Page 24 of Dead Air (Moon Murder Mysteries)

“Thanks for your help, Niall. I’ll go ahead and send these on and recommend closing both cases.

But I can’t shake the feeling that something else is going on around here.

” Shelby squinted at Cenn, as if he was seeing through him or seeing the monster behind his lumberdaddy mask.

“It’s a little strange, the way Tompkins died the day after you arrived, Dr. Curn.

We haven’t had a missing hiker or a serious accident in years and then we have two deaths in as many weeks.

A ranger from the other side of the mountain and his wife are missing too.

Can’t see how but there has to be a connection. ”

Niall’s knees nearly buckled. He went as white as a sheet, and his lip wobbled as he began to shake. “Isn’t it strange?” he asked weakly, his voice catching as he backed into Cenn.

He put an arm around Niall and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

“Terrible, all of it. This is the first I’m hearing about a missing ranger.

These accidents have been a lot for Niall to deal with so I’ve been staying up here with him.

” Cenn kissed Niall’s temple, willing him to relax and act naturally.

“It’s been a lot but Dr. Curn has been great,” Niall said, beaming up at him.

Cenn hummed in agreement and smiled serenely at Shelby. “I’m just glad I was here to keep an eye on Niall and make sure he’s safe.”

“He hasn’t left my side since the shooting,” Niall confirmed but winced. “Chance did go back and get our gear but he couldn’t have been gone for more than half an hour.”

“It was more like an hour. You were sleeping when I left you but it took me a little longer to climb down and back up,” Cenn said as he kissed Niall’s temple again.

Shelby humphed dubiously. “Other than that, he’s been here the whole time?”

“I helped him pack up his site a few days ago and we brought it all up here.” Niall nodded at the bins and crates Cenn had neatly stacked on the porch in case Shelby or one of the other rangers came poking around.

“Well, I’ll get out of your way, then,” Shelby replied but his gaze lingered on Cenn before he finally offered Niall a salute and headed back the way he had come.

Cenn held up a finger, signaling for Niall to wait until Shelby was too far away to hear them.

“You handled that well,” he said to Niall.

Not well enough to fool MacIlwraith and Oglethorpe if Cenn wasn’t there to keep him calm.

No amount of enchanting or airing out would fool them so Cenn would have to come up with a different plan.

“What did you do to me?” Niall asked, pulling away from Cenn with a suspicious look.

“I just relieved you of some of your anxiety.”

“Don’t tamper with my emotions like that when I’m with others. I want to be me when I’m talking to people, Cenn.”

“He was already suspicious. He knows I’m not right and I’m up to something,” Cenn muttered as he monitored Shelby’s progress down the trail.

There was a sarcastic snort from Niall and he was frustrated as he stomped off, heading towards his secret spot to think. Cenn went after him, not wanting Niall to stew and stay angry.

“Don’t be mad at me, Niall.” Cenn was invisible, speaking in his ear.

“Why do I get the feeling you planned that back there and that you’re behind whatever happened to Shelby?” Niall’s footsteps were heavy and fast as he stomped into the forest, paying little mind to the trail .

“He’s still in love with you and the sooner he accepts that you’re mine, the better.”

Niall paused, his face twisting as he waved to clear the air around him. “That’s awful, Cenn, and it stops now. Don’t play anymore games with Shelby, do you understand me? He’s a good man and he’s just doing his job.”

“A little too well. He will figure out that I’m a fraud.”

“We’ll deal with that when it happens. No more games with Shelby,” Niall ground out, his fists swinging angrily at his side.

He was so adorable and so noble, with his pure, indomitable, irate soul. Cenn wanted to eat it right up. “Alright, no more games with Shelby. But all he has to do is fall in love with someone else and most of it will clear right up.”

The frown that furrowed Niall’s brow and tugged at his lips was priceless. “That’s not fair! He can’t help how he feels and how is he going to meet someone new around here?”

“How indeed, when he’s so fixated on you?”

“Let’s hope he’s over me after what you just pulled. Leave Shelby alone from now on.”

“Very well. I will leave Shelby alone from now on.”

Everything prior to now didn’t count and Niall had no idea how peeved Shelby’s superiors were about those emails.

“You know, I thought about it with Shelby,” Niall eventually blurted. He fell back against a tree, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I know.”

“I really like him and he’s pretty easy to look at. I was too scared he’d find out about me dying and I was worried he’d figure out that it had something to do with Andy.”

“He very well might have. He’s smart and he’d find that there have been numerous complaints about Willoughby since you died.”

“Really?” Niall didn’t sound very surprised and he wasn’t all that bothered. He was too preoccupied with Shelby’s hurt feelings.

“He can’t satisfy you the way I can and he knows it.”

