by Hickory Mack
“Isn’t anybody going to let me in?” he grumbled. “If you’re going to build a barrier, you need to have a doorman, right? It’s fucking rude not to answer the door.”
Lithia made a rude noise, pulling a face at the barrier. The spirit hated anything that made her master unhappy.
Pascal wasn’t used to being forced to wait for anything, and by the time a minotaur lumbered its way over, carrying a trident of all things, he was seething. It looked to be in a bad mood as well, and Pascal cracked his knuckles. He didn’t care how rare the damned beast was; he was ready for a good fight.
The massive creature stayed on the other side of the barrier, sizing Pascal and his spirit doll up. “You are a Lord?”
“Obviously.”
“What business do you have here? We have a no-recruitment policy. The demons here have the security of knowing they won’t be forced into any contracts while they’re here,” the minotaur said.
“Wha—” Pascal sputtered. “What kind of good-for-nothing fake ass people are forcing demons into contracts?”
He regularly turned demons seeking contracts away. There wasn’t a single time he’d ever had to recruit someone to join his family. Any Lord needing to force a contract wasn’t someone who deserved the title. Besides any of that, who could trust a demon they’d forced into their service?
The creature seemed to approve of his indignation, and some of the rigidity eased out of his posture. “I can taste lies. I need to hear a yes or a no answer. Are you here to recruit our demons?”
“No,” Pascal growled, feeling the hair on the back of his neck prickle with anger. He didn’t need some punk ass grass eater giving him a random lie detector test. Lithia crouched obediently at his side, her teeth bared, waiting for her master to give her the orders to attack the creature irritating him.
“Why have you come?” the minotaur asked.
“I’m looking for information,” Pascal answered cryptically. He couldn’t give away any more detail than that, and it wasn’t a lie. He very much wanted to know what he was looking for. The minotaur squinted at him suspiciously, but Pascal stared back at him without blinking.
“You may pass. The Collective is over seven hundred strong now, and maintained as a peaceful place. Keep that thing on a leash and see that you maintain that peace. If the two of you cause too much trouble, you will be expelled,” the minotaur said. A portion of the barrier large enough for Pascal to walk through opened, allowing him to enter.
“Will I be able to get back in if I leave here?” he asked, not bothering to look at the eight-foot-tall creature. He didn’t make it a habit to look up at other people.
“Are you planning to visit often?”
“I might.”
The minotaur sighed, coming just short of rolling his eyes. “Put your hand on the barrier. I’ll teach it to recognize you. It will continue to do so as long as you’re welcome here.”
Pascal touched the barrier, and his palm warmed. “There, are we good?”
“You will be able to come and go as you please. Welcome to the Collective.”
Chapter 39
Elsie stared at the gate with a frown on her face. Could she make a barrier? Sure. Could she make an impenetrable barrier strong magical creatures couldn’t get through? Probably not. The truth was, she’d rather take the barrier off of it. If some demon wanted to break in and create havoc, she wasn’t about to stand in their way.
Saint stood with his shoulder perfectly aligned with hers, his dark eyes taking in their surroundings. She could feel how focused he was, as if they were out on a hunt together rather than standing alone in a massive storage space. He had her back, no matter what.
Neither he nor Cross could see the gate since she hadn’t opened it, but to her, it was clear as day. Her eyes traced its outline, feeling out the barrier that already existed—not the one she’d placed there, but the original, the one Muriel had created. It had a second layer, made for a different purpose. She took Saint’s hand and closed her eyes, holding her other hand up as she felt her way around. A smile came to her face.
“Do you feel that?” she asked, and he smiled too.
‘It’s perfect.’
“Feel what?” Cross asked.
“Muriel wanted this gate to come crashing down,” Elsie answered. “The barrier she erected was created in layers, but one of those layers is built into the structure of the gate itself, and it isn’t flexible to allow for fluctuations. If she were to activate that barrier and then break it, the entire gate would implode onto itself, trapping the hunters inside. Even if it were rebuilt, the gate site wouldn’t be able to reconnect to this site again. The connection point would be destroyed.”
