Seducing His Brother's Best Friend

by E. A. Reynolds

  “Are you going to let him go?” he asked. “Or are you going to try and work things out? Hell, my family’s been mating with humans for decades and making it work. You can, too.”

  “I’ve waited for him for a long time,” Ennis said softly. “I’ve been in love with him for so damn long it hurts to think about letting him go.”

  “Don’t.”

  “I can’t force him if he doesn’t want me.”

  “Sounded to me like he does,” Trinity said.

  Ennis changed the subject and filled Trinity in on his plans to go snag the hitter. “I know Pan’s committed one murder. Thanks to the file Amy West had.”

  “Did you talk to Simmer about his rogue?” Trinity asked.

  “Yeah, he’s not going to do anything about it so we’re going to.”

  “You don’t have a choice,”

  Ennis sighed deeply. “I just hope this doesn’t turn into a full-out war with the death stalkers.”

  “It will eventually,” Trinity warned him.

  Ennis nodded in agreement. “Answer any questions he has about us—me. I’ll stop by the store on my way in and pick up more groceries. There’s enough for you to get by on until then.”

  “Be back early enough that I don’t get hungry enough to—”

  “So you don’t get hungry enough to get your throat taken out?”

  “Exactly,” he agreed ruefully.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Jase stepped into the kitchen after Ennis left to find Trinity washing his hands. “About to make breakfast. You in?”

  “It’s too damned dark in here.” Just like his mood. The thought of Ennis with another man was eating holes in him.

  “Tea? Coffee?” Trinity asked.

  “Coffee. I need to call Darik and let him know I’m not coming in, but Ennis is sending someone to watch over him.”

  “You can use my phone,” Trinity told him. “It’s on the table.”

  Jase made his call and put the phone back on the table. “Darik wishes you were going to be his bodyguard.”

  “He did say he’d like to find an incubus in his bed.”

  Jase smiled. “I think he just might have meant it.”

  “Me, too,” Trinity said. “If you want to talk about this, I’m here.”

  “I don’t really want to talk about it,” he said quietly. He just wanted to think of a way not to be in love with a demon.

  * * * *

  Ennis parked beneath a tree down the street from the apartment the death stalker was renting. He pushed Jase from his mind as he began to think of the things he had to do to wipe the grime of the death stalker and his boss from this city.

  He climbed out just as Bale came loping up to his truck.

  “Merc’s waiting down the street in case,” Bale said. “I have to check in with a few guys about Simmer and a few other things.”

  “Get back to the office, but tell Merc to wait for me,” Ennis told him after grabbing his bag from the backseat. He strolled casually down the sidewalk and up to the apartment door. He didn’t bother with knocking, he simply dropped his bag on the landing and shifted into his shadow form and crawled inside the apartment beneath the door.

  Poor insulation was always a quick way in to any dwelling. He listened. His quarry was awake. Good.

  He made his way to the bedroom and a fireball whizzed out the door. He moved to avoid it and materialized behind the death stalker.

  “Glad you’re awake.”

  Phil jerked around and threw another fireball. Ennis blocked it and punched him in the eye. Phil let out a frustrated grunt as he stumbled back.

  “It’s too bad you came after my mate,” Ennis murmured. “I’d let you live if you hadn’t.”

  “Look,” Phil said, holding his hands up in front of him. “I’ll tell you everything about him if you let me go. You know I was just doing what I was paid to do.”

  “You were going to feed off him,” Ennis said, his voice vibrating with rage.

  “I needed it,” he snapped. “I was running on freaking empty but at least I didn’t kill him, and I could have shot him.”

  Ennis studied him through the demon’s eyes. He could let him go, but what kind of message would that send? He didn’t know enough about Pan’s organization, and killing him might merely leave room for another ambitious killer to take his place.

  He relaxed and turned his back on the man.

  “I was leaving the city anyway once I retrieved the information I was paid to retrieve.”

