Through a black void, Ava stretched out her arm, and as clarity slowly trickled into her mind, she registered the emptiness beside her, the absence tugging her eyelids open. Lifting her head, she found half of the bed where Calix usually slept vacant. Beyond his spot, the clock glowed two in the morning.

She sat upright, gaze sweeping the dark room for him. “Calix?” Sliding out of bed, she wrapped her arms around herself and made her way to the bathroom, where she flipped on the lights.

Empty.

A vague conversation filtered into her thoughts. Something about Xander and hanging out. One she’d have sworn she’d dreamt, but it guided her feet out of the room and down the staircase, before she realized she wore only Calix’s thin T-shirt and a borrowed pair of briefs that fit a bit loose. Damn it. She tugged the shirt down to cover as much of her ass as possible.

Sucked not having her own clothes.

Thankfully, the mansion sat in a lull of quiet, so Ava continued on, figuring the brothers were in bed, even if they weren’t necessarily sleeping.

Ava had been to the catacombs once before, and she inwardly flinched when the cold, damp air wound around her, as she stared down into the dark stairwell lined with flickering sconces. That was the night she’d set Draven free and her act of betrayal in motion. At the time, she’d stood at the top of that staircase in chaos, contemplating right and wrong, before deciding the alternative of burning in Stygius alongside Ryke was far more frightening.

An echo of shouts piqued her ears, and Ava recognized Calix’s voice. Without a beat of hesitation, she scampered down the remaining stairs, into the bowels of the mansion.

If she happened upon the Fallen angel, Ava couldn’t be sure what she’d do, as they tended to wield twice the strength of the Nephilim. But she sure as hell wouldn’t stand by and let him hurt Calix, either.

At the bottom of the staircase, Ava peered into the eerie hallway that led to the cellblocks. Much as she yearned to call out to Calix, to know if it was, in fact, him that she’d heard, she didn’t dare. The Fallen angel slept in the catacombs, only adding to the creeptastic ambience that surrounded her, while phantom tendrils of cold air drifted over her skin like the translucent touch of a ghost.

Christ. No wonder the angel was a bit on the psychotic side. Having to sleep down there would probably turn her into a raving lunatic, too.

Pace unfaltering, she tiptoed toward the cells and the sounds of Calix’s moans, but winced when a sharp stab pierced her toe. “Fuck!” Ava bent forward, lifting a sharp-pointed square of glass from the cobblestone floor.

“Yeah, I called that one.”

The voice prompted Ava to spin on her heel, nearly falling backward onto her ass.

Silver eyes stared back at her through the darkness—the telling features of a Fallen angel, and one that distinguished them from the Nephilim, who were known for icy blue eyes.

She held the tine of glass up, while tugging the hem of her shirt down over the loose briefs. “You fucking touch me, or him, and I’ll slice you open.”

The white glow of teeth told her Xander smiled back at her, and the deep rumble of a chuckle echoed around her. “That’s like … foreplay for me.”

A swipe through the space separating them didn’t make Xander so much as flinch. “Stay away from me.”

“I’m not going to touch you.” He stepped into the light, arms crossed, wearing nothing but boxer briefs that Ava didn’t attempt to look at twice. “Look, I’ve been instructed to send you back along your merry little way in a scary voice, with threats of locking you in my room and tying you to my little cross of pain. But we both know that’s not going to happen.”

Chin angled up, she kept her defenses in place, still holding the glass between them. “Why is that?”

“Because I want what you want. Your man needs to get laid.”

Confusion settled over her in a frown. “You want him … that way?”

“No. I want you to do what you gotta do to set him right.”

“Why is he locked up?”

“He asked me to lock him up. To keep you safe.” He rested his forearm against the stone wall beside him, drawing her attention to muscles that rivaled Calix’s. No doubt, the male could’ve done some damage if he wanted. “This ain’t my first rodeo. These Wraths, they’re all about playing hard to fucking fuck, know what I mean? Just give the poor guy what he needs, so I can get some much needed beauty rest.”

“You won’t stop me?”

“Sweetheart, I’m giving you the fucking keys.”

The rattle of the tossed object lifted Ava’s chin higher, and she reached out, snatching the ring of metal from the air.

“The Kingdom is yours. Just stay away from the cell at the end. You open that one, and you will surely piss me off. Trust me when I say, you do not want to piss me off.”

Ava gave a nod, watching the angel retreat back into the shadows before she continued on toward the cells.

Beyond the bars, Calix lay on a creaky old cot, hands chained by Diablis steel to the wall, his body writhing and twisting up into an arc of agony as he cried out. The sight of him took her back to the lab, when Oliver had injected the poisons into her and watched her suffer.

“Oh, Gods, Calix.” Hands trembling, she fumbled with the single key that she presumed opened all of the cells.

