by Sadie Moss
Chapter Six
PHOENIX
The best thing about living in what’s basically a fortress in the middle of nowhere is that I have an actual, straight-up command center.
I’m big on privacy, and I’m really big on not being bothered by unwanted visitors, so my entire place is built around the theme of “fuck off.” There are alarm systems and protective wards all around the property, not to mention the land mines, which are a personal favorite.
So I was being totally serious when I promised the guys and Trin that we’d all be safe here. Beck’s got some state-of-the-art security at his place too—thanks to me—but he’s on the top floor of a Manhattan high-rise. It’s harder to get the same level of protection in a building like that.
Humming to myself as I lean back in the comfy rolling chair, I swivel slightly back and forth as I scan the security footage from all over the complex. I had a massive bank of monitors installed because it looks cool as fuck, plus it allows me to scope out almost every corner of the property covered by security cameras all at once, both inside and outside.
Everything looks like it should, and no alarms have been triggered. Some of the wards should dampen the signal Trinity is putting out thanks to her demon mark, so that should buy us a little extra time.
But we can’t just hole up here indefinitely, as great as that sounds. Sooner or later, a bunch of bloodthirsty supernatural bounty hunters will show up.
I do another sweep of the screens, and movement catches my eye as I glance at the security footage from the living room.
“Whoa,” I murmur, leaning forward a little.
Trinity and Sawyer are the only two left in the living room, and they’re both sitting on the couch. Even through the footage on the screen, I can feel the sexual tension building between them as Trin takes my brother’s face in her hands and kisses him. After a second, his arms go around her waist, pulling her into his lap as their kiss deepens, turning hotter and more desperate.
My cock twitches, and I shift a little in my seat as I watch the two of them make out like they’re trying to devour each other.
I’m not a fuckin’ perv though, so when Sawyer lifts Trin in his arms and carries her down the hall to one of the guest bedrooms, I don’t look for the footage from that room.
I mean, hell, it’s not like I haven’t watched my brothers and Trin together before. One of the hottest moments of my life was watching Trin fuck Beck as we all gathered around them. I was about ready to fucking explode by the time she turned those beautiful brown eyes on me and begged for more.
Shit.
I shift again, reaching down to adjust my rapidly stiffening cock. I don’t know if there’ll ever be a time when the thought of Trinity spread out below me with ecstasy burning in her eyes won’t make me hard as a fuckin’ rock. But that night we were all together, Trin knew the rest of us were there. She wanted us there, got off on the knowledge that we were watching her and touching her while our brother fucked her.
But peeping on her and Sawyer when they don’t know I’m watching just makes me feel like a creepy lech. And as tempted as I am to go find the room they’re in and see if they want any company, something about the lead-up to their kiss made it look like this is just a two-person dance this time. Like there’s some shit they need to work out, and they need to be alone to do it.
So even though my balls ache and my cock is still hard, I concentrate on boring, unsexy shit like scanning for any threats around the compound’s perimeter.
I kick my feet up on the desk and lean farther back in my chair as I use the computer controls to scan the footage from the past few days for any signs of unwanted activity. Since we’ve been holed up at Beck’s place, there were plenty of opportunities for some bounty hunter to get the drop on us if they managed to anticipate that this is where we’d end up.
Fortunately, it doesn’t look like any of them were that smart.
By the time I’m done going through the footage, I’m bored enough that my cock has deflated. I skip back to the live feed from the cameras, and my brows furrow as a new flash of movement catches my eye.
Unfortunately, this one isn’t nearly as exciting as a sexy little angel grinding on my brother.
Although… it is an angel.
“What the fuck?” I mutter, dropping my feet and resting my elbows on the desk as I lean in to get a better look.
Yeah, it’s definitely an angel. This one is a dude, with a dark complexion and a neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard. The only reason I know he’s an angel is because his wings are currently out. He’s outside the perimeter on the west side of the complex, gazing up at the high wall in front of him with consternation. As I watch, he flaps his large white wings, launching himself into the air. He flies straight up until he’s higher than the top of the wall, but when he tries to fly forward, he grimaces, flapping his wings harder.
“Ha. Good luck, sucker.” I grin, pleased that my anti-flying protective wards are working.
But I’m less pleased that someone is trying to break into my place at all. And an angel, no less. I somehow doubt that he’s a bounty hunter trying to collect Trin’s head to win the reward… but what is he doing here? Does he know Trin?
And if he does know her, why is he trying to sneak onto my property instead of just contacting her by some normal means?
Making a face, I press a few keys to pull up footage of the room Trin and Sawyer disappeared into. They’re sprawled out on the bed together, and even Sawyer, the king of sex, looks like he just had his world rocked.
I chuckle.
For some reason, several of my brothers seem hell bent on denying their attraction and connection to Trinity. I freely admit that I didn’t trust her at first, or want to help her with the little demonic portal problem she was facing. But it kinda cracks me up to see Ry and Beck, and even Sawyer, fight so hard against the feelings they’re developing for her.
Me?
