They felt right.
He paused in the doorway, his chest constricting at the sight of his little sister sitting up in bed, flanked by Jerome and his ma. Her face was flushed, her eyes bright, as if she’d never been interred in a pus blister. “Dani?”
She looked up. “Nick!”
She jumped off the bed and launched herself at him. He caught her with a thud and held her tight, breathing in the soft scent that was hers. Twenty-two years old, and she still smelled like baby powder. He hugged her fiercely. “God, I was worried about you.”
She buried her face in his chest. “I’m so sorry, Nick. I screwed up big time.”
He smiled into her hair. “Yeah, you did.”
She pulled back and looked up at him, and he saw a wisdom in her eyes that hadn’t seen before. Knew she’d never be the same carefree girl he’d taken care of for so long. Not that he’d expect anything else. Hanging out by a man-eating acid pit would rock anyone’s foundation.
“That’s it?” she asked. “That’s all you’re going to say? You aren’t going to yell at me or threaten to take away my condo or beat up Jerome?”
He sighed and ruffled her hair, recalling Paige’s accusations that he’d controlled Dani’s life, and suddenly realized he had been overprotective. He’d needed to protect someone, and without his heritage to embrace, he’d put it all on his sister. He smiled, realizing he was suddenly no longer consumed with the need to rule her life. She didn’t need him, but the Markku did. And Paige. And maybe, hopefully, if he was lucky, Becca. “It’s your life. As long as you don’t cause any more battles with hell, I’ll stay out of it, but I’m always here if you want me for anything.”
She hugged him, her eyes brimming. “You’re the best, Nick.”
He grinned, realizing he couldn’t remember the last time she’d told him that. “So, I give you space, and now you like me?”
“Something like that.” She glanced back at Jerome, who still looked haggard and pale.
He stood up. “Nick, I asked Dani to marry me.”
“Did you?” Nick kept the inflection out his voice. Jerome might be his best friend, but he’d treated Dani badly. “And?”
“I’m waiting for an answer,” he said meaningfully. “Dani?”
Dani turned to face Jerome. “I had a lot of time to think while I was stuck in that catatonic state, watching that acid pit eat away at my floor. I realized that I needed to change some things, and the first one is standing up for myself.”
Jerome frowned. “But I love you.”
“I used to love you,” she said. “But that ended up really badly for me, so I think I’m going to stay away from love for a while.” She smiled. “You’re more than welcome to grovel and genuflect and try to win me over again, however.”
Nick grinned at his ma, who was smiling. Dani was going to be all right. “I gotta go.”
Yasmine looked at him, and her smile faded. “You look like hell.”
“Nick, come on,” Becca shouted. “We really need to go.”
“She’s alive?” Yasmine’s lips pressed together in sharp disapproval, but Nick could also see the worry in her eyes. The deep, intense fear for his safety.
“I’ll be okay, Ma.” But they both knew it might not be true.
“Okay?” Dani glanced between them. “Where are you going? It’s over, right?”
Yasmine stood up from the bed with a heavy sigh, then walked over in front of him. For a moment, they both stood there, then she reached for him and he hugged her back. Tightly. She kissed his cheek. “Be safe, Nicky.”
“I will.” He looked at Jerome.
His friend put his arm around Dani and nodded his unspoken agreement to take care of Nick’s women if something happened to Nick. “I’ve been asked to recruit two new Council members now that my two comrades have been exposed. If you survive, the job belongs to you. And Becca, if she wants it. We need more women on the Council.”
Nick grinned at the thought of Becca on the Council. The Otherworld would never recover, and damned if he didn’t want to be by her side watching her churn things up. “I’ll check with Becca and let you know.”
And then Nick turned and walked out, unable to respond to Dani’s frantic questions about where he was going.
Twenty-five
They landed on top of the hill next to the Penha camp with an ungraceful crash that had Theresa scrabbling with her claws. Satan shrieked and dove onto the grass, and Nick grabbed Becca and yanked her off Theresa’s back just before the dragon did a header into a stand of trees. She popped up immediately, yanking her spiked tail out of a pine tree. “Sorry. Adrenaline rush.”
