Demon Dreams

by Misha Paige

  Samuel’s full lips pressed to mine so softly at first it felt like a whisper. Slowly the pressure increased and his tongue licked at the seam of my lips. His fingers threaded through my hair as the kiss deepened. Our tongues were in a soft tangle as warmth spread through me.

  A moan escaped me as the heat built. I arched against him as I tried to get closer. The kiss deepened as his flavor of a rich, decadent dessert nearly had me drunk. His hands slid down to cup my ass, pulling me tighter against him. The aroused length of him made me feel empty and I wrapped a leg around him as I tried to soothe the ache.

  Samuel let out a groan and lifted me up, sitting me on the island. I gasped as heat and desire spread from the touch of his hand as they slid over my backside, pulling me to the edge. My legs spread open in surrender. When he fitted himself to me I grabbed his ass to bring him against me harder, needing the firmness of his body pressing into me. I sucked on his tongue while I rocked against him. Somehow, I realized this was getting out of hand and I managed to pull my mouth away from him regretfully. “We should stop now.”

  Samuel took a deep breath and stepped away from me. “Yeah.” He pocketed my list and walked over to the mudroom off the back so he could pull on his coat. “Becca?”

  “What?”

  “I just want you to know.” Samuel shot me a wicked grin. “I didn’t take a taste. That was one hundred percent glamour free, Sweetness.”

  I blinked at him as he left. That kiss had been just us?

  Well holy fuck!

  * * * *

  Alec had convinced me to take a walk with him after he assured me that the wolves were gone.

  “I love it out here,” I told him then said wryly, “At least when nothing’s trying to kill me.”

  “Do you like it enough that you could live here or someplace similar?” Alec’s hand steadied me as we crossed a small creek.

  “You mean if I wasn’t hiding from the police?”

  Alec gave me a sheepish grin. “Yeah. If everything else went away and you could choose.”

  I understood why he was asking so I was honest. “Yeah, but I don’t think I could do without trips to a city. I’d want to go do things occasionally. Like movies, restaurants, dancing, stuff like that.” I looked up at him. “Do you have to avoid places like that?”

  Alec shook his head. “No. I like doing stuff like that too. I just have to avoid being in a huge crowds for long periods of time.” He grinned at me. “I love dancing.” Then he blushed.

  I arched a brow at him. “Let me guess, that’s how you picked up women.”

  He shrugged. “It worked.”

  I hesitated a moment before I asked something that had been bothering me. “Those women…Did they mean anything to you? Or Samuel?”

  Alec ran a hand through his silver and black hair as he shifted on his feet. “We only took the willing. Those who were only looking for a night or two of pleasure.”

  “Every time?” I asked, as I noticed the slight shadow of guilt and unease in his gaze as it slid away.

  “Occasionally someone would try to convince us to stay but we couldn’t.”

  “Because it was too dangerous?” I bit my lip.

  Alec sighed. “Yes, in part, but mostly because they weren’t our mate. We’d leave them to their lives as we went on with ours. But we tried not to be cruel.”

  “What about precautions? Did you use them?” They had been with so many others that the idea from sex ed that when you slept with one person you were basically trusting them and everyone who’d been in their bed —frankly it blew my mind.

  Alec shrugged. “They weren’t necessary since we’re immune to diseases, but yes, once condoms were developed we did. Not doing so could’ve made us stand out plus it was their right to protect themselves.” Alec raised his brow as he headed off my next question. “We can’t father children with anyone other than our mate.” He continued after a brief pause. “If you accept us, we’ll take whatever precautions you wish so you don’t become pregnant until you’re ready.”

  “I have a birth control implant so that won’t be an issue for a while.” Thank God! I swallowed deeply. Kids… I had no idea what to say to him about that because—hell, I had no idea if I would even be free in a month’s time and he’s talking kids?

  I must’ve looked as panicked as I felt because Alec tried to calm me.

