Sleeper_Google, page 25
part #3 of Hunter Series
“Do you think I should run now?” At some point in time, Ben had decided to take cover behind me. Like right behind me. I could feel him standing there. From the brief glimpse I’d gotten, he was much smaller than his recently deceased brother. He reminded me a bit of Harry Potter with his round glasses, youthful looks, and slightly shaggy brown hair.
“I think that would be a mistake.” We needed to treat the threat in front of us like a snake waiting to strike. As long as we were still, he couldn’t seem to figure out which way to move. There were so many of us in the room. His intended victim was behind me, Donovan and Chad Thomas flanked him to the left, and a few feet beyond lay the body of whoever had brought that light to the fight.
I had a bad feeling about what I would find when I finally got to that body. Something about that scent had been familiar.
We were all still, all waiting to see which way Roberts would go.
Or perhaps without the light to lead him, he wasn’t sure what to do. He needed a push.
At some point in time his shirt had torn and it hung in rags on his body. I could see glimpses of the tattoo that had started all this trouble.
“I’m afraid Chad’s right, Your Highness.” I kept my eyes firmly on the threat in front of me. “I think he needs to get his hands on Neil. He needs to touch that dragon. Neil figured something out earlier today. The dragon is a part of him and the dragon recognizes its soul mate. He’s suppressed it because he was afraid, but the dragon responds to you, Chad. I think if we can make that connection, can form the bond between the two of you, it will be harder for outside forces to take him over.”
“If Chad survives getting close to him.” Donovan seemed intent on being the Negative Nell of our group.
“So when the dude in the PJs gets close to the crazy lizard dude, that’s when I should run?” Ben asked.
“Only if you want him to catch you,” I replied. “I need you to pretend like you’re in Jurassic Park and he’s the T-rex who can’t see you if you don’t move. Can you do that for me, Ben? Can you play the still and quiet game for me?”
He went totally silent, proving he could.
“Talk to him, Chad.” I needed to get this over with because I wasn’t sure our other friend wouldn’t wake up and flash that heavenly light around again. If it was as powerful as before and hit Donovan unaware, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t lose him. I couldn’t be the chick who got the king killed. It looks bad on a resume. “You have to connect to him.”
Chad took a step forward and Roberts pivoted, his head tilting and taking in the man moving close to him. Chad’s hands came out and he stopped. “Baby, it’s me. We need to talk because you promised me breakfast in bed this evening. Do you remember? We stayed up late last night and watched Game of Thrones and we made out on the couch and you swore that when I woke up, you would be there.”
Roberts’s hands started shaking slightly. I could see where the blood dripped from the wounds there. It was where he’d held the sword that should have killed Ben.
Chad took another step. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to touch you? Touch that part of you. I know you hate it and you think it’s a sign of what that demon did to you, but I think that tat on your side is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. When I close my eyes and the dawn takes me, I dream about touching it, feeling it pulse under my hand because it’s mine. Because you’re mine. Not because I took you but because you gave yourself to me in love and passion and because our souls were born to be together.”
The claws on Roberts’s hands started to recede.
Another step and Chad could almost touch him. “I love all of you, Neil Roberts. Every inch of your flesh. Every part of your soul. Come back to me.”
A single tear rolled from his red eyes and I knew we had him.
“Touch him,” I said. “Put your hands right on that tat, Chad. Let it know you accept it. If it’s anything at all like Gray’s, it’s been waiting and wanting, and I think the dragon’s need might break through whatever’s controlling your husband right now.”
I saw Donovan tense, as though ready to step in at any second, but Chad didn’t hesitate. He strode up to Neil and slid his hand through the slits of the shirt Neil was wearing. Neil’s whole body tensed and then seemed to relax, the red in his eyes receding along with those nasty teeth and claws.
“I can feel it,” Chad said with a wondrous look on his face. “I can feel it move. It’s happy.”
“Chad?” Neil shook his head and now he cried freely. “I heard you. I could hear you.”
