Pair of Fools, page 16
“Nero… raised us,” I start.
“What happened to your parents?”
“They died. Nero didn’t get specific; we were too young to remember anything about them. He said that our father went back to the demon plane and must have died. He and my mother were bonded. She was a witch with hardly any magic in her blood, so the bond killed her.”
Sophia sucks in a breath but I smile sadly at her and shrug. It’s hard to grieve people you don’t remember, and I have few details about their bonding. Nero didn’t share much about them other than he hated them for saddling him with us.
“Nero had sworn an oath to our father to keep us safe until our talents came in.”
Sophia tilts her head, so I explain.
“Young demons don’t need to have anchors until the magical talents develop. Usually when they become sixteen or seventeen years of age. The talents make it so they have to draw from the plane they reside in to continue existing.”
“Nero made it very clear that as soon as that happened, we’d be on our own and that he was going back to the demon plane.”
“Charming,” Sophia drawls.
I snort and my tone took on a wistful note.
“I couldn’t wait. Every day of my sixteenth year, I woke with the hope that Elise and I would get to leave him behind. It was the epitome of naivete. Just because a demon’s talent develops doesn’t mean they can control it, or do the magic required for forming a bond without instruction.”
“And he was going to just leave the two of you?”
“I don’t know. It didn’t really come to that. Elise developed her talent first. Gifts follow bloodlines, and as expected Elise had the ability to teleport.”
I swallow, remembering her dark eyes filled with worry.
“I was crushed.” The words are barely a whisper, and I clear my throat. “It seems like such a small thing in retrospect, but Nero would constantly berate me for being a weak half-breed and when his friends came over, other demon borns, it would get worse.”
“Friends like Alton?” Sophia asks, her eyes narrowing as if with one word my fierce goddess would smite the bullies of my past.
I love her.
The revelation has me looking away, struggling to stuff the words that I’ll probably never say down. Being gentle with the soft feeling in my chest as to not break it.
It’s a bad time for my feelings to crystallize, for me to know through my heart and soul that I love this harpy, right before I share with her my greatest shame.
I clear my throat, hard. “Uh, no, Alton wasn’t that bad. He was actually the only friend of Nero’s to try and get him to slow down on nefarious activities.”
Sophia’s brows crease and my heavy heart continues.
I sigh. “When Elise gained her talent before I did, I felt… betrayed and I… I left.”
“Left?”
“I ran away. I was so upset. It felt like I had lost my only ally. I thought anywhere would be better than staying, so I left. I have never regretted anything more in my life.”
Sophia’s eyes are full of concern.
My throat swells but I push on to finish the story.
“I told you before that Nero had a history of running up debts and doing jobs for quick money. I think his vice must have to do with greed, or maybe gambling, because sometimes it didn’t seem like he even had control of himself. It was a week before I went back. It finally got through my thick skull that it wasn’t Elise’s fault that she was a better demon than I was, and I didn’t want to miss our birthday.”
I thread my fingers through Sophia’s hair, unable to look her in the eye.
“She was gone.”
“Gone?”
“One of Nero’s debts came collecting and he traded her.”
Sophia gasps.
Anger at Nero overcomes my shame and grief and makes it easier to continue.
“He bonded her to a powerful man with a bad reputation to forgive his debt. I was furious. I wanted to go after her, but I couldn’t do it alone, I couldn’t unravel the bond. He said that we would get her, that it was all a part of the plan, but—” I shake my head.
“I could tell that this wasn’t like any other con he’d done before. This was desperate. He’d traded our seventeen-year-old sister with no guarantees on how she’d be treated.”
Sophia puts a hand over her mouth.
“The plan was to go in and steal her away, but it was already too late. She’d—” I break off, the grief of finding her coming back full force and I turn my head. Tears heat my eyes and I clench my jaw to keep them from falling.
Soft hands turn my face back and Sophia hugs me to her. The gesture is so heartfelt and comforting that soon the sobs I trap in my throat ease.
“Elise had taken her own life, killing her anchor in the process. The shock must have shaken something loose because that was the first time I entered the in-between.” I’d accepted the darkness and stumbled somewhere completely foreign, covered in my sister’s blood.
“I wandered for a while, teleporting to places I’ve never been, stealing what I needed to survive. Not knowing what I wanted to do, but I was unbonded. I started to fade. That’s when Asa found me. He saved my life.”
I’d crashed into the demon a few years older than myself, dressed for the theater, stinking of money and he’d haughtily asked who I was and what I thought I was doing appearing out of thin air.
“He hasn’t been able to shake me since.” I smile.
“What happened with Nero?” Sophia asks.
“When I entered the angry part of my grief, I confided everything to Asa. He’d been dealing with some issues with mutually acquainted demon borns himself. We devised a plan, a strategy to banish the worst characters at once, and enacted it.”
I roll my eyes at my stupidity. “I told Asa that I wanted to be the one to get vengeance on Nero.”
Sophia’s eyes widen. “What happened?”
My chuckle is dark. “Nero nearly killed me. Asa swooped in with all his dark strength and saved me yet again. It’s good to have strong friends. In the end, only a few demon born in that area were spared from the banishment.”