  “Your employer is Michael Pan?” Ennis turned back to find the man holding a fireball. He didn’t make a move as he folded his arms over his chest.

  “Yes. He paid me to kill his wife, her lawyer, the detective she hired to spy on him, and two of his wife’s friends. Amy West and Sandy. I finally got Sandy last night.”

  “You have the information?” Ennis asked. He was interested to know what else Rebecca Hollis had on Pan. He’d wrecked too many lives to get it back to say it was just information about the incubi race.

  “She just got it in the mail at work yesterday. Looks like it’s all here.” He crossed to the dresser after extinguishing the fireball between his palms. He grabbed an envelope. I checked it before I killed her. I’ll turn it over to you. First, I’ll make a copy for Pan. I take it to him, and leave town.”

  “Plug in one of the drives,” Ennis ordered and moved closer.

  “Only if you’ll let me go,” he said. “Otherwise, I set it all on fire.”

  “And I kill you while you’re destroying it,” Ennis retorted nonchalantly. He offered the death stalker a tight smile when he glared at him. “Show me.”

  “I want your word,” he said coldly.

  “You have it,” Ennis said. Gray spades were known for being bound by their word.

  Phil gave him a triumphant look before fishing his netbook computer from beneath a pile of clothes. They watched part of the file before Phil turned it off. “I’ll make you a copy, and tell you where to find Pan.”

  “Good enough,” Ennis agreed. While the information was transferring, Ennis noticed there was more than a few flash drives in the large postal envelope. The demon was trying to cross him. “Pan is starting a new agency?”

  “A dark agency for hit men and thieves.”

  “What is your name?” Ennis asked. “Are you going to be working for him?”

  “Phil,” he answered. “No. I’m leaving town tonight.”

  “Wise of you,” Ennis murmured. “How many assassins are already working for Pan?”

  “Five are in the city. I don’t know names. You’d have to get them from the assistant.”

  “Donna Wright.”

  “She’s a nice girl,” he said. “Maybe you could let her walk away.”

  “Are you trading something for her life?” Ennis asked with raised brow.

  “Hell no,” he muttered. “She’s nice, but she’s a big girl. She made her choices.”

  “We all do,” Ennis agreed as the demon’s power swelled in him. “Like Leah.”

  Phil threw him a glance. “You detected them? I didn’t think you’d pick up Logan. They’re black hearts. Both. They aren’t part of Simmer’s house, but Pan has them on his personal payroll.”

  “Well, let’s finish this up,” Ennis said and grabbed his phone from the holster at his hip and pretended to be texting as he watched the demon switch drives. “Gotta go,” Ennis said. “The mate’s bitching about me being gone too long.”

  “Here.” He tossed a flash drive to Ennis.

  Ennis extended his hand as if to catch it and fired an electrically charged ball that hit Phil’s chest. Ennis moved quickly as Phil recovered.

  “Bastard!” Phil growled. “You freaking liar.”

  Ennis grabbed Phil’s arm and jerked it even as he shifted into his demon form. Phil screamed and Ennis drove his fist into his throat. Phil grunted and Ennis shifted as he closed his fingers around Phil’s throat.

  Phil looked up int
o flaming eyes and placed a heated hand on Ennis’s chest. Ennis lowered his head and sank his fangs into the side of his neck. Phil screamed as his artery vomited black blood. He pushed Ennis off him and threw a fireball.

  Ennis caught it in an electrically charged hand and slammed it into Phil’s chest, burning away his shirt.

  “You’ve already gone dark!”

  “I saw you switch the drives.” He growled as he dragged Phil to the window. “And FYI, a gray spade’s first loyalty is to his mate, and you tried to kill mine. My word not to kill you for that, not to avenge that wrong, was worth shit. We always kill those who attempt to kill our mates.” He yanked the curtain down, allowing the morning sun to rush in to greet them.

  Phil screamed as his skin began to burn. He struggled to get free, but Ennis sank the claws of one hand into his side and drew him up against him. He wrapped the other arm around Phil’s neck once he had him in front of him and closed his eyes. Phil’s screams died as his body turned to ash.

