She shoved her hair out of her face, confused. “What did
I
do? What the hell
are
you? You said that—” she gestured to his exposed Marker “—was a tattoo.”
He spun on his heel when the first fist pounded on his door. When the second joined the fracas, he hurriedly shoved his junk back in his pants and barked out, “Cover yourself.”
Without waiting to see if she complied, he yanked the door open. Griff, Bailey, Dominic and Rhyan charged into the small space, each of them demanding to know what had just happened. Seth swept a hand through the air to silence them before looking at Griff. “Go.”
“We just had a minor earthquake, my friend. Might not be worth mentioning if we were in, say, Los Angeles, but we’re in freaking Atlanta. People noticed.” He crossed his arms over his broad chest, his brows winging down. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Wrong? Why?” Seth shoved his hands in his pockets. It took him a moment to realize the troop was looking past him at Red. He glanced back and shook his head. “She’s our fairy godmother.”
“You
bitch
,” Dominic snarled. Hands flexing, he put himself in front of Rhyan. “What did you do? Who sent you after our boy?”
“I… That is, no one. I just…” She pulled her hair over one shoulder, her forehead wrinkling in thought. “Who said I’m a witch?”
Griff snorted and bared his Marker. “Incubus.” Jerking his chin toward Bailey, he said, “Succubus,” before pointing at Dominic and Rhyan. “Nephilim and new nephilim.” Then he turned to Seth. “And our boy, here, is an—”
“I’m an
ifrit
, you gods-bedamned
thief
,” Seth interrupted. “You were to bind your magic before you came onto my turf. You were to keep it bound while you were here.” His voice rose with every word until the last was shouted.
“Ifrit.”
She paled. “Oh, goddess. I just… I didn’t mean to…”
“You’re a witch, a mercenary. Of course you meant to.”
“No.” She shook her head hard enough her hair swept around her shoulders. “I swear, I didn’t mean to do it.”
The tall, ethereal nephilim, Rhyan, stepped around her hulking male. “And what, exactly, did you do?”
“I think I stole his element.”
Seth’s knees nearly gave out. It was one thing to suspect but another entirely to hear his suspicion voiced aloud. He searched inside himself with increasing franticness, desperate to find the source of his immortality. She could steal part of it, thus commanding him to perform like a damn grinder monkey, but to steal all of it? It would render him mortal. Right before it killed him.
Fury pounded through his veins with every tick of the second hand on his wall clock, mounting until he thought he might erupt. That was all the evidence he needed. As angry as he was, if he’d still been the Keeper of his element, he would have been a towering inferno right about then.
Son of a bitch
. “Put. It. Back.”
Wide, grey eyes stared up at him from the loveliest face he’d ever seen. “I don’t know how.”
Dominic stepped past Seth and into the woman’s personal space. “You’ll put it back or I’ll rend you limb from limb and use the pieces to bait ghouls.” His grin made Seth cringe. “And I hear they like to play with their food.” He made a slow pumping motion with his hips.
Red’s eyes went from wide and terrified to narrow and pissed-off between heartbeats. Seth didn’t know whether to admire the hell out of her or ask where she’d like her personal belongings sent when she stepped right into the nephilim and bumped her chest to his torso.
“Screw you, you wingless wonder. If twerking while baiting ghouls is your shtick, more power to you. But you should know you’ll be much more appealing to them than I am. See, you might be fallen, but your origins are still angelic. That means, as lower caste demons, they’d love to play with
you
.” She shoved him back a step. “So I’ll make you a deal. You take me to the Oakland Cemetery right now, and we’ll just see who gets asked to date first.”
Dominic gaped at her. “Where’d you park your broom, Hilda?”
Seth shoved the two apart, though he was admittedly rougher with Dominic. The larger man hardly moved. “Back off, Conan.”
“Your flame is your life’s blood. Without it, you’re mortal.” Griff stepped in tight and the three of them stood nearly shoulder to shoulder, the nucleus of energy in the room.
Seth laced his hands together behind his neck and pulled, the strain on his frame noticeable. “No, I’m not.”
“What?” the two men said in unison.
“Without my element, I’m dying.”
