Call of the Siren (3 page)

Something rammed into her from the side before he could finish his sentence. A rough pair of hands grabbed her arms and jerked them behind her, lifting her to her toes.

What the hell?

That was when she realized what she would’ve picked up on seconds earlier, had she not been so focused on Dagan and his insatiable wang.

They were under attack.

Lina twisted away from the hands trying to imprison her and whirled into a spin kick that tossed her attacker halfway across the crowded club. He took down a couple of other patrons as he flew back, like some sick, people-version of a bowling game. She stared only long enough to confirm she didn’t know the man. When she turned back to where Dagan had stood moments earlier, a small crowd of men surrounded him. And they were focused on pummeling him to the ground.

All of the patrons who stood nearby had eased away, staring at the men fighting.

What a roomful of gentlemen.

A shadow in the corner of her eye alerted her to the presence of another man. She turned just in time to avoid his fist. If it had been just the two of them, she could have used her calming ability to stop him, but that particular gift didn’t have the same effect in a crowd this size. Besides, she hadn’t used that gift in a long time…and fighting back was so much more fun, anyway.

Her knee shot up and caught him in the small of his back. He arched backward in pain, and she leaped into the air, striking her elbow into the left side of his neck. The man’s eyes rolled in his head as he crumpled to the ground.

“I told you to take her fast,” a familiar voice yelled. “She’s a good fighter.”

Shock reverberated through Lina’s bones like the heart-pumping bass of a drum. She sought out the source of the voice, and sure enough, he was one of the men trying to take Dagan down.

“
Sam
? What the fuck are you doing?”

A glimmer of something that looked like regret shone in the lorne demon’s eyes before they flicked to the side. His nervous tick tipped her off to the fact that the first man who’d attacked her, a burly wrestler type who had to be at least six and a half feet tall, had recovered. He stalked toward her, purposeful intent glinting in his eyes.

Lina ducked, but not quickly enough to avoid his meaty fist. It bashed into her face, and something crunched in response. Biting back a yell of pain, she regrouped just in time to sidestep another blow. Thank goodness for her speed, because her physical strength would be no match for a beast of his size. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a knife. This was when she felt most empowered—when she had a weapon in her hand, preferably a sharp one. Getty had trained her well.

Her attacker took one look at her weapon and laughed. “Nice toothpick.”

He lunged for her, but she swung to the side and spun around, cleaving the knife over the main artery on his wrist. He grunted and stared down, dumbstruck, at the blood gushing out in a steady spray. Clearly he hadn’t expected it to be so sharp, or for her aim to be so accurate.

She took advantage of his distraction and leaped onto his back. Grabbing a hank of hair with her free hand, she sliced through his neck. He collapsed to the floor with a gurgle, and Lina hopped off, landing light on her feet. Once upon a time, the idea of taking another man’s life would have been unthinkable. But that had been the old Lina, the one who’d had something to lose. Now she had no compunction about taking someone down. Especially someone who’d attacked her.

And even if she did feel the
tiniest
bit of guilt, well she could easily ignore that.

Lina whirled around to where Dagan stood fighting off his attackers. Two men lay on the ground at his feet, which left him three more to deal with, including that bastard Sam. She dug in her jacket for a second stiletto and raced for Sam.

Take that, jackass.

He saw her knife and leaped to the side a split second before it could sever the artery at his elbow joint.

Damn. Close, but no dice.

“What is
wrong
with you?” she gasped as she lunged for him again.

He blocked her thrust with a hit that jarred her wrist. Using his free hand, he delivered a punch to her stomach that sent her flying back a few feet.

“Sorry, babe,” he panted. “You’ve made some big enemies.”

What the hell? Sam and she weren’t the best of buds or anything, but they’d been through some shit together. She’d trusted him. Why would he turn on her now?

Sudden realization stopped her in her tracks.

“The dark fae we’re searching for. You work for him.”

The flash of guilt in Sam’s eyes was all the response she needed.

“Why?” she asked.

Sam shrugged and, before she could move, rushed straight at her. Lina caught a flash of silver an instant before a searing-hot bolt of agony speared her in the side. She groaned at the pain and dropped one of her daggers, placing her freed hand on Sam’s chest for balance. Regret and some other sad emotion shimmered in his eyes as he jerked his dagger out of her side. When she yelled out in pain, he repeated, “Sorry,” and lifted the dagger to her neck.

Lina stared at Sam through watery eyes. She couldn’t believe she’d allowed him to best her. After all these years of learning how to fight, how to kick ass, she’d gone and fucked up big time. Her only defense was that his betrayal had surprised her. And now she would pay for that with her life.

Funny, after all these years of secretly wishing for death, for an end to the never-ending sorrow deep inside her heart, now that the moment was here, she found she wanted to
live
.