“Why didn’t she use it?” Cross asked. “That Thomas guy said she escaped into another dimension after being shot. She could have used it then.”
“She wouldn’t have wanted to trap the demons in with them,” Elsie guessed. “She wasn’t able to free them, so she’d started putting them down, remember? Saying it was more humane to kill them than to force them to live like that. Gods, she must have been so desperate to do something like this.”
She felt a pang of guilt come across through her bond with Saint, and she touched his arm, sharing a quick look with him. He’d pushed her into coming here, but she didn’t blame him. Her demon had been trying to help her.
“Why’s that?” Cross questioned. “Isn’t it similar to what you want to do?”
Frost growled in response as Elsie shook her head. “The barrier would have to be triggered from the inside, one at a time. She knew she was risking her life for this, but she never got the chance to pull it off.”
“She wanted to take them down as badly as you do, and they killed her for it,” Cross said quietly. Elsie heard the note of warning in his voice, and she sighed. She couldn’t take his hand right now, but she offered him as much comfort as she could through their bond.
“I’m going to put her barrier in place,” she said quietly. “If anything goes wrong, I’ll get us back to Earth, so you don’t have to worry about getting stuck here. But if any of their shades try to escape through the gate, the whole compound goes down with them. Cornick’s idiocy shouldn’t be allowed to affect our world.”
‘There are shades here?’ Saint questioned, his mental voice alarmed.
“Rand said Cornick had nine of them, but he lost one,” she answered. “Now, if it turns out he screws up and lets one of them loose, he’ll be stuck in here with all of them for the rest of his life.”
Elsie handed Saint the Staff of Sanaia and raised both of her hands, concentrating on the three layers of barrier laid over the gate. She stripped away the layers that were actually keeping the gates closed to the outside world and integrated her own magic into the fragile one that would destroy the gates. Anyone who was sensitive enough to feel the barrier would feel her magic instead of Muriel’s. They wouldn’t know anything was wrong until it was too late.
“I have news that’s going to make your wolf happy,” Cross said when she lowered her hands. Frost’s head whipped around, and he stared at the brujo, waiting for him to elaborate.
“What is it?” Elsie asked.
“I have names for two of them,” he answered, looking around. There wasn’t anybody near them, but he was still nervous about how freely they’d been speaking. “We can wait until we’re back in your suite, but I have a basic idea of where to find those two.”
Frost was nearly vibrating with excitement. If they took down those two mages, there would only be three more standing between them and his freedom.
“That’s excellent news,” Elsie said, smiling at Cross. “Thank you.”
The corner of his mouth twitched upward as he nodded. “I guess we should go take care of the next gate.”
It took almost three hours to make their way through all three of the gates between the two bases and Earth. Not only did Elsie have to inspect each gate individually, but there was the travel time between each si
te. The compound was so ridiculously huge, and because of how it was laid out, it was impossible to take a single elevator to every floor. It ended up being a lot of walking.
They were dealing with the final gate when one of Rand’s people came scurrying up to them, avoiding Frost as most of them did. It was Thomas again. He silently waited as Elsie finished adjusting the barriers to strip away what she didn’t want and activating what she did. When she opened her eyes, Thomas gave her an awkward little bow, then his face turned red from embarrassment. Someone must have ordered him to treat her with more respect since he certainly wasn’t behaving as familiarly as he had in the past.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I’m here to relay a message from Security Chief Rand.”
“I’m listening.”
“Four days from now, you are to open the upper gate. An experiment ordered by Doctor Stanley Eustone and Angus Cornick,” he said. Elsie made a face and looked at Cross.
“Isn’t Eustone a prisoner too? How is he giving orders around here?” she questioned, and Cross shrugged.
