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S aint stretched his arms high, then put a hand on his chin and pushed, turning his head one way, then the other, cracking it. He was fucking tired. They’d gotten back to the clubhouse late the night before, and he’d crashed for eight hours straight, but that wasn’t much considering he hadn’t slept for three full days before that.

Now, he was up, showered, and ready to grab something to eat before he went to see his father so he could find out what the hell was going on with his family.

He had just taken a bite of his second breakfast burrito when the front door of the clubhouse crashed open and his little sister strolled inside. His eyebrows rose in shock as he stared at the demon princess. In all the years he’d been with the Demon Guardians, not once had she shown up at the clubhouse unannounced. Hell, he could count on one hand the times she’d even been there, which was strange now that he thought about it, because Desi never hesitated to go anywhere or do anything she wanted.

Clover, one of the club bunnies, stood from where she was laying with one of his brothers on a leather couch and placed her hands on her hips as she glared at Desi. Her dark hair was a wild mess around her shoulders and her makeup was smudged, but she looked ready to take on the woman who was infiltrating what she thought of as her territory.

That wasn’t going to work for him.

“I don’t know what’s about to come out of your mouth, sweetbutt, but if you say one wrong word to my sister, you are going to leave this clubhouse and never be allowed back.”

He meant it too. No one fucked with his sister. He would end them where they stood. Or, in this case, ban them from ever entering the Demon Guardians clubhouse again.

Clover’s eyes widened as she stared at Desi, then she turned and walked back over to the couch, grabbed her shoes that were on the floor, and left the building after mumbling a quiet apology to Desi on the way out.

Clover was a nice person, new to the MC way of life, and too good in his opinion to be one of the girls who hung around spreading their legs for all the brothers, looking to become someone’s ole lady. He wasn’t going to be the one to tell her that none of the men were going to choose a club bunny to fill that role. Not unless they somehow bonded with one of the females, but the chances of that happening after they’d had sex with the majority of them was slim to none.

As far as he knew, all she’d done so far was blowjobs with a couple of the men. He really hoped she moved on, because Clover deserved more than to be a club whore.

Desi shook her head, huffing out a laugh as she watched the other woman leave, but the happiness he was used to seeing on his sister’s face wasn’t there. Instead, she looked sad and just plain exhausted.

Saint held out his arm to her, and she rushed across the room to snuggle close to him. He stiffened when the first sob left her, followed quickly by another. Soon, she was clutching tightly to him and crying so hard, he had no idea what to do.

“What the fuck?”

He heard Angel’s words and glanced up to see the man striding toward them, his face full of a rage he’d never seen on the demon before.

“Who are we killing?” Angel demanded, his tone a low, deep growl.

“When I know, you’ll know,” Saint promised, because he wanted to tear someone apart just as much as Angel seemed to want to in that moment. Whoever hurt his sister was going to die.

“Do we need to call church, brother?”

Saint glanced over to where God was standing in the open doorway of the kitchen area and nodded. He assumed whatever was going on had something to do with Darius, the little prick, and knew he was going to need some help.

“I’m sorry,” Desi whispered, pulling back to look up at him. “I just feel so useless right now. I’ve tried everything I can think of, and I don’t know what else to do.”

“You tell us what it is; we’ll fix it,” Angel said. It was a promise; they all heard it in his voice. And Angel never made a promise he didn’t keep. None of them did. Your word was your honor in their MC.

Desi ducked her head, her cheeks turning a soft pink color, making Saint narrow his eyes on his brother as he wondered what the hell was going on.

“Angel’s right. You tell us what’s going on and we’ll fix it.”

He wasn’t going to call the other man out on the way he was acting, but they would be having words later. Desi was the fucking princess of the demon realm. If Angel set his sights on her, the fucker better not only be all in, but he better be ready to treat her like the royalty she was. Saint would make sure of it. He wouldn’t call the brother off. That would be a dick move because he trusted all his club brothers, at least all the ones who held an officer position. But he would make sure the man had the right intentions before allowing him to even talk to his sister beyond anything more than an acquaintance, or even a friend, would.

“We don’t normally have women in church who aren’t patched in,” God said, coming back into the room, “but I’m making an exception this time because I feel like we need to hear what you have to say, Princess Desdemona, and we need the privacy.”

“Thank you,” Desi replied softly, stepping back from Saint, but moving her hand down to grasp hold of his.

Leaving his food on the table, Saint went with everyone else into the back room, keeping Desi by his side. As soon as they all filed in with the door shut and locked, he had her sit down beside him in the chair Zion normally occupied. Zion gave him a nod and leaned against the wall.