I never fight that hard against anything. So even though it took me by surprise when Trinity got under my skin, I’ve rolled with it a lot easier than some of my more, um, uptight brothers.
The angel outside my complex makes another attempt to fly over the wall, and I groan under my breath, rolling the chair back and standing.
I need to deal with this guy. But before I do, I need to know how I should deal with him. And that answer hinges on whether or not Trin knows him.
Stepping out of the control center, I head into the main part of the house and then down the hall toward the guest wing. I rap lightly on the door, then crack it open. I mean, I’m no peeping Tom, but I’m not exactly a prude either. I’ve seen Trin naked before, and I’ve seen Sawyer naked too. It’s not like I’ll catch a glimpse of anything shocking.
“Hey, Trin?”
I grin at her as she lifts her head sleepily, not even bothering to cover her nudity. That little sign of trust and comfortability with all of us makes my heart swell with a bit of pride. I’m glad she doesn’t feel shy around us, because it means I get to see her like this. Beautiful and sated and happy.
“Yeah?” Some of the dazed contentment fades from her face as she catches sight of mine. “What’s wrong? Are there demons? Are we under attack?”
“Nah, nothing like that.” I wave a hand, and Sawyer, who tensed up at Trin’s words, relaxes a little. “I just wanted to see if I could borrow you for a sec. I wanted to show you something.”
“Can it wait?” Sawyer drawls, looking like he was definitely planning on a round two—or hell, maybe it’s a round three by now, I dunno.
Actually, now that I’m here, the whole “there’s an angel outside poking around the complex” thing doesn’t seem all that important. Definitely not as high a priority as crawling into bed with Sawyer and Trin and seeing if my brother and I can make her pass out from pleasure.
But if Trin doesn’t know that angel, if he is an actual threat, I’ll never forgive myself for exposing her to danger just because I wanted to get my roc
ks off.
“Sorry, bro. It really can’t.” I grin at Sawyer as he glowers at me, his amber eyes gleaming as his scars shift.
“Okay. Hold on, I’ll get dressed.”
Trin rolls over and kisses Sawyer. I think it’s meant to be a quick kiss, but the second their lips touch, it’s like she melts against him. He pulls her a little closer, pressing her body against his as his tongue plunders her mouth, and she makes a little noise in the back of her throat that has my cock swelling again.
Shit, she’s sexy.
I don’t even think Sawyer is using any of his Lust power either. It’s just her. Him. The chemistry that exists between them.
Damn.
When they finally break apart, Trinity is gasping a little, her cheeks flushed. The room already smells like sex, but I swear I can pick up the scent of her fresh arousal, and I not-so-discreetly adjust my bulging erection as Sawyer smirks at me. Trin gets dressed, and he watches her with hungry satisfaction as she steps toward me.
“What’s up?” she asks quietly as I close the door behind us and lead her down the hall, back toward the command center.
“Just something I want to ask you about,” I say. I hope the angel outside is still there, but if not, I’ve got plenty of footage of him I can show her. And the good news is, he still hasn’t managed to breach the perimeter or I’d have heard an alarm.
When we enter the small room, my gaze moves immediately to the screen that shows a view of the west side of the complex.
Yup. The guy is still there, although he’s stopped trying to fly over the wall. He’s staring up at it again with an irritated look on his face.
Trin’s attention follows mine, and when she sees what’s on the screen, she completely misses a step, almost toppling over. I catch her around the waist to keep her upright, glancing down at her sweet face. Her eyes are wide with surprise, and she doesn’t seem to have regained her equilibrium at all, so I keep my arm looped around her as I lift a brow.
“You know that guy?”
“I…” She chews on her lip, then looks up at me. “That’s what you wanted to show me?”
“Yeah. I noticed him poking around a couple minutes ago. He’s not hurling fireballs or anything, and he is an angel, so I figured he wasn’t really a threat. I just wondered if you knew why he was here.”
“I… might.” She looks almost sheepish.
“You know the guy? Is he here for you?”
“Yes. But I… I don’t really want to see him right now. He’s from my old life, Upstairs, and I think he’ll be mad at me.”
She blushes a little as she says the words, and irritation prickles through me. She looks gorgeous as hell and well-fucked, the scent of arousal still clinging to her skin. And I have the distinct feeling that she doesn’t want this angel, someone she knew up in Heaven, to see her like this.
Not surprising. Most angels I’ve met seem to have giant sticks lodged up their asses—or at least, they sure act like they do. They’re all so stiff and formal, so high and mighty.
Not Trin though.
She’s sweet and earnest and down-to-earth.
And I’m not gonna let some stuck-up angel make her feel like she’s less worthy just because she had sex with a sin or two… or three or four.
“Is he gonna be a problem?” I ask her, glancing over at the screens again. The angel looks like he’s finally given up. He’s turned away from the wall and is rising into the air again, his big wings keeping him aloft.
“No.” She shakes her head, relaxing a little as the angel on the screen flies away and disappears from view.
“You wanna tell me how you know him?”
She tilts her head up toward mine, her dark eyes open and sincere. “Not now. But I’ll tell you the whole story one day, okay? I promise. And I promise he’s not here to try to claim the bounty. I’m sure of that.”
