Page 2

Lydia

“That gutless little weasel,” I hissed. “He did this on purpose!”

Vin chuckled, brushing power over my skin effortlessly. It was an occupational hazard of working alongside an incubus. Vin had only been my lawyer for a few weeks, but they’d been the most productive weeks in court I’d had in years. Rodney delighted in gumming up the works, dragging the proceedings out for as long as possible just to spite me.

I’d never understood that. It wasn’t like divorce was a pleasant experience for him, either. What was it about some men that made them willing to cut off their nose to spite their face? Why was Rodney so determined to keep me in the miserable mire with him? We’d both moved on. There was no point to this.

And yet, Rodney had managed to get one last dig at me without lifting a finger. The jerk hadn’t shown up to court, despite saying he would. He’d gotten me worked into a furious lather and then left me hanging yet again. The judge had already found him in contempt of court, but it didn’t seem nearly enough. I had to return to court again to sort out the small details before the divorce could be finalized. Rodney had done it on purpose, just to prolong the process one more time.

“Take it as a compliment, Ms. Morton,” Vin said. “It means you’re still under his skin.”

“Exactly where I don’t want to be.”

He nodded. “I’ve been in this business for over a century. Believe me, women are not the pettier sex. Rodney’s acting like a child. If he can’t get your attention the way he wants to...”

I sighed. “He’ll throw a tantrum, so I have to pay attention, anyway. It’s so idiotic.”

“Agreed,” Vin said, his voice dropping an octave as he paused a moment. “I’d… uh, I’d like to speak with you before you leave with my cousin. It shouldn’t take long.”

That sounded ominous, spoken in the husky timbre most incubi possessed. I still preferred the dulcet sound of Angelo’s voice. In fact, it felt like Angelo had ruined me for most other men. Vin had been flirting relentlessly with me and giving my aura small, probing touches for a while, but it barely tingled. I knew it was happening, but it was more of an irritant than a turn-on. It felt oddly like a fly buzzing near my head, and I had no idea how to swat it. Indigo, my annoying witch sidekick, might have been able to tell me how to get his psychic mitts off me, but she’d been MIA for the last forty-eight hours.

After a select number of witches in town became aware of my predicament, they’d been working on solutions. The potion they concocted after a few weeks essentially put Indigo to sleep for days at a time. It didn’t solve her problem, but it provided temporary relief for my side of the equation. It meant I’d been able to go on a date with Angelo without Indigo’s constant commentary, and that had been glorious. I’d almost thought we’d fall into bed that night, but the timing hadn’t been right. There’d been more divorce nonsense, which had soured the mood. And now the bastard was doing it again. He was... oh my God, Rodney was cockblocking me!

Well, not today, I decided.

Rodney didn’t get to ruin my mood or the fun I had planned for tonight. Sure, Angelo wasn’t trailing rose petals up to a king-size bed with silk sheets. He was planning to give me something better—something I’d craved for years, but Rodney had never been willing to provide. You can joke all you want about the naughty librarian stereotype; but sometimes it’s true. Sometimes all a girl wants is to be bound and gagged after reading a good book. And Angelo wanted to make me feel good, and I desperately needed the distraction. No more overthinking. I was going to ride that train right into nirvana, and my ex’s shitty intentions couldn’t stop me.

The judge, a balding, middle-aged man I was half-convinced had some troll DNA in him, nodded wearily at me as he descended from his seat and disappeared into the office. It was a clear dismissal, and I had to resist the urge to kick the table on my way out of the courtroom. I still wanted to throw things, but I compromised by stewing about it for the next half hour. After that, I wasn’t going to let this spoil the day. That would play right into Rodney’s hands, and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

Vin brushed my shoulder, pretending to pick lint from my blazer. I knew he had to be pretending because Wanda wouldn’t have sold it in anything less than pristine condition. The woman was far too proud to let something like fuzzies collect on her clothing. I was pretty sure she’d blast any stray threads to smithereens upon catching them in the act, which meant he was being handsy.

I took a step back and gave him a dirty look. “That’s not very professional of you, Mr. Christiansen.”

Vin’s lazy smile probably would have reduced most women to a puddle. But I’d seen better. Angelo’s pheromones beat this guy’s hands down. Vin very intentionally took my wrist, weighing it in his hands. A shock of pure desire roiled through me for a second before dimming like a spark. It didn’t remain as a stubborn ember, the way Angelo’s power did.

“Call me Vin.”