  Ennis walked over to the dresser and went through the envelope. He found two flash drives and a couple of manila folders. He watched a few minutes of the flash drives and skimmed through the folders. Ennis could see why Pan and his wife worried. Hollis hadn’t been as big a fool a he’d thought.

  Ennis pushed the items back into the envelope and grabbed the computer as sirens wailed outside the window. He hurried to the door and yanked it open.

  He picked his bag up from the ground and shoved the items inside before striding down the street as two uniformed policemen went running up the walk toward Phil’s place.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Jase watched Trinity covertly as they sat in the living room with a movie playing on the DVD player after breakfast. The heavy drapes darkened the room and a rug anchored the earth tones that blended well with the gleaming wood floor.

  “What kind of demon are you?”

  “Gray spade,” he answered. “Why?”

  “How did you get here? I mean demons live in hell or something,” Jase said and Trinity laughed.

  “Incubi and succubae are low-level demons that have mingled with humans since the beginning of time. Our breed has lived in this realm for centuries. We were excommunicated from our realm and forced to make life here. Some of us are pure demon and some aren’t.”

  “Ennis said he was.”

  “He is, but I’m not,” Trinity said. “I have demonic abilities, but I have human morals.”

  “Ennis doesn’t?”

  “He lives by the code of our society. Our society coexists side by side with yours but we don’t have presidents. We used to have a small council of dictators, but it was abolished during the wars a century ago. Now, we have dictators. Each dictator rules his or her territory as they see fit. However, each dictator does live by some of the old rules.”

  “Is the information on the Demons Are Among Us site authentic?” Jase asked.

  “Some of it,” Trinity admitted. “But if you want to know what incubi really are like, you should follow the Black Heart site. It’s operated by a black heart incubus house. Incubi allow them to disseminate the information, so that boys and girls like you can have someplace to turn to when you fall in love with one of us.”

  “So, if I check it out I’ll find out more about incubi?”

  “More or less, but what is it you want to know about Ennis?” Trinity asked.

  “Ennis electrocuted a demon to—he partially disintegrated.”

  “Ennis is a gray spade shadow demon. They’re all electro demons. Shadows don’t allow death stalkers in their territory.

  “I’m not too clear on that,” he admitted.

  “Death stalkers are voracious feeders,” Trinity told him quietly. “Some of them feed up to five times a night while others of the breed only feed once a night. They always kill those they feed from but gray spades never do.”

  “You just feed off anyone you think is hot?” Jase asked.

  “You’re his mate, Jase, and that means he’s not going to feed off anyone except you. It also means he’s not going to just back off. Most spades don’t know how unless a strong male relative intervenes. When that happens, the gray spade is put through intensive therapy. The mate bond is broken and if he survives it, he’s watched until he ceases to attempt to reestablish contact with the mate.”

  “What if he does make contact again?” Jase asked.

  “It’s not about the contact, it’s about the attempts to reestablish the mate bond,” Trinity answered. “Once it’s clear he’s lost the urge to do so, then he’s allowed to live without supervision again.”

  “Ennis’s father will come back to break the bond between us if I don’t want him?” Jase asked. Just thinking about living without Ennis felt wrong.

  Trinity sighed deeply. “Jase, it sounds like you’re in love with him to me, so why even contemplate this?”

  Jase shrugged. “I’m confused, afraid. Demons are soulless. How can I love someone who doesn’t have a soul?”

  “Yeah, some are, Jase, but we have souls. We fall in love.”

  “Even pure demons?” Jase challenged.

  “Ennis is as capable of love and remorse as I am, but once a shadow gives his heart to his mate, all bets are off.”

  “What do you mean?” Jase asked, a chill going down his spine.

  “I mean, if you reject him, the only thing to stop him from eventually killing you and himself is him,” Trinity confessed. “He will stalk you for weeks, attempt to woo you back, and then he’ll kidnap you if that fails.”

