Page 19 of Wreaking Havoc (Demon Bound #1)

18

Sascha

I t felt like an entire lifetime had passed since the last time Sascha had walked up to Ivan’s office building.

Just the sight of the hulking structure should have been enough to send Sascha into a panic—considering his last visit had ended with an ambulance—but he couldn’t muster up the appropriate anxiety with Kai at his back. His soothing warmth, the steady presence that in such a short time had come to mean safety to Sascha.

Sascha had meant what he’d told Alexei: he couldn’t ever remember feeling this way, safe and cared for. It wasn’t that there hadn’t been any love in his childhood. Papa had loved him—Sascha knew that—but always there’d been that threat of violence, of consequences for disobeyed orders.

Maybe Sascha had felt that safety with his mother, when he was a baby? But he’d been too young to remember now. And she’d left when Sascha was barely a year old, so how safe could he really have been with her?

What kind of mother left her baby with mobsters?

But Kai wasn’t going to leave. And he wasn’t going to send Sascha away. And he wasn’t going to let anyone or anything hurt him.

So Sascha wasn’t even fazed when the new security guard sneered at the outfit peeking out from Sascha’s black wool coat. His new version of business attire: loose-fitting white trousers and a matching white tank, with a short-sleeved baby-blue overshirt tucked in. He’d even accessorized with a few gold necklaces.

He looked fucking amazing, but he knew it wasn’t what these mobsters were used to. They wouldn’t know fashion if it bitch-slapped them in their judgmental faces.

The man’s sneer didn’t last long though. Not after he caught a look at Kai over Sascha’s shoulder. Kai, who looked equally amazing, if intimidating as hell, his human form dressed all in black and his long hair swept over his shoulders, placing his neck tattoos on full display.

Sascha waltzed up to the guard’s desk, leaning over it with a bright smile. “I’m here to see Ivan.”

“He’s not in,” the guard mumbled after another wary look at Kai.

Sascha glanced over his shoulder, and Kai nodded with a wicked little grin—he sensed the Book here. Sascha turned back to the guard. “I think you must be confused. He’s here, and he’ll see me.”

He didn’t wait for any acknowledgment, just swept past the desk, leaving Kai to deal with the guard’s protest. By the time Sascha rounded the corner to the elevator, Kai was already back at his side, a strange whimpering sound coming from the security guard’s desk.

Sascha hit the button for the top floor in the elevator, sending a wink to the security camera in the corner. He hoped Ivan was watching, the dick.

And he must have been, because the door to his office was open.

Sascha took a deep breath before entering, fortified by the heavy warmth of Kai’s hand on his lower back. He wasn’t alone. He wasn’t powerless.

He could do this.

Ivan was seated behind his desk. He looked…oddly flustered, in a way Sascha had never seen. His tie was loosened and the top two buttons of his shirt undone. His short blond hair was mussed, like he’d been running his hands through it.

But his expression was as cold and placid as ever. “Sascha,” he greeted, ignoring Kai’s presence entirely. “I expected you hours ago.”

Sascha got right to it. “We need the Book, Ivan.”

“Why?” Ivan asked, as if he had a right to. As if he hadn’t stolen the thing right off Sascha’s coffee table and fled. “To summon more demons, perhaps? Maybe give one to Alexei? Then the two of you can really fuck me over.”

Of all the ridiculous bullshit.

Sascha threw up his hands, all his poise leaving him in an instant. “God, Ivan, what the fuck? You really think we’re conspiring against you? When have I ever wanted even a piece of your empire? You’re such a lunatic.”

“Am I?” Ivan asked quietly. “I had two brothers who were supposed to be at my side. Now I have none.”

“Well, maybe you should take a long, hard look at the way you treat people.”

Ivan sighed, like Sascha was being unbelievably taxing. “I don’t have time for this, Sascha.”

Heat flushed through Sascha’s body. “You never do!” he yelled. “What would it take for you to just chill out for a few seconds and act like a real brother and not a controlling asshole?”

An unfamiliar, sultry male voice echoed out from the back corner of Ivan’s office, where a door to an inner room had opened at some point during their argument. “Personally I think he needs to get laid, but that’s just me. I could be biased.”

Sascha found himself speechless as the personification of walking sex on a stick sauntered out of that adjoining office door.

Like, damn . The dude was all long limbs, decked in skintight black leather pants and an equally tight purple shirt sheer enough to reveal that he was rocking some nipple piercings and unbuttoned low enough to display an abstract tattoo in his chest. His long, wavy red hair was up in a high ponytail, and his eyes were hidden by designer sunglasses.

Before Sascha could wonder what the hell this porn star was doing in his brother’s office, he found himself pulled back against Kai, his arm like a steel band across Sascha’s chest.