“I’m guessing that’s not short for Vincent,” I said in an undertone, yanking my hand free as we entered the lobby. Angelo wasn’t waiting outside as I’d expected; he’d stepped out to use the restroom and hadn’t returned. I was beginning to wonder if he regretted propositioning me here.

“You wouldn’t be able to pronounce my real name,” Vin said pleasantly, keeping pace with me easily, though I was trying to walk ahead. I had to slow a little when he beckoned me toward a small conference room off the main hall. “It’s in my native tongue. ‘Angelo’ isn’t his true demon name either; it just translates better to English.”

I prepared a cup of coffee to occupy my hands. Something was off about Vin’s tone, and he didn’t seem as upset by today’s turn of events as he should have been. I was grateful for the cheap coffee and creamer as I sat down. Clutching the cup kept him from noticing the tremor in my hands.

I was overreacting; I was sure. Vin was Angelo’s family. But there was something about his energy: anger, lust, the anticipation of violence. It reminded me of bars where a drunk, sexually frustrated man followed a woman around who’d rejected him. But that didn’t make sense here. Vin didn’t look hammered, and I hadn’t really rejected him; he’d have to ask in order to get a no.

My head screamed at me to run, the pitch rising higher when the door clicked shut behind us, leaving me alone with my legal counsel in an out-of-the-way room. I couldn’t help but meet Vin’s eyes as the lock slid home. They were a drowning dark, and his voice emerged laced with demonic power when he turned fully toward me.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Getting some answers,” he responded.

And then he was on me.

***

He trapped me against the wall, one hand manacling my wrists, the other crashing down onto my mouth before I could draw breath to scream. My spine let out a silent moan of protest when he leaned into me, crushing me against the wall. He wasn’t even trying to hide his strength now, making it clear with the force around my wrists and the weight against my chest that he could crush me if he wanted to.

My heart raced as his scent and power engulfed me. It felt and smelled like acrid smoke, nothing like the gentle waft of desire that Angelo would send my way during the night. I wasn’t even sure Angelo was aware he was doing it; it wasn’t like he could control his dreams. Living close to an incubus had led to a dizzying array of erotic dreams, all centered around Angelo. I could admit, if only to myself, that I was very taken with the disturbingly charming demon.

His cousin, not so much.

I threw my weight against him in a futile attempt to escape. It forced him to hold me with bone-bruising strength to keep me still. I’d gained more than just Indigo when she’d exploded into fleshy streamers in my former bookshop. She also came with a neat array of other monstrous magical abilities that she’d stolen from slain creatures. I never thought I’d find myself in a situation where I’d have to tap into that greasy, unpleasant well of magic at my center. But if I didn’t, there was no telling what Vin could do to me.

Angelo, where are you? I thought desperately.

I assumed he’d slipped away to the bathroom toward the end of the trial. Demon or not, some calls of nature couldn’t be refused. But if he’d been in the bathroom, shouldn’t he have returned by now? Angelo wouldn’t have let his cousin do this to me, and not just because he wanted to be the one pinning me. His feelings for me went deeper than possessiveness, though that was definitely there. He was a good person underneath it all. He’d gone to hell and back for me. I knew he wouldn’t abandon me now. So where was he?

“Stop moving, damn it!” Vin snarled into my face.

I half-wished he smelled worse. I hated that his power felt perfect against my skin, as if he had every right to touch me. It was so thick and cloying that I could barely draw a breath. It felt like drowning in a vat of perfume, the magic so saturated that it burned my nose and throat.

I gave him a succinct answer when I tried to knee him in the balls. But he caught my leg and swept it aside, pressing in closer. The only reason I didn’t scream was that he didn’t seem to be enjoying himself. What he was doing was usually a prelude to violence, and I prayed it would just be his fists he intended to use.

“Stop it, now. ”

There was enough hellish magic in that one word to freeze me solid for a second. Something in me resonated with the call of the infernal power all around me. Recently unleashed, Indigo’s demonic power rose to the challenge, and I snarled right back, the sound raw and inhuman. It hurt my throat to do it, but the sound rocked Vin’s head back like he’d been slapped. He didn’t let me go, but his grip loosened just enough, letting my blood circulate in painful little spurts. I’d been afraid he would crush the bones in my wrists.

“Koloth,” Vin said, his voice calmer now. “You’re part Koloth. That explains things.”

Koloth demon.

