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Sleeper_Google by Lexi_Blake (12)

 

 

“Would you like to explain yourself, slut?” Lord Sloane stared down at me like I was some kind of insect he was about to squash under his ridiculously overpriced loafers. In his human form, he opted for designer wear. He looked like a captain of industry, a man in the prime of his life, though I happened to know he was millennia old.

Marcus’s shoulders squared. “You would do well to remember where you are, Lord Sloane. You are here on the sufferance of His Majesty King Daniel, and he won’t take well to you calling his close circle by filthy names.”

I managed to get to my feet. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve been called worse, babe.” It was so hard to change habits. “I’m sorry. I meant, Mr. Vorenus.”

“Marcus will do, bella.” He gave me an encouraging smile.

“And you wonder why I speak the truth,” Sloane said with a grimace. “I want to know why a lowborn beast has my family in such upheaval that I have to leave my kingdom to ensure both my sons don’t fuck up here. Nemcox doesn’t even enjoy female company and yet he’s so eager to put you under contract. I would like to know why.”

I wasn’t about to tell him. I needed Nemcox to keep his damn mouth shut. If Papa Sloane knew that he had an ace in his deck, he would use it. He wouldn’t care about Gray’s happiness or think to use the information to put me in a corner. He would go straight to Merlin and then I would spend the rest of my life trying to protect my father. Lee. Little Lee.

My head hurt.

Still, the red-eyed demon required some kind of an answer. “I think it’s my feminine charm.”

Marcus stepped in front of me as though attempting to place himself in the path of danger. “Lord Sloane, I think perhaps you should wait in the king’s office while I speak to my…to Ms. Owens. You’ll find Hugo Wells is already there and waiting. He has some legal questions for you.”

Hugo likely had some form of lecture already planned about all the ways he could keep me from signing away my soul. Unfortunately, I couldn’t allow that to happen.

“I’ll need the wards kept down. I require a satan if we’re going to get this contract finished.” Papa Sloane straightened his tie. “I’m certainly not going to trust in some academic. If we’re going to do this, I want an ironclad contract. I won’t be tricked into giving the bitch access to my kingdom simply so the king can find a loophole that brings her back after she’s collected enough information. A satan will ensure the validity of the contract upfront.”

A satan is a class of demon. They act as the plane’s lawyers and the be-all, end-all arbiters of contracts. Satans can be requested by either party and the satan’s word is law. I could have Hugo draw up my contract, but it would be enforced or rejected by Hell’s cutest cherubs. Though I’ve been told they bite.

“I doubt that will be necessary,” Marcus murmured. “But you can certainly call one if it becomes so. Casey, would you escort our guest to the king’s office?”

Casey’s eyes went wide. “You mean the Hell lord?”

“Yes, I mean our guest, Lord Sloane,” Marcus replied.

Casey swallowed and managed a nod. “This way, Lord Sloane.”

When they were halfway down the hall, I turned to Marcus. “Go easy on him. You should have seen the way he stood up to Nemcox. He invoked all kinds of rights and got him to back down. He’s a good kid.”

Marcus sighed and shook his head. There was a terrible howling roar from somewhere below us, but Marcus ignored it completely. “I will take that into account. Now would you like to explain to me why you’re planning on throwing out all your training and becoming the Sloanes’ pet Hunter?”

Nemcox knows something about Lee. Do you know what happened with the spell we were trying to use on Neil Roberts?”

“Yes.” His whole face softened. “Have you enjoyed talking to your father? I suspect you see much of yourself in him.”

“I loved it right up to the point that Nemcox told me the wizard guy is the one who actually ordered my father’s death and that the queen’s incarceration and Roberts’s time in Hell were mere byproducts of what he wanted.”

A long sigh issued from Marcus. “I told you he wasn’t directly responsible for your father’s death. My question is why would Myrddin want a bodyguard’s death? How was your father important to him?”

The floor beneath me shook. “Should I go after them?”

“Not at all. Let them sort these things out. I believe Lieutenant Sloane is only now realizing what has to happen, and he’s dealing with some unsavory emotions. It’s one thing to accept sharing your partner on an intellectual basis, quite another to see it in action. Please go on. If I’m to help you, I need to know everything you can tell me.”

The floor shook again and I wondered exactly what those two were trying to do to each other. And if they’d taken off their shirts to do it. I looked back to the man I’d seen as my savior the last few years. “You would still help me?”

