Wicked Burn (5 page)

Bear pushed off from the door. “Not your monkey, not your circus. Both of you stay out of my business.” He turned and set his stance. “Get ready.”

Simone moved forward. “Bear—”

He planted his boot in the center of the door, and it flew right off the hinges and through the plane. Guns cocked. Simone peered around him to see at least four soldiers with green guns pointed at Bear. The kind of guns that shot lasers that turned into metal upon hitting immortal flesh. Plasma was too unstable for a plane.

Bear looked down at his hole-riddled sock. “What happened to my other boot?”

Simone grabbed the boot and hit him in the hip with it.

Nick grasped her arm and pushed her none too gently behind him. “This will be explained,” he said softly enough that only she and Bear could hear it.

Bear turned full around, his back to the weapons. “Simone? Does he know anything?”

She tried not to grimace. “No. Of course not.”

Nick inhaled sharply.

As she took in Nick’s raised eyebrows, she knew without question he wouldn’t let it go. No matter what happened next, Nicholai Veis would get his answers, and right now, protecting Bear was all that mattered. So she leaned up on her toes and set her mouth next to Nick’s ear. “Bear’s real name is Beauregard, and he’s my brother,” she whispered.

Ireland smelled the same. Nicholai Veis sat in a waiting area far underground in the secret Coven Nine location after a shower and change of clothing. The witches did insist on their comforts, now, didn’t they? At the moment, Simone was probably getting dressed somewhere else. The second she returned, she was explaining her statement about Bear to him. It didn’t make a lick of sense.

But he liked her strong and pissed. For so long, he’d carried the image of her pale and sad in his mind. From the day he’d broken her heart. The worst day in his entire life, and that said something.

There was so much blood on his hands, they’d never be clean. He’d chosen his path, and even today, he wondered which moment had tipped his soul into darkness. Was it when he’d turned away from Simone? Or was it the next hour, right after the king had delivered him to demon headquarters?

Nick leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, forcing himself to face that day. Only by facing the past did he have a chance of remembering to love again. God, he wanted Simone, but how the hell could he find his way back to her?

Nick was yanked back to the present day as the door opened. He returned from the past to see Simone sauntering in to sit on a thousand-year-old sofa against the rock wall, her green velvet skirt topped by a classic bustier lined with diamonds. She’d pulled her hair up with a fine ribbon, revealing her smooth neck and pounding pulse. A ruby choker, one probably worth millions, glowed against her pale skin.

He cleared his throat, trying to banish the darkness from the past. “I figured you’d go for a modern pencil skirt and blouse to face the accusations.”

Her gaze, dark and feminine, moved to his as she opened a ledger on her lap. “I have more power in this outfit.”

Yes, yes, she did. The woman wore beauty as a shield and wielded it like a knife. He’d always respected her for the gift and for never trying to be anything but who she was . . . a stunning, brilliant, vain, independent, sarcastic, loyal witch. There weren’t enough adjectives in the universe to truly describe her. “We haven’t had a chance to discuss the bomb you dropped on me earlier.”

“Now isn’t the time, Nicholai,” she murmured, her hands flattened on the ledger. She drew a pen from her pocket to make notations.

“What are you doing?”

She glanced up, her eyes refocusing. “We’ve been working on an economical package to assist younger witches wishing to attend human universities. The humans have discovered new advances in science that we can use.” Her eyes gleamed. The woman loved strategy and, well, money. He’d always known that.

“You’re working.” The woman was about to face serious legal charges, and she was working?

“Of course.” She frowned. “I have to get this finished.”

Oh, first they were going to talk, damn it. How in the hell could she and Bear be siblings? The only way would be for them to share a father. Was Simone part bear shifter?

The door opened, and a guard shoved Bear inside.

“Where’s Tori Monzelle?” Simone asked, half-rising and setting the ledger on the sofa.

Bear shrugged. “Dunno.”

Simone sat back down and swallowed. “They won’t hurt her.” Doubt infused her tone.

Bear had changed into pressed black slacks with a bourbon-colored button-down shirt that matched his eyes. An aqua-colored tie hung from his right pocket. “I jumped into the shower, and they took my jeans.” He sounded more bewildered than angry.

“One must dress to meet the fucking Coven Nine,” Nick ground out, looking down at his pressed black pants and shirt with matching tie. “Whoever chose the clothes lacks imagination.”

Bear lifted prominent eyebrows. “Huh. Well, I got blue and light brown. Maybe they went on personality. The all black?” He pointed to Nick’s form. “Demon, I guess. Cranky demon.”

The damn bear couldn’t even speak in complete sentences. Rather, he chose not to. Nick set his hands in his pockets as casually as possible to prevent himself from going for the shifter’s throat. “Want to tell me how this all came out?”

