Sleeper_Google, page 21
part #3 of Hunter Series
“We still have time.” I couldn’t think about the second option, the one he was talking about. If Gray wouldn’t work for his father on the Hell plane, then he would be tortured until he broke or died. Either way, he would no longer be the Gray I knew. “We still have a few years left.”
Trent stood up. “Are you trying to send her into a full-on rage? She’s in a delicate state. It’s too early to test her like this. Come here, Kelsey. Come here right now.”
He was using that alpha voice on me, the one that brooked no disobedience. Normally this was the moment when my wolf decided if she wanted to fight or fuck, but honestly, she wanted neither right this second. She did want comfort.
I walked to him, his arms going around my body and hugging me tight to his chest. His cheek rubbed against mine and I felt him sigh as though the contact soothed something in him, too.
“She needs this, Sloane. Either help me or get the fuck out. I’m here for a reason and I’m not going away. I’m here because the minute she walked in the door I knew she would be important to me. If it means anything at all to you, I knew you would be, too. It was disconcerting and confusing until she showed up. Why do you think I was so hard on you?”
“Because you’re an asshole.” But Gray was suddenly at my back, his chest cuddling against me. “And this means nothing except that I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Kelsey. I shouldn’t have acted like a jealous ass. I was hurt.”
This…oh, this felt right. This felt a lot like heaven, and I was already thinking things I shouldn’t have. I was thinking about lifting my face up for Trent’s kiss and seeing if I could move Gray’s hand to my breast. All the crap of the day would flow away and I could lose myself for a few hours.
I felt Trent tense as though he could feel my desire.
And then Gray moved back. “Are you better?”
I turned, moving reluctantly out of Trent’s arms. Gray’s face was flushed, but he wouldn’t quite meet my eyes. “Yes. I feel better.”
“Good. Then you can tell me why my brother thinks you’re signing a contract.” Now his eyes found mine and there was lots of righteous judgment there.
Gray might be feeling weird about the sexual vibe thing that had gone through the room, but it was obvious he was perfectly happy to talk about all the things I’d done wrong.
I suddenly found myself staring down both men because Trent rounded on me, too.
“You are not signing a damn contract. I’ve already explained that to you,” Trent began.
“I’m doing it for Lee.”
They both stopped.
“What does the king’s kid have to do with this?” Gray backed up. “I know you like the kid, but he’s not your responsibility. You’re certainly not about to sign away your soul for him, so I’ll hand this over to Donovan and we can tell my father to go back to Hell.”
“It’s not that easy,” Trent said. “Lee is an old soul. He’s her father’s soul. Her real father. So you can’t expect her to step back and let Donovan handle this.”
“Her real father?” Gray asked.
I was able to look at him and plead my case now that he understood. “Yes, the original. We’re oddly alike. He’s in there and he’s got a second chance at life and everything, and if I don’t sign that contract, he’ll die. Your brother will make sure of it.”
“What does my brother have to do with this?” Gray asked, obviously confused.
Trent looked to me for clarification, too. “Why does he want to hurt Lee? He has to know the king won’t allow that to happen.”
They were off and talking about all the reasons I had to be wrong and I realized I’d made a mistake bringing them in.
“Stop.” There was truly only one thing I needed to know. “Gray, if your brother makes me a promise, will he keep it? Or would he try to find a way to get around it?”
“Kelsey, he’s a demon,” Trent replied. “You can’t trust him.”
Gray’s eyes narrowed. “Of course, don’t trust the demon. I should have known you would say that.”
Trent’s hands came up. “I wasn’t talking about you. I know you’re not a full breed and you don’t take after your demon half. But Nemcox is, and I’ve seen the kind of destruction he can bring about.”
“You don’t know my brother at all.” Gray turned to me, dismissing Trent. “If he made a promise to you, he’ll keep it. He won’t even attempt to find a way around it because in his mind, you’re his family. My brother loves me. Yes, demons can feel emotions. They can love people. I’ll talk to him. I’ll get you out of this. Can I please know why you think he’ll hurt Lee?”
