Dead Drop (18 page)

Close. Her body’s response headed to unendurable. Too much. Too much. She was too wet, too aroused. The edge was too close, too close for them both, and she could not imagine him stopping. He was mentally withdrawing from her in preparation for his transformation to human form, and it struck her as tragic, wrong. The wrong thing for them. She stroked his arms, running her fingers over his arms and the muscles there. “Stay. Like this. Please, stay.”

He stilled. That vivid red line now reached to the top of his shoulder. “I can’t.”

“You can if I agree. If you want that, too.”

“You understand what that means?”

“I do.”

He moved in her once. A pull backward of his pelvis and a slow slide forward, and, God, she felt good having him in her. So good. “Angel. You need to say it’s okay for me to do this with you.”

“Yes.”

“Nikodemus will take care of you. He’ll make sure you have everything you need.” He cupped the side of her face, his weight propped on his other arm. He was thrusting in her again, slowly for now, but he was already coming apart and taking her with him. “If I get through this, I’ll do the needful. You won’t be alone unless you want to be.”

“I know that.”

There were no spoken words after that. She held him and at the end, when he’d come, she could not tell the difference between them.

Half an hour later, the red line had snaked around his throat like a chain, and then, from one breath to the next, he collapsed.

Wallace got back to the apartment later than she expected. None of Palla’s wards had gone off. She wasn’t sure what to think of that. Shouldn’t they have? By the time she was in the elevator, she knew there were more demons than just Palla inside his apartment. She dropped her purse and her coat by the door and kicked off her shoes per usual. She could be cool about this.

All conversation had stopped when she came in, and there was a weird vibe she didn’t understand. It made her jumpy. Maddy was here. So was Tau and another of the demons who’d worked with Maddy’s street witches.

Most of the others here were demons, though there was one who was a mage. They stood near various windows and doors looking like they thought she was going to riffle through their wallets when no one was looking, and it was their job to make sure that didn’t happen. She and Palla exchanged a glance, and he nodded, somber. Not closed off, but not fully open, either.

Her pulse stuttered when she realized what this must be. Nikodemus. The demon warlord was here personally. Palla was sworn to the warlord, and that meant Palla had to be focused now on whatever business Nikodemus had here. She lifted a hand and concentrated on a familiar and, she hoped, still friendly, face. “Hey, Maddy.”

A cute woman with purple hair and a tattoo on her temple stood beside Maddy. Next to her was a gorgeous Southeast Asian man–demon. Or magekind. She wasn’t certain which he was. Palla stood on the other side of the couch from Maddy. Everyone who wasn’t staring at her was staring at the man on the couch. He had on a black tee-shirt that said
Demons Get Possessive
in big red, gothic lettering. He stood. He was tall, and he had a great smile. “Wallace Jackson?”

“Yes.”

The Indian demon moved toward the man in the black shirt, and she got a chill because he had that way of moving that the more powerful demons had. The air around the warlord shifted in response. Everyone, Palla included, positioned themselves around him, and he looked like he expected no less.

“Wallace,” Maddy said. “Good to see you again.”

She scratched the back of her neck and wondered if maybe she should start growing her hair so she could do cornrows. It was time to change up her look. “I didn’t know there was going to be a party.”

Palla was too serious. Much too serious. He pressed three fingers to his forehead and bowed. “This is Nikodemus.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Wallace. I’ve been hearing a lot about you.”

Her stomach clenched. “Yes, sir.”

“You kept my guy here alive.” He nodded at Palla.

She shrugged. “It was more a mutual thing.”

“That’s not how I heard the story, but I’ll take your version under advisement. Now. Maddy’s told you how this works, right? Palla, too. He should have.”

“Yes, sir.”

Nikodemus was quiet a little longer than was comfortable for anyone. He sent a sideways look in Palla’s direction. “He better have.” He waved a hand. He had a star ruby in one ear. Rubies had properties that enhanced magic for the magekind. He was making a statement wearing one at all. “Then you know the deal, right?”

“About?”

He gave her another long look. “For now, I mean you being a witch in my territory. You know the deal about that.”

“I know there’s rules.”

“Rules. Yeah, there’s rules.” He nodded and sent her another big grin. “Don’t break them.”

“No, sir. I won’t.”

“You got tagged as having significant power.”

She laughed, and then stopped because no one else was laughing. Palla gave her what should have been a fatal case of stink-eye, but she was used to that and ignored his glare.

“I have no problem with humans who have a little something going with magic. Most of them can’t hurt anybody. I don’t bother them as long as they can control themselves and stay safe. Someone like you, we have to deal with differently.”

“Okay.”

“Let me make it clear, though, if you and Palla have a kid, no worries there. No one leaves you without resources in that respect. The kin don’t abandon our kids or their parents, mothers or fathers. It’s not civilized, not looking after family. Nobody goes without.”

“That’s good.”

“Notwithstanding, if you want to stay in my territory, you swear fealty to me, or you swear unaligned. No exceptions.” He was still smiling, but his eyes were hard. Her chest tightened. “That’s the way it works. In case no one set that out for you. ”

Nikodemus was talking about an oath that had power. As in break the oath, and you were lucky if you died quickly.

“You understand those rules?”

“Except in defense of self or family, no harming the magekind. For the magekind, no magehelds allowed, not in flesh and not incorporeal. No killing a demon.”