Everyone must have been awake and moving already, because every last one of the officers was in the room.

“Okay, Princess, tell us what’s going on,” God said after banging the gavel twice to call the meeting to order.

Desi took a deep breath, then started. “A few months ago, I came home to find my cousin Gerard had brought a witch from the human realm to the palace claiming she was his, but he lied. She wasn’t. Aurora was already mated to a bear shifter named Noah Channing, so there is no way she could have been. Come to find out, my brother Darius was trying to claim another witch in Aurora’s coven as his, but that wasn’t true either. Aurora told my father one of their coven sisters had a vision that Mist belonged to someone in our line, but it wasn’t Darius.”

“Let me make sure I’m following you correctly,” God cut in. “Your cousin brought this Aurora to our realm, insisting she was his.”

“Correct, but he also admitted that she was his just for now.”

Priest’s eyes narrowed on her. “What the hell does that mean? Just for now? Either she was his mate or she wasn’t.”

Desi shook her head, a tired sigh escaping. “He said he was going to keep her until he was tired of her, then kill her and find someone else.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Rapture growled, shaking his head in disgust.

“I wish I was,” Desi whispered, her eyes wide and anxious. “It came out that he and Darius have done this before with other women. And when Aurora told the king about Mist belonging to one of my brothers but not Darius, Darius turned on all of us. Father and Darius fought, but my brother somehow got away, breaking the bond that tied him to my father. Darius never had a bond with any of us, and now we have no way of tracking him.”

“What about using something of his to find him?” Heaven asked, which typically was the way demons tracked down people. Every demon had the gift to a certain extent. Some not as strong as others, but his father and brothers should easily have been able to find Darius. Hell, Desi too.

“We can’t. He’s using black magic to hide from us.” Her eyes once again filled with tears as she looked up at Saint. “I’ve tried everything I can think of, but I can’t find him. Aurora and her sisters have Mist hidden away, but she isn’t safe. She will never be safe while Darius is out there.”

“Who does she belong to?”

Desi looked back at Zion in confusion. “What?”

“You said this Mist belongs to one of your line, which I’m assuming means one of your brothers. Do you know who?”

Slowly, she shook her head, but her gaze came back to Saint’s. “Not for sure, but I do have my suspicions.”

“Who?” Saint growled, his hand curling into a fist. He already knew the answer just by the way she was looking at him, but he needed to hear it from her directly. If she said what he thought she was going to say, heads were going to fucking roll.

“I don’t know anything for certain,” she said, her eyes going around the room.

“Desdemona.”

“Fine,” she snapped, tapping her fingernails on the wooden table and biting her lip before saying, “It has to be you, Saint. You are the only one that makes sense.”

“Explain,” God demanded from the head of the table.

“I’ve met Mist. She’s…” Desi paused, then shrugged, “she’s just amazing. She’s kind and courageous, and so strong and smart. She would do anything for her charges.”

“Charges?”

“Mist and Aurora are part of a coven of nine, hand-picked by the Goddess to guide and protect whomever she sends their way.”

“Okay?” Heaven asked in confusion. “What does that have to do with her possibly being Saint’s mate?”

“Nothing,” Desi said, looking up at him. “I just wanted my brother to know what kind of woman she was. The kind I would happily call my sister.” Licking her lips, she looked around the room again before her gaze locked with his. “Aurora and I have become friends, and we visit often. Well, when I’m not trying to track down Darius. I ran into Luna, the witch who had the vision, one day when I was at Aurora’s house. I asked her which of my brothers Mist belonged to. She said, and I quote, ‘The one who will become her demon guardian, along with his brothers and the female enforcer, and will protect her for eternity. He will be her demon savior.’ That has to be you, Saint.”

“No doubt about it,” Heaven agreed. “I’m obviously the female enforcer.”

“We are the brothers,” Priest said, nodding his head. “It all makes sense.”

Suddenly, a bright light lit up the room, and a woman with long red hair and dark green eyes appeared, a look of pure anguish on her face. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she stared at all of them, then cried out Desi’s name when she saw her.

“What the fuck?” God snarled, rising to his feet and slamming his fist into the table. No one was supposed to be able to enter the room without their permission. Whoever stood in front of them was a strong witch.

Before God could say anything else, Desi gasped. “Aurora, what is it? How are you here?”

“I am so sorry, Desi, but I need help. Please. I can’t find her. I’ve tried so hard and so have all of my sisters, but she’s just gone.”

