“Find anything new?” Smudge asked as they walked up on the other side of the circle. Holding hands, the two of them batted eyelashes at each other. How they got any work done, I’d never know.

  “Professional,” I remarked, eyeing their joined hands. “Isn’t it a rule that we’re supposed to separate our personal and professional lives?”

  Jez nailed me with a fierce feline stare. “Says the guy who fucks his partner on a regular basis. Hypocrite.”

  Dismissing her with a shrug, I stepped into the circle, steeling myself against the residual black magic. From the center of the star, I plucked what appeared to be small pieces of a broken feather.

  I gathered them in my palm, waving my fireball closer. It was indeed shreds of black demon feather, some of it singed. It stank of sulfur and someone familiar.

  “Yeah, I found something new.” I held up the scraps of feather. “This belonged to Shya. Someone’s trying to find him.”

  “What?” Jez surged forward, skidding to a stop when her toes touched the edge of the circle. “Who would be looking for that bastard?”

  Stepping out of the circle, I motioned for her to back up. Then I redeposited the remains of the feather and waved a hand over the circle. The entire contents burst into flames, which quickly devoured the evidence before dying out.

  “Lilah’s followers,” I began. “They knew about her affair with Shya. They’re made up of witches, vampires, and demons all over the world. I can’t imagine what they think they have to gain by finding Shya. If they were to release him, he’d make them sorry they’d ever looked. Or maybe at the behest of Lilah herself, though I can’t fathom why she’d want to see him.”

  Smudge shifted her weight from foot to foot and pursed her lips uncertainly. “Nobody can find him, can they?”

  “No,” I assured her. “They can’t. Not as long as he’s hidden on consecrated ground.”

  Even though I knew it to be true, something about all this didn’t feel right. I stared at the burnt-out remains of the ritual circle. Spring would bloom in full soon, and green grass would grow to hide the desecration here. But these spells were just the beginning. Something was coming down the wire.

  “You have to tell Alexa about this. Have you seen her tonight?” Jez eyed the circle with a nauseated expression. A nephilim new to her necromancy, the half-demon leopard shifter had potential. If she proved able to master her abilities.

  “Yeah, I saw her. I saw her force Jenner to beg for her in front of the man who’s taken over his nightclub. So her trip is off to a lively start.” I rolled my eyes, somehow still able to be annoyed by the woman with fifteen hundred miles between us. Because she was always just a jump away, and staying away from her got harder each night.

  “Sounds like someone is jealous,” Jez teased in a sing song. “What’s wrong, Falon? Are you afraid that Jenner will take your place as her favorite hate fuck? If it makes you feel any better, I happen to know that nobody gets under Alexa’s skin the way you do.”

  Her words were meant to mock and cajole, but they did bring me an unwelcome shred of comfort. Nothing pleased me like driving Alexa crazy. It was only fitting that I return the favor seeing as she’d made a mess of my head.

  “Nobody gets inside her like I do either,” I quipped, only half able to enjoy the matching scowls each woman wore. My true audience wasn’t present. She was back in Vegas, probably doing that fucking vampire.

  Smudge stared at her phone, texting one of her many contacts. But Jez stared at me, a knowing glint in her bright eyes. The longer we made eye contact the more that gleam grew.

  Gritting my teeth, I finally snarled, “Why the hell are you leering at me like that?”

  “You’re so obvious” Stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket, Jez rocked forward on the balls of her feet with a laugh. “You might hate Alexa, but you love what she does to you. I’d even go so far as to say you’ve gotten attached.”

  Smudge snorted without looking up from her phone. “Yeah, you marked her like property. I’d call that attached. I wonder what The Circle’s powers-that-be think about that.”

  But Alexa had marked me first in her own way, and I didn’t give a flying fuck what The Circle of the Veil thought. I didn’t say that. “I wonder what they’d think if they knew how much time the two of you spent slacking off and screwing around. Don’t you have shit to do? A city to watch? That kind of thing.”

  “Actually, yeah.” Shoving her phone in a back pocket, Smudge caught Jez’s elbow and pulled her back to the walking path. “We’ve got a couple of werewolves fighting at a pub downtown. Gotta split them up and send them home before someone gets too beastly.”

