Page 18 of Inferno (Drake Security Book 4)
VALENTINO
“It’s settled then,” Nico says with a low growl in his voice. “Mac is going to go get this magic dagger and then we’re all going to storm into hell and slay some demon ass.”
Dempsey makes an excited little squeak and Hem raises an eyebrow, wrapping a protective arm around his mate.
“All meaning all the dragons or otherwise non-human creatures,” he clarifies, and Dempsey huffs.
Lake rolls his eyes. “We never get to have any fun.”
Nico makes a rumbling sound and drags Lake close to whisper something in his ear that makes his mate squirm and breathe heavier. “How’s that sound for fun?” He nips at Lake’s earlobe.
“Yes, please,” Lake pants.
“Mac shouldn’t go to Switzerland alone,” Arson says, trading a look with Draydon like they’re communicating silently. Maybe trying to decide whether they should be the ones to volunteer to chaperone our little brother to his hoard. The brief, passing moment between the two of them makes my chest ache with something that feels a hell of a lot like longing.
I glance over at Xazedose, and the tugging in the middle of my chest gets even more intense, like my heart wants to leap out and flop right into his waiting hands.
With my heart still thundering, it takes a second to realize I only think of him now as his true name. Apparently, my dragon decided using his human name is no longer acceptable.
“Dahlia, I think you should remove the binding spell.” I surprise myself with the words, and the chatter in the room about whether it makes more sense for all of us to go with Mac or not quiets immediately.
The witch flips her long hair over one shoulder and leans forward, studying me with a slight frown. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“No. Or maybe yes?” I run my hand over the back of my neck and Xaze shifts beside me, his lips tilted down with displeasure and a little wrinkle between his eyebrows. I would have thought he’d be jumping for joy at the suggestion of breaking the leash, as he called it. I rub the center of my chest absently. “I think I’m having a weird reaction to it. Plus, feeling his emotions is kind of too much.”
“His emotions?” Dahlia echoes, her eyes darting to Xaze and then back to me. “That’s not part of it. You should feel a little tug if he gets too far away from you, but other than that, it shouldn’t be something you notice.”
Xaze shakes his head. “No, Tino is right, I can feel his too. You must have done it wrong.” He flips his hair while Dahlia just shakes her head.
“I didn’t do it wrong.”
My dragon stirs, and the weight of everyone’s attention on the whole exchange starts to make my skin itch with annoyance. “Fine, whatever. I think you should remove it anyway. If something happens and Xaze needs to make a quick escape, I want him to be able to do it.”
“Xaze?” I hear Arson whisper to Dray.
I ignore my obnoxious brother, gritting my teeth and plowing on rather than acknowledging the implied barb. “He’s not going to sell us out to Maggard or anyone else.”
Xaze makes a surprised noise and hooks his pinky finger around mine. The move is barely noticeable to anyone else in the room, with our hands resting on the cushion between us, nearly out of sight, but the small amount of contact spikes my body temperature and calms something deep inside me.
“How can you be so sure? Maybe he’ll hand us over to save his own skin,” Nico suggests, and a loud growl tears from my throat, startling the human mates but leaving the others unfazed.
“He won’t.” I pull my dragon back before he can get the best of me like the last time. Taking a deep breath, I glance over at my demon, feeling a purr of contentment as soon as my eyes land on him. “I trust him.”
Xaze’s eyes go wide and he gasps audibly, his finger twitching against mine and his heartbeat skyrocketing.
“You do?” he whispers.
I swallow hard. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, especially not in a room surrounded by my family. Maybe I’m being a complete fucking idiot. After all, it was little more than twenty-four hours ago that I would have been in complete agreement with Nico, but now…
“I do,” I answer.
Dempsey squeals again. “Can’t we tell them?” he attempts to whisper to Hem, but he barely manages to keep himself quiet enough to hide his words from another human, let alone a room full of dragons.