I vaguely remembered Indigo mentioning as much when she’d listed her purloined powers. Koloths could control fire. Maybe that meant I could melt Vin’s smug face off if I got angry enough. I then had the unpleasant image of flesh running in thick lines down his face and pooling on the floor like wax.

This was why I hated having a mental roomie. When your bunkmate is a spotter for an illegal magic-harvesting ring, you experience all kinds of fun visuals. I’d seen horrors from her past that made me want to run gibbering to the nearest asylum.

Even so, I found myself wishing Indigo was here with me at the moment, not snoozing away for another day or two. It was annoying to have a witch riding shotgun in your brain, making an obnoxious commentary about your every thought and impulse—until said witch pulls out a bit of enchantment that can save your ass.

Regardless, she wasn’t here, which meant I had to do this the old-fashioned way.

I wedged as much of Vin’s palm into mine as I could and then bit down on it with as much force as I could muster. When he staggered away from me, shock in his expression, I expected to see a perfect bloody imprint of my teeth on his skin. It was worse. So much worse. A chunk of flesh about the size of a silver dollar was simply missing. And, I realized after a moment of nauseated confusion, I still had the flesh between my teeth.

I collapsed, bending over the nearest trash can and spat the lump of his hand out of my mouth at the same time that I vomited the breakfast smoothie Angelo had made for me that morning. It was less delicious coming back up. I ended up dry heaving at the sight of that bloody chunk bobbing in the trash can like a fleshy cork.

My head felt like a struck bell, vibrating with unpleasant emotion. Vin had been angry when he’d locked the door, trapping me in here with him. Now he was furious that I’d maimed him. He’d heal the damage eventually, but he’d need to drain the life force from some poor person to hasten the process. I could almost see the calculation in his eyes. He was an incubus. I was a woman. He could take what he needed, and I would be too drunk on pheromones to know it was happening.

“Don’t even think about it,” I said, my voice hoarse. My throat burned, and the feeling of blood running down my chin made me want to bend over the trash can again. “I’m not sleeping with you.”

“As if I’d let you get into my head that way,” he said with a bitter laugh, clutching his injured hand to his chest. “I suspected you used your witchy magic to snare him. I didn’t realize you were using a Koloth’s pheromones to double your control over Angelo. If you think I’ll let you make him your bitch, think again.”

I stared at him, uncomprehending. Make Angelo my bitch? Where did he get the idea that was my goal? If anything, I was Angelo’s, not the other way around. I mean, I planned to let him do unspeakably sexual things to me later that night. I didn’t want to fight Angelo’s control. It felt too good to be pressed against him.

I wiped the blood from my chin with a grimace. “I mean this as literally as possible: what the hell are you talking about?”

Vin’s lip curled in disgust. “Don’t deny it. I know you witches think you’re superior to the rest of us. You think it’s funny to lead Angelo on and force him to crave you, just to keep denying him.” I started to shake my head but he glared at me. “I’d smell him on you if he was bedding you. Clearly, he’s not.” He took a deep breath. “It stops now. Whatever spell you’ve put on him to keep him in your bed, lift it. And if you plan to put a mate mark on him, I will kill you. You don’t get to—”

I’d never be completely sure what I wasn’t allowed to do. The door burst open hard enough to crash against the wall. Angelo stood in the doorway, his face flushed scarlet, not with embarrassment, but with rage. The heat of his anger was blistering. Vin was so focused on me that he didn’t see the strike coming until Angelo slammed his hands into Vin’s chest, sending him sailing over the conference table and through the opposite wall. The drywall folded like a thin paper cup beneath Vin’s weight.

But Angelo wasn’t done.

He strode past me, horns curling into being at the crown of his head. It should have made him look scary, but paired with the sculpted beauty of his face, it only made him look exotic. He seized a folding chair from around the table and brought it down with a grunt of effort, right onto Vin’s groin. Vin wheezed, his face blanching with pain. He scrambled awkwardly backward, barely dodging Angelo’s next shot for his family jewels.

“Stop!” Vin pleaded, but this time, his voice was weak and threaded with fear. Nothing like a nut shot to humble even the most sex-crazed demons. “Ang, stop it! I’m trying to protect you, you moron!”

Angelo paused, holding the chair aloft. “Protect me against what?” he demanded, voice coming out in a growl.

“The witch has you under a spell,” Vin explained. “She’s made herself immune to me. Probably to any incubus.”

“What’s your point?” Angelo growled again.

“She’s using you, man.”