“Ava! Ava, go! Don’t come near me!” The strain of misery bore down on his words, and Calix groaned. “Get out of here!”

“No, I won’t watch you suffer. Let me help. Let me ease you.”

“You can’t! I swear to Gods, I’ll take from you. Mercilessly. I’ll hurt you. Don’t come any closer!”

“I won’t leave you like this, Calix.” Slipping the key inside the lock, she twisted to a click and opened the cage. “I won’t.”

“Get the fuck out of here! Now!”

Ava flinched at the sharp tone of his words, undoubtedly produced by his suffering.

“I can help him.” A female’s voice hit Ava from the right, and she peered down the row of cells to the last on the left. The one Xander had forbidden her to open.

Even so, under the circumstances, the strange female’s words remained a curiosity.

“Who are you?” Ava asked, tipping her head to see beyond the bars.

“A healer. I know how to soothe his pain.”

“How?”

“It’s a mind trick. I’ve, um … done it before.”

Soothed him before? She glanced toward Calix then back toward the other cell. “To him?”

“Yes. He came to me, looking for some relief.”

Who the hell was this woman? Ava wanted just a peek of her, to put that soft spoken voice to a face. “What kind of relief?”

“A fantasy. Of a female. I made his pain go away.”

“Ava! Don’t!” Twisted into himself, Calix hung over the edge of the bed with his arms trussed over his head.

“Calix, if she can help … ”

“She can’t!” The pleading in his voice left her in conflict, and Ava remained glued to the floor, trying to decide what the hell to do.

“I can. I have before. Let me go, and I’ll show you.”

Could be a trap. She didn’t know the female enough to unlock her without some consideration that she might try to escape.

From what, though?

Why did Xander have her down there, anyway? Was she his sex slave? Ava’d heard that he liked the darker side of sex, and perhaps she fulfilled some prison sex fantasy, or something.

“Bullshit. Do your mind trick from where you are.”

“Doesn’t work that way. I have to have the subject in front of me. I have to feel his pain. See his pain.”

Xander’s threat from earlier drifted through her mind. Last thing she wanted to do was piss off another male in the house. “No. Forget it.”

“Then, he’ll suffer. And if you go to him, he’ll attack you. He’ll drain you.”

Ava padded down the hallway until she arrived at the cell that held the female, who lay wearing a T-shirt and men’s boxers. Definitely one of Xander’s playthings.

She lifted her head from the cot, eyes wide. “You’re her. The one from his fantasy.”

“He … went to you. So you’d pretend to be me?”

“I didn’t touch him. I projected what was in his mind, is all.” She shook her head, and something in her silvery eyes told Ava she was being honest.

“Me.”

“You’re very beautiful. I can see why he’s pained at the sight of you. I can ease that pain.”

Ugh. Ease. Soothe. All words that didn’t seem to fit in Ava’s vocabulary anymore. “This trick. You don’t have to … you and he don’t …”

“Not at all. It’ll be all you.”

Ava stared down at the key in her hands and flinched at another outcry from Calix’s cell. “I may not be Fallen, but I have some tricks of my own. If you try to escape, you’ll regret it.”

“Understood.”

Slipping the key into the lock, Ava gave one reluctant turn and opened the bars, stepping inside. She crossed the room with haste, and instead of removing the chains from the female’s hands, she disconnected them from the wall.

“You’ll remain tethered. Anything tricky, and I’ll wrap the chain around your throat and sever your head from your body.”

“You don’t fuck around.” A half-cocked smile kicked her cheek up.

“I don’t.”

Ava led the female down to Calix’s cell and ushered her inside.

Calix’s eyes grew wide. His body planked on the bed. “Keep her away from me!”

Ignoring his protest, the female slipped inside, backing herself against the bars, and nudged her head toward him. “With his hands bound, you’ll have to stroke him. Get him off, while I speak the words.”

“In front of you?” Not that Ava had ever been above performing sexual acts for an audience, but something about the situation felt too personal for her. Perhaps the visuals of Calix getting himself off in front of her continuously played on loop, inciting pangs of jealousy.

“Do you want my help, or not? That Diablis steel isn’t going to hold when he decides to take what he needs.”

Glancing back at the woman, Ava nodded, before kneeling beside the cot.

With his head tipped back, body thrashing, she eyed the enormous erection that tented his boxers. Sweet merciful gods. As an incubus, his cock was designed to pleasure a woman—long, thick, and rigid with a slight upward curve that hit the spot every damn time.

The monstrous beast poking up through the silk fabric could split Ava in half if she tried to impale herself, and when she peeled back his boxers, her eyes widened at it’s girth. Of course, she’d seen Calix’s package a number of times, but never so fully erect and … huge. Christ, no wonder he was in such pain.