I sigh out a breath. “Now you know my greatest shame. If I had been there, I’d never have let Nero trade Elise. If only I hadn’t been—” Weak.
“A hormonal teenager bullied his whole life over something he couldn’t control?” Sophia asks gently.
I swallow down the guilt.
“Yes that. If I hadn’t let my hurt feeling fuel me, I’d have been there…”
“And that’s why you don’t connect with people you have to protect.” Sophia’s voice is solemn.
“Yes.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Mace—”
I shake my head, the motion sharp and Sophia stops. There are many things I’m willing to hear from her, but that isn’t one of them.
Instead, Sophia shows her support in other ways, and it doesn’t matter that I don’t deserve it. When it comes time for us to rest for the night, my harpy allows me to steal her away to my bed, freely cuddling with me. Comforting me with physical affection and snarky words.
I pretend that someday I’ll be able to tell her I love her without her running from me.
28
Sophia
“Tea or coffee?” Mace asks.
I massage the bridge of my nose and shake my head.
We’ve combed through the files for days. Taking breaks to pop out for meals, connect with Gage’s team, and sleep. And sometimes those breaks include playful teasing that always ends with me begging. Then we return to the files hoping to find the one detail that’ll connect the puzzle.
I have pages upon pages of notes that almost seem cohesive if I squint my eyes. We’re close to something. I feel it.
The sensation of being at the very edge of discovery motivates me forward and makes me all kinds of cranky.
“It’s here,” I say for what feels like the tenth time.
Mace only nods in understanding. He slides his hand under mine and threads our fingers together.
“Maybe another break? We’ve been at this for hours. You’re no good to anyone if you burn out.”
I bite my lip instead of lashing out in frustration. Mace smiles and kisses the back of my hand. The affectionate touches between us have sprinkled the days since coming to the cabin. Each time makes this relationship between us feel more real.
What we have is real. Inconvenient and messy and so real it makes my breath catch.
I don’t know exactly when it happened but imagining a young Mace racked with the guilty sobs the man version had suppressed in my arms had cracked my defenses wide open.
Mace is in my skin, my blood beats in time to this demon’s, my bones vibrate with him. I’m all in now.
The soft look on Mace’s face twists into a wicked one. “A break it is.”
I frown before shrieking as he throws me over his shoulder. A couple of papers scatter on the coffee table, but don’t ruin the organization we have going.
“Mace!”
He smacks my ass as he carries me to the master bedroom we’d been sharing. “I know just the thing to refresh your mind.”
I laugh and when he tosses me on the flannel-covered bed, I bounce. Mace shucks his clothes and I race him in getting naked. The tug of my pants rough against my skin in my haste. I’m bare when he climbs on the bed toward me.
I prop myself up on my elbows and look at the demon between my splayed legs. The way his dark hair falls over his forehead has something I don’t recognize clutching in my chest. Tenderness?
Mace’s eyes flash with a tease and he drops his face near my core.
“I have an idea.” He breathes the words against the sensitive skin of my lower stomach. “Will you let me try something?”
His question is challenging and playful at the same time. I huff and he smiles.
I’ll rise to any challenge this demon throws down.
“Do it,” I say.
Mace’s smile grows and the flash of his teeth has my stomach tightening in anticipation. He drags his thumb over the skin he’d dampened with his breath.
I gasp when I feel it. The pull on our bond. It’s like the draw of a mouth on a nipple with the way it makes heat surge in me. All with one stroke of this demon.
It’s a delicious amplification of sensation.
It stops as soon as it starts.
“What was that?” I gasp.
Mace is watching me carefully. The anticipation in his eyes showing just how much this play is affecting him.
“I can manipulate our threads, the ones that bind our souls together. Do you want me to do it again?” he asks.
It’s probably reckless of me. I’m already too sensitive to the magic of our bond. But hunger blossoms in the absence of the draw.
“Yes—” My answer breaks on a sound from the back of my throat as Mace puts a hand on my skin and plays.
I quickly lose myself.
Each touch is a unique sensation. It’s only Mace running his hand over my skin, but each strum of our souls reverberates in different ways, some tickle, others burn. Some threads have my back arching while my legs try to squeeze together from another.
Each caress brings me to the edge and has an ache of emptiness slicking my thighs.
I don’t know how long I last before I start begging.
Mace squeezes a breast and I cry out. “Shh, I’m enjoying this,” he says. His hard cock strokes through my wet pussy, the friction driving me wild.
My skin pebbles under Mace’s chuckle. “Each time I pull on your end you tug back on mine and gods does it feel good.”
He pinches a nipple at the same time as drawing on a thread and I groan, trying to twist away, but not wanting it to stop. Sweat has my hair sticking to my face even as my skin tingles with sensitivity.
“Please, Mace! I need you.” I pull on his hair, whimpering.
Mace hums at the hair pulling, as if considering.
I snap.
I push Mace away and slide my fingers to where I’m empty. I’m so wet and needy, my first two fingers slide in easily and bring no satisfaction even as I grind the heel of my palm against my clit.
