Demon Warriors 3: Rainerio (13 page)

“Humans are some strange creatures.” Rainerio shook his head, as if trying to understand Dillon’s analogy. He didn’t think his mate ever would. Rainerio looked at the glass as being half empty and Dillon saw it as half full. Talk about a strange pairing.

Maybe not. Maybe Dillon was just what Rainerio needed.

Someone to show him that life was full of all kinds of little surprises.

Hopefully getting Rainerio to see the rainbow flag in everything wasn’t going to be too hard of a task.

Somehow he doubted it though.

Constantine watched the keeper walk past his cell. He swore one of these days he was going to get out of here. His fingers curled around the bars in his door as he stared out into the corridor. It had been six months since he had been imprisoned here.

I will be there soon, brother. Get the necklace from the keeper.

Constantine’s eyes widened as he heard his brother’s voice. His eyes tried to scan the dimly lit corridor, but he saw no one but the keeper.

How the hell was he supposed to accomplish that? Had his dear old brother forgotten that he was locked behind bars?

He grabbed his head as another memory assaulted him, taking him back a few years. Sweat trickled down his temple as Constantine battled to regain his focus on the here and now. There was no other choice. He had to. His brother was sending him a message, and he needed to focus.

Constantine’s fingers gripped the bars tighter as he heard a loud explosion, saw the keeper roar as he headed back his way, and then…his cell opened.

There was no stopping to question what was going on. He pushed the door open and dove for the keeper, grabbing the necklace from his hand. Constantine took off in the opposite direction, unsure where he was headed, but away from the creature that guarded these cells seemed like a pretty good idea.

Malcor’s. Meet me at Malcor’s.

Constantine heard his brother’s voice whispering through the darkness again. He followed the loud noises until he was close to the way out.

Malcor’s. Meet me at Malcor’s.

* * * *

Rainerio grabbed Dillon when he saw the warriors running from the apartment building. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but it didn’t look good.

Nope, things were sure to be on the downslide when he saw Panahasi appear.

“Get your mate upstairs,” Kane shouted. “Then meet us down by the Black River. It’s overflowing onto the banks.”

Rainerio froze for a moment, unable to move.

God no!

Marino must have found the secret to unlocking the crystal. The warriors knew what it would take, but they’d prayed Marino never found out. He was Snooke’s uncle and one bad seed if Rainerio had ever seen one.

Dillon scooped Tulip up as Rainerio grabbed his mate and headed upstairs. This wasn’t good. Not good at all. He let go of Dillon and headed for the door. “Stay inside, love. It’s not safe for you to be out.”

“O–okay.”

Rainerio sighed and walked back over to his mate, cupping his face and kissing him. “The Black River is overflowing. It means the crystal has been used and the cells are being opened. This apartment building is the safest place for you to be right now.”

“Can I go to Snooke’s?”

“Good idea. I’ll take you there, and then I have to go.” He didn’t like the way his mate was shaking as he grabbed his hand. Dillon’s skin had gone a shade paler, and he clutched Tulip a little too tightly.

He hated scaring his mate, but he wasn’t going to lie to him.

Dillon needed to be aware of the dangers.

Rainerio coaxed his mate to the door, taking him to Snooke’s apartment.

“Is he okay?” Snooke asked when he opened the door and looked at Dillon.

“I’m not sure. Can he sit with you while I’m gone?”

“Sure.” Snooke opened the door wider to allow them to walk through. “I’ll keep him company while whatever’s going on. Chris is in the bathroom, but we can entertain each other for a while.”

Rainerio felt better knowing Dillon was going to be with someone. He didn’t like the idea of his mate sitting alone in their apartment. Even with Tulip to keep him company, he still would have been scared.

“Thanks.” Rainerio kissed his mate before heading down to the Black River. Rainerio couldn’t help but worry about his mate. He was usually a chatty, happy little guy. But lately he seemed off.

He knew it was a lot to take in, everything that had happened to him. Rainerio just hoped he would be back to his old self soon. He missed the spunkiness.

Rainerio had gotten to the river to see all the warriors pacing the bank. “Why aren’t we taking a proactive stance here? Are we just going to wait for the shit to hit the fan?” he asked.

