by Jessie Lane
Chloe had tried to tell Elena when they had kidnaped Lulu that this plan was nuts and Elena was going to regret it. And, as usual, Elena hadn’t listened. Now Chloe was about to get a front row seat to the tiger circus that had come to town. Or, at least came to her aunts’ house.
If only she had popcorn.
One minute, Chloe was standing there, watching Elena yell at her about getting ready for an attack, and the next thing she knew, there was two hundred plus pounds of pissed off tiger man pinning her sister to the wall.
There was something about the way that Gage Ivanov held her sister that let Chloe know he wasn’t there to hurt her. Sure, he held her immobile, but not in a way that would hurt her sister. If anything, the man was practically rubbing himself all over her, like a cat in heat, as they whispered to each other. For the most part, that was exactly what Chloe thought he was—a big, horny ol’ pussy cat.
Gage might have broken Elena’s heart in the past, but when they had confronted him the day before in the bar, Chloe saw a man who regretted what he had done. She’d had a sneaking suspicion then that Gage still loved Elena. The way he was acting now just seemed like further proof.
Of course, he really needed to stop rubbing himself all over Elena in front of Chloe, Lulu, and everyone else who had gathered to witness the show. It was like watching bad kitty porn, and it was sort of cheesy and gross.
This weird, little heated lovefest went on for a few minutes when Chloe had finally had enough. She had better things to do with her time than watch Gage huff and chuff and rub himself all over her sister.
When Gage buried his face between Elena’s breasts, Chloe finally cleared her throat to get their attention.
Both of them looked up and over at them, and Chloe could see the pure desire and need Gage had on his face for Elena. She wished someone would look at her that way. She found herself muttering, “Lucky bitch,” before she even realized what she was doing, and then clamped her lips down tight.
By now, everyone had joined them in the room: Gage’s brother, Alec; the tigers’ grandmother, Babushka; Chloe’s two aunts, Indigo and Thea; and even her other sister, Delta.
No one was moving, and time ticked by as Gage turned his attention back to rubbing his scent all over Elena, while Elena squiggled and fought him every bit of the way. Then, when he was done, he scooped her up in a fireman’s carry and started walking out of the room. Elena hung uncomfortably over the behemoth’s shoulder, while Chloe giggled at her predicament.
Then, before the two were out of sight, Chloe called, “Oh, Elena …”
Elena braced her hands on Gage’s lower back and lifted herself up a little so she could see Chloe, who was still standing in the room with a huge smile on her face. Delta, Lulu, Alec, and Gage’s grandmother were smiling at Elena, as well. However, their aunts were both frowning.
As Elena looked back at her, Chloe gave her a little finger wave as she announced to everybody in the room, “He’s doin’ her.”
When Gage and Elena disappeared out of sight, Delta warily asked from beside her, “Think we need to go save her?”
Chloe shook her head. “No way. I’d bet my lucky pair of panties that Gage is madly in love with our sister and always has been. I’m not sure why he hurt her before, but if we go pry Elena from him now, all we’ll have is a giant, pissed off tiger-shifter.”
Ever the cautious sister, Delta questioned her again, “Are you sure?”
“If he wanted to hurt Elena, he could have and would have done that as soon as he came into this room. He didn’t free his sister, didn’t tear Elena apart. No, the first thing that big lug did was rub himself all over our sister like a cat in heat, and then started whispering some dirty talk to her. Trust me; I heard a few words, even though I shouldn’t have. He was being all caveman, telling her that she was his mate and stuff.”
Delta clapped her hands together in glee. “You mean, Elena’s getting married!” she asked excitedly.
“Mated, married—whatever.” Chloe waved a hand, as if it was all the same to her. “Either way, I bet you a hundred bucks that, when she comes back, Gage is part of the package.”
Delta shook her head. “No way I’m betting against you, sister.”
