“Yes,” he says simply. “I want to know the brother who was denied to me.”
‘The daemon who murdered your lovers.” I push him with my words, expecting and wanting his anger.
Instead he sits forward, bracing his forearms on the table. “Tell me, Keon, did you want to kill them? Did you enjoy it?”
I grit my teeth as my victims faces flash through my mind. “No.”
His smile is wry. “I needed someone to blame, and it was easier to hate you than hate my own mother, but I know it wasn’t your fault and I forgive you. I want us to be…friends. In time we might be brothers.”
The wall I’ve built is crumbling beneath his words as hope punches holes into it.
“Fee is miserable,” Aazael says. “She smiles but it doesn’t reach her eyes, and when I hold her, I can feel the emptiness inside her. We were once enough, but we are no longer enough. A piece of her heart is missing.”
What was he saying?
“I need you to come back, Keon, because the missing piece is you.”
I stare at him, momentarily stunned. “You want me to be with her?”
His mouth tightens. “I want my soulmate to be happy, and I want to know my brother.” He sighs. “I want us to be a family.”
He holds my gaze, steady, even, and sincere.
The tight band around my chest eases. I’m going home.
* * *
Fee
It would be dinner time soon and dinner at the Keep was a fancy affair now Samael was back.
“What are you going to wear?” Cora asked as we headed toward my rooms. “That red dress the imps delivered is gorgeous. Uri’s eyes will pop out of his head, and Grayson and Hunter will go into Loup heat. Wait. Do male Loup go into heat?”
I chuckled. “It also makes my boobs look like they’re about to burst free.”
“I know—fucking fabulous. Mal will have a field day, and if Azazel was here—” She broke off. “Well, you can ask him yourself.”
I looked up to find my soulmate bearing down on us. His face was streaked with the grime of travel, and he brought the fresh cold scent of the upper atmosphere with him.
“Hey, big guy!” Cora greeted Azazel as he drew near. “I’ll catch you both at dinner.”
She slipped away leaving me with my soulmate.
Had he always been this large? Heck, a week without him, and my eyes were playing tricks on me, but my heart… My heart recognized this monolith as mine. I pressed my palms to his chest, pushed up on tiptoe and claimed his mouth. He tasted slightly salty, like an ocean breeze.
I pulled back. “Did you fly toward the sea?”
He stroked my cheek. “I did, and I brought you a gift. It’s in your room.”
“A gift? Azazel, I don’t need gifts.”
“I think you need this one, and I hope… I hope when I see you at dinner later, your eyes will smile.” He kissed my forehead. “Go. Find your gift.”
He left me standing in the middle of the corridor and strode away.
That was…weird.
Maybe this gift would hold some answers.
* * *
My room was bathed in moonlight. The windows to the balcony were open, drapes blowing gently in the icy breeze that didn’t penetrate my chambers thanks to the heating built into the walls that kept the Keep warm.
The bed was empty, no gift. The dresser was bare, and the small coffee table and sofas were also devoid of any package.
Where had Azazel put it?
My heart jumped into my throat at a movement on the balcony, then Keon was standing in my room.
Midnight blue in the moonlight, his hair loose and cascading down his bare chest, pants hung low on slender hips, feet bare. He was beautiful and feral, just the way he was meant to be.
He was here.
He was…Azazel’s gift? Oh god.
“Fee…” He took a step closer.
I held up my hand to stop him, anger warring with the relief at having him here. “You left.”
“I know.”
“No. You left me.”
His throat bobbed. “I’m sorry. I thought…I thought it would be for the best.” His tone was saturated with torment, and his face was etched with longing and pain.
My anger dissipated as quickly as it had risen.
“Azazel found me,” he said. “Fee… Will you have me?”
“Stupid fucking question.” I bridged the distance between us, threw my arms around his neck, and kissed him hard on the mouth, revelling in the imprint of his fangs against my lips. I pulled back and looked into his gleaming eyes, allowing myself to drown in his dark, dilating pupils. “Don’t ever leave me again.”
His chest vibrated in a purr, then his arms were around me, hauling me up, and crushing me to his taut chest. He claimed my mouth with a hunger that spoke of weeks of denial. He kissed me like I was the anchor keeping him from drowning, fangs grazing my lips with a delicious sting that made my core contract. His hand slipped into my hair, and I mimicked him, sinking both my hands in his silken locks. He cupped my ass and hoisted me up so I could lock my ankles around his waist, gripping with my thighs as I explored him with my tongue. He wrestled mine into submission wrapping his around it and holding me immobile as he sucked.
Fuck. What the fuck, oh… My brain exploded in fireworks. What was this?
He broke the kiss, and I looked at him dazed.
“A little daemon perk,” he said, breathless.
“Keon, please fuck me.”
His head dipped, and that clever tongue was on my neck then between my breasts. Something tugged at my top to free my boobs. I looked down to see his tail hooked on the fabric.
He grinned, wicked and sexy, and his gaze dropped to my breasts and his expression melted to desire. My head fell back as he explored me with his mouth, tongue rasping over my sensitized nipples, sucking and lapping at them until I was a squirming wet mess in need of attention further south.