Angelo’s snarl made my teeth rattle, filling the room like localized thunder. The heat of his power was less oppressive than Vin’s, feeling like a feverishly hot wing draped over my shoulder. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel it like a phantom limb. I curled closer to it, using it to siphon off my terror.

“She doesn’t have me under a spell, dipshit,” Angelo ground out.

“Then how—” Vin started.

“—there was a magical accident. Only my pheromones affect her now.”

Angelo reached for me by demonstration, power twining around my limbs. I knew I could resist his call, but I didn’t want to. It felt good to press against his chest. I shivered when he lifted my chin and slanted his mouth over mine. He poured power down my throat, and I went up on tiptoe, my back arching. I let out a soft whimper when he pulled back, leaving me dangling on the precipice.

When I could blink back to reality, I found Vin staring at me in shock. Had he really been so upset that I didn’t respond to his demon that he’d concocted this ridiculous story in his own head? Convinced himself he was protecting Angelo by figuring out my secret?

“She’s part Koloth,” Vin said quietly, sitting up and shielding himself with his knees. “We don’t bother with them for a reason, Ang. You know how serious they are about the commitment thing.”

“I’ll date who I want,” Angelo countered. “And Lydia’s heritage is her business, not mine.”

“Angelo,” Vin started, his tone of voice a warning.

Angelo turned to look at me. “I’ll take the chance. She’s worth it.”

The comment made my insides glow. I was sure Indigo would have popped my happy bubble, reminding me that Angelo was an incubus who wanted inside my pants and that was the extent of his interest in me. Thankfully, the potion that kept her quiet also meant this entire confusing affair was my secret. I didn’t have to tell her it had happened. Phew.

“Idiot,” Vin said, but there was less contempt in his tone now. “You’re being a damn fool, Angelo. She’ll get her hooks into you, and you’ll end up like your sister—trapped in suburban hell.”

Angelo lifted the chair he was still holding in one hand. “Call my sister a freak again, Vin. See what happens.”

Vin’s gaze darted to the door. He looked shaky and was bleeding from a few cuts on his face, as well as the chunk I’d taken from his hand.

“I was trying to help.”

“I didn’t ask for your help or anyone else’s for that matter,” Angelo said tightly. “Get the fuck out. I’ll contact another lawyer. You’re done here.”

Vin’s eyes slid back to me. “She’s technically the client. Only she can let me go.”

“Get lost,” I said firmly.

Vin stood, his gait unsteady and clearly pained. I couldn’t summon much pity for him, though. He’d assaulted me for petty reasons. He edged past Angelo as if expecting to be hit again. Angelo looked like he was considering it but ultimately kept his arm around me instead of swinging at Vin’s back. There was a beat of silence after Vin had gone, as if we both expected him to return.

“Are you alright?” Angelo finally asked me. He hesitated before reaching up to touch my chin. “No, of course you aren’t. You’re bleeding. Did he hit you? Because it isn’t too late for me to kill him.”

I should have scolded him for the death threat, but I was too shaken to do anything but scrub my chin with the sleeve of my blazer. Wanda would probably shriek if she knew I was smearing blood onto one of her stunning creations.

“It’s not my blood. I... uh... I bit part of his hand off. I didn’t mean to. I think it was something about the demon energy that Indigo absorbed. But… it was bad. I mean, it looked like he was mauled by a dog.”

“Koloths are intensely magical. You wanted to hurt him, so the power made it happen.”

“I didn’t want to,” I mumbled. “I had to. He had a hand over my mouth. I couldn’t even scream.”

Angelo’s expression darkened. “Did he...?”

I shook my head. “No, he didn’t even kiss me. I think he was pissed, not horny. He didn’t give me that look until he was hurt and looking to heal.”

Angelo relaxed a little. “Good… because it would upset Aunt Melarue if I gutted him.”

The words were said in a light, teasing tone, but I could feel the fury still bubbling beneath the surface. He meant them. If Vin had done more than he attempted, Angelo would have gone through with it, my protest be damned.

“Don’t,” I said weakly.

He smiled then, his bad mood evaporating as he cupped my chin, pressing a chaste kiss to my mouth before chuckling.

“My little pacifist. You’re the worst possible person to get caught in a clandestine war.”

I sighed. “Don’t I know it?”

Angelo took my hand. “Come on. I’ll make some calls, and we’ll find Vin’s replacement over ice cream.”

I leaned up on tiptoe and pecked his cheek. “How do you always know what to say?”

He smirked. “I’m just that good.”