Tempted by Darkness (6 page)

“There is a battle coming, Kit, you already
know this, but what may surprise you is how quickly the scales are
tipping in Damian’s favor.” Devin ran his hand through his shaggy
black hair in a gesture Kit recognized as pure frustration. “I’ve
always been torn between my brothers. Damian is as dark as a
moonless night, but he had always treated me well, at least until
recently. He’s losing touch with reality and that doesn’t translate
well to interpersonal communication and people skills. Marcus, on
the other side, has always done what is right, but he is an ass—as
I’m sure you have already noted.” In Kit’s opinion, that was an
understatement. She’d been less than comfortable with Marcus from
the beginning and nothing that had happened since then had done
anything to change her mind.

“I understand what you have said and agree,
but what’s coming is not the issue at this moment. Getting Angie
home safely is all I care about.”
Well, that isn’t exactly true,
but no need to snatch the olive branch out of his hands and smack
him over the head with it.

His sly smile let Kit know her thoughts
hadn’t been as private as she intended them to be. Braden’s word
drifted into her mind lilting with warmth and laughter. ‘
Well,
duh, Kit. You were fairly well mentally shouting, so there wasn’t
much chance he wouldn’t hear you.’
The young wizard’s words
made her smile, he could be so impertinent at times that he,
well—quite frankly he reminded her of herself at that age.

“Damian won’t be pleased that you have
managed to free the woman he considers his bargaining chip, but he
will be impressed with my description of the dark magic you used to
accomplish it.” When he smiled, Kit realized this was the first
time she’d seen him do it. The gesture totally transformed his
appearance and he looked much younger and infinitely more
approachable in that moment. But, the light left his eyes too
quickly as he continued, “As to what I want in exchange—I want to
help train you for the coming battle. I am no longer interested in
aligning myself with Damian and I’m willing to help defeat him. His
plans have escalated to the point the price is going to be far too
high, and there are a lot of people who will pay with their lives.”
Kit knew there was more to it than that, but was certain he wasn’t
going to share the rest anytime soon.

Bringing him into the fold was dangerous on
so many levels she was having trouble just tracking all the
potential problems as they ran through her mind. And worst of all,
Kit knew the guilt she felt when he’d known she’d been
experimenting showed clearly in her expression and Braden laughed,
“Damn, Kit, it isn’t like it was a secret. You know Tristan and
Nick don’t miss anyone going in or out of the house, and your mates
probably know every detail about your dreams they watch you so
closely. How did you think everybody and their dogs didn’t know
where you were going? Geez.” She managed to catch herself just
before she gave him the “you roll your eyes at me again like that
young lady and I’ll roll them right out of your head” speech she’d
gotten so often at that age. Of course she’d have to edit it a bit,
but still, the idea of turning into her mother wasn’t at all
appealing. She’d heard enough of her friends talking over drinks to
know it was a universal dilemma.

Sighing to herself, she turned back to Devin,
“I will agree to work with you.”
Because I’d do anything to get
Angie back.
“But even you have to know what a difficult sell
this is going to be. The Wolf Pack is going to be more than a
little reluctant to believe your change of heart, even though they
will be grateful for Angie’s safe return. And the Supreme Council
is probably going to want to send at least one overseer.” Hell’s
bells and horseshoe nails, knowing that paranoid bunch, they’d send
a whole contingent. And none of this was even considering the
conniption fit her two mates were going to throw, just thinking
about
that
conversation sent shivers up her spine.

Devin’s sly smile let her know he’d already
foreseen everything she’d mentioned. “I’ve arranged transportation
for you since my brother’s
guest
doesn’t have a passport.
Everything is made in Trevlon Wolf’s name, he and your grandmother
will be waiting for you at the private field. I’ve sent the
directions to both of your mobile phones so you shouldn’t have any
trouble finding your way.” All Kit could do was stare at Devin in
open-mouthed shock. Was he for real? Who kidnapped a woman in hopes
of joining forces with their family? Again, he must have known
exactly where her mind had gone because she shook his head, “I am
not the one who arranged for Dr. Michaels to be taken from the
hospital. Personally, I think her work is far too important to risk
her safety, but as I said, my brother isn’t at all concerned about
the future of anyone but himself. Angie will tell you the names of
the women involved, but I’d be willing to bet you already have that
information.”

With a flick of his wrist the bubble around
Angie vanished and she ran to Braden putting herself between the
two wizards. Before Kit could respond Devin as gone, but his voice
rang through her mind, ‘
I’ll meet you in the meadow during the
next full moon, your word is your bond, Kit—and I know you won’t
disappoint me. There is too much at stake, your children’s future
hangs in the balance. Little Ryan’s and Adana’s fates are in your
hands.’

Kit looked around the dungeon and wondered
how her husbands had managed to make so many upgrades to the large
space without her noticing. Granted, she had been gone a few days,
but Trev had been with her and the changes she noted in their
private playroom definitely had his signature style. Everything was
period perfect for the medieval era most commonly associated with
dungeons and torture devices, and those things simply weren’t
important to Jameson. And even though the pieces of furniture
filling the large stonewalled room might be designed for erotic
pleasure, they were still intimidating. She wasn’t sure she would
ever be completely at ease with the harsher side of the lifestyle
her two mates had enjoyed prior to their mating, but then again,
they didn’t seem particularly excited about her becoming
too
comfortable
either.

