Page 20

Chapter

Eighteen

SIN

T he scent of warm tobacco and smoke curled in my nose as I walked into the billiards room to meet the boys for “book club.” Yeah, that’s right, I’d gotten an invite this time. As I should have from the start.

Okay, to be fair, it was less invite and more summons, but whatever, I’d take it.

“You’re late,” Grim grumbled from around the cigar in his mouth.

“I’m exactly on time. Also, has anyone ever told you it’s rude to talk with your mouth full, Grimsby?”

Malice snickered as he straightened, the ball he’d just aimed at sinking effortlessly into one of the corner pockets. “Is that your way of saying we should gag you, Sinclair?” Moving around the table, he made another shot, this one missing.

“He’d probably like it. Don’t tempt him,” Chaos offered, lining up his own shot before sending two of the striped balls into the center pocket on the left side of the table.

“It’s true,” I agreed, earning scowls from all three of them. Laughing, I shrugged, “What? Can’t blame a guy for being open-minded.”

Grim sighed, shaking his head. “Now that you’re here, we can get to business.”

“She’s still not pregnant. We know.” I stared pointedly at Grim, not understanding why he needed to reiterate the fact that I failed in my first attempt.

“And why is that?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask Chaos? He’s just over there playing with his stick and balls instead of trying to up the odds of success.”

Chaos swore as he scratched, his eyes flashing with fury as he glared at me. “I tried. She wasn’t interested.”

I crowed. “What was that about seduction and foreplay? You’re not the master you thought you were, after all? Do you need some tips? I can draw you a diagram if that’s more helpful. The clit can be found?—”

I barely ducked in time as he used his pool cue like a javelin. Instead of impaling me, it went nearly halfway through the wall behind me.

“Hey! That could have left a scar.”

“I know.”

Chaos might’ve acted like he hated me, but I knew the truth. He only strongly disliked me.

Malice handed him a fresh stick before moving to sink his next shot. “She’s been distant ever since you two slept together.”

“Not true,” I said, though on second thought, he was sort of right. Kinda. A little. “She was really affectionate and sweet with me. I thought we’d made some headway, actually.”

“We’d broken down some barriers as well during our training sessions. There’s undeniable chemistry between us, but still she refuses me.” Chaos’s lips twisted in a frustrated frown.

“Are you sure the chemistry is on both sides?” I asked.

“I’m fucking sure.”

I held my hands up in surrender. “Just asking.”

“What did you do?” Grimsby accused. I hadn’t been paying attention to him, so I’d missed him standing and sneaking up behind me.

“Nothing! Nothing! It’s not my fault if she fell in love with me. Obviously she’s decided to be a one-horseman succubus.”

The eight ball soared across the room as Malice overshot the cue. Grim caught the ball with one of his shadows, holding it up with a question in his eyes. “If that logic stands, then why isn’t she feeding from you? Why is she avoiding you, as well as the rest of us?”

“She’s not.”

All three of them gave me varying expressions of disbelief.

I sighed and raked a hand through my hair. “I mean, yeah, she hasn’t invited me back to her bed, but she’s not, like, avoiding me or anything.”

The air of incredulity in the room shot up several notches.

“Seriously. You know how big a deal it was for her to be intimate with someone without a screen between them. I think she’s just adjusting to it. She needs a little time to make peace with the shift or whatever.”

They didn’t need to know she’d told me she couldn’t be monogamous. In my heart, I knew it was more than that. The truth was that she’d gotten scared. Her feelings for me were just too powerful, and Merri didn’t want to be vulnerable with anyone. Not truly vulnerable.

“I think there’s more to it,” Malice drawled, echoing my own conclusion. “She’s afraid of something.”

“What did you say to her, Sin?” Chaos bit out.

“Why is this all on me? Everything was fine until she was alone with you, Chaos. She was feeling great, looking all glowy and healthy. Then you tried to smolder her to death, and she stopped giving any of us real attention.”

A soft snarl escaped Chaos before he muttered, “Everything was fine until I admitted that I’d been dreaming about her.”

One by one, the rest of us went still.

“You dreamed about her?” Grim asked, his voice carefully neutral.

Chaos’s brows furrowed. “Yeah. Why?”

“So did I,” Malice admitted.

“Me too,” Grim finally said.

They all turned to me expectantly. “Yeah. So? I had a dream about her. What else is new?”