“I will always help you, bella. Always. I’m sad that our time together is coming to an end, but I will care about you the rest of my very long life and I will forever wish you well.” His eyes closed briefly as a howl shook the walls around us. There was a wry look on his face when he opened them. “I believe you will need all the good wishes in the world if you are to survive those two. I have to admit there’s a part of me that delighted in seeing the lieutenant lose his cool over finding you with another man. It was certainly due.”

My heart ached. Being this close to Marcus made me remember how easy it had been to be his woman. “Marcus, I’m so sorry I put you through that.”

He reached out and his hand cupped my cheek, swiping away a tear I didn’t know I’d shed. “No. You should never be sorry for seeking out what you need. You didn’t try to hide this from me and I always knew things could go this way. I shall seek some peace and see what happens over the next few decades, but if you call me, I’ll be here.”

I knew what he meant. He would go to Venice and let Evangeline grow up. She was Lee’s little sister and she might be Marcus’s prophesized companion, the one who would take him with her when she died. Apparently immortality wasn’t as cool as it sounded.

“Now tell me why you believe the wizard wanted to hurt your father,” Marcus prompted. “We don’t have much time. The king will be up here and he will demand explanations.”

“According to Nemcox, this Merlin dude did some prophecy of his own and according to him, my dad and one other person were the only two beings in the world who could thwart his plans.”

Marcus frowned. “My darling girl, I’m not sure how to handle this. My first instinct is to say Nemcox is lying. Myrddin serves the sword and the crown. Daniel has both.”

“Why would he lie?” Yeah, I knew that was a stupid question the minute it left my mouth.

“He’s a demon and he wants you out of the way. If you enter Hell under a contract, you’ll cease to be effective here and might even be pressed into serving your new house. More than that, we all know Gray’s father desires a child between the two of you. Again, if the child is born on the Hell plane, he will not only be a royal, but he will have no protections and no standing with the Council.”

I tried to work through the problem, examining all of the points of contention. I came upon one truth that was incontrovertible. “But he can’t lie in a contract. That would void the contract.”

Marcus looked at me like he was shocked by my naïveté. “I assure you the demon will follow the letter of the contract. He will never tell the wizard that your father’s soul has a new body. Nowhere in the contract will it state the reasons why this is dangerous.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think he’s lying.” I’d watched him as he’d figured out who Little Lee was, and I’d watched him figure something else out. “Is there any way Lee, the one we know now, is more than human? Nemcox was afraid of him.”

I don’t know that afraid was the right word. It seemed to me that it had been equal parts fear and pure wonder as Nemcox had stared at Lee.

“How could he be more? I suppose he has some faery genes. Males cannot be companions, but he could potentially have some of his father’s Green Man powers.” Marcus reached out, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Merlin has absolutely nothing to fear from a human child, and that is what Lee is. The demon is trying to trick you. Let’s go to the king and discuss this. He’ll know what to do. He’ll call Myrddin and solve all of this quickly.”

My heart raced. “No. I’ll handle it all myself.” Had I made a terrible mistake in telling Marcus the truth? Casey had told me the queen reported Donovan had an irrational love for the wizard. For Merlin…

“Is Merlin also known as Satanspawn?” That was what Casey had called him.

Marcus chuckled. “It’s nothing for you to worry about. He’s the product of a human woman and an incubus. That forms the demon part of his soul, hence the ridiculous nickname.”

Beware the spawn.

That was what Gray had told me. I hadn’t realized what it meant, but now I had a big old bet.

“Marcus, you have to promise me you won’t talk to Donovan.”

His brows rose. “Why would I do that?”

“Because I’m asking you to. Because this matters to me and I have to have the time to figure out what’s best.”

“Which is precisely why we should talk to His Majesty,” Marcus insisted.

“No.” I was getting desperate. If Donovan went to the wizard, there would be nothing I could do. “Please. I need time to figure a few things out. I can’t have the king going to the wizard. If you’re wrong and he’s not lying, then my father could die.”

A hand soothed down my arm. “Hush, bella. You have my word. I’ll be silent for now, but you have to know I’ll do anything to stop you from signing that contract.”

And I had to do anything to save my father.

The doors to the elevator opened. I turned, terrified of what could happen next.

Gray was on one side of the elevator, his horns out. He seemed to grow larger than normal when he took his demon form. His shirt was ripped and bloody and it looked like he’d gotten bitten in several places.

