“Are you lost, sweetheart?” the taller of the two asked in a deceptively friendly tone. He moved forward all innocent like. As soon as he left the shadows, he pulled a green stocking cap over his face. His teeth reflected the dim light as he smirked at me.
“What’s in your bag, love? Hand it over and we’ll let you go.”
He wants to mug me? Seriously?
The other wore a red jacket and turned his back on me. He faced the entrance and lit up a cigarette.
Are you freakin’ kidding me? I am so not in the mood for this.
“You might want to get away from me. I’m not in a good mood right now,” I warned.
My heart sank a little when I realized I had no gun or knife on me. Rivin dragged me out so fast I forgot to grab a weapon. All I had were my hands.
And my powers.
He lunged so fast I just had time to throw up my hands to shove him backwards. I wasn’t quick enough though. His momentum sent me flying into the wall. The sound of my head smacking the brick rang like church bells in my ears. My attacker was breathing hard through his nose as he held me against the wall. I twisted my head and shoved my palm into his nose. The crunch was loud enough to make me smile but only for a split second.
Before I could move out of the way, he went berserk. Throwing me down like a rag doll, he picked me up and bounced me against the wall until my head was full of stars. My hands didn’t obey my brain. I kept trying to use my powers, but I couldn’t focus my thoughts inside my rattled head. A small part of my brain was screaming that this wasn’t a human. Couldn’t be a normal human; he was too strong, too overwhelming.
He left me sprawled on top of an electrical box as he pulled an athame out of his jacket. It gleamed like black glass.
Obsidian.
Oh, holy God!
He grinned through the hole in the mask, his teeth red with blood now. Fumbling with the buttons of my coat, he yanked the leather apart to get to my chest. The smell of burning earth surrounded me; blood dripped from the mask. As his horror-movie face swam in and out of focus, my muscles tensed to bolt even as dizziness tried to drag me under. Fleeing seemed smarter than fighting but I was having trouble moving. My heart was pounding a thousand beats a minute and my brain was short-circuited.
Breathing hard, he grabbed my kicking legs and growled, “Stop fighting me. I’ll be gentle.” He shoved my coat away and yanked up my sweater, laughing at his little joke.
The sound of his laughter sent me over the edge and I screamed for Dec in complete mindless panic. The sentry appeared out of the darkness and slapped his hand over my mouth. I bit it but he only hissed and pushed down harder. Ski Mask used the athame to cut my bra and shoved it away from my heart. The protective rune throbbed in warning as he raised the blade.
And then he flew through the air in a blaze of white light.
Blinking in the sudden brightness, I struggled to sit upright. What happened?
My heart lurched in my chest. The rune sizzled.
There was something there; a supernatural something. It moved too fast to see its features, but it wasn’t human; the brilliant glow could only mean Primani. But who? Rivin?
After throwing my attacker into the wall, it snapped his neck. The stink of rot hit me like smelling salts. The lookout tried to run, but he was grabbed and lifted by his throat clear off his feet. In a split second, his head lolled to the side, eyes staring at his butt. Black smoke curled from his eye sockets. Both bodies vanished.
In the blink of an eye, Dec lifted me into his arms and laid me in the seat of the McLaren.
I must’ve really, really, really hit my head back there.
I blinked in and out of awareness on the short ride to the house. Except for the massive headache and nausea, this was a lovely dream.
Dec was back. It was an answer to my prayers…
The feel of soft lips on my forehead made me smile. The lips followed the curve of my temple and down my jaw. Gentle fingers traced my face and the familiar heat of healing surrounded the back of my head. The dizziness and pain gradually faded, leaving me woozy and mellow. The lips were back, pressing against my temple with a sigh.
“Why are you always broken when I find you?”
“Dec?” I murmured half asleep. His hand stroked mine and I curled my fingers around his and sighed, “I’m broken without you…”
With a soft sound, he pulled me close and clung to me. “Oh, Mica, I love you, little sister.” His voice broke and my eyes flew open.
