Demon's Triad (17 page)

85

Anna J. Evans & December Quinn

“Stop. No, Ferrin. Fight it, don’t you feel it, can’t you—”

Her words ended in a moan as he shoved up her shirt and captured her nipple in his mouth, sucking hard. The smell of her was achingly familiar, the taste of her everything that he had ever hungered for in his entire life.

“Please,” she begged, but he couldn’t remember what she begged for. Satisfaction, that must be it, and he would satisfy her. Again, and again, and again until the child was conceived, until—

“Please!” she cried, but this time it was different. Her fingers twisted in his hair, pressing his head to her breast while her other hand scratched at his back through his shirt, yanking it from his waistband. Her palm was hot on his skin as she slid it down into his pants to cup his bare ass.

The sound that came from his throat was unlike anything he’d ever heard himself make, a dark, triumphant growl. This was what they were meant for, what they’d been born for. He growled again when her fingernails dug into the bare skin of his ass and up his back, leaving trails of hot, sharp, blissful pain.

Her legs wrapped around his hips, pressing herself against his raging erection. The heat of her came through their clothing and for a moment he could see her, see her pussy pink and burning for him. The mental image couldn’t have been clearer had it been a photograph.

Ferrin took his mouth from her breast to kiss her, his hands fumbling with their pants as if he could unfasten them both at once. He felt strong enough, powerful enough, to tear the fabric from their bodies if it didn’t give way to him. Just as he would tear and rip anyone or anything that dared to interfere between himself and his mate.

She pulled her mouth away to gasp his name. He found the slender column of her throat and bit, hard, hard enough to feel her veins pumping against his lips. A little more pressure, just a little, and he could taste her blood, make her scream in pleasure and pain as he shoved himself into her.

He could smell Dorand on her body, on her skin, in a way he never had before with Carantha, but he didn’t care.

Dorand was nothing, meant nothing. Dorand would bow before them, just like the rest of
them would…once the child was born, once the children came and Ferrin and Aleeza were
honored above all others.

“No…no…”

Just hurry up, fuck her, make her scream! She wants it, you both want it! Hurry up!

“Gods help me!” Ferrin forced his mouth from her addictive skin and struggled to think. The voice was so strong now, it was nearly impossible to tell which thoughts were his and which the “other’s”, but he knew these thoughts of conception were not his own. No matter how much he suddenly longed to see those children in the vision become a living, breathing reality, he knew that the desperate drive to force them into existence wasn’t coming from his mind. Nor were the thoughts of Dorand bowing down to him, being a slave to his whims.

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Demon’s Triad

“Goddess, I call upon you, bring aid to your daughter. Reach me now in the time of my…”

Aleeza continued the prayer-spell through her sobs, but Ferrin could no longer make out the individual words. The screaming, howling in his head filled his entire world. With a gut-wrenching cry he threw himself from Aleeza and fell hard onto the concrete of the river trail. The second their skins separated, the screaming quieted, and Ferrin found the words of the liberation incantation on his lips.

By the time the last of the spell was spoken, he could breathe again, and the voice in his head was silent. In fact, for the first time since last night in the grove, he felt completely free of that foreign presence, blessedly alone in his own skull.

87

Anna J. Evans & December Quinn

“Ferrin, are you all right?” Aleeza sat on the ground near him, carefully not making contact. Her hands shook and she looked as scared as he felt, but she wasn’t glowing anymore, and the wide eyes that met his didn’t shine with that strange power.

“I’m fine. You?”

“Fine. Well not fine, not fine at all, but—”

“But we fought it off, whatever it is.” Ferrin finished her sentence, and had to stop himself from reaching out to pull her into his arms. He wanted to hug her, to hold her close and feel their hearts beat in time. They had survived something together and it made him feel closer to her, deepened the feelings he already had for this amazing woman.