  “Tell Alexa about this, Falon,” Jez called back, pointing a finger like that would make me take her order more seriously. “Don’t keep shit from her. Not if you want her to trust you. And seeing as nobody else does, you should want that.”

  “Get bent,” I muttered beneath my breath. Jez’s unsolicited advice offended me. If she thought I gave a shit who trusted me, she was wrong.

  That included Alexa.

  No, it fucking didn’t. Even as I walked alone through the cemetery I couldn’t convince myself that I didn’t want her trust. It might be the only thing I did want from her, aside from that sweet pussy.

  Attached. What a filthy word. I wanted to protect her from a demon who made a game of tormenting people like us. That didn’t make me attached. It made me less of a piece of shit than they all thought me to be.

  Denial. Another ugly as fuck word.

  I would tell Alexa about the continued activity among Lilah’s followers when she was ready to come home. No point worrying her just yet.

  Maybe I should go back to Las Vegas tonight. Then again, no, Alexa knew how to reach me if she needed me.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Are you kidding me right now, Lex? I’m not leaving without you.” Shaz’s keen wolf stare followed me about our room as I searched for my phone. His blatant refusal had been expected.

  “I knew you’d fight me on this, but it’s safer if you go home,” I insisted for the third time as I bent down to peer under the couch, feeling about. “I don’t want you to become a target, Shaz. It’s not worth the risk.”

  In the quiet that followed, I knew he and Arys were exchanging a look. It was confirmed when Arys jumped into the argument. “Sending him home without us could make him a target. That’s the risk we shouldn’t be willing to take.”

  On my hands and knees scouring the floor beneath the furniture, I huffed a strand of hair out of my face. “So you guys are teaming up against me, huh? Guess it had to happen sometime.”

  I popped my head up from between the couch and coffee table to find them grinning at each other. No, it was more than that. Shaz’s cheeks flushed slightly, and his heart rate ticked up a notch. “Maybe teaming up without me too?” I teased.

  Shaz’s face grew redder, and he avoided my eyes by digging through his suitcase. Arys’s devilish blues found me. He raised a dark brow and nibbled the silver ring in his bottom lip. Yeah, they’d taken it further, though not all the way, or else Shaz would’ve been more obvious about it.

  “Well, we had to find some way to pass the time without you,” Shaz tossed back. Pulling two pairs of dark pants out, he assessed them both before tossing one aside in favor of the other.

  “Can’t argue that.” Crawling along the length of the couch, I made my way around the seating area of our room.

  On my hands and knees with my yoga pant-clad ass in the air, I felt them both watching. So just to tease them a little, I paused and gave my rear a shake.

  Arys took the bait. “Now that’s an enticing visual.” He crept around the back of the couch to perch on the arm of it. “What do you say, Shaz? Wanna take that pretty ass or that sweet mouth? I’m more than happy with either.”

  “Hey now,” I warned, waving Arys off with a finger. “I’m looking for my phone. This is not an invitation.”

  Playing along with Arys, our wolf snickered. “Flip for it? We’ll trade off halfway through anyway.”

  Spying my phone tucked between one of the sofas and a small end table, I fished it out, raising it in victory. Then I flipped them each the bird. “Who the hell said I have to be the center of this sandwich? Sounds to me like we can switch off on that too.”

  “Funny, Lex.” Shaz gathered his clothes under an arm and headed for the shower across the hall. “It’s always going to be hotter with you in the middle.”

  I waited for the bedroom door to close behind him before saying, “I don’t know about that.”

  Arys delivered a playful slap to my ass as I stood up. The slight sting brought a squeak and a giggle from me. “He’s right, my love. It will always be the hottest with you in the middle.”

  I quickly replied to a few texts from Jez. Nothing much going on back home. No news was good news. Unfortunately, we had a terrifying demon party to get to, and I couldn’t feel more unenthused.

  “So how much teaming up without me did you guys do?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

  “Not nearly as much as you think we did.” Arys caught my hand and pulled me close for a kiss. “We were interrupted by Loric’s messenger at the door.”