  “I just meant to tell you the facts, not that we are anywhere near ready to even think about such things.”

  Okay, that makes sense. I decided to change the subject. “So—dancing? Are you any good?”

  Alec smirked playfully. “I’ve never had any complaints.”

  I was ready to lighten the mood too so I gave him a once over. “If you can shake that ass with any skill, then I bet you didn’t.”

  Alec shot me a grin then turned around and proved he could shake it with a high level of skill.

  When he turned back to me I was fanning myself while I gave him a comical leer. The next thing I knew he had me plastered against him and started dancing as he hummed an unfamiliar tune. “That’s beautiful.”

  “Something my mother used to sing. They died four hundred and fifty years ago but I swear I can still hear her singing to my father’s cittern.” Alec explained when I gave him a curious look. “It was similar to a guitar. It had a longer neck and more slender body. His was carved with gothic style faces.” He shuddered. “It actually scared the crap out of me as a boy.”

  “Where are you from?” Sometimes I thought I detected a faint accent to his words but nothing strong enough to hint at his birthplace.

  Alec shrugged. “We were peasants in what is now France, near the Italian border.”

  “You don’t have an accent, at least not much of one.”

  Alec looked at me seriously. “We worked hard to get rid of them. It doesn’t matter as much now but it used to be very bad if you stuck out in any way. Speaking differently would make you seem too different. I saw people burned for having speech impediments. Most paranormals learned how to mimic language and dialects quickly.”

  “Why did you…” I let my words trail off because I wasn’t sure I had the right to ask him.

  “Why did I bond with Samuel?” Alec smiled at my nod. “You can ask me anything, Becca, don’t worry.”

  He was lost in thought for a few moments. “We didn’t know he was any different until he hit puberty. He started to get sickly often then he would disappear. I followed him one day and saw him glamour a girl.” Alec looked at me worriedly. “He only kissed her. It didn’t feed him much but it was enough for him to survive, barely anyway.”

  “It didn’t scare you away from him?”

  “He’d been my brother for ten years by then. I was scared for him, not of him.” Alec grimaced. “He begged me not to tell our parents.” He looked lost in thought another moment before he continued. “We never did. They died of a fever a few years later.”

  “So you only had each other at that point,” I said quietly, realizing how alone Samuel must have felt among humans that would have turned on him in an instant.

  “Yes, it’s always just been the two of us. What Samuel didn’t know instinctively we managed to piece together,” Alec said. “I chose the bond because I knew when I died he would’ve let himself fade. I’m so glad I did. We’ve seen wondrous things over the years.” He smiled down at me. “And we found you.”

  * * * *

  A little while later Alec and I were coming back in from our walk. Thankfully Alec had let me think while we had continued our walk in silence. As I was hanging up the extra coat of Samuel’s I had been wearing Alec broke the silence.

  “So are you going to tell me what happened before Samuel left?” Alec smiled at me. “I knew before we left but after what we talked about earlier I thought I’d wait before bringing up another possibly heavy subject.”

  I looked at him in surprise. “Huh?”

  Alec shrugged. “Samuel went back to town on his own, without one wor
d to me first. That’s kind of a tip off since he hates to go there by himself.”

  I focused on his wide chest, unable to meet his gaze. Should I tell him?

  “Hey, what’s with the guilty look?” Alec cupped my chin in a gentle hand. “Becca, I know you kissed him. I could smell him on you this morning. That’s nothing to worry about.”

  “You honestly don’t mind?”

  “Mind?” he asked incredulously. “I’m ecstatic.”

  I shook my head. “It’s going to take some time to wrap my head around this ménage idea. I mean I’ve read about them in books but I always liked the ones that had all members involved with each other.”

  “Sorry, babe, but I’m not fucking my brother to make it easier to understand.” Alec said, completely deadpan.

  I couldn’t hold back my wince at his bluntness. “Point made.”

