Demon Branded (Demons of Florida) (5 page)

“We’ll talk after breakfast.” At that, the stern look melted and he rounded the table to give her a huge bear hug that knocked her off the barstool.

She laughed into his shoulder and nuzzled him slightly, taking in the scent of home, family, and protection. Only her brother had ever allowed her to be completely herself.

Relaxing, she sipped the coffee, ate the eggs, toast, and bacon, and laughed at her niece and nephew’s stories of school and friends. Glad to be reminded of why she worked so hard to protect them, she gave herself a moment to enjoy.

“You slicked your best friend’s fur with bacon grease?” She ruffled Vince’s hair.

“He couldn’t go hunting with us. He kept stopping to lick himself.” He cackled with glee and grinned, proud of his prank.

“That boy had me saving bacon droppings for months. I didn’t know what he was doing with it.” Allie laughed and shook her head with a fond glance at her son. “But it was harmless enough.”

“So you say. I had to beat the other pups off him that boy all day.” Brock tried to sound exasperated, but she saw the merriment in his eyes.

All too soon, breakfast was over.

“I’ll get them to school.” Allie led a flurry of rushed activity that had to be the usual morning routine but looked like chaos as the two children scrambled toward shoes and backpacks near the front door. She waddled after them, her big pregnant belly poking out the front of a large pullover. “You can talk while you clean up breakfast.”

“That was a neat trick,” Brock answered sardonically but he quickly stacked the dishes and put them in the sink.

“I’ve learned from the best,” Allie answered before the door slammed.

The quiet of the kitchen filled her with a coming dread. Whatever her brother had to say, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it. He remained silent as he wiped down the breakfast bar and poured more coffee. When he spoke again, she nearly fell off the barstool again.

“The demon mated you, then? I’d say go ahead and take a shower, cause the scent of demon is usually off-putting, but we’ve gotten to know your man over the past two years.” Brock sat and curled his fingers around his mug.

“He’s not my man,” she groused.

“My nose says otherwise,” he tapped that big honking protrusion of his that she wanted to punch.

Instead, she straightened her shoulders and kept herself in check. She couldn’t deck him without just cause. Last time she’d defied him by kicking the ass of his chosen right-hand-man, he’d made her wear a collar for a month, just to show her submission. It was that, or never come home again. “Just what did you agree to, on my behalf?”

“I just agreed that he could talk to you. See if an alliance would work between you. If you agreed, I was more than happy to further the alliance with the Montevedos. They are a strategic ally we can’t afford to let go.”

“So, it’s up to me?”

Brock cocked his head and frowned at her. “Of course it was up to you. I wouldn’t force my sister to mate with anyone.”

Tiago had lied. Or had he? What had he said? No matter the nephilim’s exact words, it did appear Brock had agreed mating would be beneficial as long as Ona went along with it. She didn’t dare move a muscle, or let her heart change pace, or even sweat. She would not tell her brother that a man bested her and she still mounted him like she’d gone into heat.

“How would this alliance help?” She kept calm, like a right-hand-woman would do. That’s why she’d kicked Ryan’s ass. He wasn’t strong enough to be second. She was. “I don’t trust demons. None of them. They put you in that damn fighting pit run by the Orions. How can you work with them?”

“When you decided to join the Orions, I didn’t agree, but I saw the value. Getting rid of the wolf hunters keeps us all safer and keeps the hellions restricted to Florida and out of our territory. Even if I didn’t want you in that kind of danger, I thought that at the very least, joining with the Montevedos would get you out of that.”

“You agreed to an alliance just to ruin my cover in the Orions?” She shoved the coffee to the side and leaned toward him. “How could you do that? After they kidnapped you? You’re the reason I joined. The reason I go through these horrible tattoo touchups every few weeks.”

“You never needed to do that for me.” He put a hand over hers and squeezed. “It wasn’t your fault they caught me.”