They’d decided to fly on Theresa’s back instead of having Becca or Satan transport them, trying to lessen the drain on Nick. Maybe not the best idea. “Everyone okay?”
Satan rose to his knees, his cheek indented in the shape of a pine cone. “I am most excellent, other than the fact I feel like shark entrails. I am ready to kill ex-lover. Come, let us find her.” He staggered to his feet and promptly toppled to the side. Theresa grabbed him with her claws and set him on her back. “Why don’t you ride the dragon? It’ll make you seem very imposing.”
“Excellent idea. I like imposing.”
Becca’s heart melted at the tremor in his voice. Satan was trying to be so tough, but he was seriously hurting. What were they going to do?
“Not now.” Nick’s voice was deep and reassuring in her ear. “We need to rescue Paige and take out Junior and his ma so they don’t kill you or Satan, and then we’ll deal with him. Focus. Okay?” He squeezed her hand, and she nodded.
“It’s really distracting to have all these emotions,” she muttered.
Nick grinned. “You’ve always had them, but now you’re embracing them. Just control them like you used to.”
“Yeah, okay. No problem.” She shook the cramps out of her shoulders and tried not to think about how weak she felt. At least the Terrors were gone. Looking on the positive side and all that. “So, let’s go.”
The four of them crept to the edge of the knoll and looked down. The RV was in the same place, and the tents were quiet. The sexual energy was much lower than it had been before.
“Mmm…” Satan moaned. “Do you feel that?” He held out his arms and lifted his face as if he were embracing the sun. “So much sex vibe. I feel it revive me.”
“Paige is in the second tent on the right,” Nick said. “I can feel her energy now that we’re close to her. It’s weak.” He shifted restlessly. “My men are down there, too. They aren’t asleep. They’re waiting for me.”
Becca smiled at the energy rolling off him. Nick was alive tonight, in a way she hadn’t seen him before. This was who he was, out here with the Markku and the Rivka, protecting those who needed him. He was amazing, a warrior, a passionate man. He was everything, all in one. He was dark, he was light, and he—
“I’m like you,” he said, as if he’d read her thoughts. “All that I am, you are too.” He caught her wrist and pulled her against him. “We are one, you and I.” He kissed her hard and deep, and she opened to him instantly, welcoming him, desperate for him. He held her tight and then released her without another word.
Then they started down the hill.
They were within fifty yards of the encampment when the first wave of lust swept them. Becca gasped as sexual desire slammed into her, falling to her knees beside Nick and Theresa as a battle cry sounded and the tents flew open to reveal Markku and Penhas alike, charging them.
“As really amazing as this feels,” Theresa gasped. “I’m guessing this is a bad thing.”
“Nonsense!” Satan leapt off Theresa’s back, landing with an energetic thump beside her. “This is magnificent! I feel like new man!” He pointed a finger at the oncoming troops and it glowed red.
“Stop!” Nick shouted. “I order you not to injure or hurt anyone but Rosemarie or Satan Jr.”
Satan whirled on Nick, his eyes blazing hot red embers of rage. �
�You scum-sucking pig! I forbid you to order me! Break the link now! Let me go!”
“I think he’s feeling better,” Becca muttered. “Isn’t that good news? You better release him.”
Nick staggered to his feet, his voice cold and hard. “Kill Rosemarie and Satan Jr. and I’ll release you. Not until then.”
Satan roared with rage, and fire erupted from his skin. “I will not be made to be impotent! You shall pay!” Then he disappeared in an explosion of gold bubbles, and an instant later, the windows of the RV lit up with a gold light.
“He’s in.” Becca ducked at the sound of a gunshot, and the dirt exploded around them. “Nick? Can you deal with these guys already?”
“Trying. Hard to concentrate with my brain in the front of my pants,” he muttered. He stood up straight up and faced the men. Dirt exploded around his feet and he turned toward the onslaught of men. “Markku!” His voice boomed across the clearing, and all the Markku stopped dead in their tracks. A bullet bounced off his shoulder. “Markku! Disarm the Penhas without hurting them.” He grinned as the Markku turned and started fighting with the Penhas. “I have really been missing out.”
