Page 65 of Changeling (The Incubus Saga #2)

Oh, how Nathan wanted to speak again, “Look buddy…” and was therefore a little surprised when he found he could.

He coughed slightly to clear his throat and started over.

“Look, you expect us to believe you want us to return all the sidhe that got out? And let me guess. All we need to do to accomplish this is for Jim to go a little more overdrive with his powers. Am I right?”

Again there came a slow, satisfied grin. “Well, you don’t expect to track down all of the remaining dark sidhe in less than a month just going on the level of power he has now, do you? That would be…rather difficult, I think.”

A month. For the first time Nathan had an actual timestamp on his life, and the reveal made him falter.

The dark sidhe’s smirk twitched. “I don’t see the problem.

You do what you would do anyway, just a little faster and more efficient.

If you succeed, Nathan goes free. No more ticking clock.

If you don’t make it then you’re no worse off than you are now and at least the world is left a little safer.

Just the way you want it, right, Nathan?

To go out saving as many as you can—like Sasha and your brother.

So noble. I’m merely sweetening the deal. ”

“For yourself,” Nathan shot back. “Win-win for you. We succeed, all your little minions get to start over, maybe come back as an army next time, with Jim souped up to…hell, I don’t even know what.

We fail, we’ve still done most of your work for you and you still get me.

Pretty good set up you got, pal. But if you’re so smart then I’m sure you already know my answer.

” He raised his right hand and thrust his middle finger out in front of him. “Fuck you.”

“Nathan,” Jim started, also with the ability to speak again, it seemed.

“Jim, don’t you even—”

“Nathan, think about this,” Sasha interrupted next. Both of them were turned in toward him, ganging up on him with their anger and downturned eyes. “What have we got to lose?”

Nathan wanted to throw that line right back at Sasha. What have they got to lose? Jim . That was obviously what the contract holder was counting on. Maybe Jim using his powers more really would lead down that path none of them wanted him to go.

“Nathan,” Jim said again, in that no-nonsense Dad voice he used better than Nathan ever could, “you don’t get to make this decision alone.

You keep saying that you’re the one who gets to decide if I lose myself too much to be worth saving.

Then let me decide when it’s too late to save you.

I can take care of myself. I can handle this. I know I can.”

Nathan didn’t want to meet Jim’s eyes, because those puppy-dogs were the worst and would almost assuredly sway him, but then Jim was looking at the sidhe, not him, so Nathan couldn’t help glancing at his brother.

“Freedom of choice,” Jim said. “And I choose whether or not I own the powers or the powers own me. If you think accepting this offer will end things differently…you’re wrong.”

A week ago Nathan would have been proud to hear Jim talk with that kind of conviction. Hell, yesterday Nathan would have been proud. An hour ago. But something about this dark sidhe lord made Nathan doubt.

Maybe Jim could feel that, read it right out of Nathan’s head, because Jim turned back to him and Nathan was caught. Those eyes said ‘trust me’. Those eyes said ‘this is Jim and I’ll always be Jim’.

“I can do this, Nathan,” Jim said, his voice wet with tears that weren’t there. “Please let me. I know you have to make the decision but…but if this is how I save you then you have to give me that chance. I know you’ll be there to save me …if it comes to it.”

Nathan grit his teeth; he knew what Jim really meant—I know you’ll be there to kill me if it comes to it. But Jim wasn’t meant to save Nathan. Sasha was.

Nathan looked to the incubus and saw the same pleading resolve.

“Nathan, please,” Sasha said, a warm hand grabbing his bicep and squeezing. “All of us together…we can do this. If it’s a trick then he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.” Sasha turned angry blue eyes on the sidhe.

“Don’t think you’re so above this, Nathan,” the sidhe said.

“You made a deal with my Messenger once before and I held up my end of the bargain. Now I’m giving you another chance.

Mutual satisfaction, that’s all. No catch.

Anything that may or may not happen outside of the terms is entirely up to the three of you.

” He grinned as he said that and Nathan hated that it made him doubt even more and yet it also made him want to prove the bastard wrong.

The sidhe stood abruptly, and as he did so he shifted once again into the redheaded woman in the classy black dress. She smoothed out her skirt then placed a hand coyly on her hip.

“Think, Nathan, before you so carelessly leave yourself to your fate. I know I won’t mind either way, of course.

I do hope you won’t be able to wrangle in all of the dark sidhe in time.

Mmm, the plans I have for you…” Her tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip again.

“But I’d still come out better were you to agree with the new deal.