Wouldn’t you know?

Sam read the look in her eyes and shook his head. “I’m not here to kill you.”

“Then what—”

A loud roar cut off the rest of her sentence. A figure collided with Sam, knocking him to the side and his dagger safely away from Lina. Without the support of Sam’s body, she crumpled to the floor in a kneeling position.

She looked up to see Dagan shoving Sam to the ground and wresting the dagger from his hand. He held it to Sam’s neck.

“No,” Sam pleaded.

Dagan growled, his arm shaking with the effort of keeping the dagger at Sam’s throat without slicing it into him as he so clearly longed to do. A thin line of blood spread on Sam’s neck where the dagger pressed into his flesh.

“You okay, Lina?” Dagan asked without taking his eyes off Sam.

Lina surveyed her surroundings. The men Sam had used to attack them with all lay on the ground, blood flowing from their beaten bodies. When she realized she hadn’t been breathing, she took a big gasp of air, then whimpered at the agony it sparked in her side. Why the hell hadn’t she healed herself yet?

She placed her hand on the oozing wound and activated her healing ability. A warm rush of golden light spread from her core up to her chest, then flowed down her arm and into her fingertips. Her side tingled in residual pain as the wound repaired itself in a matter of seconds. Thank goodness for her angel heritage. Otherwise she might be in some deep shit right now.

“Lina?” Dagan said through gritted teeth.

“I’m good,” she said, just as Dagan glanced back at her.

Freed from Dagan’s piercing gaze, Sam dug a hand into his pocket and pulled out an electric blue, gelatinous orb about the size of a golf ball.

Lina scrambled to her feet. “Watch out!”

Dagan turned back to Sam, but not quickly enough to stop him from squishing the ball in his fist. A ray of blue energy filled the club, crackling the air and momentarily blinding Lina. Her hair raised on end.

“What the fuck?” Dagan gargled.

When Lina blinked, the world settled back into view. She sought out Dagan, and saw the reason for his muttered curse. The spot where Sam had just lain was now empty, and Dagan straddled nothing but air.

His confused gaze met hers. “Where did he go?”

Chapter Three

This night had
so
not turned out how Dagan anticipated. First, a surprise attack from Lina’s contact. Then the guy up and disappeared. Like
poof
, into thin air. Dagan and Lina searched the club and surrounding area for him, but Sam was nowhere to be found.

Takes some serious magical mojo to pull off an escape like that.

After smoothing things over with the club’s owner, who was understandably pissed about the damage done to the place, he rejoined Lina by the bar. She sat on one of the stools, drinking down a beer that Crull had served her. To the naked eye she looked calm as could be. But he didn’t miss the tension in her shoulders, or the tight set of her jaw. Lina was rattled, and who could blame her? Sam had been a trusted associate, and he’d stabbed a knife into her like their relationship had meant nothing.

“How’s the side?” he asked once he’d come to a stop beside her.

“Fine.” She took another guzzle of her beer. “You get things squared away with the owner?”

“He’s good.” Dagan placed his hand beneath her chin and turned her face toward his so he could examine the bruise on her left cheek.

The dangerous glint in her eyes told him she didn’t appreciate his man-handling, but when she spoke all she said was, “I’ve already healed it. The bruise should fade in a couple of hours.”

He fought back a wince. For the bruise to be so visible even after she’d healed herself, her cheekbone must have been shattered. He knew firsthand how painful that was. But if Lina had proved anything in the time he’d known her, it was that she was one tough woman.

“You did good back there,” he murmured.

One corner of her mouth ticked up. “Nothing I haven’t faced before.”

Considering she worked as a mercenary, that was no doubt true, and the knowledge of that hit him like a kick to the groin. She willingly placed her life in danger every day. Even though he had no claim to her whatsoever, the thought of that drove him crazy.

“Why
do
you work as a mercenary?” he found himself asking.

Her grin died. “Why do you work as a bounty hunter?”

Touché. He couldn’t exactly condone her choice of career when he put himself in just as much danger as she did on a daily basis.

“Ronin worries about you,” he found himself saying.

I worry about you.

She swiveled on her stool so she fully faced him, barely missing his groin with her knee. He fought the impulse to back away from the danger it posed. She would see that as a weakness.

Her leg stayed there, inches from his body. Torturing him with its proximity.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” she said, her voice low. Almost teasing. “I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

A world of hidden meaning rested behind those words.

“Indeed,” he murmured, his heart speeding up at the innuendo. To the untrained, she might be flirting. But he knew better. She was simply being truthful.

As if she sensed the excitement growing within him, she shifted slightly, her knee grazing his thigh. The weight of the air changed around them, growing thicker and more intense. It made him all too aware of the heat pulsing off her body. Made him lose all focus.