Then a fresh wave of lust slammed them, and his smile dropped off his face. “Oh, shit.” He spun and started to sprint for the trailer, trying to unbutton his jeans as he ran.
“No!” Becca jumped up. “You don’t get to have him!”
She bolted after him, jumping over Theresa, who was writhing around on her back, her eyes closed and her lips curved into an expression of pure dragon bliss.
Becca realized she wasn’t going to catch him, so she faded, popping up out of the ground in front of him. She grabbed his feet as he tried to jump her, and he crashed to the ground. She jumped on top of him and slammed her mouth onto his as he bucked under her.
For an instant he fought her, and then suddenly he was all over her. His mouth, his hands, his body. His lips clamped down on her nipple through her shirt, and she nearly came off him in response. “No,” she managed. “Not here.”
“Yes, here.” His voice was raw and hoarse. “It’s you or her. I don’t want it to be her.”
“Well, when you put it that way…” She let him rip her shirt off as she faded them into a nearby tent. When they popped up, his hand was down the front of her jeans and she was fighting to get his zipper undone.
And then it was over.
The lust simply vanished from the air.
She sat up, her chest heaving, her hips still straddling Nick. “He killed her.” The air was still, silent, except for the shouts of the Markku as the Penhas stopped fighting. It was simply the fresh scents of grass and dirt and pine needles.
Nick dropped his head back on the ground and groaned. “Thank God.” He reached up and tucked her left breast back into her shirt. “That wasn’t the way I wanted to seduce you before we both died.”
“Such a gentleman.” She frowned as she looked down at him, noticing red marks on his shoulders from her fingernails. “I thought I couldn’t hurt you.”
He touched his shoulder where the marks were. “It must be because I’m supporting you guys. I’m getting more vulnerable.”
She grimaced. “Well, let’s get Paige and get out of here. All the stuff to reset the links is at Dani’s place. Satan seems recovered enough to support himself again. Who knew sex would revive him?” She rolled off Nick, smiling to herself when he trailed his fingers over her hips as she left.
“Comes in handy to have a leader of hell who’s a sex addict, apparently.” Nick sat up, then caught her arm as she started to crawl out of the tent. “Becca, once I cut Satan off, I might have enough life force to support you. We could try it.”
She stared at him, every instinct in her body shouting at her to say yes. To live in his light. To share with him. To be one with him. But she looked at the deep lines around his mouth, at the scratches on his shoulders, and knew she could never accept his offer. “It’s not worth it, Nick.”
He caught her hand. “Yes, it is. You can’t go back to Satan. I felt the darkness in you when we went through the acid pit, and I know who you are now. You can’t go back. It’ll destroy you.”
She forced a smile. “No, it won’t. I’ll be fine.”
“Becca—”
She kissed him, tasting his soft lips, feeing his whiskers scraping her chin. His fingers went to her hair, and she pulled back. “Let’s go find Paige.”
He didn’t move. “I won’t let you break the link. I can’t let the woman I love go back to hell.”
Her heart leapt and she smiled. He loves me. Then she took a deep breath and faced him, knowing what she had to say, because she loved him. “If you love me, you won’t make my decisions for me. Give me that gift, Nick, the gift to make my own choice.”
“What?” He scowled. “I tell you I love you and all you can do is use it against me to force me to let you go back to hell, when I know all you want is to be free of it?”
No, Nick. All I want is for you to live. She managed a flippant grin. “I’m a cold-hearted Rivka, Nick. Get used to it.” Then she scurried out of the tent before she could change her mind.
Theresa was standing so close to the tent that Becca tripped on the dragon’s front claws and nearly crashed into her chest. “That man just offered you his heart and his life and you spurned it.” The dragon’s voice was dripping with disbelief. “Do you have any idea how damaging that is to a man’s ego? He’ll never recover. You have ruined him forever.”
She scowled at the dragon and started walking toward Paige’s tent, eager to get away before Nick came out of the tent. “It’s rude to eavesdrop.”
“As if I care.” The dragon lumbered along next to her. “It’s his call if he wants to risk his life for you. You should let him. It’ll make him feel all manly and he’ll reward you with great sex.”
“He’ll die.”
