Passion Ignited (14 page)

Raider dropped his gaze to the floor. The man
she’d been fighting, Ekhart, had threatened his life to get Nitro
to do what he’d wanted? Could Ash be telling the truth? The rage
that had swept through him, igniting every cell within his body,
started to calm. Maybe he’d overreacted. Just because she was a
fire demon didn’t make her bad. It just made her a fire
demon.

“I’ll go to her,” he said. “But you’d better
be telling the truth.”

Chapter
Thirteen

“Behind you!” Nitro yelled.

Garrick fell to the ground twenty feet from
her, his body convulsing on the wet asphalt. Launching herself
toward him, she was tackled to the ground as another man slammed
into her. She landed with a groan, her stomach flat against the
ground. His heavy weight bore down on her, even as she tried to
flip over to fight. Throwing her head back, she head-butted him in
the face, and he rewarded her with a hiss of pain. The distraction
gave her enough time to flip over. On her back, she kicked off and
landed on her feet, crouching in front of the man. He wasn’t a fire
demon, as far as she could tell.

Her eyes grazed over the demon. His skin was
deathly pale, his eyes a deep crimson red. He stank to high-heaven,
a scent of decay and yet something grossly sweet. His fingers were
curled, as though he couldn’t straighten them at all. At their tips
were sharp claws that were stained brown and red.

She looked over at Garrick, who was still
spasming on the ground. The other demon was crouched over him—that
one was definitely like her. Human-turned fire demon courtesy of
Ekhart. Pulling her whip from her waist, she snapped it at the
creature, making it tie around the demon’s wrist. The asshole was
clearly surprised and looked at her with an expression that said as
much. She tugged hard on the whip, and he lost his balance as he
fell toward her.

The other demon grabbed her from behind,
caging her arms against her body. He heaved her back, and they both
crashed to the ground. Nitro’s back was against the demon, and she
lay on top of him. She threw her head back again, connecting with
its nose yet again. Nice cracking sound this time, sure to do
damage, she thought. He growled low in his throat, sending a
sickening chill throughout her body. The feeling of the vibrations
had nothing on the reverent growl that she’d earned from Raider’s
muscled body.

She lifted her foot in the air and brought it
down quickly, connecting with his groin. He wailed in pain as his
arms loosened their hold on her. She rolled off of him and shot to
her feet. A quick sweep of the ground told her that her whip was
missing, and another sweep over the alleyway told her the other
demon was gone as well. Well, at least that was a good thing. She
seemed to have her hands full with this sickly bastard.

Her eyes lit on the area where Garrick had
just been. He was gone.

She whirled around just as said demon reached
her, its hissing breath making her aware of its presence. But she
was too late. Its fist crashed against her jaw, jarring her head to
the side. The quick movement caused the gash near her throat to
reopen and she felt the blood seep down her neck.

The demon froze, eyes riveted on the blood.
His breath became a slow hissing sound with each inhale and exhale.
He peeled his lips back from his teeth, revealing jagged fangs
protruding from blood-red gums. The fangs themselves were tinted
red. The sight of them churned her stomach. His movements became
predatory, crouching and dodging left and right. Odd how, in just a
second, the tables can turn. In that instant, she was no longer his
opponent.

She was his prey.

Nitro’s hands tightened into fists as her
blood began to boil, the demon within her roaring to be set free.
She’d been able to push it back down earlier, but that had only
been after ruining whatever had started with Raider. The demon
pushed at her mind, begging for release. Summoning a small fireball
in her palm, she lifted her hand and flung it outward, sending the
ball toward the demon.

But she wasn’t quick enough. He was on her in
less than a second. She screamed out as his jagged teeth sank into
her neck.

****

Raider heard her scream before he saw her. As
he flashed in her direction, he was brought up short by the scene
before him. Nitro lay limply in the arms of a man, her head fallen
back as he drank greedily from her neck.

The bastard must have heard Raider because he
unlatched his fangs from her and peered around her with blazing red
eyes. A low, deep growl sounded, meant to send Raider packing. But
he wasn’t about to leave his female behind to be this fucker’s
meal. When its growl didn’t scare him off, the demon dragged her
behind him.

Raider pulled his daggers from their sheaths
and slowly approached them. As he took in the sight of the jackass
who was holding his female, he realized that something was
seriously wrong with the man before him. He was sensing human, but
clearly the sight of the bastard didn’t add up to that. The feral
red eyes, the bloody fangs, the hissing; none of that was human.
Raider opened up his senses, using his Instinct to probe the man’s
mind, but as soon as he sent the probe, he immediately regretted
it.

Jumbled thoughts of violence and murder.
Tearing into the necks—or any other area—of anyone he came across.
His thoughts were tainted with red. With blood. It was all he
thought about. Drinking and killing. His mind was warped with the
need to murder.

Odd how he could feel human, but have the mind
of a murderous demon.

Raider had gotten closer to them. Close enough
that the human-demon dropped Nitro’s body to the ground as if she
were a rag doll. Her limp body fell to the ground in a pile. She
didn’t make a sound, and she didn’t move. Her throat was torn
wide-open, blood seeping down her chest, saturating her bustier and
caking her hair.

Raider’s blood pumped wildly. His fangs
protruded as he bellowed in rage. His female lay there, possibly
dead, and he hadn’t been there to protect her. His Instinct roared
to life, demanding retribution against the bastard that dared to
harm her. He willingly let it overtake him, wanting nothing more
than to rip the fucker’s head off. He barreled forward, his rage
driving how quickly and how stealthily he moved. The demon’s look
of shock was only momentarily registered in Raider’s mind.
Good
, he thought. He wanted to make it hurt. As he reached
the bastard, both of his blades impaled its sides. The two men
fell, Raider holding onto the handles of his daggers as they
crashed onto the pavement. The demon wailed in pain, but he was
strong enough to fight back. He threw out his fists, which landed
anywhere and everywhere. Raider took blows to his face, chest,
arms, and stomach as they fought on the ground. Nothing was off
limits. He even snapped his fang-filled mouth at Raider whenever he
was in striking distance.