* * *
Eden heard the words but refused to believe them. Her kind cherished life. They valued the individual as well as the group, and she knew the coven’s elders would be furious with her for violating a being’s right to life. Mouth dry and palms sweaty, she stepped closer to the cluster of men. “I’ll ask my mentor how to return your flame, Seth.”
He looked over at her, eyes that had blazed with passion now flat and cold. “I don’t think so, witch.”
The last word was issued as a vile epithet.
Bailey stepped close to Seth and laid a hand on his arm. “Are you really dying?”
He only looked at her in answer.
She closed her eyes and took a fortifying breath, her chin quivering. Eden thought she’d lose her mind before the other woman finally opened tear-sheened eyes and gazed up at Seth.
The idea Eden could, quite literally, turn the succubus into a barnyard animal made her feel a little better. Until Bailey cupped Seth’s face in her hands and gently kissed each corner of his mouth. Then she simply wanted to be the woman who Seth allowed to touch him.
The woman settled back, hands still on Seth’s face. “What do you have to lose by letting…” She looked back at Eden and let a small smile play around her mouth, sad but sincere. “I’m sorry. I don’t know your name.”
“No problem.” She shrugged, nonchalant. “Seth just calls me Red.”
“What’s your name?” Griff asked as he stepped close to his woman’s side.
“Eden.”
Dominic snorted. “As in ‘the garden of’? That’s better than a MasterCard commercial—priceless.” Rhyan tagged him in the arm and he scowled at her. “What’d I say?”
Eden spread her feet, shaking her hands out and rolling her head back and forth. “You want to go another round? Because I’m game. Try to play harder, though,’kay? I always feel bad taking people with the IQ of a fencepost and beating them about the head and shoulders with it. Seems so unfair.”
“I don’t hit women,” he said, jaw clenched, “but I’m about to make an exception.”
“I won’t break, so bring it…Fabio.”
Eden looked around the room to find everyone watching her. Everyone except the very man she most wanted to appease. He kept his back turned. “Seth, I didn’t capture your element on purpose. Let me make this right. Please.”
Shoulders squaring up, he turned to face her. “What’s the catch?”
“Catch?” she asked stupidly before slapping a hand over her mouth. “Sorry.”
“We’re done playing.” He ran his hands through his hair, shoving it back. Distrust ghosted over the planes and angles of his face. “Spell out your terms, because your kind doesn’t do work pro bono.”
“‘My kind,’” she repeated yet again. This time, though, she didn’t bother apologizing. Everyone else in the room faded back until she and Seth faced each other without obstruction.
“You make money off your magic, never give anything away. If there’s not a catch, there’s a cost. Spell it out.”
Griff stepped forward and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Seth. “Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.”
“
We’ll
pay it.” Dominic stepped in, framing Seth.
The three men were like walking orgasms. Or they would have been if they hadn’t been glaring daggers at her.
Seth stepped forward. “I fund my own freedom. Name your price.”
Fury and shame swam alternating laps through her veins. Fury because she wasn’t the bad person they seemed to consider her; shame because she hadn’t protected Seth. “I need to call my mentor first.”
Dominic shook his head and looked away, muttering unintelligibly.
“I just need to sort something out. Give me five minutes.” She swallowed audibly. “Alone.”
Griff and Dominic erupted in violent opposition.
Seth only continued to stare.
Bailey moved closer to Eden. “I’ll stay with her.”
“No.” Griff’s vehement denial was almost shouted.
Her chin jutted out and she glared at him. “I know you didn’t just tell me what to do.”
“I promise I won’t touch her,” Eden quickly interjected. She knew with relative certainty that this was the best chance she’d get at privacy. “Please.”
“I told you begging doesn’t work for me.” Seth whipped around and headed for the door. He paused, hand hovering above the handle, and spoke without looking back. “Touch her and I’ll hand you over to my father.”
“Might help scare the hell out of me if you tell me who he is,” Eden said snarkily. The urge to slap her hand over her mouth was almost overwhelming.
Why not just leave well enough alone, idiot?
This time he did look back. The smile on his face chilled her through and through. “King Aganjú. I would imagine you’ve heard of him.”
Eden stumbled against the desk, blindly clutching at the edge for support. “You’re the
ifrits’
crown prince?”
“One and the same.” He walked through the door, letting it fall shut on the silent group.