They held on to each other, clinging like the lovers they were.
Donovan took a deep breath and the whole room seemed to settle, the tension fleeing.
“Can I run now?” Ben asked.
Ben was starting to be a pain in my ass. I turned and faced him. “No, you can thank me and the king and you can come back to Council headquarters so this can’t happen again.”
He was just a kid. He looked like he couldn’t be more than eighteen. He nodded. “Okay. I think that might be best. And I’ll tell my mom that the Nex Apparatus saved me. That should impress her.”
The king strode over, holding out a hand. “Ben, I’m sorry about your brother.”
The kid nodded. “Me, too. Les was a good guy. I know you won’t believe this but my mom isn’t so bad. She’s a succubus, but as long as she gets what she needs, she’s very reasonable. She wants me to talk to you about her tribe. Without the contracts in place, they’re suffering, Your Highness. They serve a function, sir.”
Donovan nodded, but his focus changed. “I’ll talk to her and I intend to open up a dialogue again. Come to the Council with us and we’ll discuss it. But not before we figure out who’s been controlling Neil.”
Yeah, I had a feeling.
It had been that smell that made me wonder. He kept a small play area in the lobby of his office. The man on the floor saw patients of all kinds. He would never turn anyone away, and certainly not a child. He kept toys out there, too, and sometimes when I was running late for my appointment, I would catch him out there, rolling the dough out with his daughter or one of the others, making fun shapes for them.
“Felix?”
I’d never seen Donovan look so lost as that moment when he realized the man who had betrayed Neil was Felix Day.
Chapter Sixteen
I walked into my apartment feeling completely empty. Hollow might be a better word.
It hurt seeing my friends hurt. Which was funny because a couple of months before I wouldn’t have said Donovan was a friend. Or Quinn or the queen. I’d looked at Felix Day as someone I had to get through so I could do my job, but over the months I’d grown to care about him and his family.
Zoey had broken down when Donovan had told her what we’d found. She’d said she couldn’t believe it and I wasn’t sure she did. Even seeing Felix hadn’t helped because it wasn’t like he could tell us what had happened.
Felix Day was in a coma. He was lying in a bed in Henri’s hospital, his body still and only the beeping of the monitors to let us know he was alive. He’d taken wounds from his fight with Trent and those had been dealt with, but he hadn’t woken up yet. His wife and daughter were praying, but I wasn’t sure anything could help him now.
I’d stopped in at the king’s condo and talked to my father. Well, tried to. He was kind of in and out of it. Soon he would be gone, settling back deep inside his new life, but I would know he was there.
I would save him if I died trying. Of course, dying wouldn’t be so bad. Living in Hell would suck.
“Kelsey?” Gray walked out of the kitchen. He’d changed into a T-shirt and jeans and I could see his big feet because he was barefoot. Stupid sexy feet that I shouldn’t have fixated on.
“Hey.” I shrugged out of my jacket. “Sorry I’m late. I got caught up in the job.”
He strode over to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. “I heard. I’m sorry about the doctor. I know you were friends with him. Did you get the sword?”
I nodded. “It’s locked up in the armory and they’ve put all kinds of crazy wards everywhere. Apparently the king doesn’t want the angels to get in and take it away without having a nice long talk with them.”
I’d seen Marcus, too, and he’d been thrilled that the king was finally ready to open negotiations with the demons. He’d asked me to reconsider my contract, but I still couldn’t see a way out of it.
I felt heavy and tired.
Would Nemcox renege on his offer now that I’d caught the person who had been manipulating Neil? Would I find myself right back where I’d started from?
I glanced up at Gray. He was so beautiful to me. Gray had dark brown hair and eyes so blue they were almost violet. He’d been the first man I’d ever loved. I could remember vividly the day he’d walked into my life, but I wondered who he would become when we lived in a place that was surrounded by evil.
And I knew I was going to miss Trent so much.