His face was pressed against my shoulder so the first thing I saw was the sun-kissed blond hair. His arms were real; they held me in an iron grip as if he could absorb me through his skin. He lifted his face and looked into mine. His eyes shone with love and tears as he smiled at me. His crooked, dimpled, heartbreaking smile was real. In my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d see it again.
“Oh, God, Dec! You’re real?” Clutching him to me, I burst into tears and laughter.
“Who the hell is this?” Rivin grouched from my bedroom doorway.
Before I could answer, Dec shot off the bed and threw Rivin down the stairs. The plaster took a beating as his head pinballed off the walls. Dec met him at the bottom of the stairs and lifted him up by his shirt. Too shocked at the sight of a living and breathing Dec, Rivin stood paralyzed with his mouth hanging open. Taking total advantage, Dec lunged at Rivin and pinned him to the floor. Domino and I stood at the top of the steps watching the action. Her tail wagged low to the floor as if she wasn’t sure what to think. Her liquid brown eyes met mine.
Does the Happy One have the small sack toy?
The happy one? It fit. Though, at the moment, ‘happy’ wasn’t even in the ballpark. Furious, berserk, nuts, lost-his-mind, vicious…those were MUCH more accurate as he beat the crap out of Rivin.
I patted her head. “I’m sure he’ll find you one, Princess.”
My mouth fell open as Dec punched him in the face three times before I got my wits about me enough to yell at them.
“Stop! That’s enough!”
Dec paused, fist raised and bloody, and snarled at Rivin, “You piece of shit! You were supposed to protect her!”
“I was protecting her!”
Dec punched him again. “Bullshit! She was almost skewered by a couple of Anza demons while you were shagging some slut in the parking lot!”
Rivin and I both said, “What!?”
Dec glanced over at me apologetically, “Sorry, love. I wanted you to sleep first. You were pretty hurt last night. Do you remember?”
The images from the alley trickled into my mind and I sagged against the wall. With one hand over my eyes, I groaned. Killian was going to lose his mind.
Rivin and I both said, “Killian’s gonna be pissed.”
I pointed my finger at Rivin and said, “At you!”
His face blanched even as blood ran from a cut under one eye. Dec was still sitting on his chest and staring clinically at the damage. He was considering whether he should hit him again or not. Shrugging, he got up and went to the kitchen to wash his hands. I followed in a daze.
Dec…back…for real.
It was a miracle.
A dream come true.
My heart did somersaults inside my chest, my eyes gleamed with absolute joy, my rune began to glow.
Uh-oh!
The air shifted and Killian’s large and angry body filled the kitchen. Without seeing anyone else, he pulled me into his arms and kissed me with a crazed desperation that surrounded him like cologne. His hands ran down my back and he fitted me tightly against him and deepened the kiss. Bent over backwards, with his tongue swirling against mine, my eyes rolled back in my head and my vision grew sparkly from the force of his power racing through me. His emotions hit me so hard, my hormones ignited like dynamite. In another second, I might combust.
“I thought you were dead! Thank the angels, you’re okay!” he groaned against my neck and kissed me again. Not that I minded, but I was confused and burning
like a torch.
What freaked him out?
“I just got back into our plane and I felt the ghost echoes of your pain, your fear. It lingers, you know. I smelled your blood in the air. God, Mica, if anything happened to you now…”
Catching his hand in mine, I kissed his palm. “I’m okay. I’m better than okay.”
Pulling back, he studied my face from top to bottom and ran his fingers over the dried blood in my hair. His face went rock hard and his eyes went flat. Rivin and Dec had gone statue and stared with huge eyes from the dining room. Unable to look away, they watched as Killian’s eyes slid to Rivin and he connected the dots. Rivin took a step back and came up against the wall. Growling low in his throat, Killian stalked Rivin with fingers clenching at his side.
“You were supposed to protect her!”
Dec jumped in front of Rivin just as he threw a punch. He caught Dec right on the jaw, snapping his head back and into Rivin’s nose. The crunch was loud and everyone froze.
Killian gaped at Dec and dragged him into a bear hug. Clapping him on the back, he grinned from ear to ear.
“It’s really you? Welcome back, little brother!”