Leaning over, Chloe bumped shoulders with Delta in a loving manner. “And that, sweet Delta, is why you’re the smart one.”
~~~
Later that night, Chloe sat on her bed in her favorite silk nightie, holding a legal file with the word “classified” stamped on the outside. Part of her was proud as hell for having Nancy Drewed her way into her aunts’ Amazon Inc. office and using a bobby pin to open the locked file cabinet. The other part of her felt a smidge of guilt for going behind her aunts’ backs like that.
However, if she would have asked them for the file, they would have wanted to know why she wanted it. Chloe didn’t want anyone to really know that she had taken Lulu Ivanov on as her next “Chloe case.” If they found out about this later, she would say she was sorry. Chloe lived by the moniker that it was better to apologize than to ask permission.
She didn’t have a lot in her arsenal to help Lulu, given the tigress’s circumstances, but what she did have was one marker of a debt owed by a demon who came from a powerful family. It was time to see just what Kent could do for her. Or, more specifically, for Lulu.
Sliding a manicured finger down the edge of the file, she flipped it open and started skimming the contents. Some of it was information she already knew, such as the fact that no one knew Kent’s first name, something that piqued Chloe’s interest immeasurably. Why wouldn’t the man tell anyone his first name? Was he Rumpelstiltskin reincarnated?
Knowing Kent’s name wouldn’t help Lulu, she kept skimming until she hit exactly what she was looking for. The thing that would help Lulu.
Kent’s family held a seat on the Ninth Circle Council, but it had sat empty for twenty years after his father’s death. Kent had refused to take the seat in his father’s place.
A plan started to form in her head. If Kent took that seat, Lulu would have an ally on the council. Someone who would look out for her best interest during her trial while someone tried to find evidence that would clear Lulu’s name. And the demon was going to be Lulu’s ally for one reason and one reason alone: because he owed her.
Leaning back on the bed, Chloe couldn’t help smiling down at the folder. It was nice when things fell into place, and this was one of those moments. Honestly, it couldn’t get any more perfect than this.
Kent’s family had a council seat on the Ninth Circle Council.
A seat Kent didn’t want to claim for some odd reason.
Chloe had a marker due from Kent.
A marker that could be used to make Kent claim his family’s seat, and then help Lulu Ivanov.
Looked like she might be calling in that marker sooner than she thought.
Chapter
5
Kent
Four days later…
Fuck, but I hate wearing these stuffy-ass suits. Almost as much as I hate my first name.
Kent’s brown hair was slicked back. He was wearing a black, three-piece suit, with a white shirt, and a blood-red tie. He looked like the typical upper crust citizen, except for the five o’clock shadow on his jaw. If his mother saw him right now, he would get a disapproving glare for not shaving. Of course that was because his mother thought she was better than the Queen of England. Perhaps in the social circles of demons she was. To the everyday human, she was just a rich, old bitty who liked to think she was upper crust, always reminding him of their family lineage and why that made them practically royalty in her eyes.
His family, the Kents, was one of the oldest surviving demonic lines still in existence. His father’s side could be traced all the way back to the first generation born from a human’s rape of an escaped true hell-bound actual demon when the Romans practically ruled the known world. If that wasn’t ostentatious enough, it got worse.
Kent’s father was a
third generation first son. In other words, Kent’s great-grandfather was the original born during Roman times. Demonic bloodlines were “muddied” the more they reproduced, and Kent’s line had been one of the few to do it sparingly, meaning their powers were stronger than your average demon.
Pair that with a mating of convenience for producing more genetically powerful offspring, and it had ensured the Kents stayed one of the most powerful. Hence why their family sitting on the council was so fucking important. What was power worth if you didn’t yield it? his mother liked to say.
Now, here he was, at a place he had avoided for years, about to ruin his fucking life.
Looking over at the Ninth Circle Council’s building he had just parked in front of, Kent couldn’t help thinking of the reason he was in this mess.
Chloe Demos.