  “And if you hadn’t been?” I prompted, encouraged by his naughty expression.

  “Let’s just say that if I find myself in that position again, I won’t be answering the door.” With a caress of my ass, he gave me a gentle push toward said door. “You better go give your vampires blood. We don’t want to be late. Or maybe we do. See if Gabriel can get anything from a touch.”

  We had no idea what we were walking into since receiving Loric’s demand to return. Willow suspected there might be some ritual play, which was why I’d wanted to send Shaz home. I’d been outvoted so it was a moot point.

  I left Arys to get ready and went in search of Willow and Gabriel. We couldn’t walk into a demon playground without everyone being at their strongest.

  Jenner stood in front of the large living room window, staring down at the Strip while snarling obscenities into his phone at some unlucky sucker. A lot of his staff had turned on him in his absence. Even if he wrestled control of his club back from Loric, he could never trust them again.

  The door to the second bedroom stood open. Poking my head inside, I found Willow and Gabriel seated on the couch, engrossed in discussion.

  “… in mind, no two Sins are alike,” Willow said as I entered. “Some are bottom feeders with very little impact. Others have more than enough power to cause mass effect. Unfortunately, a city like this tends to draw every kind.”

  Hands on hips, I said, “Not sure I’m liking the sound of that.”

  They both glanced up and gaped at me. I felt disheveled, with my hair wild, still wearing what I’d slept in.

  “Hey.” Willow’s face softened into a friendly smile. I saw it more these days than I had during his short but painful stint as a demon. I’d missed it. “Sorry it’s not better news, but it never is with demons.”

  “I know. Keeping my fingers crossed for bottom feeders though.” Wishful thinking at its finest. No such luck I knew.

  Willow had come back to the suite to find us brainstorming Loric’s insistent invitation. He suspected Loric lured the Sins demons by offering them that which they most sought: Sin. He had it in abundance inside that nightclub. What he got in return was power and protection.

  According to Willow, the Seven Deadly Sins demons operated by sowing sin wherever they went. That sin grew and spread like a virus among humans and any other creature in its path, like us vampy types. As each individual demon spread its sin, its power grew, enabling it to spread even more sin. A vicious and terrifying cycle. It took only a look at the world in its current state to see the truth of it.

  The angels fought against the Sins demons, keeping sin from encompassing the entirety of every being. As a Hound of God and a Light Flame, I would be expected to fight them too if necessary, to the best of my ability. As a vampire with power rooted in lust, I was just a little nervous about how I might do that.

  “I have no doubt that you can hold your own.” Willow slid over a bit more, creating a larger space in the middle for me to sit between them. “As bad as the Sins sound, they’re petty annoyances compared to Lilah and Salem.”

  I flinched at the sound of their names and the reminder that I had yet to face my greatest battle. Taking a seat between the two vampires, I let my gaze drift out to the view of the Strip. This city never took a break. Even during the day, with the sun high and the drapes shut, the city was in a constant state of unrest.

  Night was when it really came alive. Like the monster beneath your bed, invisible when the lights were on but still there.

  “Sorry,” Willow hurried to add. “I didn’t mean to bring you down.”

  As soon as I sat his aura spiked with apprehension. Making this easy on him was important to me, which was why Gabriel was there. One on one always proved more dangerous when trying to stay in control. Avoiding that should make it easier for Willow, but surely he knew that it only prolonged the inevitable.

  He wanted me. They all did. That want grew every time they tasted me.

  What would happen if he continued to hold back?

  “No worries.” I patted Willow’s arm, easing him into my touch. This would spiral fast once we got started. Turning to Gabriel, I searched his dark eyes, finding them cool and calm despite his obvious yearning. “Are you guys ready? We don’t have a lot of time. Freakshow to get to and all.”

  It was Willow I needed to hear it from. He sat stiff beside me, several inches between us. I wanted to relax him but didn’t want to force it.

  “Ready when you are,” Gabriel said, content to sit back and let it happen as it happened.

