Double Down (Take a Gamble) (13 page)

“Never.”
He growled and bit her nipple.

"Good, because I want you
Caleb."

“Sweetheart, you have me…” he lifted her hips higher and
swiveled his own, hitting all the spots she loved. His Shadow Scar pulsed at the base of his cock, petting her clit with every thrust.

“You are so fucking beautiful Shade…” he murmured and let her Shadows envelop his arm. “I am going to enjoy forever with you…”

"Hmm, oh yes, that’s what I wish." she gasped.

“Then you shall have it…” his words spoken, rang with an echo that neither of them acknowledged. He flipped them, took her at a higher angle, fast and deep. She could feel everything he was feeling, including the bone deep need that was radiating from him.

"Caleb," she cried out as her orgasm hit her, crashing though her and into him and he followed her down the rabbit hole of pleasure.

***

Shade was now his, irrevocably. His consort, his companion for all time. The wish was the catalyst to a Djinn’s future and the right woman, it was said, would always make the right wish so they would spend forever with the Djinn that bound them. Shade was the right woman for him. He had felt it from the off, but with her making the wish, sealing their fates, he allowed himself to accept it, to feel pride in the fact that this devastating demoness was his. Forever.

They relearned to breathe together, and Caleb felt a thickening in his soul, as if something missing was finally filled.
He sighed as the feeling grew, clicked into place. Shade was a part of him now, he felt her, an amorphous mass flittering on the edges of his consciousness, slowly slithering around his mind much like her Shadow Scar did on his skin.

“You do know what you did right?” he said quietly as he pulled her to him. “You know what this means?”

"Sure I do. It means your mine now.
”

Caleb chuckled. “Actually in the eyes of
Djinn law, it means you are now
my
consort,
my
love and
my
life. You sure you are ready for this?” The shadows around them moved in, petting both of them, in acceptance and affection.

"What makes you so sure that
Djinn law is so ready for us?" She ran her hand through his hair. 

He moved closer, enjoying the feel of her petting him. It wasn’t often he even let it happen, a
nd Shade probably knew it. His Shadow Scar pulsed. “Doesn’t matter, I can guarantee being mine will never be a hardship love.”

"And being mine will be totally worth
it." she smiled wickedly.

He chuckled and pulled her close, planting a soft kiss on her lips. “Of that I have no doubt.
So? All your problems fixed, love? I daresay they are.”

“We still have Daddy to contend with, and my pseudo fiancée.”

“Let me worry about them pet. From now on all I want you to worry about is gaming, what you’re going to wear
while
gaming and how it’s going to look in tatters on the floor
after
gaming.” He murmured and then kissed her roughly.

“Doable.” She grinned and rubbed her nose against his.

“Good.” He ran a hand over her shoulder, and then down, petting both her side and her Shadow Scar. It pulsed beneath his fingers and she sighed, snuggling closer. His good fortune in Shade was nothing he would ever be able to duplicate. And the stunner was his, Shadows and soul.

He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes, feeling at
peace, and whole for the first time in his life. And he had the sexy little badass next to him to thank for it. And he would thank her, over and over in his own special way till the end of time.

Epilogue

Caleb looked at the man across from him, sitting in a large mahogany chair, wearing a seven thousand dollar suit, with his fingers steepled, the tips resting under his nose. If he thought he was imposing, he had another thing coming. Caleb had grown up with men that wore imposing like a robe, his father being one of them. No, this chump played at imposing but really he wasn’t a threat to anyone, least of all Caleb’s lovely new consort. He plastered a pleasant smile on his face, though really he felt like hitting the bastard.

“S
o you are telling me you are bound to my daughter, of her own free will, and it’s not reversible?” Dolan Loganazzi offered, the rumble of his voice a deep baritone.

Caleb nodded. “She wished, of her own free will, and she’s now mine. I would really prefer this marriage bullshit you tried to swindle her into be resolved, I’m not one to share.”

“Yes you mentioned this wishing…?”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “Let’s cut the shit shall we? You know what I am, you know how this works. So can we move this along, I have a honeymoon to get to.”

Dolan gave a long suffering sigh and shook his head. “I’m sure you can appreciate, Mr. Marshapoltes, that unless I have proof, nothing you have said here makes one damn bit of difference. Shade could have paid you to bind her, a lovely arrangement I’m sure, and then she will be on her way once she gets what she wants. No, I need proof that the girl has settled down.”

Caleb rolled his eyes and leaned forward.
“Really? You  are going to be that much of a dick?” he shook his head and leaned back, and rested his ankle on his parallel knee, his Kenneth Cole shining in the rich light of the office.