  “Then, he’ll kill me.” Fear was a vile taste on his tongue.

  “And because his heart will be broken, he’ll kill himself.”

  * * * *

  When Ennis got back to his office, his secretary stopped him with a wave.

  “Jarrett has called three times, so has Marty, and detective Rey has called once to say he wanted you to get your ass to his office ASAP.”

  He grunted, feeling like a beaten-down dog. “Call Marty, tell him to piss off. Tell Jarrett his brother is safe, and tell Rey if he wants to see me he can get his ass over to my office ASAP.”

  “Got it.” Her lips twitched. “Bale is in your office waiting for you. He said he had some information on your case.”

  “Thanks.” He trudged to his office and dropped into his chair before yanking his shades off his nose.

  “Simmer left the country last night,” Bale said without preamble. “He was on a flight to South America.”

  “His people will take care of him when he returns,” Ennis said, tired. “Our concern is what’s on these thumb drives and in these folders.” He tossed the folders on the desk. “Did you get anything else on the case from your contacts?”

  “Leah is a black heart, but Tonya is one hundred percent human,” Bale told him. “Tonya is as involved in Simmer’s house as her husband is. She and Leah and Donna are pretty good friends. Leah isn’t part of Simmer’s house, but he had an affair with her that ended six months ago.”

  “Great. Maybe there’s something on these drives that will cement her connection to Rebecca’s murder or any of the other murders.”

  He pushed the flash drive into his computer and selected a file. The first was a video file of Pan talking with his current wife about killing Rebecca Hollis. They watched footage of a couple of murders, one of which was committed by Pan’s wife, Tonya.

  There were several incriminating conversations. There were also several files on the death stalker history as well as on Simmer’s house and each member of it.

  “Hollis may have turned out to be the star witness for the prosecution even from beyond the grave,” Bale murmured two hours later. “She was obviously a woman on a mission.”

  “Let’s make copies of the files where Tonya’s incriminating herself for Rey.” He removed a drive from his desk.

  “What are you going to tell Rey about Logan?” Bale asked.

  “She and her sister have to go,” he said. “They bot
h indirectly contributed to putting the death stalker in a position to get to Jase.”

  “I’ll get one of the succubae to take care of them,” Bale said.

  Ennis nodded. “Tell them to take out Donna Wright as well.”

  “Done.” He got up and left.

  Ennis was just finishing up with the files when his secretary buzzed him to tell him Rey was there to see him. “Come in, Rey,” he called a few minutes later.

  Reynard gave him a cold stare. “Where’s Jase?”

  “In a safe house.” He tossed a flash drive to him. “Come have a look at this.” He pushed the folder containing incriminating evidence against Tonya Pan toward him. In the file was also a marriage certificate dated two days before Hollis was killed.

  “What’s this?” Reynard demanded but sprawled into the chair before Ennis’s desk.

  “Tonya Pan is behind Rebecca Hollis’s murder. Her husband has something to do with it I’m sure, but I can’t find anything.”

  “Who is that?” Reynard asked with a frown.

  “Hollis was married to Rebecca using a fake name,” Ennis told him. “His real name is Michael Pan and Tonya Pan is his wife.”

  “The guy who killed her?”

  “He was a hit man,” Ennis answered.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  “Yeah,” Ennis agreed. “The hitter got away from me, but he told me Logan was behind the missing evidence. She handed it off to him. There’s some proof on the flash drive. She did a few things for Pan.”

  “Oh hell,” Reynard muttered.

  “It’s a cesspool,” Ennis muttered.

  “I need to talk to Jase. I want to be sure he’s okay,” Reynard muttered.

  “He’s fine,” Ennis muttered. “Be satisfied with that. Tell Jarrett I’m taking care of him, but he’s not out of danger. The hitter is still out there.”

  “Talk,” Reynard ordered. “What else about this case aren’t you telling me?”

  Ennis made a face. “Take what I gave you, and go get Tonya off the streets.”