Part of me wants to press her for more answers than that. But just as I’m not the type of guy to resist something too hard, I’m not the type to push for something all that hard either. In my experience, things happen on the timeline they’re supposed to anyway, and all you get for pushing is a whole lot of extra effort for the same result.
“As long as you’re safe, Trin,” I tell her. “That’s all I need to know.”
Something crosses over her face, like surprise mixed with happiness, and she blinks quickly a few times. Then she turns a little in my embrace so that she can wrap her arms around my neck. She presses up onto her tiptoes and brushes her lips against mine in the sweetest fucking kiss I’ve ever received.
“Thank you, Nix,” she murmurs, then kisses me once more.
My cock, which has gone up and down so many times today that it might as well be on an elevator, begins to stiffen again as my lips move against hers. My arms slide around her, pulling her close as her body molds to mine.
A sharp rap on the door drags my attention away from her, and I groan as we break apart and turn to see Sawyer poke his head in. He’s gotten dressed, and his amber eyes gleam with amusement as he catches my frustrated expression.
“Beckett and Ryland need everyone in the living room for a strategy meeting,” he says, his lips curling up into a grin. “It can’t wait.”
I groan as he tosses my words from earlier back at me, but I release Trinity as the two of us turn to follow Sawyer back toward the living room.
Cockblocked by Lust. That’s a new low.
Chapter Seven
TRINITY
As we head back into the living room, my body is still buzzing with nerves. It feels like there’s a humming underneath my skin, like my blood has turned into a swarm of bees.
It isn’t only from the sex I just had, either. Well, yes, it is from the sex I just had, but I don’t mean that in a physical way. It isn’t the aftershocks of my orgasm or the physical touch. It’s that Sawyer let me in. Really and truly let me in, with nothing left between us. We were joined as he let his walls down in a way I never expected.
I mean, I hoped he would let me in. That’s what I was pushing for in the living room. But I don’t think I was prepared for what it would mean. What it would feel like when he did.
Not that I want to take it back.
Nothing like that, not at all.
But just as one thing is going well, of course something else is about to fall apart. Anderson’s poking around, which is literally the last thing I need right now.
I haven’t communicated with my angelic superior since I was attacked outside of Beckett’s place and we learned about the bounty on my head. How could I? How could I possibly explain that there was a demon bounty on my head and how it ended up there?
Especially when I still don’t know who did it. Who wants me dead? It’s easy enough to make a connection between the demon-mark and the network of portals to Below, but that still doesn’t give us a lot of insight into who put the bounty on me.
He’s going to ask a million questions I don’t know how to answer, and I don’t want to come to him with another problem. He’s my point person for this mission, but if I have to get his help at every single turn, there’s no way that won’t count against me.
I’m lucky Nix didn’t push harder to know why another angel was poking around his complex. If it’d been any of the other sins, I’m sure they would’ve demanded more answers, but I can’t keep my mission under wraps forever.
Ugh. This is all such a mess.
The bottom line is, I can’t possibly deal with Anderson and whatever lecture I’m sure he wants to give me until after I’ve dealt with being demon-marked. If he decides to discipline me or pull me off this assignment before I deal with the bounty, I’m not sure I’ll ever get it lifted.
Not to mention the fact that I… I don’t want to leave the sins. The idea of Anderson reassigning me and sending some other angel to try to redeem these men makes my chest physically ache. If he decides I’m not doing a good job or producing results fast enough, Anderson will want me to leave them. And I
can’t do that.
I don’t want to.
I don’t want this to end.
Yes, okay, these men are frustrating as all get out. And yes, I’m still not sure about Ryland, and he’s definitely not sure about me. But the others—despite how much I want to strangle some of them half the time, I also care about them. And they clearly care about me, even if they don’t want to say it out loud either.
None of them are very good with openly expressing their feelings.
But they wouldn’t go out of their way to protect me if they didn’t care about me. I suspect that if they were really as awful as Anderson thinks they are, Beckett would’ve kicked me to the curb the first day he met me, demon portals or no. But he let himself be persuaded by me, and he and the others have been tagging along with me ever since, helping me destroy the portals even when all it did was earn them more trouble.
I can’t leave these men.
Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
Nix leads me into the living room, where Ryland and Beck have apparently found something out. They’re talking back and forth quietly among themselves, neither one having to interrupt, like they’re just constantly completing one another’s thoughts. I think it’s so odd how much they seem to hate each other, since they’re both the leaders and that means they end up pairing together the most often.
If only they would talk about whatever it is between them, I’m sure they could work it out. If they would just put aside their pride for a moment and listen to one another. They were close once. They must’ve been, to work together so well like this even as they also glare at each other.
Knight signs something, and Sawyer translates for my benefit. “What’s the news?”
Beck and Ryland look at each other, neither of them apparently all that pleased. Ryland’s dark, chiseled features look especially harsh as he frowns.
“We think Valentina’s right,” he says at last, his voice cutting and contained. “The only place to remove the demon-mark is Below.”