“We can’t seem to get in.” Kane pointed toward the river that was slowly overflowing the banks. The last time this had happened, all hell had broken lose in Serenity City. That was thousands of years ago, and Rainerio wasn’t looking forward to a repeat of the times back then.

He noticed some people gathering around the grassy area, far enough back, but probably not far enough if anything came out of the murky waters. “Shouldn’t someone tell these people to get the hell out of here?”

Wayland nodded, taking it upon himself to do crowd control.

Maybe Rainerio should have done it. Having something to do would have kept his mind off of his mate.

“What’s going on?” someone shouted from the top of the bank.

No one in this city was old enough to remember the battle that had taken place so long ago. When the city was overrun with depraved creatures out to torture and maim. They didn’t remember the terror most people lived in back then.

Rainerio did, and he would do anything in his powers to make sure it didn’t happen again. The worst had been Crypt. The creature was hell incarnate. It had taken all the warriors, including the leader to imprison him.

He prayed that Crypt hadn’t been released.

Hours passed, but nothing happened. The river stopped its trek up the bank, and all was silent. Rainerio was edgy, wishing something, anything, would happen so they could get this over with.

The waiting was killing him.

“I don’t remember it taking this long the last time this happened,” Hondo said as they sat on the grass embankment.

“Me either. Something’s not right,” Rainerio answered.

“What if no one has been released? I mean, surely
someone
would have come out by now,” Kane stated as he sat down next to them.

“No, someone has or the river wouldn’t have overflowed. I just think they got smart this time and are waiting for us to go away,” Rainerio said.

“But what about the keeper? Where is he? Shouldn’t he be fighting with us?” Takeo asked.

“Maybe he’s battling whoever released the prisoners. I can’t understand how we’re unable to get down there. That’s never happened before.” Rainerio rubbed his chin, wondering what Panahasi thought of all this. He turned to look at the leader, but the large man was busy talking to the other warriors.

“I don’t like it,” Kane complained as he leaned back on his elbows. “Something just isn’t right.”

“I wonder how long we’ll have to sit here and wait.” Rainerio wanted to go check on the mates, Dillon in particular. He could see Hondo and Kane looking in the direction of the apartment building, feeling the same way he did.

* * * *

“Do you think they’re fighting right now?” Dillon asked Snooke.

“Hard to say. I’ve looked out the window a few times, but I don’t see chaos reigning. It seems normal out there.”

Dillon snorted. “If you call anything here normal.”

“It’s not that bad here, is it?” Chris asked from the couch. “I’ve been to the human realm. You aren’t missing much.”

Dillon slouched down. It hadn’t been much, but it had been familiar. The human realm was where he had been born and raised. “I do like it here. But tell me you wouldn’t be a little leery if your world had been turned upside down in such a short time.”

“True,” Snooke agreed. “But you have to find something here you like.”

Dillon giggled as his thoughts wandered to his mate. “There is someone who makes it very interesting.”

“And who would that someone be?”

Dillon’s head snapped around to see Rainerio, Hondo, and Kane standing by the kitchen door. He looked back at Snooke and Chris, glaring at them. “You knew they were standing there, didn’t you?”

Chris blushed as he laughed. “Busted.”

Rainerio and the other two warriors chuckled as Dillon felt his body flushing. “And who keeps it interesting for you?”

“You, of course. No need to fish for compliments. I’ll hand them to you freely.” Dillon beamed up at his mate.

“And I’ll gladly take them.”

“What happened?” Snooke asked the warriors.

“Nothing.” Kane took a seat in the chair, Snooke sitting on the floor between his legs. Dillon had seen them sitting like this all the time, but he still wondered about it.

“We can handle it.” Chris pouted. “I promise not to go running out to fight anyone.”

Hondo growled and pulled his mate from the couch. “I know you won’t. But like Kane said, nothing happened. We waited, but no one showed. Panahasi has four of the warriors guarding the river.”

“I’m tired.” Dillon whispered into Rainerio’s ear when his mate squatted down by him. It had been an exhausting day with too much excitement for his blood.

Rainerio lifted Dillon into his arms, taking him to their apartment.

“You know, I can walk just fine.”