Mace leans back, watching me fuck myself with glittering hot eyes. “That’s gorgeous, but my poor harpy needs more than that. Don’t you?”
I’m an overwrought mess. “Yes.”
“I’ve pushed you too far.”
“Mace, please!”
Mace grabs my hand, pulling my fingers from my body. He sucks them and the stroke of his hot tongue almost has me wrestling him down again, but it’s more fun when I don’t overpower Mace.
He always manages to surprise me.
Mace finishes sucking my juices from my fingers and kisses my palm before a diabolical look crosses his face. He flips me over on the bed and pulls my hips up. His body leans over mine, the heat of his front against my back.
“My little cum slut wants me to fill her up, who am I to say no?” he says.
I groan into the sheets at the words, my talons digging into the fabric. Mace drags his cock against my ass and the wet smear of his precum has me greedily pushing back against him. Mace grabs my hair and pulls.
“I’ve got you, goddess,” he says, and I believe him.
I bite my lip when the head of his cock nudges against my entrance and muffle my groan with the sheets as he sinks into me. I can’t move much in this position, and it thrills some questionable part of me.
Mace grunts when his hips hit my ass and his next thrust smacks against me. I gasp each time our bodies come together. The primal nature of my demon rutting me has my climax coming for me with or without his release.
Mace curses before sinking as deep as he can go and clutching my hips. His cock throbs and when the heat of him floods me, I break on a scream.
My orgasm rips through me, a toe-curling rush and pulsing ecstasy. It’s not just flying, it’s the exact moment of swooping from a dive instead of crashing to earth. My pussy is still fluttering around Mace’s thickness when I come back to myself.
Mace pulls himself from me and we both moan at the spill of us.
“Gods, Sophia, I think I could find the meaning of life in your cunt,” Mace says, running his fingers through our combination and pushing it back inside me. I dig into the sheets at the action and gasp at the aftershocks.
“I didn’t think I was into the breeding kink thing, but it’s hard to deny the thrill of filling you.”
I scrunch my nose, lifting my sweat-damp face from the bed. “Don’t call it that.”
Mace snorts. “Whatever you want to call it, seed stealer.”
I flop on my side, grabbing a pillow and swinging it at the demon behind me. Mace cackles when it connects. I lose most of my aggression with it and tuck the pillow under my head.
“Don’t make me hurt you. My body feels like cooked noodles.”
He kisses my shoulder. “Do you want me to clean you up?”
I nod and the bed creaks as Mace leaves. Is it normal for the guy to clean his partner up? I’ve never been in a relationship. If I wasn’t so relaxed right now, I might have frozen up at the concept that Mace and I are in a relationship.
But we are. There’s no denying that we are connected.
I huff, seed stealer.
I doze as Mace wipes away the evidence of our break. My thoughts scattering away to the case we’re on.
The organization has so many small businesses scattered throughout the world on the edges of other entities. It’s a wonder how they keep track of them all.
I shoot up in bed and Mace makes a sound of disappointment from the spot he took next to me.
“I got it!”
29
Sophia
Excitement hums in my veins. I pat the emergency charms in my pocket in preparation of entering the building in front of us. The charms vibrate stingingly against my own magics but are muffled against the jacket, ready to be used just in case.
The jacket itself is hidden by the glamour I wear.
I’d been surprised that Gage’s team had acquired such a finely woven spell that it’s only giving me a headache to wear, rather than making me nauseous.
A drunken man comes swinging out of the door of the gambling den and Mace grips my waist. I get a vibration of worry from the bond. He doesn’t like this plan, but everyone is already in place. Gage’s team knows their roles and if all goes well, we’ll get all of the locations the group is using to hold their captives.
“This is a bad plan,” Mace says.
“It’s a fantastic plan.”
We enter the establishment, receiving a nod from the doorman. His eyes linger on the chest of my glamoured form. I appear as if I’m very endowed and dressed to show it.
It’s an old trick, use boobs to distract, but old tricks are old because they work. The doorman doesn’t even look at Mace’s face, which displays an attractive man showcasing the slightly pointed ears of a fae.
I prefer Mace’s imperfections to the pretty face he wears.
I think I may love this asshole.
The idea doesn’t bother me as much as it probably should. As it would have a week ago.
Don’t let anyone tell you how to live your life.
We walk into the main room that has tables spread throughout, the sound of cards shuffling and the odd cry of dismay permeates the space. Each table full of paranormals trying their luck even though this establishment has the reputation of the house always winning.
Yesterday I’d started sorting the businesses in this organization by digital security measures and found this establishment. During the day, this is a legitimate pub, but once the pub closes this operation starts.
There’s nothing expressly forbidden about gambling, but the Council would want to be informed of any location where large amounts of magic beings gather. They’d want some sort of certifications of the spells put in place to protect patrons.
Expensive spells that this establishment doesn’t have.
This is the largest business the group runs legitimately. I sent the information to Gage on the off chance that this building acts as more of a hub for the group. A truer den rather than just a gambling den.
