Call of the Siren (8 page)

Keegan’s breath caught at the unmistakable meaning. The elf was giving them a head start. A way out. All they had to do was flee.

And then they would then become the very type of fugitive they normally sought.

Shit, how could this be happening? How could he even be contemplating this? But then, what was the alternative? He couldn’t subject Brynn and Aegin to a life in his hellish home world. He wouldn’t. And there was no way in hell they were staying here without him.

Tenos glanced at the black watch on his wrist. “I have to go. For both our sakes, if anyone asks, I was never here.”

Keegan rose to his feet with a whispered, “Thank you.”

Tenos shook his head and started for the front door then paused right in front of it. “If you can do it, find Mammon. His recapture would give you the leverage you need to renegotiate with the Council. Until then, do what you must to protect your family.”

An unsteady nod was all Keegan could manage. Tenos reached out and grasped his hand, giving it a shake. His eyes glimmered with warmth and compassion. “Good luck, my friend.”

With that, he was gone.

Keegan locked the door and leaned against it, allowing himself a moment of introspection. His whole body practically quivered with the fear that the Council would succeed in sending them back to Infernum. Away from his family.

No, he couldn’t break down now. Not when there was so much to do.

Shoving away from the door, he steeled himself for the long night ahead.

Chapter Nine

Morning light streamed in through the filmy white curtain of the Ukraine hotel room, waking Taeg out of a sound sleep. His fiancé Maya was nestled in beside him, fast asleep on her stomach. Her long, wavy hair splayed out all around her in a pool of black and sun-kissed burgundy highlights.

Shit. Forgot to close the drapes.

Though who could blame them? It had been a long night of tracking the maliki demons who’d murdered Maya’s family when she was a child. They were getting goddamn close, too. One of the men they’d met last night at a local Otherworlder club said he saw two demons matching their description not less than a week ago.

Soon enough, those fuckers will be ours.

Though he had to admit he would miss all this once they caught and killed the bastards. Much as he loved tracking down bad guys with his brothers, hunting with Maya was infinitely better.

He rolled onto his side so he could better observe his fiancée. Even after all these months together, he still found her just as stunning as when they’d met. More so, perhaps, because he knew her so much better now.

Who woulda thunk it?

He’d gone and fallen head over heels in love.

Well, if he had to take the plunge, at least he’d found the perfect female to do it with.

His gaze moved down her body, to where the white cotton sheets rode dangerously low on her backside. They’d been so exhausted last night that they’d done nothing more than rip their clothes off and climb into bed, but now, after just a few hours sleep, he was ready to make up for that transgression. His cock hardened as he reached out a hand and slid it down her back to the tempting curves of her luscious ass. She shifted and gave a little moan.

Yeah, she was tired, and he should probably let her sleep. But he knew from months of experience that once he woke her, she’d be rearing to go. That was just one of the ways in which they completed each other.

Hell, I’m such a fucking sap.
And he couldn’t even find it in himself to be sorry about that.

Taeg shifted closer to her, about to slip the sheet off her entirely, when his cell phone rang.

“Damn.”

Rolling onto his back, he contemplated letting it go to voicemail. But since the only ones who’d be calling were his brothers or the Council liaison, he didn’t have that luxury. Ever since Mammon’s escape right after he and Maya had first arrived in Europe, things had been tense. If one of them was calling now, there was probably a good reason.

He slipped from the bed with a groan, arching his back until it gave a satisfying crack. When he glanced behind him, Maya was still dead asleep, so he bent and rummaged through his leather jacket until he found his phone and then read the screen. It was Keegan, and by Taeg’s calculations, it was around three in the morning back in New York City.

Shit. Not good.

He slipped out of the bedroom into the living area of the suite they’d rented before answering. “Yo bro, what’s up?”

“I got a home visit from Tenos a few hours ago,” Keegan said without preamble.

Taeg’s gut twisted. The Council liaison had visited his apartment? That couldn’t be good. He paced the burgundy carpeting of the living area. “What’d he have to say?”

“He was giving us a heads-up on a Council order that’s set to go down in a few days.”

By the grim sound of Keegan’s voice, Taeg knew it wasn’t going to be a good one. “What is it?”

“We’re getting deported back to Infernum.”

“What?” Taeg’s throat clenched tight, constricting his air. “
Why
?”

“Apparently there’s been some rumblings among the Council members. Some of them think we might’ve had something to do with Mammon’s escape.”

“That’s fucking
insane
.”