  “Don’t worry about the details, not those kind anyway. The sex is the easy part. Now please tell me what the real problem is,” Alec said gently.

  “I hurt Samuel last night.” I explained about the sexy dream I had started having about him. “He was so unhappy.” I bit my lip as I thought about Samuel’s offer. “I might be having trouble coming to grip with what he is, but I never wanted to cause him pain like that. He looked so defeated.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “I accused him of messing with my dream again.” I pulled away from Alec. “He said…”

  “He told you he would set me free and we could be together. That he would make us forget him if that’s what you wanted, didn’t he?” Alec growled.

  I nodded.

  Alec drew his shoulder up and he spun around. “That isn’t an option.” He slammed his fist on the kitchen counter. “Damn him for even thinking of it! How could he consider doing that to me?”

  I saw wild fear in Alec’s eyes. “There’s more to it than that, isn’t there?”

  Alec turned back to me as he seemed to collapse into himself. “If he breaks the familiar bond then he will only have two options, feed on others or waste away. And he would never choose to feed on others.”

  Samuel’s weak body lying on a pile of filth as he faded before my eyes.

  I felt myself go sheet white and I clapped a hand over my mouth. “Oh God, he would…again?”

  Alec flinched. “He showed you the ship, didn’t he?”

  I nodded.

  “He showed you what I did with those men?”

  I nodded again, watching as his hands clenched angrily.

  “He had no right to do that!” Alec whirled away from me.

  I walked to him and put my hand on his shoulder. “Alec,” I whispered, not letting him shrug off my hand. “He was trying to show me why he’d do anything to see you happy.” I squeezed my hand. “All I saw was two brothers willing to do anything to save the other.”

  Alec swallowed hard as he pulled away and took several steps from me. “Does it matter to you? That I gave myself to them.” His dark eyes dulled when he turned and looked at me.

  This time I cupped his chin, forcing him to meet my gaze and see I was being truthful. “It matters to me because it shows the bond between you and Samuel. I understood your choice. You were right when you told there was no shame in men being together, but I could see why it was so upsetting for you back then. I only wish Samuel hadn’t had to glamour you because I think it broke him.”

  Alec’s eyes shined with emotion. “It did. He had always wished he was human, but that was the moment he started hating what he was.”

  “Why? It was the two of you trying to survive. Why was it so different to feed from you in that moment than the countless women you both have used?”

  “I think it was because for the first time he got a taste of the power he could wield. Add to that, that it was me, scared him. Because…”

  A horrifying thought came to me and I finished what I thought he was going to say. “Because he liked it, it felt good.”

  Alec nodded. “The rush that an incubus receives from exercising that kind of control is akin to a drug high for humans.” Alec hesitated. “We used to share women so he could feed. But he no longer trusts himself to resist temptation. He’s never touched another person, Becca, not since that day. He only feeds from my experiences. He’s been waiting for our mate.”

  “When was that?” I gulped at his answer. “Almost three hundred years?”

  Alec nodded as he watched me.

  “Why would I be different? He doesn’t trust himself with you so I don’t get that at all.”

  “Because the bond isn’t designed to be just between us. It’s like a broken triangle. It was always meant to be completed by a third. One person, even with the gifts of being his familiar, cannot give him everything he needs to be at full strength. When I took a woman to bed he would receive just barely over half of what he needed.” Alec ran his hands through his hair. “We don’t really know why, everything we know he has pieced together from instinct and memories, with some folklore thrown in. Somehow our mate will stabilize the bond so that it provides all we need from each other. You would enable him to feed if it was needed and he wouldn’t risk his soul even if he drained someone and killed them.”

  “Would I become like you?” Not that I was horrified by the idea but I was… I knew what I was and a change like that would be hard to contemplate.

  “You wouldn’t have to, but it is possible if you ever wanted it.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Okay, that can be put off for the future.”

  Alec drew back in shock. “That makes it seem as if you’ve made a decision.”