“Tell us what?” Xaze and I ask at the same time, both of us looking over at Dempsey.
He goes into full deer-in-the-headlights mode, blushing and stuttering.
“Well… I… I mean, we… The thing is…”
“For the love of Taylor Swift,” Lake sighs, rolling his eyes. “You two are fated mates.”
I try to scoff, but the sound gets caught in my throat, lost on a loud, vibrating purr from my dragon that starts low in my chest and works its way up until it’s a full body hum.
“That’s…” Xaze shakes his head, opening and closing his mouth without managing to come up with any solid words of protest.
“Did you feel an inexplicable draw to each other the minute you met?” Draydon asks, a knowing smirk twisting on his lips.
“Obviously,” I mutter. “He’s an incubus, that’s part of his whole thing.” I wave at Xaze with my free hand, my other one now solidly linked with his, our fingers intertwined even though I can’t quite remember doing it.
“My pheromones did kind of go into overdrive though,” he says quietly.
My fingers spasm around his. “You think they’re right?” I rasp. My chest feels like it’s on the verge of opening up into a giant cavern. Half of me wants him to deny all of this, and the other half is desperate for him to tell me that they’re right, that we are meant for each other.
He shakes his head subtly and licks his lips. “I don’t know.”
MONTROSE
Valentino’s eyesflicker into their dragon shape for a split second, and his nostrils flare. Was that the wrong answer? Did he want me to agree with them? I’m not sure I believed demons even have fated mates until now. A hot, desperate feeling swells inside of me, urging me to get closer to Valentino, but I ignore it and turn my attention back to everyone else.
“I think Valentino and I should be the ones to go with Mac to Switzerland. I know better how Maggard works, and if Dahlia lifts the bond, I’ll be able to pop us all to safety if anything happens,” I say.
There’s a beat of silence before a murmur of agreement ripples through the group.
“Can you just pop me to my hoard then?” Mac asks.
“I could.” I twirl a strand of my hair around my finger. “But if Maggard is keeping a close eye on us, he’ll be able to feel me pass briefly through the demon realm to get to your hoard in Switzerland. If we want to maintain the element of surprise, we should stay under his radar as much as possible until we’re ready to face him.”
“Okay, so we’ll shift and fly,” Tino says. “He can’t sense that, right?”
I shake my head. “No, demons don’t have any way to sense a shift. Obviously, he could follow us unseen, but that’s going to be a risk regardless of how we travel.”
“We’ll stay alert,” Tino says, rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand. The comforting gesture is so small I doubt he even realizes he’s doing it, but it softens places inside of me that I previously thought were made of impenetrable stone.
Could this really be more than hot sex with a fiery beast? Could this dragon be my mate? My insides stir and my skin heats against his, searing his palm and unintentionally drawing his dragon back to the surface.
I can feel the weight of Lord’s gaze on the two of us. Glancing over, I catch him staring at our joined hands. The tight hold he has on his emotions slips just long enough for me to taste the flavors of desperation, longing, and just the slightest bitter hint of jealousy before he drags in a deep breath and stifles them.
He clears his throat and sits up a little straighter. “That’s decided, then. We’ll get prepared to face Maggard while you three go to Switzerland. Once you return, we’ll decide when exactly we want to go after him.” Lord stands up and smooths out his suit jacket with both hands. “I have a few calls to make that are unrelated to this, so if you’ll all excuse me.”
He strides out of the room, and the brothers all exchange looks.
“When this is all over, we need to chip in to get him a rent boy for a long weekend or something, because dude has gone way too long without getting laid,” Arson says.
Draydon snorts. “I don’t think sex is what he’s pouting about.”
“What then?” Valentino asks, frowning.
Dempsey raises both eyebrows and Lake tuts out a laugh while I pat Valentino’s knee with my free hand. None of the brothers seem to have picked up on the vibe that the rest of us clearly have. Poor, dumb lizards. Not every species can be as smart as demons. At least they’re hot.
