the shoulder. “That was so rude,” I said. He bit me, not exactly gently, and I gasped.

  “It was. Your family needs to learn about boundaries,” he said. I was about to argue, but then his lips started working their magic and I promptly forgot what I was even going to argue with him about.

  When it was over, he pulled me back onto the mattress with him and held me.

  “You are kind of an ass,” I said, still out of breath.

  “Am I?” he asked, nuzzling my shoulder.

  “I can’t even be annoyed with you when you do that to me.”

  He laughed, and held me tighter. “I didn’t mean to irritate you. I wanted to make a point with E and anyone else who can magically appear in our bedroom. You give yourself to the world, every single day. You sacrifice, almost constantly, for everyone else. When we’re alone together, you’re off limits unless someone’s dying. Does that seem fair?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” He was quiet for a while, holding me. “You’re going to tell me it’s time to leave now, aren’t you?”

  “You know me too well,” I murmured.

  “Not as well as I want to.”

  “Better than anyone else, though,” I said, and he squeezed my body to his. “I am supposed to be present at a meeting Hades is having later today with a couple of other gods.”

  “Gods posturing is almost too stupid for words,” he said, and I laughed.

  “It is. It’s all such a bunch of bullshit,” I said, feeling my eyelids get heavy. “I owe him. Supposed to make it look like I serve him, belong to him. As if I truly belong to any of them.” I closed my eyes.

  “Who do you belong to?” he asked me, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

  “Myself,” I said, smiling. He pinched my bottom, and I laughed. “And you, even when you’re being an ass.”

  “That’s better,” he said. We dozed for a while, and, slowly but surely got ready to return to real life.

  I was pulling one of Bren’s t-shirts over my head and I looked around. He was sitting at the foot of the still-rumpled bed pulling his shoes on. “I love this house,” I said softly, and he laughed. I glanced at him, and he shook his head. “I do,” I said, smiling.

  “We’ll have to come back here. Often,” he said.

  “You said ‘come’,” I said, and then I couldn’t stop laughing, and after a while I heard him laughing, too.

  “Oh my god,” he said, shaking his head while I tried to get my giggles under control. “Nobody here or in the Nether would believe me if I tried to tell them how sophomoric your sense of humor is. Or that you giggle.”

  “Shut up, Bren,” I said, still laughing a little. “That’s between the two of us.”

  He came up behind me and folded me in his arms. “What about the noises you make when I–”

  I elbowed him in the gut, and he laughed. He kept holding me, and we stood there for a while. “I don’t want to leave,” he said.

  “Me neither. But Stone has probably destroyed half the loft by now, and Shanti’s probably running the streets eating innocents, and the city is probably being over-run with dumbass werewolves as we speak.”

  “You’re such a pessimist. I’m almost sure Shanti wouldn’t eat anyone.”

  I let out a small laugh, and he squeezed me tighter to him. Then he released me, reluctantly, and took my hand, and we left the house and drove back to the loft.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  We arrived back at the loft to find that while Stone had eaten pretty much everything in the house and was whining about how he was starving, Shanti had not, in fact, bitten anyone and there had only been a few minor issues, which the team and the Grosse Pointe shifters had taken care of easily. I kissed Brennan, then headed to the Nether to do my Fury thing and attend Hades.

  I drove to the Packard plant and strolled through the gateway. The demon guards there saluted me, and I nodded to them and made my way to Hades' house. One of his demon servants answered the door and let me in.

  “Your mother is in with him right now, my Lady,” the demon said in a low voice.

  “I'll join them. I rarely see the two of them together,” I said, and he nodded, gestured toward Hades' closed office door.

  I walked down the long hallway, paused in front of the office door when I heard my name.

  “I am not losing her to some prophecy, Hades,” Tisiphone was saying. “I won't do it. I will not allow it.”

  “We hardly have a say in that, now, do we?” Hades was saying in a tired voice. “She's here. She exists. It is what it is.”

  “How can you be this way? Are you really so cold you feel nothing--”

  “Cold? Are we really going to go there, Tis?”

  I raised my eyebrow at the nickname. My mother did not seem like the nickname type.

  Hades went on. “We'll do what we can. Her fate lies before her, just like anyone else.”

  “May she be strong enough to give Fate a good kick in the ass, then,” Tisiphone muttered.

  “I would expect nothing less from your daughter,” Hades said, and I heard a warmth, a familiarity, in his voice that made me blush. I was ready to hear more when Hades' wife, Persephone, bustled up behind me and knocked twice on the door, then opened it. I gaped at her.

  “Your whelp was listening at the door, Fury,” she said, glaring at me. And then she flounced off again, her skirt rustling as she walked away.