Obeying some base instinct, he moved in closer.

“Dagan.” Her voice held a note of warning.

“What?” he whispered.

Something crossed her expression, something almost like…regret?

“We should go tell Ronin what happened.”

Her mention of his brother’s name broke him out of his trance. Shaking his head, he pulled back. “You’re right.”

What had just gone down was big. They needed to tell his brothers right away.

…

Dagan sighed and leaned his forehead against one of the floor-to-ceiling windows lining his oldest brother Keegan’s expansive living room. Keegan lived in the penthouse of the Upper East Side building where Dagan also resided. Four floors down, his and Ronin’s apartment was less than half the size of this one, the view not nearly as grand. Usually he took the time to admire the stunning sight of New York City through these windows, but tonight they provided nothing more than a momentary distraction.

He turned to face Keegan, Ronin, and Lina. Taeg and his fiancé Maya would be here too if they weren’t out of the country, tracking the demons who had murdered her family years before. They’d gotten a solid lead that the two maliki demons were in Europe, and they were currently hot on their trail.

“You’re sure Sam is working for the dark fae?” Keegan asked from the bar in one corner of the room, where he’d gone to pour himself a generous drink after hearing that Dagan and Lina had been attacked.

“Yes,” Lina responded. She paced back and forth in the living room, absently twirling the stiletto knife in her hand. Her long, blond hair flowed behind her as if carried on a silent breeze, and the curves of her firm ass flexed with her movement. He shouldn’t be noticing that right now, but not noticing Lina was impossible. Whenever she entered a room, all the air sucked right out of it. The woman was stunning.

She’d also suffered a harsh blow tonight. Dried blood stained her pink top underneath her leather jacket. While the wound wouldn’t have been serious enough to kill her, she would still be in pain if not for her angelic ability to heal.

The thought of that wrenched Dagan’s stomach. The last thing he wanted to see was Lina in any kind of pain.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Ronin frowning at him, and turned his gaze back to Keegan. When Dagan had first met Lina, he’d been unable to hide his interest, but Ronin had told him in no uncertain terms that he didn’t want him anywhere near his adopted sister. Ronin wasn’t too keen on her being defiled by his man-whore of a little brother, and who could blame him? A woman like Lina was meant to be treasured and adored, not used and cast off.

And what else am I good for, if not for that?

“I mean, Sam didn’t flat-out admit he was working for the fae,” Lina continued, “but it seemed pretty clear.”

“Yeah, the bastard disappeared right out from under me.” His jaw tight, Dagan crossed over to the bar and poured a drink for himself.

“Must have been a spell.” Ronin leaned forward on the leather sectional, resting his elbows on his thighs and clasping his hands together. “Sam probably activated it when he crushed that ball in his hand.”

Keegan took a swig of his drink. “Supports our theory that Sam is working for the fae.”

“Yup,” Dagan said. “A teleportation spell of that magnitude requires some serious power.”

Keegan nodded. “Exactly. It’s not like they sell those on the black market.”

Dagan swallowed hard, his thoughts turning to another man. Another possibility. “You don’t think it could’ve been Mammon, do you?”

Silence blanketed the room at his mention of that name. Mammon was a demon who had tried to take over the world…and he also happened to be their father. He was evil and abusive, and they’d taken great delight in escaping him. After he turned against the Council, the four of them had gladly tracked him down. Rotting in an interdimensional prison had been the very least he deserved. But he’d been broken out several months ago, and they hadn’t heard of him since.

“Only someone with great power could have broken him out of prison,” Keegan finally said. “Whether it was the dark fae or not is anyone’s guess. But if it
was
him…why? What’s the connection between the two?”

“At this point we don’t know what to expect from Mammon,” Ronin said grimly. “I’m half surprised he hasn’t reared his head by now.”

True. Their father had an awful habit of trying to kill them.

“I can’t believe Sam turned on me.” Lina frowned and rubbed at her side. She almost looked like she was in pain, and that set Dagan’s internal radar off. Given her angelic healing ability, she should be fully healed by now.

Without thinking about it, Dagan set his drink down and crossed over to her. “You okay?” He didn’t wait for a response before peeling back her leather jacket and lifting her lace top just enough that he could examine the spot where she’d been stabbed. Her flesh was unmarred, but it was damn hard to ignore how soft and smooth it was, or the fact that her top seemed more appropriate for the bedroom than for public view. If that wasn’t a recipe for a hard-on, he didn’t know what was.

Lina stiffened beneath his gaze, her fingers tightening on her knife. “I’m fine. Aches a little, is all. I’m sure it’ll go away soon enough.”

“Good.” Before Dagan could say anything more, a wisp of negative energy drifted toward him.

No mistaking where that came from.
Ronin.

