Adam (40 page)

Noah already knew this and it was apparent in his hard sigh. The Demon King was the offspring of one of the oh-so-rare Demon to Demon Imprintings that had taken place in their history. He had seen how his parents were driven to one another on a daily basis, connected beyond his scope of understanding, and he had always known that Samhain and Beltane meant he would have no access to his parents as they locked themselves away from the world in order to indulge in each other. No matter what. If they had been arguing for days or angry with one another, they were forced to put their differences aside and left only with the choice of satisfying nature’s demand to mate.

It was a nearly foolproof plan meant to forever keep the Demon population thriving on this earth.

Tonight was an example of the horrible hitch in that plan.

Noah lowered his voice to the barest whisper of breath. “We will have to bind him.”

“We will have to do more than that or he will simply teleport free of the bindings,” Jacob pointed out grimly, feeling a sickly response to the realization that he was plotting to trap his brother in a literal hell on earth. “And we will have to bolt him down right beside her. Too much distance and she will die. By all rights she should already be dead. Only his presence spares her now.”

“It will not be so sharp a danger for her with a little time.”

“I wish I could say the same for my brother,” Jacob replied, reaching up to rub at the wrenching tension in his neck. He could barely think; his psyche was torn with the needs of others. There was his would-be bride, with whom he was sharing an exclusive telepathic connection, inundating him with fear for her sister’s life as she waited in the parlor downstairs. On the flip side of that coin was the Imprinting that demanded they come together soon. Very soon. There was his worry for Kane and the stress of knowing other Druids like Corrine had already died horrible deaths because he had unwittingly done his job as Enforcer and kept humans away from Demons, not realizing there were some with Druid DNA that were calling a particular Demon to them. And once they touched ...

And he always made sure to wait until they touched. Once the Demon transgressor touched the human victim, it was irrefutable evidence he or she had crossed the line.

“Better this than the alternative,” Noah remarked knowingly as he turned serious jade and gray eyes on him. “We had best get on with it. We shall use Legna to tamp down his ability to teleport for the moment. She is strong enough to master him, I think. But I believe, in the end, it ought to be his
Siddah
who binds him for the long haul. He will be better able to forgive those of us he loves much easier than those who are less intimate with him.”

“I suppose we will see about that,” Jacob replied.

In truth, Jacob could not see how his brother was ever going to be able to forgive him for putting Kane’s destined mate in such horrible danger. Ignorance was no excuse, in Jacob’s mind. In all these centuries as Enforcer, why had it never once occurred to him to question his duties? Why had he never thought to look deeper than the responsibilities thrust upon him?

And why was he the first to be rewarded with the incredible beauty and breathlessness of a Demon and human/Druid hybrid Imprinting? After destroying countless others’ opportunities to know the same blessing, however unwittingly, why was he now to be the one to find joy?

Ironically, it was the soothing comfort of his mate’s voice in his head that helped ease his guilt and put it to rest.

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Copyright © 2011 by Jacquelyn Frank

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