“Incubus,” Kai growled.

The redhead lifted his glasses as he grinned at the two of them, revealing lushly lashed purple eyes, like Elizabeth Taylor. “Kaisyir!” he greeted. “And here I thought we’d never meet again. Well, if we’re among friends…” He cocked a hip, shooting a wink at Sascha.

And then he was transforming, quick as a blink. He didn’t grow in size, not like Kai did, but his skin took on an almost lavender tint, his ears growing pointed, with two short dark-red horns curling out from his hair. Sascha blinked in surprise as something that looked suspiciously like a tail flicked out from behind his legs.

Another demon. An incredibly pretty demon. Drop-dead gorgeous, really.

Ivan somehow didn’t look the least bit shocked by any of this. Only exasperated. “I told you they were coming. Why act surprised?”

The newcomer—the new demon— shrugged. “For the drama.” Those purple eyes latched back onto Sascha, sweeping over his form. “And is this baby bro? Love the outfit. Very chic.”

Sascha felt his cheeks go hot, and Kai’s arm around him tightened even more. “Incubus,” he growled for the second time.

The incubus threw his head back and laughed. “This guy. You’d think the rest of us don’t have names.” He tossed Kai an alluring pout. “It’s not like I go around calling you ‘big, hulking warrior demon.’” He rolled his eyes at Sascha, like they were sharing some secret joke. “You can call me Nix, baby.”

“Sascha,” Sascha found himself saying, oddly entranced. Nix was so beautiful it was like talking to a demonic supermodel.

Kai grunted his disapproval. “Don’t speak to him.”

Sascha wasn’t sure which one of them he was talking to.

Nix huffed. “I’m not going to seduce your bargain. That would be poor form. Besides, I have one of my own now.” He shot an exaggerated adoring look at Ivan.

Sascha let out a breathless laugh. “You summoned an incubus?” he asked Ivan. “ Why ?” Weren’t they like…sex demons? What the fuck was Ivan going to do with a male sex demon? He was straight as all hell.

“I did not intend to summon an incubus,” Ivan ground out. “I thought to summon one like him,” he explained, referring to Kai.

“Ouch.” Nix settled on top of Ivan’s desk, crossing his long legs and ignoring Ivan’s glare. “You wound me, Vanya.”

What. The. Fuck. Never in his life had Sascha heard anyone outside the immediate family—besides Sergei, that was—call Ivan his diminutive, Vanya, and live to tell the tale.

But Ivan only pinched the bridge of his nose with a long-suffering sigh.

The incubus’s lips quirked into a catlike grin, and then he was turning back to Sascha. “Oh! Nail polish on the one hand. Is that a new trend?”

He shook his own right hand, and bright-red polish appeared on his talons.

“As I said,” Ivan said through clenched teeth. “I don’t have time, Sascha.”

Sascha fought to clear his head. He couldn’t get distracted by this incubus side quest, not when he and Kai were on a time crunch. “Well, make time,” he snapped. “We need the Book to bond.”

“A bond,” Nix murmured, eyes widening in surprise. He hopped off the desk and crept closer with alarming speed, only stopping when Kai released Sascha and shoved him behind his back, grabbing Nix by the throat instead.

“Keep your distance,” he ordered.

“Get your hands off my demon,” Ivan snapped at the same time, rising to his feet.

Nix only grinned, as if Kai threatening to choke the life out of him was a joke. “But Kai,” he crooned. “We’re family.”

“We are not family,” Kai growled. “And you will keep your distance from my mate.”

God. They were never going to get anywhere like this, were they?

Sascha tapped Kai on the arm. “Um, maybe the two of you should go into the other room for your reunion? I think Ivan and I need a moment.”

“Perfect!” And just like that, Nix was out of Kai’s hold, somehow already at the door to the inner office. “Kaisyir and I can catch up. We have much to discuss, don’t we?”

Sascha gave Kai a pleading look, and after a long moment, Kai released a heavy sigh, stomping to the inner door to join his demon friend.

Leaving Sascha with his brother.

The room seemed bigger—and much quieter—with Kai and Nix sequestered in the inner office.

Sascha took a deep breath and pulled out the chair across from Ivan’s desk. “Should we sit?”

Ivan didn’t answer, just sat in his own black leather chair, his eyes still on the door the two demons had left through.

Sascha watched him for a moment, unsure where to begin. The massive wooden desk seemed like an uncrossable ocean between them.

Or maybe that was just the emotional distance Ivan had spent a lifetime creating.

“You know I love you, right?” Sascha asked. The question succeeded in taking Ivan’s attention off the door. A muscle in his jaw twitched, and Sascha smiled sadly. “It’s okay if you can’t say it back. But I didn’t summon Kai to hurt you.”