Ever since Ronin’s first sexual encounter with his now-fiancé Amara, when she had, to her horror, almost killed him, Ronin’s calming ability had gone wonky. At first it hadn’t worked at all, but once Ronin and Amara had gotten back together it had kicked back in with one notable exception—when he was angry, unease, rather than calm, oozed from his pores.

Damn unnerving.

The
Jaws
theme played in Dagan’s head as he released Lina’s shirt and backed toward the bar without meeting Ronin’s eyes. He already knew the reproach he’d find in them. Hell, Ronin would no doubt grill him later for turning up at the same place as Lina. The bastard probably suspected he’d done it on purpose.

If only he knew how much Dagan wished Lina
hadn’t
seen him tonight—at least not in the comprising situation he’d gotten himself into.

Keegan cleared his throat, dispelling the tension that permeated the room. “We need to press forward. If Sam tried to kill you just for asking questions, then clearly we’re on to something.”

“That’s the thing.” Lina flipped her knife in her hand and grasped it by the hilt before sliding it inside her leather jacket. “If Sam had wanted to kill me, he would’ve succeeded.”

Ronin’s body went taut. “What do you mean?”

“He had his chance, but he didn’t want to kill me. He told me so.”

Dagan exchanged a wary glance with Keegan. “Then what did he want?”

“Don’t know.” Lina let the silence settle around them before she lifted her arms overhead and arched her back into a stretch. “Been a long night. Sun will be up soon. I’m gonna head home.”

Without thought, Dagan opened his mouth to offer her a ride. Made sense since she lived all the way down in the West Village and he was the only one of them who had a car, but yeah…he hadn’t thought that one through.

Before he could make the mistake of speaking, Ronin rose from the couch. “I’ll walk with you.”

Lina faced him with an annoyed laugh. “I’m not a child.”

“I know.” But Ronin made no move to back down.

Lina’s eyes narrowed on Ronin, and for one second Dagan feared she was going to reject his offer. In the end, she merely shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Ronin moved to follow Lina to the door, but at the last second, he pierced Dagan with his gaze, ripe with menace and warning.

Point taken
, Dagan silently noted. He’d do best to forget all about Lina, with her tight little curves and her smart-ass temper. Even if everything in his nature rebelled against it.

“We should all get some rest,” Keegan said once Ronin and Lina had gone.

Dagan took the hint. He finished off his whiskey and nodded at his eldest brother. “See ya tomorrow.”

As he took the elevator down to the apartment he shared with Ronin, he couldn’t help but think about Lina. They’d learned so little about her in the few short months she’d been back in Ronin’s life. All they really knew was that she was a walking conundrum—a full-blooded angel who worked as a mercenary. Since angels were peaceful by nature, the fact that she made her living kicking ass said a lot. She’d suffered some major trauma in her life.

Just like me
.

Lina was like a luscious puzzle that needed to be solved.

Too bad she was the one person who was completely off-limits.

…

A car horn honked outside Lina’s bedroom window, waking Lina from her crazed, disturbing dreams. She groaned and drew her arm over her eyes to block the sunlight.

Desire was a bitch. It snuck up behind you and knocked you on your ass, and just when you were thinking of getting back up again, it crippled you with recurring images of the object of your forbidden lust getting a hand job from another woman.

“Damn it.”

Get over it, girl. Dagan is nothing to you, other than Ronin’s brother.

Yet much as she’d tried to convince herself of that, much as she’d done all she could to stay away from him these past few months, at times she found she couldn’t get the gorgeous demon out of her mind. Especially when she dreamt.

It was all his fault, of course. He was too damn funny. Too sexy. Too
Dagan
.

And because of that fact alone, not to mention the whole overprotective-Ronin-thing, he was unequivocally off-limits.

Lina abandoned her attempt at trying to remain asleep and rolled over to peek at the alarm clock. A quarter after two in the afternoon. She’d gotten over seven hours sleep, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like it. She threw her pillow across her room with a low growl then dragged her ass out of bed and into the shower. Today’s gig consisted of shaking down a local bar owner for his unpaid cut to the demon boss who controlled this part of town. Might as well get it over with.

After hopping out of the shower, Lina headed to her tiny closet, which in fact wasn’t so small, considering the rest of her cramped West Village apartment. She pulled out a pair of worn, ripped jeans and a black tank top with crisscrossing straps that would accommodate the growth of her wings. The spot where they grew out of her back felt itchy and tight, which meant she would need to fit in a flight tonight. The biggest negative about living in a big city like this was that the sheer number of people made it more difficult to let her wings out as often as she needed to. Thank goodness for her apartment on the top floor of her four-story building. The attached roof deck not only provided a nice view of the neighborhood, but also made the small space bearable.