Jericho Junction (3 page)

“I hate to break it to you, but I’m here to help out my own kind. Shifters are dying topside.” He glanced up, as if to see his home. “Shit. Anyway, something’s gutting them. Wolves, cats, and even a bear or two have fallen. Now whatever’s killed them is killing demons. I smell a sorceress. But at home, the enemy leaves no scent. It’s not natural. Has to be a spell of some kind.” He puzzled.

“I agree.” Seino straightened, resigned to his next step. “We need to see Master Fel.” His wily grandfather, a man who bowed to no one, not even the king, would be a help. Or so Seino hoped.

Weir blanched. But he didn’t argue. If the Protector and a Dark Walker needed guidance, then guidance they’d have. Even if it came from the Kin no one in his right mind wanted to face, on a good day.

“Yes, Lord Seino. Right away.” Weir and his warriors vanished.

“Must be nice appearing and disappearing at will,” Jericho muttered and walked back the way they’d come.

Seino watched the man’s ass and thighs flex as he moved. Pure grace in motion. “It is. Much more efficient than walking everywhere.” Seino’s kind used teleportation effortlessly, the way Liam’s incubi drew sexual power. Natural talents ingrained for a purpose greater than ease of movement. The Kin transported huge amounts of energy from point to point in the Seventh Kingdom, as opposed to the incubi, who siphoned energy from the humans. “We need to be able to come and go, to ride the power that feeds the world.”

They stopped once Jericho reached his clothes. He hurriedly stepped into them, as if rushing would cause Seino to miss that erection.

“You’re quite large, aren’t you?” Seino stepped closer and cupped Jericho’s cock, curious to feel the fleshy stalk. But he got no more than a brisk feel of silken steel before Jericho leapt back like a scalded cat and trousers covered the man’s flesh.

“Son of a bitch!”

“You want me.”

Jericho’s expression darkened, his gaze fierce.

A rush of desire flooded Seino’s body, making him just as hard as the bear.

“Look, Lord Arrogant. I’m here to find answers, not play with a demon needing to scratch an itch.” The bear deliberately glanced at Seino’s crotch, seeing answering need in his arousal.

Seino had no idea why, but Jericho’s denial made him that much more intriguing. “You do not desire me because I am Kin?”

“Because you’re male,” Jericho grumbled. “It’s not common in the clan.”

“Ah. You seek to procreate your species. Not for pleasure?”

“Breeding only happens with females.”

“True, but pleasure can be found in many places. Bonding between mates is as natural as dominance and submission, male to female, or male to male,” Seino murmured and drew closer. He knew his grandfather would soon arrive, that they had a sly enemy to capture and no time to dawdle. But he couldn’t let the opportunity to outmanoeuvre the bear go. The sex between them would be fantastic. Raw chemistry flared, so bright he could almost taste it.

Seino whispered, “I would love to see you beg for my cock, on your knees, your mouth wide open to receive me.”

Jericho sputtered, the indignation Seino might have expected buried under waves of what looked like discomfort—and need. The bear’s cock appeared large beneath his trousers. To Seino’s delight, Jericho blushed again.

“Not a no, then?” Seino looked forward to dealing with the male. The games they would play…

“No, dammit.”

Before Jericho could put some heat behind what would no doubt be a weak argument, Master Fel appeared. A wizened athmae and the king’s personal mage, Seino’s grandfather knew futures and pasts but never let his knowledge interfere with the present that Banathmae guided him to further. Other Kin avoided him like the plague, something he and Seino had in common. Great power often made those with less uncomfortable.

Seino nodded in deference. “Master Fel.”

“Seino. A pleasure.” The papery thin skin of Fel’s flesh pushed past the withered robe he wore. He reached out and grasped Seino’s hand.

Power shot through Seino and leeched away his will to do more than breathe. Fuck. More games. His grandfather’s eyes twinkled with joy, the red orbs glowing. Then Fel let him go.

Jericho frowned, glancing between them, obviously unsure of the exchange.

“Ah, and the young shaman. Returned to us at last.” His grandfather seemed too pleased, and Seino had a bad feeling he’d been railroaded into this assignment when the old mage cast a satisfied glance between them. Weir and his team had initially been assigned the mission to recruit help from the outside world while Seino battled with an overeager band of harpies killing Kin to the south. Then the king—the spokesman for Master Fel—had intervened. Instead of protecting the kingdom, Seino had been sent to the weak earthen plane. To find a bear, apparently.