There was a big gray wolf on the other side of the elevator. He looked like he’d taken a beating, too. His fur was matted with blood, but I couldn’t see any open wounds.

How was I supposed to handle this? Two men were twice the anxiety and definitely double the trouble. I’d basically had sex with both of them in the past twenty-four hours and my first instinct was one I’d refined at junior high dances—I thought about running away and crying in the bathroom. They wouldn’t come after me in the girls’ room. I could hide out there forever. Liv could bring me food and I could sleep there. It would be a quiet life.

Trent growled, the fur on his back standing up straight.

Gray turned as though preparing to square off again. I could see the claws on his hand. They were razor sharp. “Why don’t we see if all that king’s blood in your system can keep you alive when I pluck your heart out of your chest and piss on it.”

Marcus chuckled behind me as though this was all terribly amusing. “It’s at times like this that you must ask yourself an important question.”

I could think of a few. What the hell was I thinking falling for two men when I couldn’t handle one? Could I live happily alone in a rain forest? Why not give lesbianism a real shot? “What’s that?”

“What would Zoey do? It’s really the only way to go, bella.” Marcus stepped back.

What would Zoey do? Well, the queen sure as hell wouldn’t spend her time crying in the bathroom. The Queen of all Vampire would show the boys who the boss was.

So I could run and allow them to be drama queens, or I could take control of my damn scene.

“Grayson Sloane, you are not going to urinate on Trent’s heart.” I moved in between them, giving them both my sternest look. “Trent, you are not going to rip out his throat. Yeah, I know what that growl meant, buddy. You will both behave.”

Gray’s eyes bore into mine. They were dark as night, his pupils drowning out all the white. “Or what, Kelsey mine? Or am I even able to call you that now? Tell me something. Were you trying to enjoy yourself before you’re forced into monogamy? Perhaps my brother has the right idea. Perhaps only a contract will keep you faithful.”

Trent growled again.

If I was stuck down in Hell with Gray, we were going to make a few things plain between us. I pointed a finger Trent’s way because I was so going to be the one to handle this. “Don’t you even try. You sit. Marcus, I need a few minutes alone with these two.”

Marcus tipped his head, the hint of a smile playing on his lips as he backed away. “Of course, bella. I will go and see if Lord Sloane needs anything. Don’t keep us waiting too long.”

He walked away and I was left with my two bloody suitors. I pointed to the conference room where we might have some semblance of privacy. The doors were thick and warded to keep prying supernatural ears out.

Gray strode in, not bothering to look back at me. He hadn’t much looked at me at all after he’d stared his fill the first time. He didn’t try to touch me either. Months we’d been apart and this was what I got.

Trent sat and stared at me, his wolfy eyes narrow.

I shook my head. “I’m not apologizing to you. I’m not the one who got into a fight. Do I even want to know what happened to your pants?”

He growled again, a low sound that let me know if he wanted to he could go find them right now. He chose something different. Naturally—and yes, I see the pun there—he simply stood up and became his gorgeous man self. He put his hands on his muscled hips. “I wasn’t trying to start a damn fight, Kelsey. He attacked me.”

Gray turned, his back to the windows that showed a lovely view of downtown Dallas. “And I would have killed you, too. Let’s see how strong you are when you’re not high off of the king’s blood.”

Trent started to growl and then his expression collapsed into one of pure confusion. He paced the floor, one hand running over his hair. “What the fuck was that, Sloane? I thought we had a deal. How exactly did you think I was going to be able to calm her down? Did you honestly think her wolf is going to be satisfied with some handholding and girl talk? Did you expect I could ease her rage with some ice cream and a couple of rom coms? If it was that simple, you should have brought Liv into this.”

I needed to take control. And to stop looking between them and wondering how the hell I’d managed to get myself in this position between two gorgeous men. “First off, sexist much? Talking about one’s relationships is healthy and not contained to one gender. Which is precisely why I don’t do girl talk. I drink tequila and sleep with the wrong people when I’m emotionally upset because I am not healthy and don’t you forget it. Second. What the fuck is this plan of Gray’s?”

“I put a plan in place to protect you when I’m gone,” Gray said between clenched fangs. “The operative words being when I’m gone. Trent here decided that because I needed to use his body to help you last night that he’s welcome to take what he wants. I’m going to explain the situation to him. And then I’ll find another damn wolf to take his place.”