“That’s the question we have to answer. What is it? And why me and you? Why now?” She struggled to her feet and took a shaky breath. “I have to go, have to see if I can catch up with those men. They’re connected to this in some way. That strange voice, it was stronger when I touched them. I have to find them—”

“Wait, don’t go. You can’t go after them by yourself, and I can’t be trusted to go with you. I hear the voice too… I’ve heard it for a long, long time.” Ferrin watched as she backed away from him another step, as if she feared him, and he felt a strange, squeezing sensation in his chest. Of all the emotions he wanted to inspire in her, fear was nowhere on the list. “Never like this, but it’s been there. It wasn’t until last night, when I saw you and Dorand in the glen that it became stronger.”

“That’s when I heard it for the first time,” she said, then paused as if considering how much truth she could trust him with. “It told me your name.”

“It told me yours.” Was that relief in her eyes? “It also told me other things.”

“What kind of things?”

“Things…I don’t think I can share with you.” She stared at him and the uncomfortable silence stretched between them, but he knew she still felt drawn to him.

It was taking all of her willpower to keep from crossing the few feet between them and pressing her lips to his. It took all of his not to do the same. “You’re right—we can’t go after them alone. Dorand’s back at my apartment.”

“I know. You were both standing outside when I pulled up.”

“You saw him kiss me.” The look in her eyes was challenging, as if she were daring him to make some sort of confession.

“I did.”

“You didn’t like it.”

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Demon’s Triad

There was no doubt about that dare now, which was fine with him. He’d never been afraid to take a risk, and right now the truth seemed the best course of action.

“I didn’t.”

She took a deep breath and nodded, letting her eyes fall to the ground. The heat between them, even at ten paces was stifling. He didn’t know how much longer he could stand here and not make any move to close the distance between them.

“Let’s go find Dorand. Those two are long gone by now anyway.” He walked up the hill and heard her follow.

“I think we’re going to have another chance at them. They didn’t try to hurt me.

They wanted me to go somewhere with them. If whoever is controlling them wants me badly enough, I have a feeling they or someone else will be back.”

They cleared the hill and were back on the street in time to see the streetlights flicker on. The sun had set while they were dealing with the men and the psychic attack and now the air was much colder. Aleeza shivered a bit, hugging herself, and Ferrin wished he could put his arm around her and warm her up.

Too bad with them there seemed to be no “warm”. Only “red hot”.

“I’m betting someone else. You kicked their ass.” She returned his grin, obviously hearing the compliment in his words. Her smile was so beautiful he almost hated to finish his thought. “Their boss will send someone tougher next time.”

“I know. I’ll contact my boss, see if he can spare some muscle to help me out until I figure out why I’ve become a target.”

“Dorand and I will be here to help you, you don’t—”

“I appreciate the offer, but that might not be the safest idea. No one in my coven knows that I’ve broken the curse, and I don’t want them to find out. At least not until I’ve figured out who else managed to do it.”

She filled him in on what she and Dorand had discovered. Even before she finished, he knew they were both thinking the same thing.

“The magic-fast. That’s what I saw in the vision, when we—”

“When you touched me. I know. And there were…children.” She stopped and turned to face him at the corner of the building, as if she wanted this talk to happen between the two of them before Dorand was involved.

“Two of them, a little boy and a baby girl. They had your eyes.” He couldn’t stop himself, he reached out and brushed a strand of her hair from those eyes, back behind her ear. There was no dark power this time, only a twisting sensation in his gut, and a strange certainty that he would never love another woman. There was only Aleeza, for now, for always. “They were beautiful. It made me want them to be real.”

“Me too.” Her eyes were wide and she leaned toward him. She was going to kiss him, and he was shocked to find that simple act of affection meant more to him than their fucking in the woods. In that instant, he knew he would trade in casual sex forever if it meant he could make love to this woman for the rest of their lives.

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Anna J. Evans & December Quinn

“Aleeza, I—”

“None of this makes any sense,” she said, breaking the spell between them as she stepped away. “The way we all feel about each other in such a short time. It’s not natural, Ferrin.”

“I don’t care if it’s natural. I care for you, Dorand cares for you, and we’re not going to leave you to fight whatever this is alone. If those men were really after you, then there’s a good chance we’ve got a leak, either on your side or ours. Which one doesn’t matter. We just have to make sure—”

“Somebody’s been attacking you magically. There was a hex portal right underneath your bed.”