I couldn’t trust him with that secret. I couldn’t trust Trent either. It wasn’t that I thought they would try to hurt Lee. Quite the opposite. They would attempt to help, likely by going straight to Donovan, and then my house of cards would fall because Donovan would call the wizard.
Hey, Mr. Wizard, so I hear my son can possibly be one of two beings who could kill you and take your power. Just wanted to check and make sure you don’t have plans to wipe him off the face of the earth…
It would be like Dumbledore calling Voldemort to make sure he was down with HP living a happy, healthy life.
“No. I won’t say another word and I will be signing that contract.” Unless I could figure some other way out of this.
“I won’t allow it.” Trent’s arms wrapped around my middle and I felt him place the lightest kiss on my ear. “Not because I think you’re incapable of making a proper decision, my alpha female. Merely because the thought of losing you makes me insane. I can’t lose you now that I’ve found you. I’ll do anything to keep you by my side. In front of me. Wherever you choose to stand, as long as your choice doesn’t leave me behind.”
It was exactly the worst thing to say to me because my whole soul softened.
He’d laid in wait for me, like the goddamn apex predator he was. He’d hidden behind acts of friendship and shrugs of nonchalance, when all along he’d plotted and planned and ached for me.
Could I believe that? I did in the moment. In the moment, his haunting voice gave me ease.
Gray intruded, looming over me. “You have to talk to me, Kelsey. You can’t think for a second I’ll allow you to come to Hell with me.”
I felt Trent’s arms tighten as though Hell was coming for me in that moment, and then the door opened, a stranger walking inside. He was dressed in an expensive suit, his hair slicked back and perfect.
“Oh, look at all this drama.” I might not have recognized the vessel, but I knew that upper-crust accent. “Wolf, get your hands off my sister-in-law. Grayson, I’m shocked that you’re standing here allowing that animal to paw your beloved.”
Trent stepped in front of me. “You have no right to be here.”
Gray sighed and sat back down. “Well, brother, I did try to tear him apart. He’s quite strong and he takes the king’s blood. He’s probably taken it for years, so I could cut his head off and if someone held it on, it would simply grow back.”
I went up on my toes, whispering in Trent’s ear. “You do know there’s only one actual demon hunter here and it’s not you, right?”
He turned, giving me a look that required no translation.
I held up my hands in defeat. “Just checking. It’s my job and stuff. And I’m pretty sure he’s here to see me. Should we find another location?”
“I would be perfectly happy to host our negotiation session,” the demon offered. “I’m here because Father wills it and the king requested my presence. You know I’ve been trying to speak with the king for years. If I’d known all I had to do was contract with one small female, I would have done it a long time ago.”
“You’ll do nothing of the kind.” Gray sent his brother a stare that could peel paint off the walls. “You will not sign anything with her. I’ve told you my feelings on the subject.”
“And I’ve explained to you over and over that you will feel differently once you’re home.” Nemcox faced off with Gray. “I know this better than you do. This plane affects you in terrible ways. It clouds your mind. Once you’re living in your proper home, you’ll understand and you will thank me.”
Awesome. Gray’s mind was clouded with the not pure evil of the Earth plane. He didn’t look like he was being persuaded and I didn’t like the thought that these brothers would hash it out. “Nemcox, your promise to me includes not discussing my reasons for signing with anyone. And that includes Gray and your family.”
He put a hand on his borrowed heart, looking as innocent as an occupying demon could. “I’m wounded that you think I would do otherwise.”
“Damn it, Kelsey,” Trent began. “Why is this so important? What does he have on Lee?”
Nemcox tsked tsked my way. “Now who’s the problem? Hush, Hunter. I told you—loose lips sink ships.” He stopped in the middle of the room and his whole demeanor softened as he breathed in. “Oh, there’s something I haven’t smelled in years and years.”