At the same time, her thighs clenched and wetness dampened her panties at the thought of how deep, how good he’d feel inside of her. Like with most incubi, the throbbing of his dick felt like a vibrator, which was why females who’d been fucked in their sleep often assumed they’d dreamed having used one.

Another feature that put his race higher up on the food chain from human males.

The way his hips rolled on the bed, muscles straining, eyes clamped shut, it reminded her how smooth and perfect he’d once moved inside of her. His body had a natural rhythm for sex, and every upward thrust, the tight squeeze of his ass, and the power in his thighs had always left Ava on the brink of madness. Her pussy ached with his mesmerizing moves, as much a part of his seduction as his eyes, his voice, or his touch.

“Gods, you are a lucky woman.”

The voice from behind left her scowling, and Ava slid her body just enough to block the other female’s view of his dick, but not his face.

“I stroke him as you’re doing this?”

“Yes,” the female croaked, and cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. He’s … hard not to look at. No pun intended.”

“Do your best.” The venom in Ava’s voice surprised her. She’d shared Calix with another female before, but had always been the one to bring him to climax at the end. It killed her to know the female, a stranger who hadn’t learned all of his nuances and didn’t have a clue what got him off, happened to be the only person who might bring him some relief. “You can see his face, right?”

“I can,” she responded, and a low chant filled the room.

Licking her lips, Ava gripped his shaft and Calix turned rigid beneath her, hissing with her tight clasp. Up and down, she stroked his length, while the female’s words danced around them like an erotic song.

Grunts of pleasure and the smile tugging his lips told Ava it was working. She hadn’t seen him look so relaxed in the few days she’d been with him.

“Climb on top of me, baby.” His voice oozed down Ava’s spine, tingling every nerve ending. She had to look away from him, his slow and steady movements along her palm, the flexing of his muscles that reminded her of his exquisite control, or she’d risk giving in to him. Gods, the voice of his incubus was deeper, though, and filled with so much promise, her thighs clenched for relief.

Instead, she glanced back at the female behind her, who seemed focused a little too intently on Ava’s face rather than Calix’s. Even as his body calmed, his pain subsiding, she kept her gaze trained on Ava.

Perhaps the Fallen female didn’t trust her, but a flicker of something in her eyes suggested trickery.

Confirmed, when Ava set to relent her grip of Calix, but couldn’t. Her whole body failed to respond to her head’s demands.

“What have you … done?” While she fought the stiffness claiming her limbs, Calix continued his hammering, his pace hastening in her unmoving hand. Her fingers remained curled around his thickness, and though she visualized unfurling them from his shaft, she couldn’t.

“Calix!” Jaw clenched, she pushed the words past her frozen lips. “Calix!”

“He can’t hear you. The chant is all he can sense.”

The female’s voice from behind her snarled Ava’s lips.

Faster and faster, he pumped his hips, locked in some sort of fantasy with his head tipped back, a line of tension running through his muscles that told her he was close to climax.

“You … paralyzed me!” Even Ava’s vocal chords felt locked up in whatever hold the female had placed on her.

A clamor bounced off the walls, as Calix arched his back and roared with the warm jets of cum that coated Ava’s fingers.

“Ava,” he mumbled, head rolling against the pillow. “Ava.” All at once, he stopped moving, head lolled to the side.

“Xander!” Much as she hated the thought of him finding out what she’d done, she wouldn’t stand by and let the female get away.

“Not paralysis, per se.” The Fallen female’s voice slithered down Ava’s spine, inciting the urge to strangle her. “I merely convinced your mind that you’re unable to move. You think you’re speaking, but you’re not. Xander can’t hear you. I’m simply reading your thoughts.” Her gaze fell from Ava’s, and she jerked her chin toward Calix. “And he will sleep like the dead, now that you’ve sated him. It won’t last, though.” As she spoke, her face morphed, the silver of her eyes turning to an ice blue, the curls of her hair straightening, until it was as if Ava stared into a mirror.

“You … stole my … face.”

“Again, it’s all in how you perceive. You’re seeing me as you, because I told your mind to see that. Now, unlock my binds.”

Calix’s flesh slid past Ava’s palm as she relinquished her grasp, her fingers still glistening with the evidence of his release.

“Other hand, if you don’t mind.”

“No.” Ava mentally willed her hand not to do as the female ordered, but even with every ounce of restraint, she watched like an unwilling participant while she unlatched the binds and the Diablis steel fell away from the female’s wrists. “Why … are you … doing this?”

“It’s nothing personal,” she said in a voice that sounded hauntingly like Ava’s own. “Now sleep.”

And despite all the protests inside her head, Ava dropped to the floor, and the cell that surrounded her faded to black.