“It was. If I hadn’t been running off to chase tail, you wouldn’t have been out looking for me.” The horror of finding out her brother had been taken by the Hunters of Orion burned in her gut and she ground her teeth, determined all over again to make them all pay.

“You were just being young. And I was hurting over Allie. My judgment was off. Hell, I was drunk from losing her. You were just another excuse to do something stupid.” He drew back and the brother’s fond look was replaced by the stoic alpha. “That’s in the past, and getting you away from the Orions is just a bonus. I listened to Tiago. Have you? If we allow the Demoness to go unchecked, she’ll succeed where none have before. Shreeva VanDross is cunning.”

“The one who wants to breed herself on Tiago? How is she any different from the rest of those demented, foul monsters?”

“She’s bringing demons into her fold, forming deals and partnerships, talking in a way to make the others listen. She’s already planned a takeover in California. Haven’t you paid attention to the bloodbath being reported in Tijuana? They’re poised to bring it over the border any day.”

“That’s connected?” Dread formed ice in her gut and she studied her brother. He was the only man she trusted fully. And even though he wanted to protect her, he always told her the truth, always supported her, and always welcomed her home—as long as she didn’t challenge his leadership.

“Yes. We had no way of knowing what she’s up to, except to watch it unfold. She’s been courting Tiago. He’s been able to piece together enough information to know what she plans. The Montevedos came to us. We’ve talked through our own ideas. Right now, her hold is tenuous. One misstep and she has nothing.”

“Plans.” Fierce anger punched her. The murderous jealousy she’d tried to ignore and pretend didn’t exist, roared for her to do something. “What does she want with Tiago?”

“Montevedos are a special line of demon.”

She made a scornful snort. “Of course they are.”

Brock smiled. “Yes, the demon hubris is like no other, but in this case, they are a line of nephilim. Part demon. Their humanity seems to be solid. I can scent no deceit on him. Could you?”

She couldn’t admit that all she scented was sex, need, and lust. Then again, she would have, if it’d been there. “No.”

“Once mated, he’ll only be able to breed with his mate. Ever. Nephilim are exceedingly rare. Usually that spark of humanity within them lend them short lives. As Tiago is part human, Shreeva can control him completely—unlike any other demon out there. She would create an incorruptible husband to rule by her side. And her spawn would be nearly all demon, but with the same vulnerability. None of her offspring would be able to overthrow her. A perfect man for her—to sire her own personal clan to do as she bid—and she’d do anything to get him.”

“She can’t have him,” Ona snapped.

“Now he’s mated to you, she will not be able to get spawn off him, that’s true.”

A low growl emitted from her chest.

Brock laughed. “It’s like that, is it?”

“Or something.” She put her face in her hands and groaned. “Yep. It’s something, all right. But I can’t mate with a demon. Ever. They’re the enemy.” She willed the blush away that tried to creep into her cheeks. She’d mated alright.

“I think you’ll find he’s not the enemy.”

She snorted.

“What are you doing here, anyway? Thought you’d be getting ready for the big shindig this weekend.” Brock gave her a questioning look. He knew she’d already mated the nephilim, but not how it’d gone down, why she’d left.

“What shindig?” She wrapped her hands around her coffee mug. Damn, she needed a vat of the stuff.

“The engagement party. Shreeva VanDross, the demoness, grandly invites all the Demons of Florida in joining her to celebrate her impending mating to the demon noble, Tiago Montevedo. Human slaves will be provided for entertainment and there will be a corral for a hellion fight for those who crave blood.”

“What?”

“Your mate will be there. The Montevedos have a tenuous hold on their place in that society that protects them.”

“Like hell he will.” Not that she was claiming him as her mate. She frowned. This was too confusing by half.

“Oh, he’ll be there. The question is why you aren’t already in Florida.”

She paled even as her chest grumbled and her wolf thrashed inside her pressing against her skin.

“Florida? That’s demon country.”

“Go get your mate, sissie.” Brock sighed. “I think things are going to get ugly.”