“Maybe he will, but if he does, so what? Dying for the one you love is what it’s all about. It’s the basis of life.”
She kept walking, barely able to withstand the ache in her chest. “Why die if you don’t have to? I get relinked to Satan. I’m alive, he’s alive, everything’s good.”
Theresa jumped in front of her, blocking Becca’s path just as they arrived at Paige’s tent. “Were you really alive before, Becca? Were you?”
She stared at the dragon. “No,” she whispered. “But I am now. And because of that, I can love, really love for the first time, and I love him too much to let him die for me.”
The dragon’s scaly face softened. “That is too sweet. Sucky situation to be in, of course, but totally sweet.” She snuffled her nose against Becca’s cheek, and Becca had to blink back tears. “Go rescue your apprentice, you badass. I love you.”
“Back at you, dragon.” Then Becca ducked inside the tent and left the dragon outside.
Paige was on her back groaning, her eyes closed, a fireball clutched in her hand. Apparently, although Satan had revived from the infusion of sex vibes, his link to the ever-weakening Nick was keeping him from gathering enough power to support Paige.
Becca squatted in the entrance. “Paige? Can you hear me?”
Paige flung the fireball at the entrance, a nice shot that caught Becca clean in the chest. “Get out,” she rasped. “I will not be taken.” Then she moaned and clutched her shin, cursing to herself even as she churned up another fireball in her palm.
Becca smiled softly. “It’s me, honey.” She hesitated. “It’s Mom.”
Paige stirred and lifted her head, dark circles under her eyes as she gazed at Becca. “Mom?”
She smiled. “I’m here, sweetie.”
“No sex. Kicked Colin’s ass.” Her eyes fluttered shut. “Made soul blacker.” Her voice trailed off, and she wrapped her hand around her shin. “Pisses me off.” She moaned. “I want to stop feeling like hell.”
Becca pulled Paige against her and kissed her forehead. “Soon, baby, soon.”
Nick and the dragon stared at each oth
er, and he was unable to keep the smile off his face.
“I assume you heard that,” Theresa said.
He nodded. “She loves me.” She loves me. The words sounded so right. So magical. So perfect.
The dragon let her amber gaze drift over him. “So, what are you doing to do about it?”
“Try to change her mind about going back to Satan.”
She scowled. “Aren’t you going to throw her over your shoulder and manhandle her into submission, since she’s too stupid to know what’s right?”
He shook his head. “I can’t take her choice away from her, Theresa. She’s right about that.”
“So, you’re both going to be martyrs?”
“Not a chance.” He grinned. “I intend to be very persuasive—”
There was a sudden popping sound, and Nick’s back exploded in a burst of fiery pain. He recognized the poisonous burn of gold instantly and spun around, staggering to stay on his feet. Satan Jr. stood there with a gun, his features contorted with rage. “You came here and ruined my plans. Stole my Markku. Got my mom killed, though she kind of deserved it. And now you die a horrible and painful death by gold. Enjoy.”
“You son of a bitch!” Nick lunged for Satan Jr. and tackled him, slamming his knee into Junior’s gut. The kid screamed and fell on the ground as Nick groaned and tried to pull himself back to his feet. The world began to spin, and the gold seared his body.
Draw on the gold, Nick. He sucked the deadly poison into his body, found strength in its burn, and crushed his hands around Satan Jr.’s throat. “You’ll never destroy another innocent girl,” he whispered. “Now you die.” Satan Jr.’s eyes widened and he coughed and tried to kick Nick in the shin. “Nice try, but no chance.” He watched the kid’s eyes widen with the realization that he was going to die—
“Nick!” Theresa shouted. “It’s Becca! You’re killing her.”
He realized suddenly where he was drawing his renewed energy to fight Satan Jr. and the gold from. Becca.
He dropped Satan Jr. and sprinted for the tent, diving through the flaps. Becca was gasping on the floor and Paige was on her hands and knees moaning. Satan’s renewed life force was apparently providing interference from Nick draining Paige, but Becca was dying. “Oh, God. What have I done?” He pulled Becca into his arms, trying to stop his drain of her life force, thrust all he had into her. “Take it, Becca, take it back.”
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