“I’m aware,” Ivan conceded stiffly.

“Then why did you steal the Book and summon your own demon ten seconds after discovering him?”

Ivan ran a hand through his mussed hair. “I have a mole in my organization, a mob war on the horizon, a loose cannon of a middle brother, and an oblivious younger one.”

“I’m not oblivious.” At Ivan’s look, Sascha shrugged. “Okay, sometimes. But that’s the way you and Papa molded me. I have a business degree, you know. I could be an asset, if you’d let me.”

Ivan continued to stare at him impassively.

It was like pulling fucking teeth. Sascha sighed. “I know our family messed you up. Papa…being Papa. Mom leaving.”

Ivan’s gaze shifted away. “Our mother didn’t leave.”

At Sascha’s confused expression, Ivan let out a bitter laugh. “I thought Alexei would have told you by now. Our mother didn’t leave. Our father had her killed.”

“Wh-What?” It was like ice water rushed through Sascha’s core. He struggled to take a choked breath, all the air having left the room.

“She intended to leave,” Ivan explained coolly. “She was going to take you and Alexei with her.” Another bitter laugh. “Not me. I suppose she thought at eleven years old, I was already a lost cause. And while our father might have been willing to let her go, he wasn’t willing to lose his sons. He ordered a hit.”

As Sascha tried to get some sort of oxygen through his closed throat, he thought maybe this was a necessary reminder: there were some types of pain Kai couldn’t protect him from. Some wounds that hit too quickly to block, struck too deep to heal with magic.

It took the better part of a minute, but Sascha finally got himself breathing relatively normally. He blinked watery eyes. Nothing in Ivan’s expression gave any indication whether he’d told Sascha to help or harm. “And Alexei knows this?” Sascha asked.

“I always assumed he did.” Ivan shrugged, like he didn’t care one way or another. “Maybe I assumed wrong.”

So they’d never discussed it. Ivan had been keeping the secret to himself all this time, holding it close. Sascha realized there was a third option why Ivan might have told him: not to help or to harm but to let some of the poison out.

He let himself process for a few long minutes, let the tears stream as they would while Ivan looked on.

“Okay,” Sascha said eventually, letting out a long breath. “Okay. So I guess the question is, How like our father are you going to be, Ivan?”

He was met with stony silence. That might have cowed him in the past, but Sascha wasn’t going to be intimidated this time. He straightened in his chair, wiping at his wet cheeks. “I’m staying in Maine, Ivan. And I’m keeping that house. I’ll take one of our legitimate businesses to run, working remotely. My salary will reflect my current allowance. If I run it all into the ground, we can reassess. You may visit when—or if, I suppose—you can find it in yourself to be a human and not a mobster.”

Ivan tapped his finger against the desk, lips twitching into a small smile. “Any other demands?”

“Yes, actually. I need the address for the Carusos’…offices? Headquarters? Evil lair? Whatever you want to call it. You won’t be taking that deal with them.”

“There’s a meeting scheduled,” Ivan told him immediately. “Tomorrow night. The main higher-ups of the family will be there.”

Kai was right, Sascha realized. He almost laughed. “You planned this, didn’t you? For me to bring Kai and fix it for you.”

Ivan kept tapping his finger. “Maybe I’ve grown tired of cleaning up our family’s messes all on my own.”

“ Your messes,” Sascha corrected.

Ivan shrugged. “Alexei started it.”

“Alexei just wanted out,” Sascha told him for the hundredth time. “That’s all he ever wanted. To have his own life.”

Ivan’s gaze grew distant. “Some of us don’t have that luxury.”

Sascha wasn’t sure if Ivan meant their mother or himself. But Ivan would have to figure that one out on his own. Sascha didn’t have it in him to dig into Ivan’s trauma for him. He was just…tired. And unbearably sad. For his mother. For his brothers. For himself. He wanted to get to his apartment and regroup. To be held by someone bigger and stronger until he didn’t feel so fragile anymore.

“I need the Book now, Ivan,” he said wearily.

Ivan bent his head, unlocking the top drawer of his desk. He removed the Book from it, pushing it toward Sascha across the desk. “You’ll return it to me when you’re done.”

“So you can summon more demons?” Sascha asked.

“A human may only participate in one bargain. So that one tells me,” Ivan said, tilting his head toward the inner office door.

“Then why do you want it back?”

“Call it security.”

He was still paranoid, then. Still thought Alexei would summon one of his own, to have one more monster than Ivan at his disposal.

Because it was what Ivan would have done in his place.

“Whatever,” Sascha sighed, not caring one way or another anymore. It didn’t matter if Ivan was lying. Let him summon a thousand demons, if it made him feel better. Sascha just wanted to be…away. “I’ll bring it back.”