  “I wasn't,” I said, glaring at Persephone's back. Then I glanced at my parents. Ask them about what they were discussing, and reveal I'd absolutely been eavesdropping? Or play it off so I could get through the day and go home to Brennan?

  “I am here for your meeting, Lord Hades,” I said, walking into the office. Hades and my mother both looked at me for a moment, maybe trying to figure out what I'd heard. They exchanged a glance, then Tisiphone excused herself, hugging me on her way out, and Hades started making small talk about the upcoming meeting.

  I managed not to lose myself to my rage, and got through my meeting without rolling my eyes or otherwise disrespecting the self-aggrandizing deities in the room. Mostly, I did so by fantasizing about getting Brennan alone again. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the meeting was over and I made my way back to my own realm again.

  As I drove back to the loft (looking forward to
Brennan and a bed. Or a wall, or a shower, or a tabletop….) the imps filled me in on what had gone on while I’d been gone.

  It was a little after midnight when I finally dragged myself up to the loft. Brennan was in the living room, and he got up and kissed me when I walked in. It would have gone on, except that Shanti was sitting in the dining room. I went and sat with her. I could sense that she was nervous about something, and the fact that she was sitting out in the main part of the loft instead of up in her room was definitely different. Brennan shoved a bowl of beef stew in front of me with a soft but stern, “eat” and then sat down. I stuck my tongue out at him and felt a little stab of desire from him, and I grinned.

  “Behave yourself,” he murmured.

  “Are you two going to be like this all the time now?” Shanti asked, shaking her head.

  “We could go back to arguing all the time,” I said, taking a bite of the stew.

  “No, we couldn’t,” Brennan said. “I have ways of distracting–”

  “All right! Okay. Hey. Forget I said anything,” Shanti said over him, and we both laughed. She laughed, too, and shook her head. I could still sense anxiety from her.

  “What’s going on, Shanti? You’re anxious about something,” I said.

  She took a deep breath, looked at me. “I want to be on the lost girls and lost boys team Brennan was talking about earlier.”

  “No,” I said.

  “You can’t just do that,” Shanti said, raising her voice a little. “You can’t just write me off that way. I’ve been training with Brennan. I’m fast. I’m strong. And I have more reason to want to help than just about anyone else involved.”

  “You’re too young,” I said.

  “How old were you when you started finding lost girls, again?” Shanti asked, raising her eyebrow. Other than Brennan, she was the only one who knew my whole story, and I kicked myself for telling her that particular tidbit.

  “I was…”

  “Nothing more than a telepath who could self-heal at that point, right? I’m a vampire.”

  “Then you should know that you have plenty of time. Not yet,” I said.

  “You’re not listening!” Shanti shouted, and it startled me to hear her really raise her voice like that to me. “I need to do this. I am going insane here. I have this power, and I never goddamned wanted it. But I’m stuck with it, so I’m going to make it worth something. I’m going to make myself worth something,” and pink-tinged tears flooded her eyes, and I looked at Brennan helplessly. He shrugged.

  I went to Shanti, knelt in front of her and pulled her into my arms. “You are worth something. You are an amazing, smart, wonderful person. I can’t stand the thought of you being in danger. These are sick fucks we deal with, Shanti,” I said softly, pulling back so I could look at her face. “I hate even the idea of you being near them.”

  “I know how they are. You rescued me from some of them, remember? I need to do this.” She watched me. “You can’t keep me hidden away forever.”

  I shook my head, and my gaze landed on Brennan. She saw. “Ask him. My training is going really well. I came close to kicking his ass a few times,” Shanti said.

  “She’s a good fighter. Disciplined, focused. She’s fast as hell, and she’s not bad with a blade, either,” he said.

  “Whose side are you on, anyway?” I grumbled.

  “Same person’s side I’m always on. But I’m not going to lie. She’s good.”

  “Good against you. You’d never really hurt her,” I said. Then I sat in my chair. “How do we know how she’d do against someone who was really trying to kill her?” I sat there, thinking. Both Brennan and Shanti watched me. Then something occurred to me, and I sent a thought at Bash and Dahael.

  We sat talking for a few more minutes, Shanti trying to convince me, Brennan being reasonable. I hated it. Hated even the thought of her exposing herself to the shit we saw every day. I could admit it: I wanted her to stay safe and happy and protected and innocent for as long as possible. Nevermind that she’d already seen more evil than most humans ever did. Nevermind that she was now one of the most feared types of beings in existence, trained by the best fighter I’d ever known. I just wanted her to be safe.