I watched as Trent’s hands shifted slightly, claws popping out of his fingers. “You try to put another wolf in her bed and you’ll have a dead wolf on your hands. I’ll send you to Hell early, demon.”

I noticed a couple of people who worked for the Council walking by. Beth, a witch from accounting, was almost immediately on her cell phone. Gossip. At least it was still daylight and most of the vamps were tucked away or I might have had a bigger audience.

Again, this was a time to ask what Zoey would do. She might show her boobs and bring her men together in a magical ménage that would bring harmony to the world. But then I sometimes thought light and joy probably shot out of her nipples like at a Katy Perry concert.

I did not have her spectacular boobs, so I was going to have to rely on what I did well.

Sarcasm and not giving a shit.

I sank down into one of the conference chairs and sat back, putting my booted feet right on that sucker that likely had been built by artisans from the Faery plane and cost Quinn a bundle. “Hey, if you two are going to fight again, at least make it interesting for me. Sloane, ditch the clothes and let’s oil you two up.”

Trent’s eyes rolled, but Gray stopped for a moment as though trying to wrap his head around what I was saying. “Why would we oil up?”

Trent shook his head and moved toward the big closet where I was sure the business guys kept their extra pens and stuff. Apparently they also kept extra pairs of sweatpants. Trent pulled out a gray sweatsuit with the Ether logo on it and got dressed while he spoke. “She wants us to wrestle naked and oiled up, and she’s probably going to sell tickets because she’s a little pervert.”

He softened that with a wink, but he was wrong about that. “I’m not a pervert. I’m thrifty. I’m about to lose my billionaire sugar daddy and mama needs some cash for beer.”

Gray stared at me while Trent shook his head.

“I didn’t mean to fight with him, Kelsey,” Trent said, perfectly calm now. “We seem to have reached a point of misunderstanding in our agreement.” He winced a little. “And I know I need to explain that to you better than I have.”

“He was supposed to take care of you after I descend,” Gray explained tightly. “And that is all you need to know.”

“Jesus,” Trent said under his breath. “And I thought I was difficult.” He turned back to Gray. “Buddy, if this is going to work, you can’t say things that are going to make her want to take your balls off. Do you plan on descending without your balls? You want to leave them up here on the Earth plane as a souvenir for the rest of us?”

Trent seemed to know me better than Gray, but then when I honestly thought about it, Gray and my relationship had been brief. We hadn’t spent more than a week or so together before we’d been torn apart the first time. Then I’d been in Italy and he’d been walking the Earth plane.

Trent and I had been friends a lot longer. Trent didn’t see me as some princess on a pedestal. Trent knew I liked burgers and beer and was capable of taking a dude’s balls if he pissed me off enough.

Was it possible that he actually cared about me?

“I wasn’t trying to make her angry with me,” Gray said, visibly calming. “I’ve only ever been interested in protecting her.”

“Is it protecting me or possessing me?” I had to ask the question.

Gray shook his head. “Don’t even start in on that. I gave you up to Marcus when you needed him. When you needed me and I couldn’t physically be with you, I allowed Trent to host me.”

“With a sword in my gut,” Trent complained.

Gray shook his head. “Can you leave us alone for a few moments? This should be a private discussion between me and my…between me and Kelsey.”

“Absolutely not.” Trent sank into one of the chairs, making himself comfy. “I’m part of this and I’m not going away. If this is going to work, we don’t have secrets.”

I held up a hand. “If this is going to work, I need to know what this is.”

Gray placed his hands palms down on the table, looming over both of us. “This is a means to protect you after I descend. I’ve done an enormous amount of research into Hunters and how your kind functions. If not completely bonded to an academic who also has an affinity with wolves, the Hunter usually dies young. She becomes unstable and must be put down.”

Yeah, story of my life. The sad truth was in the beginning I’d kind of accepted that would be my fate. It seemed fitting and honestly, life kind of sucked. Then I met Gray and Marcus. Then I moved into this place and found some meaning. I helped people. I did good.

And you know what? I fucking like beer and burgers and a good rom com, and I liked hanging with Trent.

I had to accept that at some point, I decided I want to live.

“All right, so the problem with Marcus and myself is that he doesn’t have this affinity for wolves? That seems weird because he’s popular among the wolf packs.” Especially in Italy. They loved him there, which was odd since vamps and wolves usually were wary of each other.