  So quiet and vigilant. Not a big talker. Gabriel noticed more than he let on. Observation could be a power all its own. I still questioned Hurst’s warning about him. If the reclusive old vampire reached out to me again, I planned to grill him about it.

  “Yeah, I’m ready.” A nod of his dirty blond head and Willow adjusted on the couch to face me.

  I extended a wrist to each of them, letting calm vibes seep forth. “If you need something from me, anything at all, tell me. I don’t want you guys to be uncomfortable, and I sure as hell don’t want you to suffer. That’s not who I want to be with any of you.”

  Except for maybe Briggs. I couldn’t let myself think about what it meant that his hungers for me were growing. Or what it meant for Juliet.

  “I know that’s not who you are.” Taking my offered arm, Willow clasped my hand comfortingly between both of his. “Don’t ever worry about that, Alexa.”

  Gabriel took my other hand and stroked a finger over my palm. It tickled, and I almost tugged my hand away with a laugh. When I met his studious gaze, I found myself struck silent.

  “Never believe that you’re anything less than a goddess.” Gabriel slid his fingers between mine in a slow but sensual caress. “There’s a reason you’re the queen.”

  So smooth was the erotic pulse of power he slipped me. It rolled through me to Willow, joining the three of us. Just enough to bring a relaxed ease over the room.

  Willow held my wrist gently, like it was a delicate baby bird, while Gabriel gripped tight, forcing the vein to bulge. They both moved closer to me on the couch. It just went without saying that they needed to taste my desire.

  Still, Willow held himself back. He pressed his lips to my wrist, feeling my pulse. The promise of blood wasn’t enough. Not anymore. I felt it in his hesitation.

  On my other side, Gabriel did not hold back. Brazenly he dragged his tongue over my wrist. The memory of his mouth between my legs brought the rush of arousal he sought. Gabriel was eager to please. The succubus in me wanted a taste of that enthusiasm.

  Willow couldn’t help but succumb to the rising tide. The tension in his shoulders melted away, and he became someone else. Something else.

  With both hands he gripped my forearm. His lips moved on my skin, the faintest flutter like butterfly wings. The more he touched me, the more touch he needed. Light kisses became hungry sweeps of his mouth and tongue over my skin, swirling along the blue veins in my wrist.

  Though neither man had touched more than an arm, a needy throb rose between my legs. Because my power was a double-edged sword, as their need for me grew, so did my need for them.

  That could get tricky. Do not think of Briggs.

  I could just kill him. I’d much rather kill him. Do not think of Briggs!

  Then Gabriel nipped the sensitive inner curve of my elbow, and that other guy was the furthest thing from my mind. Long black hair fell to hide his face, enhancing the mystery that was Gabriel. Both hands held my arm as he teased the veins in the nook of my elbow.

  Willow’s hand on the back of my neck drew my gaze to him. I turned to find him much closer than I remembered. Had I even felt him move?

  I fell into those gold-flecked eyes. Lost in their green depths, I somehow became aware that I’d fallen under his spell despite never feeling the obvious rush of his thrall. How the hell had he done that? I always knew when I was being rolled.

  He stared at my lips like he wanted to kiss me. Torn between my light and dark sides, I both wanted and didn’t want him to do it.

  But mostly I wanted him to do it.

  Being between Willow and Gabriel on the couch set loose every dirty desire and hidden fantasy I harbored about them. A few more than I realized. I wasn’t used to being between anyone but Arys and Shaz like this, and it felt addictive.

  Gabriel’s hand slid across my waist and up to my breast. Without warning, he bit into my inner elbow. I flinched and gasped, which was all Willow’s hunger needed.

  Grabbing my chin in a bruising grip, Willow kissed me. Before I could decide to kiss him back he bit my lip. The sudden sharp sting brought my dark side bubbling up in a wicked way. He sucked my bleeding lip into his mouth and groaned softly.

  Before either of us could take it further, he pulled away with a grimace and bit the wrist he still held tight in one hand. Chest heaving as I spiraled, my entire focus was encompassed by how it felt to have their mouths on me as they drew on my blood and power.

 

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