The Amazon truly had no idea what she had asked of him, but it was too late now, because Kent had agreed to the terms of his marker. Now he was moments away from destroying his carefree lifestyle, which was probably why he was still sitting in his car.
There was a time when Kent thought losing the bet would put him on the winning side with the Amazon. Now, he wasn’t so sure the woman realized that neither of them would be winning. Taking on his family seat was a literal hell. Taking on Lulu’s case was a hell he wasn’t sure his Amazon had yet realized she was going into.
Staring at the non-descript brick building, Kent thought of what he was about to submit himself to. The Ninth Circle Council was the judge, jury, and executioner to demon society. They enforced all the laws and relegated the earth-bound demon realm so that humans would never catch on to their existence.
Somehow, that nosy Amazon Chloe had learned of Kent’s family place on the council and how Kent had not filled his father’s spot since the demon had died twenty years ago. How she had found out, he didn’t know, but the damage was done. Her words on the phone call he had received from her an hour ago had been simple and to the point.
“I need you to claim your family’s seat and sway the demon council to give Lulu Ivanov, Gage Ivanov’s sister, a fair trial on the murder charges they’ve brought against her for supposedly murdering her former demon lover.”
Kent had been momentarily stunned that she had known about his family’s council seat at all since that was a closely held secret.
The Amazon had been poised to fuck up all the space he had put between himself and his family, and what had been his response?
“No. You’re smoking crack, woman. I won’t go within a thousand feet of that council.”
Did he deny everything like a crafty demon should? Nope.
If that wasn’t bad enough, then he had to go and fuck it up even further between himself and the woman who was quickly becoming his obsession.
“How the hell do you know about it, anyway?”
“A lady never tells her secrets.”
Kent snorted. “And you’re no fucking lady.”
The moment those words had been spoken, Kent had wished he could take them back, even if they were true. Chloe Demos wasn’t a lady. She was a fucking warrior. He knew that now. She might fight her battles in stilettos and with the use of devious cunning, but she was an Amazonian warrior, nonetheless. Which was why, here he was, about to do something he swore he would never do, to save a tigress he only knew by association.
Kent sure as fuck hoped Gage Ivanov appreciated this shit.
He would rather be back on that plane in Germany, protecting their little group’s method of escape and hoping for some sort of action while the others raided the Corvus pack’s compound than going into this hellhole. Kent had thought protecting the plane had been boring as fuck? That had been nothing compared to what he was about to subject himself to. Hell, he would rather go back and storm the Corvus compound all by himself than do this. Nevertheless, he was a demon of his word, so he was going to honor the marker.
Getting out of his car, he walked with steady purpose to the secret doors on the side of the building that were shielded by magic from human eyes. Saying the password made them unlock for him, and he stepped inside to be met by the council’s man servant, Niles.
“Good afternoon, Niles. I believe there are two visitors here waiting for me.”
The other man bowed in his starched stiff suit, waving his hand toward the entranceway into the other room. “Yes, sir. If you will step through the door, you will find them waiting outside the council’s chamber doors.”
Kent strolled into the waiting room with a determined stride and stopped in front of a curious Gage. Chloe’s sister Elena sat next to him with a blank look on her face as she studied him.
Kent had learned a lot from being raised in his blue-blood, political, backstabbing family, and one of those things was how to recognize a dangerous predator.
And he wasn’t talking about the tiger.
Sure, Gage Ivanov was a deadly man, one of the deadliest from the whispers of gossip Kent had heard via his contacts. But Gage’s mate concerned him more. She was a thinker. Kent could see it in her eyes.
While Elena might not have her mate’s brawn strength or shifter speed, Kent would bet a shit-ton of money that the woman could probably out-plot, out-think, and if given the chance, out-maneuver any adversary. Maybe it had something to do with her Amazon genetics, Kent couldn’t be sure, but it did make him wonder just how much Elena was like Chloe.