  I hesitated. Had I?

  Alec took pity on me when I stood frozen, unable to say a word. “Whatever you’ve decided or whenever you do decide… tell us when you’re ready.”

  When he held his arms out, I dove into them gratefully, his embrace giving me a sense of comfort as I thought about a future that could rival any happy ever after I had ever read in a story.

  * * * *

  Two days later the power was out and we were making do for entertainment. I was curled up on the couch with an e-reader. While Samuel and Alec played some kind of poker, I think it was Texas hold ‘em, but honestly I wasn’t paying that much attention until Samuel ran out of money.

  It seemed our resident demon didn’t like losing.

  “Aww come on, Alec front me or let me trade something!” Samuel’s whining was kind of cute as he scrunched up that beautiful face.

  Alec glared. “You never paid up from the last time, welcher!” He got up from the table to take their glasses to the sink and rinsed them out.

  Samuel grinned. “Ahh well, it was worth a try.” He stood up and stretched his arms out.

  My eyes were drawn to the way his shirt rode up, displaying his carved abs. I shot him a dirty look because now I knew exactly why he had worn that tight t-shirt.

  He smirked at me, his gaze filled with teasing humor as he said, “What?” Then that bastard dragged a fingertip along the top of the worn jeans that fit him sinfully well.

  Alec threw a dishtowel at him. “Enough. Some of us aren’t interested in your attributes.”

  “Then don’t look.” Samuel tossed the towel back into the sink as he leaned against the counter.

  I had to admit that I had never seen casually sexy done before but as Samuel stood there while he looked over to the wood pile by the fireplace I realized I was watching a master at work. How much was what he was and how much was simply him? As I mulled that over I started to understand that it mattered less and less to me.

  When Samuel had come back from his shopping excursion the other day he had been almost giddy. It took a little while but I finally realized it was because nothing had happened between Alec and I while he was gone. He had truly thought that I would climb Alec like a tree the moment he was gone.

  I eyed Alec’s muscled shoulders as he walked over to add another couple logs to the fire. When he bent over I had to bite my tongue
as my hands itched to slide over the swell of his ass.

  I tore my gaze away from Alec only to find Samuel watching me. He arched a brow at me as I shrugged. He gave me a slight, wistful smile.

  The last two days had been fun as we had just talked about everyday things and memories. Slowly, the days spent playing with them as a child had come back to me. Little by little the reservations about Samuel had faded as I remembered the man who had carried me on his shoulders when I had tired during our walks. His gentle hands caring for every scrape I had gotten.

  I put the e-reader down and walked over to the kitchen to get a drink. As I passed Samuel, I pressed an impulsive kiss to his cheek.

  He looked at me quizzically. “What was that for?”

  “I was thinking about the time I climbed the tree and the branch broke.” I smiled at him. “You caught me.”

  Samuel shrugged at me. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

  “Maybe not but I can see how you carefully pushed me to climb another right away.” I had been hesitant to until he had promised that he would be there to catch me.

  That he would always be there.

  That had me thinking though. “Samuel, why didn’t you and Alec come and find me when I grew up?”

  Samuel glanced over to Alec before returning to me. “You needed time to figure out who you were, not just hit some magic age where it was legal to touch you.”

  “I’m in a dead end waitressing job,” I said dryly.

  “That’s the economy and a lack of options. You know who are you inside now, a confident woman who understands what she wants and needs. An independent woman who can survive on her own,” Alec said. “We were afraid if we came for you too soon that we would stifle you.”

  Samuel reached out to take my hand. “We kept track of you and trust me, we wouldn’t have waited much later.”

  Alec grimaced. “But I wish we had hadn’t waited so long now. If we had only gone to you a few months ago.”

  That brought my little problem to mind again. “What are we going to do about the cops?”

  Alec shrugged. “We have time to figure it out. I hid your car the night you got here, after we healed you.”

  I blushed deeply as I remembered how they had done that.