Before Seino could introduce them, Fel took Jericho’s hand in a firm handshake.

“Good. Strong. Potent. You’ll be a good breeder.”

“What?” Jericho scowled. “Just who are you, old man?” He sniffed. “Smells like power.”

Fel ignored Jericho and released his hand. “The sorceress you want is no longer here. She took what she needed out of the Kin—their hearts, their power. And now she no longer needs us to go after the real prize.”

“Which would be?” Seino prodded when Fel said nothing, just stared at Jericho.

By Banathmae’s sword, he’d rather be killing things than dealing with the mysteries of his grandfather’s odd mind.

“You have two days here. Two days to build the trust you’ll need to defeat your foe.” Fel closed his hand and chanted. Then he opened his fingers and dropped three amulets into Seino’s palm. “Use these.”

Before Seino could ask in what capacity, Fel raked a long nail across Seino’s wrist, the pain like a parasite, stealing his ability to think. Blood spurted, rich and thick. The liquid soaked into the amulets, and they glowed a bright gold that faded into deepest black.

“Damn it. That hurt.” He took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “Protection?”

Seino gripped his wrist and willed away the pain. Jericho, he noted, looked none too happy with his grandfather. A sign that the bear felt protective? Or did Jericho simply dislike the powerful mage for some other reason?

“Aye.” Fel motioned for Jericho to step near.

“Oh, hell no.” Jericho didn’t move.

His grandfather sighed. “Stubborn as the rest of your kind.”

“Bears are immovable. It’s who we are.”

“No, not your animal. You. Dark Walker. It’s your family of whom I speak.”

“What’s the big deal everyone keeps making about Dark Walkers? What do you know about my family?”

“Put this around Seino’s neck and I’ll tell you.” The amulets disappeared from Seino’s hand and reappeared in his grandfather’s. But now, each amulet was fashioned into a necklace held by thin, iron rope chains.

A harder scrutiny of the amulets made Seino step back. He suddenly understood what the hell his grandfather was up to. “No, I don’t think that wise. Jericho, step away. Don’t touch it.” The mission to find the killer suddenly paled next to avoiding a mating dance crafted by a wily old man wanting to see his grandson settled. But why he thought Jericho might give him progeny made no sense. Even Kin needed females to spawn young.

“Why? What’s with the necklace?” Jericho made no move to step forward.

“Don’t be afraid.” Fel dangled the amulets.

“I’m not. But I’m curious that he is.” Jericho narrowed his gaze on Seino.

Fel explained, in that veiled way he had that often preceded trickery. “Lord Seino fears the power you will have over him if you chain it around his neck. Perhaps it would be better if I gave it to him instead, that way he might control you.”

“No. I’ll do it.”

Trust the stubborn bear to so easily accept the thought of commanding Seino. “Jericho, really, don’t—”

The nasty grin on his face snared Seino’s lust between one heartbeat and the next. The wily bear wanted control, power, and a connection, even if he didn’t yet realise it. And everything inside Seino yearned for what the big bear would give him, despite not wanting a mate. There had to be some way he could fuck Jericho without forming a lasting attachment.

“Come here. Maybe you can beg me to take it off later.” Jericho’s dark brown eyes glinted with what promised payback.

“Let me assist you, Dark Walker.” Fel motioned with his hand and Seino was pulled forward with force. The old man held him in place with a bony hand.

“Damn it, mage. Let go.” Seino struggled but couldn’t move. “We have an enemy to defeat. No time for this nonsense.”

And then Jericho slipped the amulet over his head.

Heat seared his chest when the amulet came in contact with his skin. His sword vibrated with need, and Jericho looked way too pleased with himself.

“Damn the bones. You’ve cursed me, bear.”

Jericho chuckled. “I think I like you, Master Fel.”

Annoyed with his grandfather, but more, with the bear he now had no choice but to claim, Seino snarled, “You want me? You now have me. Catch.” He tossed his sword to the bear, not surprised when Jericho not only caught it, but swung it around without a problem. Only a blood relative or mate could wield another’s blade without having his soul ripped away and devoured by the demon bone. So much for sex without the entanglement.

Jericho nodded. “Nice weapon.” He turned to Fel. “Well, Master Fel? My name? What does it mean?”

“All in good time, Jericho.” Seino’s grandfather cackled, threw the remaining two—two?—amulets at Seino, then disappeared with a warning. “Two days, Seino. Then return to the place of the bear’s birth. It’s there you’ll find the last part of the puzzle, and the key to the answers you seek.”