“Tell me about it,” was Keegan’s low reply. “But since we killed Asmodeus before he could tell us anything about the dark fae, and the fae seems to be the very person who broke Mammon out—”

“They think we were involved.” Taeg took a deep breath and stopped in front of the window, peeling back the curtain to blankly stare outside. “Shit, bro. We really stepped in it this time.”

“I know.” Keegan let out a ragged sigh. “And I don’t know how we could persuade them of our innocence.”

“We can’t,” Taeg said flatly. He knew enough about their employers to realize they weren’t going to change their minds, not unless something drastic happened, like they caught Mammon or the fae the Council sought.

Shit, if only they knew
something
about this dark fae, but the man was like a ghost. Taeg had even tried visiting the Vivi sisters, a trio of crazy-ass dark faeries who lived in Faelan and who’d once been Merlin’s lovers, to ask about him. The only thing he’d managed to learn from their demented ramblings was that they had no clue who he might be. According to them, the last remaining clan with powers of his level had died off from plague decades ago.

“What about our families?” Taeg asked. “Brynn, Aegin, Maya?”

“According to Tenos, they’ll have the choice of joining us in Infernum or staying on Earth.”

Taeg’s hand clenched into a fist. That was no choice at all. They couldn’t remain alone on Earth, where they’d no doubt be hunted by his evil father, yet neither he nor his brothers would subject their loved ones to a life on hellish Infernum.

“Fuck,” he breathed.

“Yeah,” Keegan said. “You know what this means.”

It meant they were up against a wall, big time. At least they’d planned for the possibility when Mammon had first escaped months ago. But damn, he really didn’t want to do what they had to do next.

“I know,” Taeg said. “We’ll get on the next plane over there.”

“Meet me directly at the hideout.”

Taeg let out a reluctant chuckle. “Well, if I’m gonna be forced into being a fugitive, at least I get to do it with my family.”

“Yeah, I guess it could be worse,” Keegan said with a grim laugh.

“What about Ronin and Dagan? Did you tell them about the hideout yet?”

Keegan let out a ragged sigh.

“Uh-oh.” Taeg pushed away from the window and started pacing the room once again. “What’s up with them?”

“Amara told me earlier that they got into a big fight and Dagan stormed out.”

“Let me guess—Lina,” Taeg said drily.

“You know it. Ronin found out Dagan went to Lina’s apartment and flipped out on him.”

Just what they didn’t need right now. More family drama.

“Seems to me like there’s some major-ass chemistry between the two of them, but I can’t blame Ronin for being pissed,” he said to Keegan. “I love our little bro, but if I had a sister, adopted or otherwise, I wouldn’t want a player sniffing after her either.”

“I don’t know,” Keegan grumbled. “I just hope they can pull their shit together. I’m about to go down and talk to them.”

“Good luck. I’ll see you soon.”

“Later.”

“Oh, hey, Keeg.” Taeg hesitated for a moment. “We
are
doing the right thing here, right?”

“We’re doing the only thing we can,” was Keegan’s authoritative response.

“Yeah. Okay.”

Taeg hung up, the tightness in his chest assuring him that his brother spoke the truth. When he heard a rustle from the other side of the room, he looked up to see Maya standing in the doorway of the bedroom. She was gloriously nude, and he allowed it to distract him for a minute. But then he remembered what they were up against.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly.

He took a deep, calming breath. “The Council is going to deport us back to Infernum.”

She let out a gasp, going stock still.

He stalked over to her and placed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. Then, remembering they didn’t have a moment to waste, he brushed past her into the bedroom.

She followed him, her voice trembling when she asked, “So what do we do now?”

He grabbed his suitcase and pulled out a fresh pair of jeans. “Now we do the only thing we can. We
run.
”

…

After parting ways with Ronin on the roof of Sam’s apartment building, Lina unfolded her wings and flew home. Yeah, it was a risky move in a city this size, but she always found a way to keep to the shadows. And if anyone got a flash of her flying through the air…well, it was amazing what the human eye could pass off as a trick of the light.

Sam was dead.

The sickening reality of that melded with the thought that they had no idea what they were up against. If the dark fae’s mission was to confound them, then he’d done a damn good job.

What the hell was his game?

If Ronin didn’t find something on the dark fae soon, it might spell trouble for him and his whole family. While she desperately wanted to
not
give a shit about that, she found she couldn’t.

She liked Ronin’s family. His fiancé and his cute little nephew. His brothers. Even Dagan.