Ferrin and Aleeza leapt apart like guilty children at the sound of Dorand’s voice.

The expression on his face told them he’d noticed that, just as he’d noticed the intensity with which they’d been speaking. People didn’t have to physically touch in order to be deeply connected. Their auras still mingled and glowed faintly around them, a testimony to just how intimate they’d been down near the riverbank.

“Hey, Dorand, I came to—”

Dorand silenced him with a look, then turned back to Aleeza. “It felt like what we experienced earlier in the woods,” he said. “Nowhere near as strong, but the same kind of energy.”

“The woods?” Ferrin asked. Neither of them looked at him.

“So that was deliberate? It was an attack?”

“What happened in the woods?” Ferrin clenched his fists. They were keeping secrets from him. Aleeza was shutting him out, when just a second ago they’d been sharing their darkest secrets. Again in his mind he saw them kiss, and something deep inside him roared.

“It looks like it was,” Dorand said. “I managed to ground some of it out and neutralize it, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay the night.”

“I’ll stay with her.” Ferrin resisted the urge to put his arm around her and pull her close. Aleeza wasn’t even looking at him now. Maybe she didn’t want to risk looking at him in front of Dorand.

Or maybe she didn’t really care about him the way he did her. She was looking at Dorand like he was some kind of genius. The way Carantha had sometimes done.

Ferrin knew Dorand was smarter than he was. Not by much, but he knew it was there.

It hadn’t bothered him to let Dorand take the lead with Carantha. Now…he wanted to punch his brother in the nose.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay with her alone,” Dorand said, his eyes serious. “I don’t think it’s a very good idea for the two of you to be alone together, period. Not until we figure out what’s going on here.”

“So it’s okay for you to be alone with her but not me?”

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Demon’s Triad

“Don’t I get a say in this?” Aleeza stepped forward, effectively blocking the glares Dorand and Ferrin were sending each other.

“No.” Dorand spoke to Aleeza, but he shifted his body so he could watch Ferrin. “I don’t think either of you are thinking straight.”

“Why, because she wants me?” Ferrin snapped, at the same time Aleeza said,

“Don’t tell me what I’m thinking. I can take care of myself.”

“I don’t think you can,” Dorand said. Again, speaking to Aleeza. Apparently Ferrin didn’t deserve a reply. He gritted his teeth as black rage filled his vision.

He’d always thought Dorand was his brother, his best friend. Now it seemed that was a lie, had always been a lie. Dorand was just using him, keeping him around for comic relief or maybe simply to satisfy Carantha’s taste for a little violence with her sex.

He didn’t respect him, didn’t care that with one word, one flick of his fingers, Ferrin could send him reeling into blackness,
into torment, and he will scream and beg but no
mercy will be shown—

He tried to open his mouth, tried to get the words of the incantation to form in his head, but they wouldn’t come. Instead he only saw darkness, saw Dorand’s blood, and before he could take another breath he leapt forward and attacked.

The crunch of bone beneath his fist felt wonderful, brought a grim and terrible smile to his lips even as he aimed his other hand for Dorand’s midsection. Aleeza screamed. The sound filled his ears as the sight of Dorand’s shocked face filled his vision.

Another punch. Dorand doubled over, then lunged forward, clasping Ferrin around the waist and knocking him to the ground in a tackle worthy of the NFL.

“Stop! Stop! What is the matter with you two?” Aleeza’s screams cut through the haze of anger. Dorand’s hands tore at Ferrin’s shirt to touch his bare skin, igniting a cold fire that seared his chest when he made contact. Ferrin screamed, his back arching off the damp, rocky ground beneath him.

The incantation formed in his head, but before he could speak it he heard it around him, in Dorand’s rich, authoritative voice. By the time Dorand got to the last line their voices rang and echoed together.

“Thank you,” Ferrin whispered. Anger still burned in his gut. But it was just anger, not rage. Just jealousy, not the desire to wash his hands in his brother’s blood.