“Close enough.” He nodded as if he were thrilled. “If you go unaligned you can’t work with Maddy. That’d be taking sides.”

“I know that.”

He sent another sideways look at Palla. “The way things are right now, I can’t have my people shacking up with magekind or kin I can’t trust. And I can’t trust anyone who isn’t sworn. Maybe that’s unfair, but that’s how it works.”

She nodded.

“The oath isn’t exactly permanent, but it’s safer all around if you assume it is. If we have a problem, I’ll know about it, and so will you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If you swear fealty, there’s no going back. There’s obligations on both sides. You’d have my back. I’d have yours.”

She nodded.

“Right.” He touched one index finger to the other, counting off. “Option A, you stay unaligned and solo. You mind your own business. Option B, you swear fealty to me.” He touched his second finger, then a third. “Option C is I pay your expenses, and you leave now. We keep tabs on you and the baby. We need to know how that goes. Clear?”

“Sure.” The demons and magekind sworn to the warlord could be called on at any time, up to and including fighting for him in a war.

“I’m hoping you’ll join me.” He looked around the room, smiling like he was at a party, and he was an extrovert. She reminded herself he was dangerous.

“Why?” She didn’t want to stop working with Maddy. She didn’t want to leave town. She didn’t want to leave Palla. She didn’t. And she could not promise she would kill. “I mean, why do you want me to join you?”

“Fair question.” He cocked his head. “Straight talk, all right?”

“Please.”

“You have an ability I want on my team.”

She ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth and got herself settled. The tension in the room was high, but not out of control. There wasn’t anyone itching to start a fight, except maybe Palla, and that was his natural state.

“The work’s dangerous, I won’t pretend it isn’t. We’re in the middle of a war with magekind who want to go back to the old days of demons should be dead or under control.”

“Believe me, I get that.”

“I don’t want Palla pissed off at me for not giving you the hard sell about joining up.” He gave a dazzling grin. “Generous salary. You won’t have to worry about that. We offer a 401K and other investment opportunities, full health benefits, including maternity, childcare, lots of other perks. Housing subsidy, company car, transit pass, gym membership. Maddy can go over the basics with you.”

“There’s just one problem.”

The warlord looked thoughtful.

“You said there’s a war.”

“I did. There is.”

“I do not believe violence is ever the answer. I can’t hurt people. I just can’t. I will do anything but kill for you, sir.” She swallowed hard, twisted up so hard her body was rigid. “I can’t live a life where I’m obligated to do that.”

“Jesus, Palla, what the hell?” Nikodemus put a hand to the center of his chest. “I’m not asking you to give her up.”

Wallace took her eyes off Nikodemus to look at Palla. Like Nikodemus, he had a hand on the center of his chest. Palla bowed his head and pressed three fingers to his forehead. “Warlord. That is not her gift. Her talent. If it comes to that, I will keep her alive in a fight. I’ll make sure she doesn’t face that choice. I swear it.”

Nikodemus put his hands on his hips and chewed on his lower lip. “Not an assassin then.”

Palla started to answer, then checked himself, and that made her heart lurch. She didn’t know how to make this work. Not if Nikodemus was going to ask her to do something that would kill her soul.

“No.” Wallace watched both of them carefully. She couldn’t read either of them. “No, sir, I could not do that.”

“Let’s get clear. Fealty to me means if I tell you I need you to kill some asshole for me, then, Ms. Jackson, you are going to feel my need to have that happen.” He touched the center of his chest. “I’m going to feel what that does to you, and I can promise you, if it’s true that does you harm, I will suffer the consequences. To the point where you may no longer be bound by your oath.” His eyes flashed silver. “I have a team of people who can do that for me if I need it.”

Her tension ebbed. “You’d never ask, is that right?”

“No.” Nikodemus spoke with quiet regret. “That is not right. It means I’d never ask unless there was a damn good reason why
you
need to do the deed for me. It means the reason I’m making the request is worth losing you.” He held her gaze. “It does not mean I would never ask. I can’t promise you that.”

Nobody said anything for a long time.

“So.” Nikodemus clapped his hands. “You need a minute with Palla to talk about this?”

She looked away from Nikodemus to Palla. “Do I?”

“Stay,” he said, low and soft. He stared into her eyes. “Stay with me. So we can both bear witness.”

Wallace turned back to Nikodemus with a shrug. “All right then.”

Her oath to the warlord took about five minutes, start to finish, and at the end she was hollow, and the warlord took a step back and instead of the quiet, she had this sense of him in her head. And then Palla was there, steadying her while that whip of Nikodemus’s power flowed through her, and through that, there was a connection to Palla and all the others in the room.

“That is just–” During those moments, she’d gone from being alone to belonging. One of them. Palla slipped his arms around her waist.

“I am whole again,” he said into her head and along with that was a rush of his relief because all this time he’d been prepared to lose her. He didn’t mean he would not miss Avitas or stop mourning her loss. He meant he’d no longer be alone in that sorrow. “Whole. Only with you.”

She faced him. He was right. She steeled herself against crying. She walked into his arms. “Both of us.”

He drew her close. “Don’t you know it, Angel.”

· · ·

If you enjoyed this story, I would be grateful for a review. By all means, feel free to loan this book to someone you think will enjoy it.

Turn the page for more about me, my books, and how to sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss new releases. Subscribers get access to exclusive content and first-reads.

Also included: brief excerpts and a list of changes made to this book.

Thank you so much for reading!