The woman sure as hell had out-maneuvered his ass into a hell of a spot today. If she only knew what she was about to do to him, maybe she would have changed her request.
Still, that didn’t mean it was over between him and Chloe. Far from it, if Kent had anything to say about it.
There was something about the woman that kept her on Kent’s mind from the time he woke up until the time he went to bed, and it was driving him crazy. And he was bound and determined to figure out why as soon as he did what he had to do to help Lulu Ivanov today.
Silently sighing, Kent decided it was time to get this circus on the road.
Looking at Gage, he said, “I hear they’re avoiding you two.”
The tiger squinted his eyes in suspicion. “What kind of games are they playing here, demon? You should go in there and warn them not to fuck with my family. I’ll start ripping spines out and tearing heads off if they keep this shit up.”
Kent shrugged. “You’ve been around long enough to know the Ninth Circle is and will always be up to something. I hear you have evidence that casts doubt on the charges against your sister.”
Gage held up a manila envelope between them.
Holding his hand out, Kent asked, “May I?”
The other man handed the envelope over reluctantly, then watched closely as Kent opened the flap and pulled pictures out.
Schooling his features, Kent flipped through the photos and examined them one by one. They were of a couple embracing and kissing outside of a hotel. From the information Chloe had given him, the woman in the pictures had been the dead demon’s mate and the male was her shifter lover.
Kent didn’t take long before he stopped analyzing them and looked back at Gage with a new, somewhat resigned look on his face.
“For whatever reason, Councilman Holden is gunning for your sister as his brother’s killer. You’re going to need someone with some serious power to go in there to vouch for you and these pictures.”
“Well, where the hell do we get this person, Kent?” Gage snarled in anger.
“You’re looking at him, you bad tempered bastard. Follow me and keep your mouth shut.”
Not waiting to see if they would respond to the vague bomb he had just dropped, Kent spun on his heel and started walking at a fast clip toward the large, closed, heavy wooden doors that separated them from the council.
Elena’s panicked voice called out as he extended his hand toward the knob, “Don’t touch—”
The rest of her warning came to a screeching halt as Kent grabbed the knob, turned it, and flung the door open so it swung wide and
banged loudly against the wall behind it.
Poor woman must have thought he would be subjected to the death spell that had been applied to the doorknob to keep everyone else out. That was because she didn’t know that Kent was a legacy and in line to take his father’s council seat. Only council members or legacies, which were demons who had been invited to join the council, could open them without suffering the pain of death via a nasty spell cast by an extremely talented witch.
The voices that had been obviously arguing among the inhabitants seconds before were silenced at his dramatic entrance.
Stepping into the room, Kent could hear Elena and Gage following until they stood directly behind him in the middle of the floor with two long, polished wooden tables on either side of them. Both tables were full of councilors, all of whom he knew by name. However, the table on the left seemed to be short one member since there was an empty seat.
The room was dimly lit, shadows filling the corners and edges, casting a sense of mystery and caution. The back wall was painted from top to bottom with a mural that depicted demons in a battle against each other that took place hundreds of years ago. Some of Kent’s ancestors were in that painting. It was another stark reminder of how long his family had been playing this political game.
The very one Kent had avoided until now.
Let the games begin.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the Ninth Circle Council, I could be polite and say it’s a pleasure to see all of you, but I’d rather not waste time with lies.” Waving the pictures up in front of him, he continued, “It’s been brought to my attention that Councilman Holden has pressed charges against this feline-shifter, Lulu Ivanov, for the murder of his brother, Andrew. As per the laws this council laid down over a thousand years ago, charges can be placed on hold pending a thorough investigation if acceptable evidence of reasonable doubt is presented in favor of the accused. I hold such evidence.”
Murmurs flew wildly on both sides of the room, ones that were immediately overwhelmed by the belligerent voice of Holden, who stood up from his chair at the end of one of the tables and pointed at Kent.