“Who?” Saint growled, afraid of the answer but what else could it be? Something had happened to the woman his sister believed was his mate.

“Mist.” A sob caught in the witch’s throat. “She reached out to me yesterday. She seemed out of it, probably drugged. She could hardly talk. All she managed to get out was that she was in Frisco, Texas at a signing. I figured out that she went to a book signing, but I can’t track her from there.”

“A book signing?” Zion asked, his eyes narrowed on the witch.

“Mist loves to read. They had a huge signing yesterday and she must have gone to meet some of her favorite authors and buy some signed paperback books.” Aurora wiped at the wetness on her cheeks. “She’s been cooped up for months and is going crazy. It’s her calling to help others, but she can’t do that right now because Darius is a huge threat. He had three of her last charges killed trying to get to her.”

“Cooped up?” Heaven glared at Aurora. “What exactly does that mean?”

“The coven made the decision to put Mist somewhere Darius would never find her. She was to stay there until he could be tracked down and all this could be taken care of.”

“The coven made the decision?” Heaven snapped. “Not Mist?”

Tears slipped down Aurora’s cheeks as she shook her head. “No, not Mist. It wasn’t a decision she would have made, so we had to make it for her. It wasn’t safe !”

“So, what you are saying is you put her in hiding, away from everyone and everything she knows?” Saint snarled. “You took from her the ability to help others, which was obviously important to her, along with the ability to use her gifts, stifling her and making her miserable.”

“Yes,” Aurora said quietly, guilt all over her face. “It killed her not being able to help others.”

“Of course, she fucking went out and did something. If you’ve been alienating her for months, she probably couldn’t handle it anymore.”

“We weren’t alienating her,” Aurora protested.

“Really? Is that how she felt? Did any of you go see her? Spend time with her? Hell, just stop by for a cup of coffee and to chat? Or did you just stash her away somewhere and forget about her?”

“I… we…,” Aurora’s emerald green eyes widened in comprehension as she slowly shook her head at him. “Oh Goddess.”

He wanted to rage. To set fire to the entire room. To find all of Mist’s coven sisters and tell them what he thought of them leaving the sorceress on her own for so long. How the fuck did they think she was going to cope like that?

“Saint, what we need to focus on now is finding Mist,” God interjected. “From what Desi said, Darius broke the bond he had with your father, so we can’t track him that way. And he is using black magic, so we can’t hunt him down using anything at the palace that he owned.”

“Correct,” Desi agreed. “I went to see a witch who uses black magic to ask how we could get past whatever spell Darius’ witch used, but that didn’t work out.”

“What do you mean it didn’t work out?” Saint asked, quickly reaching the end of his patience.

Desi glanced around the room quickly, her gaze stopping on Angel as she replied quietly, “Well, he wanted something in return I couldn’t give him.”

“What was that, Princess?” Angel asked, leaning his elbows on the table as he watched her closely, barely banked fury in his eyes.

When she didn’t reply, Saint let out a deep growl, his huge fangs punching through his gums. “What did he want, Desdemona Amara Riorden?”

Desi licked her lips, looking over at him, then back to Angel as if unsure who to talk to. “Me,” she finally whispered before dropping her head down. “He wanted me to surrender my virginity to him.”

“And you didn’t have that to give him,” Rapture said in understanding. “It’s okay, Princess. There aren’t many virgins past the age of twenty out there nowadays.”

“What the fuck, Rapture?” Saint hollered, knowing his eyes were a deep red with the way his rage was swamping him. “Even if Desi still had her virginity to give the sick bastard, she wouldn’t do it.”

Rapture shrugged. “For your mate, she might.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Angel growled, fire ghosting over his arms as he glared at his twin.

“Stop, all of you!” Desi ordered, holding up a hand as she looked around the room. “Seriously, not that it is anyone’s business, but I’m not the type of girl to go lift her skirt or drop her pants for just anyone.” She swallowed hard, gritting her teeth together, then said, “I couldn’t give him what he wanted because I made a vow to myself when I was sixteen that I would never give myself to anyone who wasn’t my mate. So, while technically I could have paid him with my body, I would never disrespect my mate that way.”

“While that’s honorable, I highly doubt your mate, whoever he is, will be able to say the same thing. There wouldn’t be any disrespect.”

Desi shrugged as she replied to Heaven, “I don’t expect him to. I did it because it was something I wanted to do. If he didn’t wait for me, which I’m sure he didn’t, that was his decision.”