“What is it, baby?” Gray smoothed back my hair.
How could I tell him I was worried because I hadn’t been able to find Trent? I’d spent the last hour searching the building for him. He wasn’t at his place and I hadn’t found him down in Ether. How could I tell the man I’d once planned to spend my whole life with in holy monogamy that I’d gone looking for another man and my heart wasn’t whole without him? How did I tell him that I needed another man’s arms around me?
“She’s had a shit day and she needs a beer.”
I held my breath as Trent strode out of the kitchen, too. He was wearing jeans and nothing else, his cut torso on full display and it was perfect and whole, with no signs of the damage Felix had done.
“I told you she would be twelve kinds of tired after what happened. Fighting takes a lot out of her because she can’t physically change the way the rest of us can. She’s gotta call on her inner wolf, but it takes a toll on her Hunter body.” Trent had two beers in his hand and he offered me one. “You’ll be happy to know he didn’t even think of making a salad for dinner. Steak and potatoes. I managed to make the brownies.”
Gray snorted. “Like they were hard. They’re from a box. All you had to do was mix some stuff up.”
I couldn’t help it. I reached out and managed to get a hand on them both. I bit back a sob because they were both here and it had been a shitty day, and simply being in the same room with them made me happy. Happy in a stupid, Hollywood-romantic, everything-falls-into-place way that brought tears to my eyes.
Trent’s arm immediately came around me, pulling me in. Gray took a few seconds, but it happened and I was drawn into them, caught between those big masculine bodies, and for the first time in forever I felt comfortable. Like this was where I belonged. Like I didn’t have to fight for anything because I was safe.
I felt Gray’s lips on my forehead, his hand soothing down my back as Trent put his nose into my neck and he breathed in, taking my scent into his body.
This was what I’d needed all day. This was the place I’d longed for. Warmth and welcome and love.
And I wasn’t sure what happened next.
I stepped back, feeling awkward. “So when’s dinner?”
“I think dinner can wait,” Trent said. “I think you need to relax.”
I took a long swig of beer. I wasn’t sure how he expected me to relax. “I could probably take a nice long shower.”
He stepped up, his hand going to the back of my neck. He looked down at me with warm eyes. “Or we could take you to bed and ease that restlessness I know you’re feeling right now.”
“Okay.” I was feeling it. The future wasn’t settled and that made me anxious. I might have bought myself a few days, but that contract was being written up and I would be forced to sign it if I couldn’t find another way to protect my father.
Gray took a step back. “I’ll handle dinner then. Let me know when you’re ready to eat.”
Trent’s eyes closed briefly, but he took a deep breath as though fortifying himself. When he opened them again, he turned to Gray. “I thought we talked about this. You knew she would need to be touched and held and fucked when she came back. She needs sex on a base level.”
“You know I could always go and have that shower and take care of myself.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to be “serviced.”
Except I did. Because it kind of sounded a little hot.
Gray met his eyes. “And you seem ready to provide it for her. Maybe I can have a turn later tonight. I can sleep with her and you can come in and handle the day shift.”
I stared at Gray because I didn’t want to be serviced that much. “If this is a job to you, then I can definitely take care of myself.”
I started toward the bedroom. The shower was sounding better and better.
A hand caught my elbow, stopping me and turning me around. Trent stood there, his jaw hard. “No. You don’t walk away from this.”
This wasn’t how I’d pictured it at all. Well, I had. It was my worst-case scenario. “Having sex with me isn’t a job. If Donovan assigned this duty to you, then walk away, buddy, because I can take care of myself.”
“I never said it was a job to me, though you should know if it was, then I’ve been applying over and over again since the day you walked into my life. It’s not a job, baby. It’s a calling and I’m more than ready. You think those fingers of yours can do the trick?” Trent asked. “Because I don’t think they can. If they did, you would be a lot sweeter to be around than you are. You need a man who can take care of you. Two of them.” He turned to Gray. “I told you how this needs to go. Stop thinking. Kiss her. Show her you want her. Show her you love her so much you’re willing to share her so she gets every single thing she needs.”