Perhaps a little extra…incentive?” Her eyes flashed with their once again yellow on black color.

Nathan expected pain, excruciating probably, like whatever she had put Jim and Sasha through, but nothing happened. He looked back up at her ready with a scathing comeback when he was suddenly pushed back into the cushions of the couch by hands from either side of him.

Nathan turned to Sasha and Jim with questioning on his lips but his words fell as he saw them. Their eyes —Sasha with red on black and Jim with the woman’s yellow.

“No…” Nathan strained up against those constricting hands but Jim and Sasha easily pushed him down again. “Stop. Stop this!”

All of his nightmares had come from her, he knew that, and he hated her for them. For making them a reality as Jim got onto his knees on the couch, towering over Nathan and holding him more firmly, while Sasha growled low and began licking and kissing Nathan’s neck. Nathan’s gut clenched.

“I’m just giving you a taste, Nathan. I don’t have as much control over them as you might think—not yet. But those dreams are worth more than you know.”

“ Stop ,” Nathan said more firmly, because he could feel his brother drawing closer and he couldn’t bear that.

Her words told him he was making the wrong decision and yet the thought of escaping her clutches in the Veil, of at least being here in the mortal plane to do something about what she ultimately had planned made him make it anyway.

“I’ll do it. I’ll do it, okay, just snap them out of it!

” He clenched his eyes tighter. They were pressing in on him; he could feel Sasha’s teeth and Jim’s too close breath on his skin.

And then it was as if everything snapped back to where it had been. The sidhe stood there while Nathan sat pushed back into the cushions, but Jim and Sasha sat normally, their eyes both blue again and looking at Nathan expectantly for his answer.

Nathan couldn’t express how glad he was that they didn’t seem to realize anything had happened. He would have thanked the sidhe for that if the thought didn’t sicken him.

Slowly, Nathan sat up straight again. He didn’t look at Jim or Sasha, only her. “Okay. We have a deal.”

She grinned. “An offering of the flesh is necessary to seal the new contract, I’m afraid. I used to take payment by cutting out a pound of it, so be glad I’m so nice these days. You backed out of our last deal, after all.” She took a few steps toward Nathan and stopped in front of the sofa.

Nathan wanted this over with so he stood up, finding her to be somewhat short in female form but still imposing. “What kind of offering are you looking for?”

“Just your promise…sealed with a kiss.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

“I don’t kid about deals, Nathan. We sidhe take them very seriously.”

She grabbed his arms, but before pulling in closer, she shifted again, taking on the male form in his neat black suit. The male sidhe with blond hair tossed Nathan a smirk.

“I thought you preferred this these days,” he said.

Nathan shook with anger. “You gonna at least give me a name I can hate too?”

If he didn’t know any better he would swear the sidhe looked pleased.

“Of course. For you, Nathan, I’d be happy to.

Should you feel the…desire to call on me, though I can’t guarantee I’ll actually answer…

” He pulled Nathan close with a sharp jerk, his lips brushing Nathan’s ear to whisper just loud enough for Jim and Sasha to hear too.

“Call me… Malak . And please…use the name wisely.”

Then the sidhe’s lips were on Nathan, possessive as any kiss he had ever known.

It was almost too deep, an invading tongue marking Nathan as his.

The whole thing was a surreal rush, like kissing dry ice, and as the contact lasted, Nathan felt the mark on his chest ache as if branded anew.

It came as a shock when the sidhe released him only to disappear, vanished into nothing.

Nathan almost fell face-first into the carpet. “Jesus,” he grumbled, steadying himself. “Talk about wham, bam, thank you, ma’am, the fucker.” He wiped at his mouth, still feeling the presence of that tongue and the taste of something he could only describe as sinister. He shuddered.

Jim stood from the sofa, and when Nathan turned to his brother he saw an expression that Jim usually only wore when Nathan had said a bad pun.

“What?” Nathan asked.

“That name. Malak? It means ‘angel’ in Arabic. I guess he was trying to be ironic.”

Nathan huffed. He realized then that Sasha hadn’t stood yet. He was still on the sofa. And he looked terrified. “Sasha…?”

“It’s just…uhh…well, Malak means something else too. It does mean angel, in Arabic and other languages. But for some, it means a very specific angel.” Sasha swallowed deep in his throat. “The first angel who fell. The same name as the king of all dark sidhe.”

Three pairs of eyes met across the small space between them and stared for several moments.

“I think I need a drink.”

“Me too.”

“ Fuck yeah.”