  About ten minutes later, the buzzer sounded, and I stood up and went to the door. As I’d hoped, Levitt, the demon I’d let go at the gateway, stood there.

  “I received your summons,” he said, bowing and thumping his fist to his chest.

  “Thank you for coming. Please come in,” I said to him, and he nodded and walked into the loft. I saw him looking around, noticed Shanti and Brennan inspecting this new visitor. Brennan, of course, knew about Levitt, even if they hadn’t officially been introduced yet. And I’d been lax in getting to know this demon. Maybe I could kill two birds with one stone.

  “Levitt, please meet Brennan,” I said. Levitt walked over to him, and the two men shook hands, Levitt bowing his head to Brennan with respect. Well done, I thought. “And this is Shanti,” I said, and he shook her hand and gave a small nod. I could sense Shanti, and she was nervous and confused.

  I looked at them all. “Levitt, I asked you here today because I need a favor from you,” I said.

  “Anything you ask, I will gladly do, my Lady,” he said, bowing again.

  “Good. You are a formidable warrior. I’ve fought you myself, and remember what it was like.” He was silent, though he acknowledged the compliment with a small nod. I liked him, I decided, glad my initial impression of him still held. Nothing overblown, nothing cocky, though he was confident. This would do.

  “Shanti wants to join the lost girl and lost boy patrols,” I said.

  He studied Shanti. “She is a vampire,” he said. “Young.”

  “Not much younger than you, demon,” Shanti said, and I could sense that she was irritated.

  “Looks can be deceiving, vamp. I’ve got half a century under my belt.”

  “In the Nether,” Shanti said, “Which hardly counts as real-world experience.”

  “Think so?” he asked, raising his eyebrow at her.

  “Great,” I said, breaking in. “Shanti wants to prove to me that she’s able to do this. Levitt, I want you to fight her. Pull no punches. Do not hold back.”

  Shanti was looking at him with a feral, hungry look in her eyes. “Excellent,” she said. “Let’s go, demon. The sooner I finish you, the sooner I can get to work.”

  I could feel amusement from him. “After you,” he said, waving her toward the open training floor of the loft. I watched as they squared off, bowed respectfully to each other. Brennan came up next to me at the edge of the training floor.

  “Are you sure about this?” he asked quietly, putting his hand on my hip.

  “Absolutely,” I murmured, watching as Shanti and Levitt began to circle one another. “Neither one of us could do this. He doesn’t know her well enough to care, but he will do what I ask.” We watched as they circled, waited for the first punch to be thrown.

  Chapter Sixteen

  After a few seconds of watching each other warily, of circling, of studying one another for weaknesses, Shanti ended up striking first. She hit out at Levitt with so much speed I could barely track her movements, hitting him with an uppercut, then a quick jab to his gut. I heard Levitt grunt, ready himself to throw a punch, but she beat him to it and bounced back, kicking him in the gut before he could land it.

  I glanced over at Brennan, standing next to me with his arms crossed over his chest, watching. A small smile was on his lips, his attention fully focused on Shanti and Levitt. I felt for him. Pride. A bit of concern, but I had a feeling, at that point, that it wasn’t concern for Shanti.

  I focused on the fight again. She was impossibly fast. Light on her feet, graceful. It was like watching a deadly ballet, mesmerizing and frightening all at the same time. It took Levitt a couple of minutes, and I realized that he was not so much getting his ass kicked (which was what it looked like) as picking up her rhythms, her stance. He
was already bleeding, bruising, but when I sensed for him, there was nothing but calm.

  Shanti was a boiling vat of emotion: anxiety, anger, concern. I knew her. She didn’t want to hurt Levitt, especially knowing how he’d served me. But she needed to prove herself. I had a moment of guilt for putting both of them in this situation, then shook it off. Sometimes, brutal solutions were the only ones you had. I was not willing to send Shanti out on patrol without knowing she could handle it. If she could handle herself against a demon who had survived the Pit, I had no reason to worry about her on the streets.

  I’d worry anyway, of course.

  Levitt found his bearings, started landing hits almost as often as Shanti did. The first few weren’t a big deal. Then he drew back and hit her with a hard punch that had blood flowing from her nose. I started moving before I knew what I was doing, but Bren grabbed me, held me back.

  “You wanted to see what she’s made of, right?” he said quietly in my ear. “She’s almost as indestructible as you are. A nosebleed is not a big deal.”

  I made myself relax, took a breath and nodded. “I had no idea she could do this.” The fight raged on, both of them landing punches and kicks with frightening speed and accuracy. I’d fought a vampire once, and barely survived. I’d survive better now, of course — I didn’t have full access to all of my powers back then. It’s not something I had any desire to do again.