His mate grunted, pulling Dillon higher up into his arms. “Not if I can carry you.”

“Goodness me, I feel like a southern belle who is swooning.”

Dillon rolled his eyes as his mate laughed.

“You can swoon, baby.”

“In your dreams.” Sheesh, one would think his mate actually wanted a fainting man. Well, that wasn’t him. Of course, he didn’t complain when Rainerio began to undress him. He liked that.

“Wha—” He watched, stupefied, as Rainerio tucked him in and then left the bedroom.

Men! He’d never understand them. From the way his mate was looking at him, he thought he was about to get his groove on.

Dillon tossed the sheet aside, walking out of the bedroom in search of his mate. He found Rainerio sitting naked in a chair, staring off into space. Dillon climbed onto his lap and rested his head on his mate’s chest.

He hadn’t considered the day the warrior had. Now he felt like a selfish little twit. Rainerio began to rub his back, but kept staring at some fixed object only he had a sight on.

A long time passed before any words were spoken. Dillon was feeling content to just sit there and be a comfort piece for his mate.

“I hate that you’re caught up in all of this.”

Is that what was bothering his mate? He hoped not. Rainerio had bigger things to focus on. “I’m okay. Honestly.”

Rainerio wrapped his strong arms around Dillon, resting his chin on Dillon’s head. “I know, babe. It still doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you. If things go the way they did the last time this happened, it won’t be safe enough to leave the house.”

Oh. Dillon wasn’t sure he liked that. Sure, being cuddled with Rainerio was great, but he did need his space to socialize and have a bit of fun. He liked working at Jake’s, and the idea of giving that up didn’t set well with him.

But he would if it meant giving his mate peace of mind. “What happened last time? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Rainerio rubbed his chin back and forth, his fingers making small circles on Dillon’s skin. “Serenity City used to be anything but serene.

Thousands of years ago, dark creatures roamed the streets, terrorizing the inhabitants. It took the combined forces of the demon warriors to hunt them down and lock them up. There was one who almost defeated us, and I’m afraid he may be one of the creatures released.”

This didn’t sound good at all. Dillon didn’t want to know but was too curious not to ask. “Who?”

“Crypt. He’s nothing like any of us has seen before. He’s evil incarnate and has a nasty ass temper to boot. The man is pretty damn powerful. This is why we’ve been hunting Marino down relentlessly. If he got free, this realm would become hell.”

Yeah, he
really
wasn’t liking this bit of news. Not only would his freedom be taken, but Rainerio would be in danger. For the first time in Dillon’s life, he was happy, and he didn’t want to lose that. “Isn’t there anything you can do besides sit around and wait?”

Dillon could feel Rainerio’s head shake back and forth. “I’m afraid not, love. For some reason, we can’t get down to the cells.”

Dillon’s heart sunk to his toes the more his mate told him about what was happening. It seemed like an impossible situation. How were they going to fight against odds such as those Rainerio described to him?

He began to fear for Rainerio’s very life. What if this Crypt person got out and killed his mate? It was more than Dillon could handle. Hot tears slid down his cheeks. He didn’t want to be in a world without Rainerio. The man was his everything.

“Don’t cry, love. It isn’t over until we’ve won. And I don’t plan on losing.” Rainerio held him close as Dillon listened to the strong heartbeat behind Rainerio’s chest. “I still have those condoms.”

Dillon smiled through his tears. “Really?”

“Yep, I kept them as a reminder of a hot little human who wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Dillon twisted his lips as he stared up at his mate. “Like you didn’t want me, too.”

“I did, very much. But I was afraid you would be used against us. It seems my worries came true.”

Dillon glanced up at his mate when he felt Rainerio’s erection pressing into his hip. He wiggled around until the tip of his mate’s cock was resting at his entrance. Dillon moaned when he felt the hot little spurts of lubricant wet his hole.

“That is such an advantage.” He panted as Rainerio wrapped his hand around Dillon’s cock. He was going to get as much loving from his mate as he could before things got to crazy around here.

Dillon wanted his mate to know just how much he loved him. He knew from the moment he had laid eyes on Rainerio that he was the one. His head tilted back as Rainerio lifted his chin, capturing his lips in a blazing kiss that stole Dillon’s breath.