Dec’s smile was suspiciously wobbly, but his eyes were dry as he wrapped his arms around Killian. Turning to me, he opened his arms and I slid right in. I was in Heaven.
Feeling suddenly panicky, I grabbed Dec’s arm and asked, “Are you staying? You didn’t just come back to save my life and now you have to go again, right? Please say you’re staying!”
He reached out and smoothed my hair out of my eyes with a full, dimpled grin. “You’ve got me for as long as you want me. I’m officially back on the team.”
Killian asked, “Raphael did this?”
Dec glanced sideways at me and said reverently, “No, it was Michael. He sent me back; said I still have things to do. He healed me himself!”
He’d finally gotten to meet Michael.
The room was suddenly as quiet as a tomb. Rivin swore softly and looked at me, then down to his boots. “I’m sorry, Mica. I’m a piece of shit. I should’ve been there for you last night.”
Dec said, “Don’t feel too bad, mate. She had to call me eventually. It might as well be your fault.”
Rivin grunted and went to take a shower. Apparently, Dec had healed my head and put me into a deep sleep last night. Not willing to leave my side, he curled up next to me and slept until Rivin got home and lost his mind. Even now, he sat next to me with my hand in between both of his. He caught Killian’s eye and started to move back. Killian laid his hand on Dec’s and smiled with real affection.
“It’s fine, Dec. I’m not worried about it. Touch her, hug her, heal her; she’s been crazy with grief over you. She needs all of us. You know that. With you gone, and now Sean…well, she’s my only priority.” He ended this very sweet comment by kissing the top of my hand.
“Don’t do it! Ah Mica, come on, babe. You’re not supposed to cry now!”
“Well stop being so damn sweet! It’s not natural!” I said through a grin. Both of them laughed and all was right in the world.
We moved from the couch to the kitchen, Dec and I made lunch, and then we moved back to the living room. We had a lot to catch up on and no one wanted to separate. Rivin came down and ate with us, but left when Killian’s anger threatened to boil over and cause him to strangle Rivin. During the afternoon, I leaned my head on Killian’s shoulder and let the low rumble of male voices lull me to warm pudding. Dec had healed my head, but the rest of me was a mishmash of bruises that were neatly hidden by my clothes. A trip to the bathroom alerted me to fingerprints bruised into my thighs. I didn’t want Killian to see those. The demon hadn’t raped me, but it wouldn’t look that way to my warrior. His protectiveness setting was on high right now. These incidental bruises would just piss him off more, so I would have to fix them. By the time I got to my arms, Killian was suspicious.
Tapping me on the nose, he looked at me curiously. “Are you healing yourself?”
I glanced at Dec who raised a perfect blond brow. His expression strongly advised against lying. Killian stiffened and crossed his arms. Damn it. I can’t hide anything from him.
“No, you can’t. Dec, we’ll be out in a little bit. Take the third bedroom, dude. It’s nice. There’s a Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.”
He gently closed the door behind him and said, “Okay, spill it. What don’t you want me to know?” He moved over to the bed and unlaced his boots. Propping his back against a pile of pillows, he waited for me to answer.
“You fight dirty. How can you be so patient?”
He smiled at my irritation and patted the bed. “Babe, you and I go way back. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Why on earth wouldn’t I be patient with you? Would you rather I rant and rave and scream at you like some insecure, foolish human man?”
“Stop it, you’re melting my heart,” I teased as I curled up with him. He tugged the blanket over my legs and waited.
Better get this over with.
Sighing at the inevitable explosion, I started to take my shirt off. Pausing midway, I warned, “You’re not going to like this. All I can say is the two demons are dead; very, very dead. Dec practically ripped their heads off of their bodies.”
His breathing stopped and he sat preternaturally still. “Two demons?”
I pulled the shirt over my head and turned so he could see my upper body. His right eye twitched when he saw the bruises on my biceps where the guy grabbed me and slung me to the ground. His eyes traveled down my torso and back to my chest. Carefully, he peeled my bra strap over my shoulder and stared at the bruise on my collarbone, and the faint scab where the athame nicked me when my bra was sacrificed.