“It’s not the same,” Gray explained. “The wolves in Italy see Marcus as a patron of sorts. He’s been good to them and the wolves trust him in a way they don’t trust other vampires, but that’s not what I mean by affinity. The king has an affinity for wolves. He can call them, which is precisely why so many distrust him. If it weren’t for Quinn and the queen performing their fertility rituals, they likely would never have joined the king’s Council.”

I was assuming by “call,” Gray didn’t mean on a cell phone. “Are you telling me Donovan can control wolves?”

“He never uses the power,” Trent insisted and for the first time since we’d started this conference, he looked less than comfortable. “He’s never once used it on me.”

“No, you play the king’s puppet because you like to,” Gray shot back.

I was getting sick of his new attitude. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, get your ass out of here.”

He put out a hand and seemed to try to calm himself. “I’m sorry. Being near my father, it can be unsettling. When he transported me, he went through the Hell plane. I’m afraid I felt more of that than I would like.”

His hand went to his side and I wondered. In some ways Gray was as two-natured as I or Trent were. Although in Trent’s case, he had been born fully integrated with the wolf inside him. He didn’t question or try to quell his instincts the way Gray and I did.

We were an odd lot when I thought about it. All three of us had feet planted in both worlds, but only Trent was comfortable with it. Only Trent had grown up understanding what his second nature meant.

Only Trent knew how to completely calm my wolf. He did it through touch and patience, and a nice bit of alpha-male dominance.

Gray seemed to be trying to force himself to chill. I knew how hard that could be sometimes, but Gray also had a switch that was a little bit like mine.

I stood up and moved to him. His hand was over the spot where his dragon lay inked into his skin. I wasn’t planning on making a big deal out of this. I didn’t want another boy fight unless I got them naked and oiled up, so I decided Gray could talk through this particular exercise. “So wolves like me tend to go crazy because we can’t bond to anyone but an academic who can call wolves. Is that what you’re saying? I’m going to need you to pull up your shirt.”

We would get back to the whole part where Donovan could potentially make my new honey his bitch. I wasn’t letting that go, but it seemed like we had other things to concentrate on for now.

Gray looked down at me. “Pull up my shirt?”

“So she can lay hands on your dragon,” Trent supplied. He nodded toward me. “I think that’s a good idea. He’s obviously in need of comfort.”

“Comfort?” Gray asked, but he did pull his shirt from his slacks.

I slid my hand over his skin and immediately felt the warmth of the dragon responding to me.

Gray gasped and his eyes closed. “Comfort. I’d forgotten.”

“See, wolves never forget. Touch is healing. Touch is comfort,” Trent said.

“Did you have to touch her clitoris?” But Gray didn’t move and his eyes didn’t come open.

Trent chuckled. “Absolutely. Her wolf requires a firm hand, my brother.” He sobered a bit. “She was upset. I don’t think her wolf likes the idea of being caged on the Hell plane. You understand how poorly that would go?”

Yes, there it was. Anxiety spiked through my system at the thought of never walking the Earth plane again, never feeling the moon pull at my soul. I didn’t change the way a normal wolf would, but I ran on full moons. I ran like the wind and it eased my soul. I wouldn’t have that on the Hell plane. I would have nothing.

Gray’s hand eased over mine as though holding me to the dragon. “I will never allow that to happen to you, Kelsey mine. And yes, Trent, I can feel it in her right now. It’s welling up inside like a noxious poison. Still, I never meant… I didn’t think you would take her until I was gone. I thought she would be mine for a while longer.”

I took a deep breath and let my head rest against Gray’s back. I could feel him calming and his words had meant something to me. I loved this man. I wasn’t sure why, but he was my soul’s mate. I’d tried to fight it, but it never worked. No matter how much I’d cared about Marcus, my heart had always been Gray’s.

And yet I wanted Trent to move in behind me, his hands going over my skin and giving me the same comfort I was giving to Gray. I wanted to be between these two men in a way I’d never considered before that day in the winter when all things had been possible. When I’d seen what we could become if we worked together.

“It doesn’t have to be like that.” Trent was watching us intently.

“And how would you know?” Gray asked.

“Because I see it every single day,” Trent replied quietly. “Because I’ve been around a family like this for years and they make it work.”