“Is it a coincidence we’re all dreaming about her?” Chaos asked, putting his pool cue away before leaning his hip on the side of the table.

“It’s not that strange. Especially since we’re all under the same roof with a succubus. Her power calls to us.” Malice wandered over to the chess board and knocked over the white queen with a smirk. “It stands to reason she’d infiltrate our dreams. That is the nature of fantasy, after all.”

“Perhaps,” Chaos said, clearly not convinced.

“You think it was something else?” Grim asked.

Chaos shrugged. “Seems significant that it happened to all of us in a short span of time. Do you know of any reason that might happen?” he asked, pinning me with his gaze.

I shook my head. “No, but then I didn’t exactly have a mentor in the sexual demon arts, so my education is spotty. I can look into it, though, if that would make you feel better.”

“I think that might be for the best. If only to confirm Malice’s theory,” Chaos said.

“Do you think she was feeding on us while we slept?” Grim asked.

“Doubtful. My dream wasn’t sexual. It was... kinda sweet, actually.” I smiled as flashes of the fantasy filled my head. Without meaning to, I started humming the melody of the song. My fingers itched to put it to paper.

“Same here. For the most part. No sex, though. Not much for her to feed off of.” Malice cut a glance at Grim. “What about you?”

Death looked uncharacteristically sheepish.

“Aw, he’s blushing,” I teased.

“I am not.”

“Are so.”

“Am not.”

“Are s?—”

“Shut up!” he snapped. “Yes, okay. Mine was sexual.”

“Did she call you Daddy?”

He shoved me so hard I went over the back of a sofa.

“So that’s a yes, then,” I said as I got to my feet. I snickered, recalling how potent his lust had been every time she’d called him that in his little video. God, his arousal had been a much-needed snack. My mouth watered as I realized how hungry I was. I needed to feed. ASAP.

“Chaos, you’re awfully quiet,” Malice observed.

“Mine was sexual. Very sexual.”

“We’re gonna circle back to that in a little bit,” I said.

“No. We’re not.”

Malice made a soft, considering sound. His arms were crossed and his gaze averted as he surmised, “So only two of us had sexual dreams. That means we can’t say with any certainty that Merri was behind it.”

“But we also can’t rule it out,” Chaos said.

“Well, something has made her take a big step back from us, and whatever it is, we need it fixed.” I dragged a hand through my hair and sighed, fighting the slightly woozy feeling threatening to make me sway. “I have to feed, and soon. So does she. She’s not getting what she needs from her camming sessions but won’t come to us for help. If this goes on much longer, she’s going to accidentally kill Christian in the kitchen.”

“He’s off-limits,” Malice warned. “We need him.”

“I’m just stating the obvious. If she and I aren’t feeding off each other or you three, he’s the only viable candidate left. Sex demons gotta fuck, or however the saying goes.”

“That’s not a saying,” Malice said.

“Should be.”

Grim let out a frustrated breath. “The bigger issue here is that we have to breed her. Sex is an obvious and vital part of achieving our goal. There is no time to waste. It’s a matter of when, not if, he finds her. Her womb cannot be empty when he does. And with every Prince that’s released, Lucifer grows stronger, and his army swells. The sooner she’s bred, the weaker he will be, thus the easier to defeat.”

A beyond brilliant idea came to blazing life. “I have a plan.”

The annoyance rolled off the three of them in waves. “Enlighten us,” Malice said.

“I’ll join her cam session.”

“Watching her perform won’t get her pregnant,” Chaos protested.

“No, no. I mean I’ll join in . IRL.” I waited a beat, staring at their blank expressions. “In real life.”

“So you’ll fuck her for an audience,” Grim stated, his tone betraying how much he didn’t like this idea.

“Well, if she won’t let us feed her as a team, I’ll need to bring in some bigger numbers to her camming session to make up for the difference. Which will be easy as soon as I post on my socials what’s about to go down. That way both of us have more than enough to keep us full. Two birds, one bone.” I waggled my eyebrows.

“I really do hate you,” Malice murmured.

“You say that, but I’m the only one contributing here.” I stretched and let out a pleased sigh before cracking my neck. “If you’ll excuse me, boys. I have to see a succubus about scheduling a rendezvous with a rock star. That’s right, I’m coming out of retirement and giving the world the Sin sex tape they didn’t know they needed.”