“Perhaps he has connections.”
“What about opening the gate is an experiment?” Elsie asked. “Why four days?”
Thomas shook his head. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I wasn’t told anything other than what I was supposed to relay.”
He wasn’t lying. They’d purposely sent her someone with no clue so she couldn’t ask questions. Four days here was less than a day and a half on Earth. For Wren, it would be the afternoon of the next day.
“Have they scheduled anything for me before that?” she asked. He looked relieved to have been asked a question he could actually answer.
“No, ma’am. You will be briefed shortly beforehand, so you’ll know what will be expected of you.”
Elsie snorted, and Saint gently tapped her with the back of his hand, telling her to behave herself. She glanced up at him and nodded. Thomas was merely a grunt. He wasn’t among those who made the decisions around here, and he wasn’t to blame for any of this crap.
“You can go.”
He trotted off to finish whatever errand was next on his list.
Elsie tapped Saint back as soon as Thomas was out of sight, then stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re sure being bossy today.”
Frost sneezed at her, amused at the idea of someone else keeping her in line. Not only that, but the idea of her accepting it without a fight. Elsie felt a hunger pang, and before she could say anything, Saint looked at her.
‘Tell the brujo that you’re hungry and he needs to get you some food,’ he said into her mind, and her heart squeezed. She loved that he could so easily communicate with her now. There was no longer any need for him to hold back when others were around; he could tell her whatever he needed or wanted.
“What does he have to say?” Cross asked, his brow furrowing.
“He’s hungry,” Elsie said seriously, ignoring the protests Saint sent her way. “We should get our dinner. I’m sure Frost could eat as well. Also, we need to find something extra delicious for Frida. I need to make up with her.”
“She’s sulking because you left us,” Cross said, letting the meaning behind his words sink in. He wasn’t as okay with being abandoned in the middle of their first kiss as he was pretending.
“Were you sulking too?” Elsie asked, and Frost let out a deep sigh. He walked between them, and a deeper hunger hit her belly as the wolf demanded his dinner. She shoved his shoulder, but he leaned into her instead of letting himself be pushed away. The image of him in the middle of a deep sleep assailed her mind. He wanted food and a nap. In that order. “Okay, okay. Cut it out.”
Cross deposited them at Elsie’s suite, leaving to fetch their meals, and as soon as he was gone, Saint took his mask and beanie off.
“I don’t like him or this place. Or that Rand guy. Or that underling he sent to talk to you,” he complained, tossing a glare at Frost. Something about knowing the wolf couldn’t talk back made it okay to speak in front of him, but it was still strange to him. It wasn’t something he was accustomed to.
“Was there anything you saw today that you did like? Frida perhaps?” Elsie teased, trying to tickle the moody cat under the chin.
“Only my mistress.”
Frida pinned her ears at him, and Elsie laughed. “He doesn’t mean it, Miss Kahlo. He’s just in a bad mood. He’s usually a very nice man.”
Saint made a rude noise, and she laughed again. He was only ever nice to her. From the very beginning of their relationship, he’d been of the opinion that everyone else could fuck off and he’d keep her to himself. Even when he could barely tolerate her presence.
Momentarily giving up on persuading Frida into a better mood, she walked over to Saint, hugging his waist and leaning her head against his shoulder. If the cat wasn’t ready to be friendly, she could at least help her mate feel better. She didn’t like how negative his end of their bond was feeling.
“How long does it usually take for the food to arrive?” he asked.
“Half an hour,” Elsie answered. “But he’ll be in a hurry today. Partly because we have so much to talk about, and partly because you’re here. Please try to be kind to him. We’re going to be spending the rest of our lives with this man.”
“Mistress, I will tolerate your mates because you care for them, but please don’t expect me to like either of them. The goddess is horrifying; I don’t think you have any idea of the true scope of what she can do. The brujo isn’t as bad, but he gets on my nerves,” he admitted. “I don’t have to befriend them, right? I don’t need friends. I only need you.”