“Fuck,” Angel ground out, rubbing a hand over his face as he leaned back in his chair, the scent of guilt wafting off him. It was then that Saint knew his assumption earlier was correct, and there was something between his sister and MC brother. He wasn’t willing to say mate yet, but it was obviously heading in that direction.

“Please tell me that crazy motherfucker isn’t after you now,” Heaven said in concern.

Desi lowered her head again, staring at where she had her hands clasped tightly together in her lap. “I don’t really know, to be honest. I just told him that wasn’t something I was willing to give and rifted out of there.”

“But there’s a chance?” Angel asked.

Desi raised her head and met his gaze. “Let’s just say, he was furious when I left.”

Angel swore darkly, raking a hand through his hair.

Saint slowly stood, his large hands curled into fists at his side, flames covering his entire body as rage consumed him. He was done. Just fucking done. His mate was out there somewhere with his deranged, soon to be dead once he got ahold of him, brother. His sister had a meet and greet with a dark witch, who may or may not want her for his own now, but Saint was willing to bet that was going to be an issue that had to be addressed in the near future.

Saint was pissed the fuck off and ready to start dealing out death, he just needed a target.

“We need to go hunting. Now.”

God gave a short nod before taking out his phone and dialing a number they hardly ever used. The man may be a part of their club, but he was one scary bastard, and they all tended to avoid him when possible.

“What?” a deep, gravelly voice demanded when the call was answered.

“Get to church. Now.”

Silence.

He didn’t do well with orders, but he’d accepted God as his president when he patched in years ago, and that demanded his obedience and respect.

God looked at his phone. “Fucking prick hung up on me.” He sighed deeply, then glanced over at Aurora. “We need a picture of Mist and something of hers to track her with.”

Aurora nodded and was gone instantly, blinking to who knows where.

God nodded toward Desi. “Desi, we will address your situation with the dark witch after Mist is found and her situation under control. For now, you will stay here at the club where we know you’ll be safe.”

Desi’s eyes flashed with fire and she shook her head. “No way in hell am I just sitting here while my brother’s mate is in danger. Do not try to sideline me, God. I’ll pull rank if I have to.”

“You can’t pull rank in my own damn clubhouse, little girl.”

Desi flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder and glared at God as if he was nothing but scum on the bottom of her shoe. “I stopped being a little girl years ago when my mother and sister were murdered by demon hunters. And maybe you are the one in charge here, but you are not in charge once I walk out that door. And trust me, God, I will be walking out that door soon to find my future sister. You are not going to stop me, and neither is anyone else in this room.”

Aurora appeared, interrupting the spat between the Princess of Demons and the President of the Demon Guardians when it was just getting interesting. Saint honestly wasn’t sure which one would have won.

“Here you go.”

Saint was surprised when Aurora handed him the picture and a bag instead of giving them to God, but he didn’t hesitate to reach out and grab them.

He fell back into his seat, his eyes glued to the blonde beauty in front of him. She had large gray eyes that looked as if they could see right into someone’s soul. They held a hint of mischievousness, but also looked gentle and kind. If he had to guess, he would say there was no makeup. She looked fresh and clean and young. Fuck, so young.

He traced a finger down her cheek, wishing it was her skin he was touching. She was dressed in jeans that hugged her hips and thighs, and a pale blue top that showed just a hint of her stomach. In the picture, she looked so small. Tiny. He was afraid he would crush her with his large, thick frame.

Saint took his attention from the picture long enough to open the bag and find six books inside. He shuffled through them, raising his eyebrows when he saw one with a motorcycle on the cover that showed it was an MC series.

So, the little witch liked books with an MC theme.

He frowned at the next cover. And mafia, it would seem.

“Those are the books she got from the signing. When I arrived there earlier today, I followed her magic to one of the very first tables. The author had her bag there and was waiting for Mist to come back. She said one of the readers found them on the ground not too far from her table, and she was hoping to have the chance to give them to her.”

Saint nodded, shoving the books into the bag, his gaze going back to the picture.

“Saint?”

He heard his Prez, but couldn’t tear his eyes away from the beautiful blonde woman.

“Saint, who is she to you?”

God wanted confirmation, and there was no doubt in his mind how to answer his question. Sometimes, demons could spend years with each other and not have the bond form between them until they both accepted the relationship and it was ready to form. Sometimes, they just knew without even setting eyes on them in real time.

He just knew.

“Mine,” he rasped, tracing his finger over her face again. “She’s mine.”