Dolan gave him a feral
grin. “She is my daughter, and I have to ensure she’s getting what’s best for her.”

Caleb rolled his eyes.
“How much?”

Dolan leaned forward and shook his head. “You insult me sir, to think as I would ever…”

Caleb held his hand up. “I am well aware how much Conover’s family was offering to have Shade, and how much more they were willing to pay should he sire a boy on her. So let’s be frank, she’s worth much more. Was that the best offer you had gotten, or just the best from a family you could use to your own ends?” he said through a sweet smile.

Dolan’s good natured façade was suddenly gone. “What are you offering, Mr. Marshapoltes?”

Caleb leaned back and picked at his manicure. “Contacts, for your more... questionable pursuits with Vastec. Ones that can’t be traced.”

The elder Demon was quiet for a moment. “And just how-”

Caleb waved him away. “You don’t think I can’t find info on anything I want? I’m almost as old as Christ and a fucking Prince of my race. You were going to tie her to a child that wasn’t even noble. So? What do you say?” Caleb cocked his head watching is father in law with amusement. It didn’t matter what the bastard said, if Caleb had to, he would kill him and not give it a second thought.

Dolan considered him. “Well that’s all well and good, but you have still yet to prove to me that she is indeed yours, and you have bound her.
And as proof is nigh on impossible-”

Caleb stood and unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt and pulled the collar to the side, showing off his
Shadow Scar, which was large, as if puffed up, its tendrils dancing around the larger mass.

Dolan blinked, and blinked again. Caleb looked at him. “This about do it
for you? She’s mine, body and Shadows.”

Dolan gave him a smug smile. “I believe that’s the other way around.”

“Tomato- toe-mah-toe buddy. So? You going to take my proposition? Cuz I gotta tell ya man, you might think you have me over a barrel, but the truth is I could destroy you in a blink, and I would, if you threatened her again.” There. With it out in the open, he didn’t have to play nicey nice.

Shade’s father started to speak and Caleb waved him off.
Again. “That’s exactly what you were doing giving her over to Conover, priggish little fop. So you are going to break the contract with them, or you don’t leave this room.”

“And who do you think you are to threaten me? I can make that little whore on your throat murder you kid.”

Caleb laughed. “Fucking try it.”

Dolan exercised some power, Caleb felt it, the swelling in the room, but the
Shadows, both on him and around him, did nothing. At all.

Caleb chose that second to act, and was across the desk in a flash, his hand on the throat of his Consort’s father. “So it is true. The Shadows love Shade, heed her wishes before yours. Shadows are tricky things, don’t you think?”

Dolan coughed, his main power set abandoning him, rallying around Caleb, and Caleb grinned as his Scar pulsed.

“So?
You going to cancel that contract?”

Shade’s father nodded, and Caleb let him go. The older man fell to the floor, grabbing at his throat.  Caleb looked down at the other man and smiled.

“So now that that’s settled, offer still stands for the contacts. If you need, call me at this number.” He placed a business card on the desk. “So I expect the contract to be nullified by midnight, or I’m coming back here, and this is going to have a completely different ending.”

Dolan looked him over with seething hatred coming from every pore. His eyes narrowed and then he smiled. “Welcome to the family kid,
she couldn’t have done better.”

“Clearly.
See that it’s done.” He said as he left the room, and walked back through the double doors towards the elevator. He had taken a gamble on the Shadows loving his Consort more than her father, but it had paid off. Shade was safe, his and everything had fallen into place. True, he would have to deal with her father from time to time, but the old asshole knew now Caleb was one man you did not fuck with.

His Shadow S
car pulsed on his skin, heating it.

“Yeah I know you miss her. You will get to play on her delectable skin soon.” He said to it as he stroked it.

He reached the elevator just as the doors opened. He waited, as three
Caligo filed out and looked him over. One of them, an older woman gave him the once over and he smirked at her, and cut his gaze to the youth just before her.

“The male is of no consequence.
Uma, Conover, We have a meeting.”

Caleb turned as he entered the lift and tipped an imaginary hat to Conover, who scowled at him. He winked at
Uma, presumably his mother, and smiled as they turned to go down the hallway he had just recently come from. He hit the run stop and picked at his nails for a few minutes before he heard the screaming, or rather, screeching start just beyond the closed door to Dolan’s office.

“Of no consequence my ass.”
He said with a smug laugh and let the doors finally close on the elevator. He had a Consort to get back to, and a honeymoon to begin.