“No. He did what he wanted. He mated himself so the demoness couldn’t have him. I’m not going to Florida. There really is no further need for me to make this alliance, is there? He’s now incapable of being her pawn.” She shook her head as if the action would make it so even as she stood.

“Your mate needs you. It’s your responsibility to protect him. She may not be able to fuck him, but she can certainly cut off his head.”

“He’s not my mate,” she yelled and slammed her fist on the counter. But the feral urge to sink her teeth into the enemy nearly overwhelmed her. It was the same as that need to help Brock that sent her under cover into the Orions, where she picked them off, one by one, every chance she got.

Brock stood with a snarl. His barstool screeched as it flew backwards and crashed on the floor.

“You had sex with a man who bonded to you. You will go help him stop this demoness and bring him back. He’s one of mine now, and you will do as your PACk leader tells you. You will protect him. He is now PACk.”

“He fucking branded me!” She bit her tongue on the ultimate insult she wanted to lay at his feet, that he’d forced her. But she couldn’t. Not only would Brock rip his head off, but she’d been the one to climb right on and enjoy herself. She chose to do that instead of walking away. Yeah, maybe the aphrodisiacal brand might’ve had something to do with it, and she might not have known the consequences, but when you bed a man, you had to take those consequences as they came.

Bottom line was, there’d been a moment she couldn’t walked out of that hotel room before the sexy times and she hadn’t taken it.

“Ona.” Brock drew out her name in exasperation. “Did you, or did you not mate with this man?”

She gulped and turned to the side, carefully parting her robe so she could show him the brand on her thigh and hip.

“Damn, is that demon blood?”

“He marked me as his.”

Brock roared in laughter and sputtered around his response. “Better than a fucking dog tag.”

“Bastard.” She did hit him then. Right in his big ass nose.

He didn’t even stop laughing when blood dripped onto his lips. “Allie’s going to be pissed if I get blood on the floor again. Help me clean up this mess then let’s plan your trip to Florida. Because no matter what, you can’t let that VanDross bitch make her big play at heading up a new demon order. If that happens little sister, there will be no more home for you to drag your scrawny ass back to.”

Chapter Four

Tiago took the delivery bag from the local Italian eatery. “Keep the change.”

He shut the door and turned to the bed where he’d finally claimed his woman—then immediately lost her. He had to head home. He’d waited as long as he could, but the party was tonight and he had to be there, with or without Ona.

“Damn.” He put the lasagna aside, no longer able to pretend to have an appetite. He’d already packed the few things he’d brought. Nothing kept him here but desperation. He reached for the keys in his pocket, opened the door, and froze at the laconic greeting behind him.

“If you’re not going to eat that, I will.”

He had her slammed up against the wall before her voice registered. His nose went straight to her neck, his body moved in to crush her into him, and he whispered against her skin. “Ona.”

Pain slashed across his face and an unholy growl punched through his consciousness. A flurry too fast to see whizzed by him. Hands gripped his arm. He flew through the air and a heavy weight slammed into his side.

“What the fuck? What gave you the right to mate me without asking?” The anger in her voice slapped him across the face.

“Ona.” He sucked in needed air and rolled away from her grumble. Air whished by his ear and the scent of dirt and leather followed. “Don’t kick me in the head! Listen to me.”

“If you’d wanted to talk, you should’ve done that before you tied me to that bed.” She ducked down, throwing her leg out and tripped him. He stumbled away.

Closing his eyes, he let his senses guide him. He launched toward the aura of his brand. In a full tackle, he brought her to the floor. “It was the only way to stop this demon cartel. If I’d waited to talk you into it, it would have been too late.”

“You should have asked.” She shoved him off her and he landed on his ass with a pained grunt.

“I wouldn’t have forced you.” He panted at the ceiling. A shadow flew at his head and he ducked and rolled, coming up near the wall. “The brand would’ve done all I needed. You didn’t need to fuck me.”