Bear crossed the room to drop into one of two chairs aligned at a ninety-degree angle from the sofa. A marble table was set before him. He looked around the otherwise bare room. “No weapons here.”

Nick had already scoped out the room. “None.”

Bear appeared to be bored beyond belief, but a tension emanated from him that nearly choked the entire room. “Why don’t you sit down, demon?”

“Why don’t you tell me what has you so upset, shifter?” Nick returned evenly.

Bear kicked back and slammed his boots on the table. “I don’t like Ireland.”

Nick barely kept from wincing as the priceless table cracked. “Everyone likes Ireland. It’s green and cheerful.” He tried to read the thoughts of the two immortals, but both could keep him out. “Somebody needs to explain the familial connection,” he muttered.

Simone stiffened and swung her gaze to Nick. “The story isn’t that long. My mother had a one-night stand with Bear’s father, who seemed to have a gift of procreation without mating.”

Nick blinked. “The bear shifter wasn’t mated to either of your mothers?”

“Nope,” Bear said. “Talented asshole, right?”

Incredibly rare, actually. Nick shook his head. “How long have you two known?”

“About a hundred years.” Bear shook out his leg in the pressed pants.

Ouch. Simone hadn’t even thought of confiding in him, but it wasn’t like he could blame her. “Where’s your father now?” Nick asked.

“Dead,” Bear said simply.

Okay. So many questions. Nick frowned. “How did your father keep Simone’s lineage a secret? It’s nearly impossible these days.”

“He was great with secrets.” Bear plucked at a loose string on his pants.

Nick slipped his thumbs in his pockets. “What aren’t you two telling me? How did your father die?” Something wasn’t quite adding up.

Simone shook her head. “He died so far in the past, let’s let him rest.”

“I investigated for years, but never found the truth.” Bear scratched his head, ruffling his thick hair. The scent of a lie filled the room.

Nick cut Simone a hard look, and she pressed her lips together. “
Zaychik moy?
Come on. Give me the truth.”

Her eyes darkened. “He was a real dick who showed up and tried to kidnap me shortly after you deserted me. I ended up killing him.” Her hands visibly shook on the ledger.

Instinct whipped through Nick like nails. “Wait a minute. When?”

“In my place about a century ago.” She shrugged.

Oh God. “Broken window, blood on floor, huge guy with a green gun?” Nick’s gaze narrowed as his mind clicked facts into place.

Bear jerked his head around. “How did you know that?”

“I was the one who killed him.” Nick leaned back, awareness rushing into him. “I knew Simone was in danger, I showed up, and I saw him shoot you. I killed him, thinking he was an assassin targeting the Nine.”

Simone blinked and shook her head. “What the hell are you pulling?”

“Nothing. The timing is right.” Shit. He’d killed their father.

Bear shook his head. “You’re a damn liar, demon.”

Anger swelled in Nick. He was many things, tons of them bad, but not a liar. “Whether Simone likes it or not, she and I have a connection that was never quite severed. I felt her in danger and had a friend teleport me to Ireland.” They’d only just broken up, and he’d still been able to sense her emotions. Or perhaps fate had been helping him out. Who knew?

“Bullshit,” Bear said, while Simone looked on with widening eyes.

The damn shifter was about two seconds from getting his head torn off his body. “I heard a fight and rushed in just as Simone went down. So I killed the attacker.”

Simone slowly shook her head. “I know I passed out, but I still thought—”

“No,” Nick said gently.

Fire lashed through her eyes. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

“I had to get out of there before the Enforcers showed up.” Nick winced. “I didn’t think it mattered.” Sometimes he forgot that not everyone lived with so much blood on their hands. He had just killed his uncle, along with several of his uncle’s backers, and one more hadn’t made an impression. Maybe he’d been doomed from that point, anyway. “I kept in touch with the Nine afterward, and no announcement was ever made, so I figured the Enforcers had taken care of the entire issue.”

“Unbelievable,” Bear muttered.

“Sorry, Bear. What did you do next?” Nick asked, his mind reeling.

“I got on with life with the bear shifters.” Bear rolled his neck. “It wasn’t like Roman and I were close.”

Roman? Their father had been named Roman. “I’m sorry,” Nick whispered.

Sympathy glimmered in Simone’s eyes for the briefest of seconds before it was banished. Her gaze swung to Nick.

He gave a barely perceptible nod. Although he’d been there to defend Simone against her father’s attempt to kidnap her, probably nobody had defended Bear in his childhood. “Your father, ah, raised you?”

“Yep.” Bear stood and stuck his hands in his pockets. “I want my jeans back.”

“I’ll make sure they’re returned to you,” Simone said softly.