Gray hesitated. “I do love her.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
I was still because this seemed to be Trent’s fight. I was being too hard on him. We’d had that moment earlier when he’d given me what I needed. He’d told me he loved me and then proved it by standing up for me. He’d stood in front of his boss—a man he’d made a blood oath to—and chose me. I had to let him take control of this. It was my turn to trust him, and that meant standing back and trying to keep my sarcastic comments to myself.
Gray groaned and scrubbed a hand over his head. “It’s weird.”
“And spanking a girl isn’t weird?” I didn’t try very hard.
A brow rose over Trent’s right eye. “Spanking? You spank her?”
I pointed his way. “It was just for fun. A little spanking and some bondage. Everyone does it these days, right?”
Trent’s lips curled up in the sexiest smirk. “Oh, baby, if a bit of domestic discipline is on the table, my life is going to be so much easier.”
Gray seemed a bit disconcerted by the banter. “It’s not the same. And that was private, Kelsey.”
“And it’ll be private now,” Trent assured him. “Are you worried about gossip?”
I thought I knew what he was worried about. “I think he’s worried about sin.”
“What?” Trent asked.
Gray shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand. You weren’t born into a demonic family. Do you think I didn’t see things I shouldn’t? I’ve been told all my life that it’s only a matter of time before I give into my perverse impulses, and they were right. I do like to have some kink in my sex, but I kept it to one woman. And it’s different with Kelsey. I intended to marry her. I intended to have a normal, happy marriage with her.”
“That would keep you on the straight and narrow?” Trent asked.
“I have to watch myself. Always,” Gray agreed.
Because he was practicing for his descent. There was only one problem I saw with it. “What would be wrong about this? Why would this be sinful?”
“It’s not,” Trent replied when Gray didn’t. “There’s nothing sinful about sex when it’s loving and consensual. Hell, there’s nothing wrong with it when it’s not loving, as long as everyone respects their lovers. There is no normal, Gray. You’re looking for some white picket fence to save you, but it won’t. That white picket fence will do nothing but keep you from really living, and it will definitely keep you from giving her what she needs. Kiss her.”
Gray didn’t hesitate this time. He moved in and his hands came up to cup my face, his mouth descending on mine. I relaxed and let him take control. When I felt his tongue drag across my bottom lip, I opened for him. His tongue glided over mine, sliding and seducing. My body lit from within, every cell waking and readying.
And that was when I felt Trent at my back. His big hand traced down my spine and then he pushed my hair aside and placed his lips on the back of my neck.
I shivered at the feeling. His teeth scraped against my skin, an act of pure alpha wolf dominance that shot straight to my pussy. It made me want to get to my knees and offer him my body.
Gray stepped back, his eyes hooded with desire, but there was worry in them, too.
“Tell me you don’t want her.” Trent’s hands slid over my hips and I could feel his cock against the curve of my ass. Yep. He was an alpha everywhere.
“I want her. I’ve always wanted her.” Gray’s voice had gone deep.
Trent’s fingers found the hem of my T-shirt, playing with it, teasing Gray with hints of skin. “Tell me you don’t want to be in charge of this. Tell me you don’t want to order me to strip her bare and offer her up to you. Maybe you can watch. Do you honestly have no interest in sitting back and watching her come? In knowing all the while that she’s putting on a show for you, that when she’s done screaming, you’ll make her scream all over again.”
I could see plainly that he did. Gray’s slacks had tented nicely and his hands fisted at his sides as though he was trying his hardest not to reach out.
“Take off her shirt.”
“With pleasure.” Trent’s nose was on the back of my neck and I could feel him breathing in my scent. “Damn, you smell good. Do you know how long I’ve wanted that smell to be for me? I would show up on your doorstep with some dumb excuse and you would smell like this because no shower can completely get rid of the smell of sex.”