Gray shook his head and broke our connection. He moved away from me. “No. That wasn’t my plan at all. Look, there’s no happy ménage at the end of this for us. I’m going to Hell. There’s no happy anything for me.”

“He has to let you out,” I argued. “You’re a dark prophet. You have to be allowed to roam the Earth plane as well.”

“Do I? I’m sure as long as I’m willing to prophesize for my father, I’ll be allowed some access to the Earth plane, but have you thought about what that means, Kelsey? I would be helping my father. My father’s job is to torture souls, to ensure that Lucifer makes his monthly quota, so to speak. He also would like very much to widen his influence on this plane. Did you honestly believe I would do that? Do you think I’m going to be a good little demon and help hurt others so I can maybe make it back here once a month and go on a date with you?”

“We still have time.” I couldn’t think about the second option, the one he was talking about. If Gray wouldn’t work for his father on the Hell plane, then he would be tortured until he broke or died. Either way, he would no longer be the Gray I knew. “We still have a few years left.”

Trent stood up. “Are you trying to send her into a full-on rage? She’s in a delicate state. It’s too early to test her like this. Come here, Kelsey. Come here right now.”

He was using that alpha voice on me, the one that brooked no disobedience. Normally this was the moment when my wolf decided if she wanted to fight or fuck, but honestly, she wanted neither right this second. She did want comfort.

I walked to him, his arms going around my body and hugging me tight to his chest. His cheek rubbed against mine and I felt him sigh as though the contact soothed something in him, too.

“She needs this, Sloane. Either help me or get the fuck out. I’m here for a reason and I’m not going away. I’m here because the minute she walked in the door I knew she would be important to me. If it means anything at all to you, I knew you would be, too. It was disconcerting and confusing until she showed up. Why do you think I was so hard on you?”

“Because you’re an asshole.” But Gray was suddenly at my back, his chest cuddling against me. “And this means nothing except that I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Kelsey. I shouldn’t have acted like a jealous ass. I was hurt.”

This…oh, this felt right. This felt a lot like heaven, and I was already thinking things I shouldn’t have. I was thinking about lifting my face up for Trent’s kiss and seeing if I could move Gray’s hand to my breast. All the crap of the day would flow away and I could lose myself for a few hours.

I felt Trent tense as though he could feel my desire.

And then Gray moved back. “Are you better?”

I turned, moving reluctantly out of Trent’s arms. Gray’s face was flushed, but he wouldn’t quite meet my eyes. “Yes. I feel better.”

“Good. Then you can tell me why my brother thinks you’re signing a contract.” Now his eyes found mine and there was lots of righteous judgment there.

Gray might be feeling weird about the sexual vibe thing that had gone through the room, but it was obvious he was perfectly happy to talk about all the things I’d done wrong.

I suddenly found myself staring down both men because Trent rounded on me, too.

“You are not signing a damn contract. I’ve already explained that to you,” Trent began.

“I’m doing it for Lee.”

They both stopped.

“What does the king’s kid have to do with this?” Gray backed up. “I know you like the kid, but he’s not your responsibility. You’re certainly not about to sign away your soul for him, so I’ll hand this over to Donovan and we can tell my father to go back to Hell.”

“It’s not that easy,” Trent said. “Lee is an old soul. He’s her father’s soul. Her real father. So you can’t expect her to step back and let Donovan handle this.”

“Her real father?” Gray asked.

I was able to look at him and plead my case now that he understood. “Yes, the original. We’re oddly alike. He’s in there and he’s got a second chance at life and everything, and if I don’t sign that contract, he’ll die. Your brother will make sure of it.”

“What does my brother have to do with this?” Gray asked, obviously confused.

Trent looked to me for clarification, too. “Why does he want to hurt Lee? He has to know the king won’t allow that to happen.”

They were off and talking about all the reasons I had to be wrong and I realized I’d made a mistake bringing them in.

“Stop.” There was truly only one thing I needed to know. “Gray, if your brother makes me a promise, will he keep it? Or would he try to find a way to get around it?”

“Kelsey, he’s a demon,” Trent replied. “You can’t trust him.”

Gray’s eyes narrowed. “Of course, don’t trust the demon. I should have known you would say that.”

Trent’s hands came up. “I wasn’t talking about you. I know you’re not a full breed and you don’t take after your demon half. But Nemcox is, and I’ve seen the kind of destruction he can bring about.”