I looked up and Neil Roberts was standing outside, his eyes on the demon.
I moved, putting myself between the demon and the man he’d tortured for decades and prayed I wouldn’t have to decide between my father and the queen’s closest friend.
Chapter Thirteen
“Trent, I need you to get Neil up to the penthouse for me.” I felt like a lion tamer who suddenly found himself caught between two predators.
Roberts might look like a sweet club kid, but he turned into a killer lizard capable of taking down unstoppable demons. So I was proceeding with caution. In Nemcox’s case, I wanted to keep the body count down. Nemcox could be easily killed. Well, the body he was currently inhabiting could be killed. He would merely come back in another and I would be left with cleanup duty.
“I’m not leaving you alone here.” Trent did move toward the door. “But I’ll talk to him.”
For a moment I thought Roberts would be the reasonable one. He stood there staring, but not making the move that would bring him close to his ex-captor. Then as Trent started to open the door, the wolf made a decision and charged in.
“You have no right to be here.” Roberts stopped short of getting in arm’s length of the demon. “None. You’ve been forbidden all Council spaces.” He looked toward Trent. “How is he doing this? We have the place warded against possessed beings.”
That was totally my fault. “They’re down for a couple of hours while I have a meeting with some hell lords. I’m sorry about this. Why don’t you let Trent take you up to the penthouse? I promise this will be over in a few hours and he’ll be gone again.”
“You look tired, love.” Nemcox hadn’t moved an inch and his eyes never left Roberts. “That man isn’t taking care of you properly.”
Roberts ignored my very reasonable solution to the problem. “Like you took care of me, you disgusting piece of shit?”
The demon flushed but held his ground. “I generally prefer sweetheart or lover. And I took excellent care of you. Tell me something, can you feel our connection? Is it warm on your body?”
Neil frowned. “Nothing about you makes me warm.”
“That tattoo does. I know it does. You lied to me back then,” Nemcox insisted. “You lied because you were punishing me, but I know what it does to you. That dragon is our bond, Neil. That dragon is a piece of your soul and it knows its mate. Don’t fight it anymore, puppy.”
Neil stopped, his face going blank. “The dragon knows its mate? What does that mean? I thought it was nothing but a way to control me.”
“It’s so much more.” Nemcox took a step toward him, but stopped when Neil nearly jumped back. “It’s magic. Yes, I can give you power through it, but that’s not why I had you marked. You wouldn’t believe me that we belong together. You fought me so hard in those first days. I thought I would lose you. So I gave you the dragon. It’s both a power conduit and portal to your soul. You and the dragon are one. What the dragon wants and needs is the same as you. Stop fighting it. Come home to me. It’s been so long.”
Neil looked over to Gray. “Is what he’s saying true? Kelsey says you have one, too.”
Gray nodded. “Yes. It was given to me when I was thirteen and it’s grown with me ever since. It’s how demonkind gives power to their loved ones, though I suspect my brother might have cheated a bit. My dragon allows me to take demonic form, but I don’t lose my self-control.”
“He wasn’t doing anything interesting with his self-control,” Nemcox complained.
Neil ignored him. “How does it work? If the person can control me, does that mean the dragon recognizes him as our mate?”
“Not at all,” Gray replied. “Have you honestly never felt your dragon move?”
“Of course he has.” Nemcox folded his arms over his chest, staring at his former victim. “We lived together for years. He’s stubborn and he won’t give me an inch.”
Gray frowned. “You never touched his dragon?”
“Of course I did,” his brother insisted. “I touched him all the time. I gave it every bit of my affection. He’s the one who withheld. He’s the one who’s lying about never feeling the connection. Do you know how hard it is to love someone as much as I love him and to have him deny the truth? He even made me doubt it at times.”
Oh, but there was no doubting the connection. “Gray, let me touch your dragon. I can show him what happens when the connection is real.”