The mattress dipped beneath me, and I had no clue how we’d made it here. All I knew was that these clothes needed to come off. I tore at them, breath shallow with excitement, eager to be free of the constraints. Keon pinned me with one hand on my chest.
“Let me.”
He drew a blade out of nowhere and I fell still, watching the glint of metal as it descended toward me. Oh, fucking yes please.
His eyes were dark with desire as he sliced my clothes from my body. The metal was cold, here and there against my skin, but it never cut me, not once, and then I was naked, exposed, wet, and swollen.
His tail slid over my abdomen, thick and heavy, pressing down on me.
“Keon…”
My pulse hitched as it travelled south. He slid his hand beneath the waistband of his pants and fisted himself. I could see the outline of his arousal as he pumped it. I wanted to see more, but the tail, fuck the tail was sliding over my pubic bone and then it was parting my folds and dipping into my wet heat. My moan was a ragged thing, thighs parting on instinct to give the invasion purchase and then it was sliding over my swollen clit and my hips began to move, rolling against it, desperate for that feeling to go on, for that wave to hit.
Keon peeled his pants down to expose his cock, pumping it as his tail drove me to the edge. His cock was glorious, glistening at the tip with precum. Fuck I wanted to taste him, but he was picking up tempo, his hand pumping faster as his tail drove me toward release. I was going to come… Oh fuck.
My back arched, hips coming up as his cock finally entered me. He pinned my arms to the bed above me as he thrust, his tail still on my clit massaging it as he fucked me. The orgasm hit, forcing my head back and tearing a feral cry from my throat, which he claimed with his mouth, drawing it into him like a hungry breath.
We remained locked, hips rolling, milking the high, riding the wave for long minutes. And then he began to lick me. Tingles spread all over my body, something in his saliva. Something. Oh… The sensation travelled down to the apex of my thighs where we wer
e still joined. Every stoke of his tongue sent a fresh wave of sensation until the pressure, the need to come again, was almost painful, and then he reared back gripped my hips and began to thrust again. Long, hard, fast thrusts that opened me wide and tore sounds from me that I’d never made before.
My body locked as I came, cries trapped in my throat, back arched, hips jerking over and over as the orgasm ripped through me. Keon’s cry of release echoed around the room and then his hands were on me, soothing me, kneading me, as I came down.
He gathered me to him and rolled onto his side, still inside me, and my heart…my heart was finally complete.
* * *
Eve
The sky above is as clear as the day I imagined it. How much longer before my eyes close for good? I can’t move now. The eons of running from time are catching up, and my body is no longer my own.
I’m dying.
Which means Cain is dead.
Sorrow twists my insides, but not for the loss of my son. For the loss of what may have been, given more time.
Samael…
My Samael.
Something shifts in the fabric of my world, and my thready pulse accelerates, leaving me breathless.
“Eve?”
Oh god. I want to turn my head, to see his face, but I’m immobile.
And then, like a prayer, his glorious visage hovers above me. He lifts me gently into his arms and cradles me to his powerful chest. My eyes are void of tears, too dried up to cry.
My mouth moves but no words come.
“I know,” he says. “I know.”
I love him. Have always loved him, even though he wasn’t mine. I’ve waited for so long and he came. He came to me, and now I can go in peace.
“Sleep now,” he says. His hand sweeps across my forehead in a gentle caress as I devour him with my eyes. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you what you wanted. Maybe in another life…”
Another life…
I take my final breath.
* * *
Lilith
Mammon glares daggers of loathing at me from his cell—an emotion he’s kept hidden for too long. I’ve always suspected his hatred. I rejected him time and time again, after all.
I’ve never liked the fallen angel, only tolerated him. Mammon’s ambition is for himself and himself alone. He cares nothing for others, not even his kin, as he demonstrated when he slaughtered his daughter.
A life in a cell is too good a punishment for him.
There must be more, and I have just the thing in mind.
“Look at you,” he says. “Gray and haggard. Your beauty is gone.”
“Look at you,” I retort. “Locked up like a common thief. Did you honestly believe you could steal my kingdom?”
“I almost succeeded.” He frowns. “If not for unforeseen circumstances. Cain was not on my radar.” He sits on the narrow cot that serves as his bed. “It’s a shame he was unable to end Samael’s life. But I must say, seeing you like this—gray and wrinkled—is enough to keep me warm in this cold, dank pit.”
I allow my lips to curve in a smile. “Oh, Mammon, did you honestly think this would be the extent of your punishment?”
Doubt flickers across his face. “Samael passed his sentence.”
“I am queen here.” I step closer to the bars. “And I have yet to pass my sentence. Samael has no idea of the grief you’ve caused me or the extent of the torment you put me through. This punishment is not enough.”
He raises his chin. “I’m not afraid of you, Lilith. Look at you. You’re nothing.”
And my next actions will make me even less, but they will be worth it. I close my eyes and reach into the abyss, into the place called Taraffel—the afterlife for creatures like me. Like us.
Loke, I have a proposition.