Dahlia opens the leather satchel that’s slung over her shoulder and rifles around inside of it for a minute. The sound of gently tinking glass catches my ears. Eventually, she pulls out a vial with swirling blue liquid inside of it.
“Here you go.” She tosses the bottle towards us. Valentino catches it easily. “Each of you take a sip of that and the binding spell will evaporate.”
He stares at the vial for a few seconds, turning it over in his hand.
“So, if we drink this and we can still feel each other’s emotions, does that mean…?”
The witch holds up both hands. “Fated mate shit is so far above my pay grade it’s not even funny. Witches carry mate marks that tell us when we’ve met our cosmic match. If I were the rest of you, I’d take this ambiguous shit up with a higher power, but that’s just me.” She stands up and twists her hair into a messy knot at the base of her neck to get it out of the way. “I have to make sure I’m stocked up on what we’ll need to face off with Maggard. Be careful.” She gives us a little salute, and then disappears just like Lord did.
Valentino frowns, then sighs.
“Well, we have to break this spell either way, so we might as well do it,” he says. Bringing the bottle towards his mouth, he uses his teeth to yank the cork out, then gulps down a quick shot of it. He wrinkles his nose and licks his lips before passing the vial to me.
I tilt my head back and swallow the rest of it down. It leaves a rancid flavor on my tongue for just a minute, and then I feel heat weaving its way through me, loosening the invisible tethers that were holding me to my dragon. All but one…
The unseen cord stretching from my chest to Valentino’s hums just as strongly as it did before we broke the spell. Does that mean…?
He clears his throat and stands up quickly.
“It’s better if we don’t waste any time. Let’s pack up whatever we need for a quick trip and then hit the sky.”
Mac nods in agreement, and everyone else gets up and files out of the living room too, each of the dragons reminding us to be careful and watch out for the baby dragon. I fight the urge to roll my eyes at their concern. With the twerp it’s obviously not misplaced. For all we know, halfway to Switzerland, he might get a wild hair up his ass to go steal the treasure of a sea witch, and we’ll be the ones trying to rein him back in.
Tino and Mac agree to meet for takeoff on the edge of the forest at the back of their compound in an hour. Then, we head back to Tino’s house so I can pack a bag. I watch my dragon out of the corner of my eye all the way back to his home, but neither of us say a word. His emotions twang at the connection between us, like he’s plucking a guitar string just to see what will happen.
Feeling him this way is different from smelling or tasting or even gorging myself on his emotions. It should be less satisfying, but it’s actually more. I can feel the subtle reverberation and hum of every shift in his emotions, except they’re muted, like listening to a conversation through a thick wall.
In spite of feeling him in my chest and the advantage my incubus powers give me, I don’t have a clue what Valentino is thinking. His expression is impassive, and although the back of his hand brushes mine as we make our way up the stairs, he never reaches for me. Maybe I’m not the mate he was hoping for.
That thought makes laughter bubble in my throat instantly.
Please. Anyone, dragon, demon, or otherwise should fall on their knees and thank the gods to have me as their fated mate. We stop outside my bedroom door and Tino cocks his head curiously at my outburst.
I wave him off. “Just thinking of something funny. Now, I don’t have much time to pack, so don’t you dare distract me, deliciae,” I say, leaning in closer, teasing him with the barely there brush of my lips over his.
Valentino inhales sharply and the sweet taste of his lust fills the back of my throat. He lets out a low growl and nips at my lips.
“You’re trouble, Xaze,” he murmurs, cupping my jaw and teasing me right back with the flutter of his mouth over mine.
“I’m a demon.” I smirk, flicking my tongue along the seam of his lips.
He chuckles and then releases me. “Pack and I’ll meet you downstairs as soon as you’re done.”
I sigh and nod. There will be time to play once our lives are no longer hanging in the balance. Right? There has to be…