Dominic glanced at every face in the room, finally landing on hers. “Holy shit. You should’ve requested a last meal, because you’re a dead woman.”
Eden sank to her knees. If King Aganjú was even half as violent as his reputation, she might as well have just slit her own throat.
Either way, she was doomed.
Chapter Five
“You’re the freaking crown prince?”
Seth had known the men would question him, but he’d admittedly hoped they’d give him a moment to collect himself. Instead, the two had charged after him, cornering him near Griff’s office. The outburst had been all Dominic while Griff looked on, features drawn.
“Yeah.” He shoved his way into Griff’s office and dropped into the nearest chair. Gods, but he was exhausted. “What does it matter?”
“It doesn’t.” Griff sank into his chair and laced his hands behind his head. “Unless your dad decides we need to be punished for not keeping you safe.”
“I’m not your damn responsibility,” Seth growled.
“Save the hand-slapping girly fight for later, you two.” Thumbs hooked in his jeans pockets, Dominic leaned against the far wall. “We need to sort out how to get your element back. If we do, chances are we won’t hear from dear ol’ dad.”
Griff glanced at Dom before kicking his feet up on the corner of the desk. “Hate it when the nephilim has a point. Always makes me think the world’s coming to an end.”
Seth couldn’t even dredge up a chuckle. There was too much happening, too much that had been yanked out of his control, and control was everything to him. “The king—” never anything but “—won’t bother anyone but me. And if I die? He’ll only have one more thing to count as a disappointment. Forget it,” he growled when Dominic opened his mouth. “Push me and I’ll prove to you the man is every bit his father’s son when it comes to carrying out creative violence.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Seth met Griff’s steady stare. “Would it have made a difference?”
“No. Yes. No.” The incubus sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“There’s your answer.” Seth rose and stalked around the room, straightening things, putting everything in its place. “I got enough of that crap growing up.”
“Fair.” Griff’s legs hit the floor with a solid thump. Leaning forward, he propped his elbows on the desk and spun a pen between his fingers as he spoke. “What’s the time line here? How long do we have to get your element back to you before… Yeah.”
Seth’s throat tightened. How to answer? Soften it? Tell them the truth? Both men fought to find something to look at other than him. Tough truth, then. “I’m already fading. I can feel it happening.”
“Fading?”
He faced Dominic. “Pretty much. I’ll get weaker and weaker. Then I’ll just go up in a puff of smoke. My soul is like oxygen to the element while the element is like oxygen to the soul. One can’t exist without the other. When they’re separated, the soul suffocates and the flame is snuffed. It’ll be like I never was.”
“Not gonna happen, man.” Dominic took the seat he’d vacated. “We’ll force her to put it back.”
That was the thing, though. Part of Seth wondered if she could. He didn’t know if the theft had been an accident or not, but part of him believed—or wanted to believe—she was telling the truth. That she hadn’t taken it on purpose. He’d seen her face, had held her as she came apart in his arms. Every element had been manipulated in that moment. Or maybe he’d been the thing manipulated. Maybe she wanted him to think it was an accident. Only one way to find out, and that was to give her the chance to put it back.
“Earth to the royal
ifrit
.”
Seth glanced at Dominic. “Chances are the king won’t bother you. If he does, nothing I say or do will make any difference whatsoever.” Anahita, the woman from centuries ago, floated to the forefront of his mind again.
He’d thought he’d loved her, had risked asking her for what he wanted and needed in the bedroom. She’d complied, even seemed willing. When all was said and done, though, she’d gone to his father’s first wife, Seth’s mother, and complained that Seth was twisted. His mother had taken offense and reported the gossip to the king.
The king hadn’t given a damn about any of it. What pissed him off was that a slave had been spreading rumors that made the royal household appear less than perfect, less than controlled in his execution of every action. The king had called the court together and questioned Anahita. Brutally. Rivers of blood ran before she recanted her story. Then Aganjú had cut off his tie to the woman’s elemental flame. Seth had been chained to the woman with express instructions the guard was not to free him until the sister cuff swung free. He watched her element starve to death for twenty-four hours. She’d gone up in a wisp of smoke. The guards had freed him when she was gone, and Seth had immediately gone to pack his belongings.