Especially Dagan.

She was so caught up in thought that she didn’t notice the figure sitting on her sole lounge chair until she’d almost landed on the roof deck of her apartment.

Speak of the devil.

Dagan sat on one end of the chair, slumped over with his elbows on his knees. Even though he was clad in the same outfit as earlier, he was rumpled and worse for the wear.

His obvious distress struck her immediately. That didn’t stop her from noticing the muscular curve of his shoulder in his bent-over position, or the sexy stubble on his chin, though. Not to mention how his jeans caressed his strong thighs, showcasing every angle and curve.

She sighed, despite herself, feeling the automatic clench of her loins. Something about her responded to him on a primal level, and she was beginning to see it always would. No matter how much she fought it.

Lina landed with a soft
thump
on the side of the roof, about ten feet away. Dagan looked up, and his red, bleary eyes widened at the sight of her outstretched wings. She realized with a sudden burst of embarrassment that he’d never seen them before. There was something so intimate about the way his eyes ran over them now, about the way they narrowed and darkened several shades. When her skin shivered and her nipples hardened into tight buds, she absorbed her wings and then tossed her leather jacket on to hide her body’s obvious response.

“You shouldn’t have,” he whispered in his arousing siren voice. “They’re beautiful, like moonlight.”

Much to her humiliation, her cheeks grew warm. “How’d you get up here?”

“Took the fire escape.”

“Why? You’ve never visited me before, and now you’re here twice in one day?”

Dagan reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and withdrew his phone. He glanced at the screen and held it up to her, his full lips wobbling into a smile. “Technically it’s tomorrow.”

His strange behavior, coupled with the slight shake of his hand, aroused her suspicion. She edged close enough to get a whiff and confirm what she’d suspected.

“You’re drunk,” she accused.

“As a skunk,” he agreed amiably. His phone rang, and he stared hard at the screen, frowning. “Keegan. Third time in an hour.” He pressed a button to silence the phone and carelessly tossed it on the chair behind him. “Sorry, hope you don’t mind me being here. If you do, I’ll leave.”

She should tell him to go, but something in the tone of his voice stopped her cold. “Is something wrong?”

“Wrong?” His bitter laugh reverberated through the space separating them. He buried his face in his hands, his voice muffled when he said, “What isn’t?”

Oh, hell. Something about the suffering he was clearly going through called to her, despite the fact that she knew better. Maybe it was because he’d never sought her out before. Or maybe it was because he was Dagan. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t just send him packing.

Not yet, anyway.

Lina took a seat on the lounge chair next to him, close enough to feel the heat emanating from his body. The muted scent of whiskey rolled off his lips, and the combined assault to her senses made her dizzy and half-drunk. Only he could still smell sexy while emitting the scent of hard liquor. Hell, on him, it smelled like a freaking aphrodisiac.

Then he raised his head and looked at her, and time stopped still.

“Lina,” he whispered.

She couldn’t look away. Didn’t want to. “Yes?”

With visible effort, he tore his gaze from her mouth and glanced straight ahead. “I shouldn’t be here.”

“No.” She cleared her throat and straightened her spine, fighting the urge to lay a hand on him in comfort…or maybe just to feel him up. “What’s wrong? And don’t tell me nothing, because that’s obviously not true.”

A soft snort escaped his lips. “The Supremes said it so much better than I ever could.”

“Um…what?”

“Never mind.” He stared down at his clasped hands for several long moments before replying, “I had an epiphany tonight.”

“What was it?” she asked, because he obviously needed to share. He’d come here for a reason.

His beautiful turquoise gaze locked in on hers. “What if you discovered that everything you are, everything you’ve become, is due to someone you hate more than anything in the world?”

His words shocked her into silence. He may as well have pulled them out of the very essence of her being. How much of what she’d become was due to Thorne, to the mistakes she’d made with him? How much had she done out of her hatred for the one man who’d given her the most precious gift of life, then taken it away?

Maybe if she told him, Dagan would understand. Maybe she didn’t have to be so alone.

Before she could second-guess herself, Lina reached out and closed her hand over Dagan’s. The little shock of electricity that raced into her palm nearly made her gasp. She swallowed hard. “I can say that’s probably true for me too, Dagan.”

He glanced down at her hand before turning his over so their palms touched. His gaze travelled up her arm to her face, and his free hand reached up to smooth a strand of hair off her lips. “Did you know that your hair shines as bright as the moon?”