Lilith, you honor me again. The gatekeeper’s voice is clear in my mind. What is it you desire?
I offer you a decade of what’s left of my life if you admit this soul into the maze.
A soul that is tethered is no use to me.
But all tethered souls must sleep.
A low chuckle. Ah, I see what you desire. A forever sleep, and a one-way trip into a forever nightmare.
Will you accept my offer? My spine cracks and curves, and my vision blurs.
“What’s happening to you?” Mammon looks horrified.
I can feel my body failing. I look at my hands to find paper thin skin speckled with age spots and stretched over bone. I can only imagine what my face looks like. But there’s joy in my heart, because this means Loke has accepted my offer. It means that—
Mammon yawns then looks surprised. “What…” His eyelids droop, then he falls onto his side, fast asleep.
He will not wake again.
“Sweet nightmares, Mammon. For eternity.”
It is time for me to rest.
Two months later
Cora
“Oh shit, I’m nervous.” Fee locks eyes with me in the mirror.
Her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are bright. She looks fucking stunning in the red, black, and cream dress that billows out around her like something from a fairy tale. It’s a work of art. I should know—I helped design it.
I resist the urge to clasp my hands together and simper with glee. “You’ll be fine.”
She’d almost postponed this day after Lilith’s demise, wanting to be by Samael’s side in his grief, but Samael put his foot down and insisted the ceremony go ahead.
“Are they here?” she asks for the fifth time.
“Yes, they’re here, and if it’s any consolation they’ve each asked if you’re here.”
She takes a shuddering breath. “This is so stupid. I mean, we’re together. I know we are, and that isn’t going to change. I shouldn’t be so nervous.”
“But you’re making a public commitment to be a family, to love and be loved by six guys.” I chuckle. “Babe, you’re braver than I am.”
She smiles. “Bravery doesn’t come into it. This was meant to be. These are my guys, and I’m theirs.”
“And you’ll do fantastically,” Delphine says from her perch on the chaise lounge. She looks even pinker than usual today. “Cora, take a picture, so I can show Cyril later.”
I snap another picture with the polaroid and hand it to the snake. He’ll be at the reception, but right now he’s on egg watch duty. Fee told me about Cyril’s doubts on fatherhood. Looks like he’s overcoming them.
“Are you ready?” Delphine asks Fee.
Fee’s back straightens, and I can almost see the nervous tension drop from her shoulders. “I’m ready.”
* * *
Fee
We wanted a wedding, but a wedding didn’t feel right. It didn’t fit us, so Cora did some liaising and came up with a Commitment Ceremony, one that would be officiated by a demon, a celestial and a Loup pack minister.
As I stood outside the heavy double doors to the hall Vi had sourced for us, my heart pounded against my ribs.
I was about to claim these men in front of all our friends and colleagues. I was about to say they were mine, and I was theirs. I was excited and eager and terrified.
Cora squeezed my hand. “You look gorgeous,” she said again.
And then she stepped back and Eldrick and Samael took her place standing either side of me.
The doors swung open and the room beyond was revealed. Azazel, Mal, Grayson, Hunter, Uri, and Keon stood at the top of the aisle, three on each side, and in the center, waiting to greet me, was the divine, a huge smile on his face. Lilith’s cardinal stood to his left and the Loup magistrate stood to his right. There were people, so many people, but I had eyes only for my guys.
They’d dressed in suits and tails even though I’d said they didn’t need to. They’d shaved and groomed too, and now they watched as I glided toward them. The thunder in my heart calmed beneath the balm of love shining from their eyes.
This was meant to be.
This was a
lways meant to be.
As Samael and Eldrick stepped back and the guys surrounded me I knew that right here, among them, was my forever home.
* * *
Cora
Fee’s smile hasn’t faltered, not once. The guys take turns to dance with her, whirling her around the floor like a beautiful doll. My friend has found her happily ever after, and my heart can’t be fuller. I sip my champagne then gag. Why the fuck am I drinking this crap?
A glass of amber liquid appears beneath my nose. “I believe this might be more to your taste.”
I take the whiskey but, don’t bother to look at the deliverer. “I don’t recall sending you an invitation.”
Jasper grips the nape of my neck lightly. “I don’t need an invite, Cora. I take what I want.”
A shiver skates down my spine. “Go away, Jasper. Not tonight. Tonight is about Fee.”
He leans in so his breath tickles the delicate shell of my ear. “And tomorrow?”
I suppress a shiver of desire and finally turn my head to look at his wickedly beautiful face. “Tomorrow is another day.”
His lips curved in a hungry smile. “And tomorrow, you’re mine.”
Fee’s Story may be over, but Cora’s adventures are only just beginning.
Check out the new series The Thirteenth sign. Cora and Jasper are back in Witch Unexpected. Grab your copy HERE now!
Other books by Debbie Cassidy
The Gatekeeper Chronicles
Marked by Sin
Hunted by Sin
Claimed by Sin
The Witch Blood Chronicles
(Spin-off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)
Binding Magick
Reaper Unleashed: Deadside Reapers: Book 7 Page 27