“Is there more?”
Fingers tapping. Eye twitching.
Unhappy warrior.
Nodding, I looked down and he hissed through his teeth. As I pulled down the yoga pants, he drummed his fingers against his thigh. He tried to keep a straight face, but I could practically hear the screaming thoughts inside his head. As usual, he was holding himself with rigid control. The only outward signs of his anger were his tapping fingers. Even the eye twitch was battened down.
I winced as I kicked off the pants and stood up so he could see the damage. The hand prints were practically branded into my thighs.
“Two demons?” His voice was just a whisper but his eyes went nuclear.
I started to tremble with delayed reaction as the scene slipped into my memory. The ski mask, the bloody teeth, the obsidian athame…then the stench of evil, the pain in my head; the images ran together like a disjointed movie trailer.
“They didn’t…didn’t…didn’t want to rape me.”
The eye twitch came back.
“What did they want?”
Gulping, I cleared my throat and said, “I think they wanted my heart.” His snarl made me add, “But Dec got there in time!” Thank God Dec was there.
Killian whispered, “No, thank Michael.”
He shook his head and growled, “Fucking animals!”
“Rivin!” He was worked up and ready to explode.
“Don’t kill him!”
Rivin rapped on the door. I could sense his breathing on the other side. He knew he was in trouble, but he’d never run away. That wasn’t the Primani way.
“I’ll be right back,” Killian said to me while yanking the door open.
His voice dropped but I could still hear him with my ear pressed against the door. He said, “I’m not going to kill you because Mica doesn’t want me to. You owe her, you sonofabitch! Understand this: if they had killed her, you would be dead right this second. There wouldn’t be enough of you left for your ancestors to burn.”
There was a loud crash and Rivin grunted in pain.
“You can’t seem to get your priorities straight, can you? You’d pick the fucking slut over the good woman every time. How many more women will die because you’re out whoring around?”
With t
hat, he came back into the room and quietly closed the door behind him. Forcing a calmer expression, he searched my eyes for shadows. Reassured that I wasn’t damaged for life, he inhaled deeply and said, “Come here and let me be a good boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend? Jesus, Killian, you’d never be so ordinary.”
With a snort of laughter, he scrubbed his fingers through his hair and said, “Well, I’m certainly not the son of God either.” A shadow crossed his face and he added, “Not by any stretch.”
His emotions were settling down from murderous rage to something more like fear and a need to heal his woman. His heart tugged at mine and I gave in and let him do what he needed. Those beautiful big hands were gentle as he laid me back on the bed and healed me in his own special way. Instead of using his fingertips as Dec would have, he used his mouth. Starting with my neck, he kissed every one of the bruises until they vanished. The tiny amount of healing energy came through his lips and tongue while they traced the marks. The further down he went, the less I felt the bruises. As the heat of his mouth warmed my skin, I began to purr. The combination of his wonderfully sexy mouth and the tingling heat did X-rated things to my blood. By the time he healed the last of my bruises I was delirious, with only one thought in my head.
The feel of Killian’s hand running down my leg brought me awake and I blinked into his ocean blue eyes. His nose hovered just above mine. When I opened my eyes he dipped his head to kiss me fully awake, his teeth nipping my lower lip. His hand stopped moving down my leg and lay gently on my belly. It was such a sweet gesture, and one I was getting used to. He’d been unusually careful with me the past few months; touching me gently, patiently letting me heal and grow. I was amazed every time I looked into his eyes and saw the depth of his love for me. When had this happened? It seemed like just yesterday when I saw him searching for me at that silly party in Plattsburgh. I’d been scared to death of him; everything about him screamed ‘dangerous.’ He was no less dangerous today, but of no threat to me. Somewhere over the years things had changed.
“I didn’t want to wake you, but dinner’s ready,” he said quietly.
Curling against him, I pouted and said, “I’m too comfortable to get up. Come here with me.” Reeling him in closer, I stretched against the hard muscles of his thighs and thought of better things to do than eating.
The Lost Soul Trilogy (Primani Book 5) Page 90