Niall rolled his eyes. “That’s not fair either. You cheated and you can turn yourself into any kind of man or sex toy I want.”

“Because it’s what you deserve!” Cenn whispered, swirling around Niall and thrilling at the way his mortal heart raced and most of the heat in his body dropped into his boxers. “I don’t think any man could satisfy you now. You need a demon for a job like that.”

“We made a deal: you don’t scare or hurt anyone for me,” Niall said, then let out a strangled yelp as he was pinned against the tree by his neck.

“ We made no deal and we never will,” Cenn hissed as Niall’s arms were stretched above his head and his wrists were lashed to the tree.

“I will be polite and I will pretend to be tame for you but do not forget what I am. When I make a deal, someone dies or something is destroyed and I have another soul to torment or twist into something wretched like me. When I play games, I break hearts and commit cybercrimes. I’m a demon, Niall. Never forget that.”

Cenn paused to see how badly he’d upset or scared Niall. He had been abrupt and severe but he had his limits and his triggers. Taunting a demon about any kind of deal was dangerous.

But Niall wasn’t scared. His chest heaved and he licked his lips nervously but he was turned on.

“Kiss me!” he whispered urgently.

“You can’t be serious,” Cenn growled as he appeared before Niall, snarling and smoking as their mouths mashed and their tongues tangled.

He didn’t change into his human body but swirled around Niall, ripping and unbuckling and unzipping.

The sky darkened and the forest closed in around them as Cenn forced long, smoky fingers into Niall’s ass as his cock was sucked ruthlessly.

Niall wanted to be taken roughly, and by all the gods, Cenn would make him howl and beg for mercy.

Otherwise, he’d hand over his horde and denounce his demonic title.

Niall was spun and the toes of his boots came off the ground as Cenn thrust deep and quick.

His nails dug into the trunk as Niall screamed around the smoke plunging in and out of his mouth but his muffled cries were for more .

Cum pumped from his cock as his legs kicked but Cenn kept Niall stretched and straining between ecstasy and agony.

His legs shook and Niall’s screams were hoarse but Cenn didn’t relent until he heard his brave mortal shout “Banana splits!” around a mouthful of hot smoke.

Niall collapsed in Cenn’s arms, utterly exhausted but a blissful smile on his face.

He was carried back to the cabin and placed on his bed and Cenn spent the rest of the evening preparing Niall’s dinner and contemplating the pressure rising outside the cabin.

The situation with Shelby would come to a head soon.

He could gracefully accept that Niall was in love with another man and almost had.

But Shelby couldn’t shake the feeling that Dr. Chance Curn was involved with the recent string of deaths and disappearances at the park and that Niall was in danger.

To make matters worse, reinforcements were on the way from Georgetown and MacIlwraith and Oglethorpe were coming with his hellhounds of all fucking things.

Cenn overheard the girls at the visitor’s center mention that an FBI agent named Grady Nelson and another professor from Georgetown were arriving in the morning with permission to take a party up to the summit.

Two names on the list stood out to Cenn: Arawn Cadwallader and Bryn Cadwallader.

All demons knew those names and Cenn was a sitting duck.

He couldn’t leave Niall to face them alone.

There was no way of knowing how much they knew and what they’d tell Niall.

They could trick Niall into leaving with them and they had places to hide him that were warded well enough to keep Cenn out.

MacIlwraith was bad enough on his own. He was young for a human and a demigod but Cenn had kept an eye on his progress because the unorthodox young professor had been formidable as a white witch, before he had defeated the Dagda and absorbed His powers.

Now, he was an uncanny and powerful blend of light and dark that Cenn didn’t want to contend with.

Yet.

At some point, Cenn was bound to cross paths with a sun god and his two pet hellhounds but he’d hoped he could stall until his time with Niall was up.

What was one more mortal lifetime when they had an eternity to duke it out?

Agent Nelson was a human as far as Cenn knew, and he suspected the other doctor in their party was as well.

Surely the demigod and at least one of the hellhounds could appreciate why Cenn would want a rain check.

Would they be willing to accept a truce?

Possibly, and Cenn could offer one if he hadn’t already made a deal with Dùbhghlas.

Once again, Cenn suspected that he had played into the warlock’s hands and it wasn’t sitting well with his pride.

He would get the last laugh and Hugh Dùbhghlas would spend his last moments in that body writhing in pain and begging for death.

“Holy…” Niall mumbled from the bed, a smile spreading across Cenn’s face as his sweet mortal groaned and gasped at his numerous aches and scrapes. “That was flicking incredible! ” he declared with a drowsy giggle.

“I’ll get your bath ready,” Cenn said, setting his problems aside.

They might only have a handful of hours before all hell broke loose, but Cenn would make them count.