“You don’t know my brother at all.” Gray turned to me, dismissing Trent. “If he made a promise to you, he’ll keep it. He won’t even attempt to find a way around it because in his mind, you’re his family. My brother loves me. Yes, demons can feel emotions. They can love people. I’ll talk to him. I’ll get you out of this. Can I please know why you think he’ll hurt Lee?”

I couldn’t trust him with that secret. I couldn’t trust Trent either. It wasn’t that I thought they would try to hurt Lee. Quite the opposite. They would attempt to help, likely by going straight to Donovan, and then my house of cards would fall because Donovan would call the wizard.

Hey, Mr. Wizard, so I hear my son can possibly be one of two beings who could kill you and take your power. Just wanted to check and make sure you don’t have plans to wipe him off the face of the earth…

It would be like Dumbledore calling Voldemort to make sure he was down with HP living a happy, healthy life.

“No. I won’t say another word and I will be signing that contract.” Unless I could figure some other way out of this.

“I won’t allow it.” Trent’s arms wrapped around my middle and I felt him place the lightest kiss on my ear. “Not because I think you’re incapable of making a proper decision, my alpha female. Merely because the thought of losing you makes me insane. I can’t lose you now that I’ve found you. I’ll do anything to keep you by my side. In front of me. Wherever you choose to stand, as long as your choice doesn’t leave me behind.”

It was exactly the worst thing to say to me because my whole soul softened.

He’d laid in wait for me, like the goddamn apex predator he was. He’d hidden behind acts of friendship and shrugs of nonchalance, when all along he’d plotted and planned and ached for me.

Could I believe that? I did in the moment. In the moment, his haunting voice gave me ease.

Gray intruded, looming over me. “You have to talk to me, Kelsey. You can’t think for a second I’ll allow you to come to Hell with me.”

I felt Trent’s arms tighten as though Hell was coming for me in that moment, and then the door opened, a stranger walking inside. He was dressed in an expensive suit, his hair slicked back and perfect.

“Oh, look at all this drama.” I might not have recognized the vessel, but I knew that upper-crust accent. “Wolf, get your hands off my sister-in-law. Grayson, I’m shocked that you’re standing here allowing that animal to paw your beloved.”

Trent stepped in front of me. “You have no right to be here.”

Gray sighed and sat back down. “Well, brother, I did try to tear him apart. He’s quite strong and he takes the king’s blood. He’s probably taken it for years, so I could cut his head off and if someone held it on, it would simply grow back.”

I went up on my toes, whispering in Trent’s ear. “You do know there’s only one actual demon hunter here and it’s not you, right?”

He turned, giving me a look that required no translation.

I held up my hands in defeat. “Just checking. It’s my job and stuff. And I’m pretty sure he’s here to see me. Should we find another location?”

“I would be perfectly happy to host our negotiation session,” the demon offered. “I’m here because Father wills it and the king requested my presence. You know I’ve been trying to speak with the king for years. If I’d known all I had to do was contract with one small female, I would have done it a long time ago.”

“You’ll do nothing of the kind.” Gray sent his brother a stare that could peel paint off the walls. “You will not sign anything with her. I’ve told you my feelings on the subject.”

“And I’ve explained to you over and over that you will feel differently once you’re home.” Nemcox faced off with Gray. “I know this better than you do. This plane affects you in terrible ways. It clouds your mind. Once you’re living in your proper home, you’ll understand and you will thank me.”

Awesome. Gray’s mind was clouded with the not pure evil of the Earth plane. He didn’t look like he was being persuaded and I didn’t like the thought that these brothers would hash it out. “Nemcox, your promise to me includes not discussing my reasons for signing with anyone. And that includes Gray and your family.”

He put a hand on his borrowed heart, looking as innocent as an occupying demon could. “I’m wounded that you think I would do otherwise.”

“Damn it, Kelsey,” Trent began. “Why is this so important? What does he have on Lee?”

Nemcox tsked tsked my way. “Now who’s the problem? Hush, Hunter. I told you—loose lips sink ships.” He stopped in the middle of the room and his whole demeanor softened as he breathed in. “Oh, there’s something I haven’t smelled in years and years.”

I looked up and Neil Roberts was standing outside, his eyes on the demon.

I moved, putting myself between the demon and the man he’d tortured for decades and prayed I wouldn’t have to decide between my father and the queen’s closest friend.

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