She’d been lost in her thoughts, Kit hadn’t
realized they’d both stopped talking off to the side.
Oh
fricking fairy farts, did they ask me something? They get really
pissy if I don’t stay focused on what’s happening.
Keeping
focused had never been one of Kit’s strong points. Jameson’s growl
filled the air, “Kitten? Are you going to answer the question?”
Question? Shit, shit, shit. What the hell did they ask?

“Umm, well, I must have missed it the first
time…Sir.”
Always a good idea to tack that on when in
trouble.
The Dominant portions of both of men’s personalities
seemed to respond well to her submissive side, but adding any
additional
sucking up
verbiage was a real balancing game she
rarely got exactly right.

“Indeed, I do believe you did, baby. Maybe if
you’d try to stay in the moment, you might catch things easier.”
Trev’s voice was deceptively gentle, but Kit wasn’t fooled. On the
surface he appeared to be the gentler of the two, but he was
actually more of a stickler for protocol in the lifestyle than
Jameson. Trev had been furious with her for agreeing to work with
Devin from the moment she’d first explained the conditions she’d
agreed to in order to free Angie. He hadn’t been able to openly
complain without giving the impression Angie hadn’t been worth it
and being caught between a rock and a hard place seemed to have
added a lot of fuel to his fury.

Glancing over she met Jameson’s heated gaze.
They had already stripped her and secured her to the strangest St.
Andrew’s Cross she’d ever seen. The wooden beams of the cross
narrowed so they were almost non-existent in the middle, and the
end-points were aligned with tracks that Kit assumed allowed the
cross to be tilted and rotated in several different directions. The
wide bands securing her were softly woven to prevent unnecessary
pressure at any point and the Velcro tear away sections were
strategically placed to allow access to every part of her trembling
body. It was the only piece of equipment they’d added then made no
attempt to hide the fact it was state of the art technology for
kinksters. Just thinking about the ad they’d probably seen in
Torture Equipment Monthly
made Kit smile.

“Care to share what that thought was,
kitten?” Jameson’s voice sounded from right in front of her.
Holy hell how had he moved so close without her noticing?
When she gasped in surprise, he shook his head, “Kitten, I could
have sprouted wings and flown around the room and you wouldn’t have
noticed. Now, stop stalling and tell us what you were thinking that
made you smile.”

“Oh, well, I was just admiring the new
additions to the playroom, and I wondered about your…umm, sources
for such novelties.” Kit added her most sincere expression, but
wasn’t surprised when her blatant attempt to distract them didn’t
work.

“And? Don’t insult us by editing, my love—we
know you far too well.” Oh brother and wasn’t that the truth. Kit
really believed they knew her better than she knew herself in a lot
of ways.

“Well, I sort of thought maybe there was a
catalog or something.” They both just kept watching her, their
postures mirror images of one another, their legs spread shoulder
width apart and bulging biceps crossed over heavily muscled chests.
Looking at them dressed in nothing but low-slung, faded jeans with
their bare feet topped by the time worn fringes of hems dragging
over the stone floor. Kit realized too late that she was staring
and licking her lips in anticipation. “Okay, okay. I figure you
probably get
Torture Equipment Monthly
, you know, sort of
like
Consumer Reports
, but for kinky stuff.” Geez, now that
they’d forced her to say it out loud it didn’t sound funny at all,
talk about ruining a perfectly good joke.

Surprised by Trev’s snort of laughter and
Jameson’s grin, Kit tried to shrug but they’d secured her so well
she couldn’t even lift her shoulder. Realizing she was well and
truly at their mercy sent a zing of arousal straight to her sex and
she knew neither of her mates had missed her scent when their
nostrils flared. “We’re going to remind you who you belong to,
baby. You’ve made a bargain with a man who could hurt you and we
take your safety very seriously. And even though you agreed to meet
him away from the house in a feeble attempt to keep everyone else
safe, you still agreed to work with him without any apparent
consideration for your own well-being. And agreeing to meet him in
a secluded place? Don’t even get me started on all the reasons that
fact earns you punishment. But the biggest problem is that you
didn’t consult either of us before you made this bargain.”
Was
he serious? Without consulting them? What the hell?
She was a
grown woman who made her own decisions. Granted they were both her
Alphas as well as her mates, but still—just the thought of having
to get their approval to agree to training—not to mention that of
everybody and their pup in the magical community was going to have
their nose up in her business, well, that was just over the top.
Hell, they knew all of it would be supervised to the nth degree so
their comments grated on her last nerve.

“I’m not sure, brother, but I think perhaps
you’ve touched upon a sticking point for our lovely subbie and
mate. She sure seems to be taking her time processing that, don’t
you think?” Trev’s teasing tone earned him a glare and when she saw
his jaw tighten, Kit knew the scathing look she’d given him had
been a huge error.