Jericho frowned at Fel’s departure.

Seino caught the amulets in one hand. “Happy now?” Without asking, he snapped the fingers of his other hand and watched one of the necklaces settle around the bear’s neck as if it belonged there. He pocketed the other, not even wanting to know what he would be forced to do with it.

“Hell. You had to collar me with it, didn’t you?”

“An appropriate description.” Seino liked the look of the bear wearing his amulet, even though he didn’t exactly want the mating.

“This thing is warm.” Jericho studied it. “What’s with the symbol? Kind of resembles a bear crossed with a dark fae.” He glanced up at Seino’s exposed ear. “Or a Kin, I guess.”

“Smarter than you look, aren’t you?”

“Hey, don’t get snippy with me because I managed to outwit you, hotshot. Ready to beg yet?” The smug expression on the bear’s face was Seino’s undoing.

He reached out and mentally commanded his sword to return. Then he grabbed Jericho by the hand and teleported them into his favourite spot in the forest. A flat area he often napped upon. A place where he would bring lovers and let them satisfy him, if they tried hard enough.

The place where Jericho would learn what it meant to belong to a Protector.

Jericho blinked at Seino, not sure what to think. The demon’s skin was still ink dark, yet here, in this place, he seemed perfectly normal. Jericho didn’t understand what the hell had just happened, but his chest burned, as if something seethed inside him.

“Oh shit. Am I possessed?” The amulet wouldn’t come off. And the one on Seino’s chest sat perfectly, not moving at all either. Magnetised to his skin, were that possible.

Seino laughed at the question. “Possessed? Not yet. But you’re going to be.” The demon stripped down to nothing, pretty as you please.

Jericho couldn’t breathe. He’d never looked at a male and seen him the way he now saw Seino. With carnal need. Has to be the amulet.

“What did you do to me?”

“Ah, I think the question is, what did you do to me?” Seino walked forward, and Jericho realised they no longer stood in the same place as before.

Around them, the woodline and vegetation looked slightly different, covered in red. Like the colour of Seino’s eyes. His bare feet matted soft green grass, and there were stakes in the ground attached to chains. And manacles.

“Why are you naked? Why are we here? What the hell, man?”

“Tsk, tsk. Come, Jericho. Time to play with your new master.”

Jericho stood flummoxed, not having anticipated any of this. “Wait. What?”

Before he could argue the point, Seino touched him again. Jericho blinked to find himself on his knees, naked, his ankles locked to the chains staked into the ground. His arms up and spread, attached to manacles chained to the trees. To the trees? Naked?

“Spread those knees a bit more. Good. Let’s give me nice access to that cock.”

To Jericho’s mortification, he was harder than steel. His balls felt heavy, his shaft thick. The pre-cum moistening his tip was there for a black-as-sin demon with fangs and a very hungry expression.

“Look, Seino. This is way beyond anything I signed up for.” Jericho struggled but couldn’t break free from his bonds. His nerves stretched tight, not due to fear, but to anticipation. And that made no sense at all.

“I had no intention of making this permanent either. But you did put the amulet on me.”

“I—What? Permanent?” Before Jericho could ask exactly what that meant, Seino moved behind him. Jericho tried to look over his shoulder but caught nothing more than Seino going down on his knees. “What the fuck are you doing back there?”

“Not yet, Jericho. We’ll get to the fucking soon enough. Be patient.”

“Dammit. That’s not what I—oh shit.”

Jericho strained against the chains, shocked at how good Seino’s tongue felt swirling around his asshole. Seino pried his cheeks apart with cool hands, but that tongue felt like a blaze of red hot need as it licked his rim.

Seino cupped his balls as he shoved his tongue farther into Jericho’s ass. Fuck if Jericho didn’t want to blow. His cock literally hurt, his arousal painful and sudden and right there.

“Damn. Let me go,” he said on a breath, wishing he sounded surer of himself and less desperate to come.

“So good. What a tight little hole,” Seino murmured and increased his grip on Jericho’s balls. “You’re big, aren’t you, bear?”

Those magical fingers stroked and tugged, then crept up and around Jericho’s balls to his shaft. When Seino slid his fingers up to curl around his cock, Jericho couldn’t help groaning and thrusting forward, away from the tongue at his ass and into a grip he needed to be firmer. How the hell could he be so hard for a male, and a demon at that?