Gray’s expression had gone stark as he looked at his brother. “You don’t know? Brother, Kelsey feels when my dragon moves. He comes to life under her hand. Sometimes he glows a bit when she’s around.”
Neil’s knees hit the floor and he covered his face with his hands.
My stomach dropped and I moved toward him. Trent was already on one knee, his hand on Neil’s back.
“It’s okay,” Trent was saying. “You don’t have to do what some tattoo says. If you think I’ll let him take you, that any one of us would allow him to take you again, you’re wrong. Never again. I swear.”
I wondered if it was too late to make leaving Neil Roberts alone for all of eternity part of my contract because I felt so much for him in that moment. He hadn’t understood what the tattoo meant and I could understand how devastating that would be if the “one” the dragon responded to was the epitome of everything evil. It was something sweet to me because Gray and I fit, because we loved each other. Somehow that dragon responding to me made things feel right. But what if I hated him or he hated me? What if we were trapped by some insane tattoo? I had to believe that because I didn’t want to live in a world where Neil Roberts’s destined soul mate was the same man who’d violated him for years.
“I won’t let him take you,” I vowed. “No matter what the tattoo says.”
Neil’s face came up and he was smiling. It was the most brilliant smile I’d ever seen on his handsome face. “I didn’t understand. I tried to shove it down, but it’s a part of me. It really is.”
“Yes.” Nemcox breathed the word like an answered prayer, a benediction. “Yes, listen to the dragon. He knows the truth.”
“He does,” Neil agreed. “Which is why I feel him move when my husband touches me.” Neil laughed, a joyous sound. “I force it down, but every time Chad comes near me, it feels warm. I don’t let him touch me there because it feels weird, but now I get it. There’s nothing wrong with me. This thing that he put on me, it’s not his. It’s mine. He forced it on me, but I can make it mine. It wants to be mine and it loves who I love.”
“I watched that dragon protect Zoey once,” Trent said quietly. “There was no reason for you to change in that moment except the dragon on your soul loved Zoey and couldn’t bear to see her hurt.”
So many of the things my father had said to me mere hours before came back to me. “The dragon isn’t your enemy. It’s one more piece of you. Accept him and all the strength he can bring you. Accept him and you might be able to come to terms with what happened to you all those years ago.”
The demon shook his head, tears running down his face. “You’re lying again. How long do you have to punish me?”
Neil wiped his eyes and stood up. “I don’t. I don’t have to punish you at all. I don’t have to punish myself.” He turned to me. “I’m ready, Kelsey. I want to try the spell again. I’m ready to remember everything. I’m not scared now.” He put his hand on his side as though soothing the tattoo. “Chad will be there with me and we can get through anything together.”
I nodded. At least I might get to complete my last case before my descent into Hell. Closure was a good thing. “I’ll let Liv know. We can try again after sunset.”
Neil turned back, looking his assailant right in the eye. “I’m not afraid of you anymore, and you need to understand that the next time you try to have me do your dirty work for you, I’m going to fight. I’m going to fight you as hard as I can. I won’t kill for you again.”
“Kill for me?” Nemcox managed to look genuinely confused.
“I’m not stupid.” Neil moved to the door, never taking his eyes off Nemcox, as though the demon would make a move at any moment. He backed up. “You’ve been using me for weeks to take out your father’s rivals. Is that why you had me murder those demons? I don’t care. I won’t do it again.”
He finally turned and stalked out of the room.
“Trent, I need you to watch him.” It didn’t feel right to have him walk off alone.
Trent’s jaw tightened. “I think I should stay with you.”
“Please. Let me handle this. Make sure Neil gets upstairs safely and then you can run back down here and save me from myself.”
Gray looked up, his eyes weary. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t sign anything while you’re gone. I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” Trent said before starting for the door.
“And it would be nice if you put on a shirt.” Gray looked over at his brother. “I’m sorry, Nem. I didn’t realize you hadn’t felt his dragon under your hand.”