Elsie held him for a minute, thinking out her response. His words were so painful she needed to control her breathing before she could speak anyway. Even Frost had put his head down when he heard what Saint had to say. Her poor, sweet demon hound. She held him tighter, and he hugged her back.
“You don’t have to force yourself to befriend anybody you don’t want to. Hopefully, in time, you’ll naturally come to trust them. Wren can be overprotective and temperamental, but so can you. From what I’ve learned of him, Cross is a good man. As long as you can accept that they’re a part of our lives from now on, you can take as long as you need,” Elsie promised.
“What if I never come to trust or like them?”
“It won’t change anything between us. Your relationship with them is not your relationship with me. You don’t have to love them for me to love you.”
Saint looked so doubtful that she wound her hands around the back of his neck, standing on tiptoe so she could kiss him. Words weren’t enough. Only time would convince him of the truth. Saint needed reassurance through experience and action. She would never let him down.
Their kiss started a fire in Elsie’s belly. “I’m still not completely comfortable with it, but I’m so glad you convinced me to let you come with me. I don’t think I could have spent more than a minute away from you,” she breathed.
Saint picked her up and walked into the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind them. The wolf and cat could entertain each other while he took care of his mistress. They both knew they had to be quick, but their bond wouldn’t let them take their time anyway. They needed each other right now.
He set her down, and she immediately started working on the button and zipper on his pants, tugging them off of him as soon as they were free. Saint pulled the shirt over her head then yanked his own off while she dropped her shorts to the floor.
There was no time for foreplay this time. Elsie had been walking around the entire compound uncomfortably turned on; she didn’t need foreplay. She needed relief. Saint approached her cautiously, still not entirely convinced it was okay to do as he pleased, and Elsie mentally vowed to break him of that fear. His pleasure was every bit as important as hers.
He was already hard, and she leaned forward to take him in her hand, stroking him gently. Saint swallowed hard and gazed into her eyes.
“Tell me what to do,” she ple
aded, imitating his previous request. “Teach me how to please you.”
“Next time,” he promised, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling her into his lap. Saint moved her hips forward until they were aligned, her pussy hovering right over his cock. “This time, you’re in charge. Let’s see what you like.”
She chewed on the inside of her lip, and he leaned forward, pulling her lip free with his teeth. “Stop hurting my mistress,” he said softly before kissing her. Remembering what she’d wanted the night before, his kisses never stopped. He teased her mouth until she could barely breathe from needing him so badly.
Blood rushed to Elsie’s head, and she lost herself in the moment. Her hands tangled in his curls, and he guided her down until she settled around him, the thickness of his cock filling her completely. Elsie let out a little whimper against his lips, and he smiled, gripping her ass and pulling her in tighter.
Not even her favorite toy was able to touch her so deeply. Elsie clung to him, slowly easing her hips back and forth, so concentrated on how good he felt, the world ceased to exist. The heat of Saint’s skin, the soft sound of his kisses and the familiarity of his scent, the feeling of his cock deep inside of her—these were the only sensations that existed.
As she found her rhythm, Saint tilted her chin back so he could bite all the places he’d discovered she enjoyed. Elsie’s thrusts were slow at first, but as she gained confidence, she moved faster. Saint grabbed her hips, moving with her and pulling her against him with every gyration, giving every thrust that much more impact.
The kisses finally stopped as he watched her ride him, her face crumpled up, lost in the moment. Strands of her hair sprang free from the binding, the unruly waves of blue framing her face and cascading over her breasts. She was so fucking beautiful.
“Saint, I need you,” she whispered, and he kissed her again.
“I’m here, Mistress,” he murmured, nibbling at the skin behind her ear. Her foot slipped, and suddenly, his cock rubbed along her g-spot. Elsie’s eyes flew open, and Saint smiled at her. “Did you find it?”