But still, he was no match for Raider. No
match for the Instinct to protect what was his.

The human-demon quickly realized that punching
didn’t work, and he revealed long, curving claws. He slashed out.
They sank deep into Raider’s left shoulder, the claw sinking into
his skin and holding onto the tissue and bone. The demon dragged
its arm down, his claws ripping through his shoulder as if the
godsdamned thing was butter. Raider’s stomach heaved from the pain.
Not only feeling the slicing of tendons and flesh, but also a
searing heat that ruptured through his arm and chest. He felt a
fang graze his fist as he pulled it back from a punch. Raider let
that fist quickly fly again and he caught the demon square in the
mouth. Bloody tears fell from its eyes and it cried out again, but
Raider didn’t let up. The sight of the blood only reminded him that
his female lay in a bloody heap mere feet away from him.

And it was all because of this
bastard.

The demon’s eyes closed for a split second and
Raider pulled the dagger from one of its sides. He pulled his right
arm back and sank the bloody knife into its heart.

The high-pitched scream that had erupted from
its throat had Raider’s ears ringing. The wail dropped in pitch,
turning into a man’s voice, screaming in torment. He pulled another
blade from his harness, hoping to end the bastard’s pain—even if he
didn’t deserve it—but his screams began to wane.

Raider watched as the man panted, sweat
slicking his skin, until his panting slowed. Slower and slower his
breathing got as he shook. And then his breathing
stopped.

Raider dragged himself to his feet and rushed
over to where Nitro lay against the cold ground. She was still in
the position she’d been in when the demon had dropped
her.

“Nitro.”

Sliding his hands under her body, he lifted
her, cradling her against him. Raider’s shoulder screamed in pain,
but he held her up as long as he could. When his arm couldn’t stand
the weight any longer, he shifted her to his right arm and gazed
down at her face. Her eyes were closed, her long lashes fanning her
cheeks. She looked like she was sleeping. Her heart beat, but it
was weak as it thumped inside her chest.

He held her, praying to the gods that she
would live. Praying that he hadn’t failed again. Because the truth
of it was, he’d learned to care for Nitro. And that, in turn, had
made him love her. It didn’t matter that she was a fire demon. He’d
been childish earlier to take his own fears out on her.

As he held her tight, he felt the familiar
prickle warning him that the sun was about to light the sky. If he
had any hope of surviving, and of recovering Nitro, he had to put
in a call to his brothers. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled his
cell phone out. Pieces of it fell to the ground. The damn thing had
been crushed during his fight. Nitro’s lay in a pool of her blood.
He tried it, but the piece of shit was completely dead.

He had no way to get home. The blood from his
shoulder was still seeping from the wound, and his energy had
started to wane. He hadn’t the energy to flash, and if he didn’t
get indoors, he was going to burn as soon as the sun breached the
horizon.

Raider slid her to the ground and stood to his
feet. He carefully picked up her body, supporting most of her
weight with his right arm. He was running out of time. The sun was
already lighting the sky, and if he didn’t hurry, the light would
filter through the tall buildings and reach the alley. Spotting a
door, he walked over to it, careful not to jostle Nitro. The door’s
locks were no hindrance against Raider’s kicks. The door finally
gave way and he shuffled inside. Just before he closed the door, a
ray of sunlight lit the alley.

The human-demon’s body went up in
flames.

Chapter
Fourteen

“Raider, Nitro, and Garrick are MIA,” Ash
said.

“When did you see them last?” Ethan
asked.

Ash paced back and forth, but finally stopped
as he faced Ethan. “Nitro and I got into a fight last night and
Raider and Garrick showed up on an assist. Nitro and Garrick didn’t
come back to the mansion, so Raider went back out to look for
them.”

“You didn’t go with?” Raine asked.

He shook his head. “No, I thought that he and
Nitro needed some privacy. They’d been in an argument.”

He offered no more information on the matter
as some of the Guardians looked questioningly at him. Ethan seemed
to know what was up, based on the look on his face, but he seemed
to be the only one.

“How long has he been gone?” Ferox
asked.

“Since about 5:30 this morning. He went out
before dawn.”

Ferox sighed. “Alright. We need details on
what went down last night. Maybe something will help us figure out
where Raider is.”

“A fucking bloodbath right outside the club is
what happened,” Thrash said. He shifted in his seat, wincing from
the wounds he was still sporting.

“Where?” Raine asked.

Ethan’s fingers flew over the laptop as he
pulled up the GPS program. “The last place the system registered
his location is a few blocks south-east of Pandora’s.”

“That sounds about right,” Thrash said. “They
jumped me a few blocks from the club and I ended up just off of
Fifth.”

“That’s where Raider would have gone back to,”
Ash answered. “That would be the most logical place to search for
Nitro and Garrick.”

Raine narrowed her gaze. “You’re sure they
were together?”

“No way to know that—”

“Wait,” Ethan interrupted. “Garrick’s phone
received the last call last night.” He turned to Thrash. “It was
from you.”

“Right. Like I said, I was jumped.”

Ferox leaned forward, his elbows resting on
the table. “You got jumped, but you seemed to have time for a
fucking phone call?”

“I had time for a fucking phone call before I
got jumped,” Thrash growled.

All sounds around the room seemed to go
completely silent as the Guardians focused in on the exchange
between the wolf and their leader. The silence was palpable, making
everyone in the room shift uncomfortably.