Authors: Julia Talbot
“I accept your terms.”
The demon reached out and pointed, the skin at his mate’s wrists opening up, blood pouring out.
Reuben felt the magic hold on him release, and his feet tried to carry him to the door, but he wasn’t about to fucking leave. He hadn’t agreed to any terms.
This was not on his to-do list, leaving while his mate bled out.
Luc screamed as Yves dropped to the ground, the pool of blood getting bigger.
“Leave us,” the demon thundered, and everyone in the circle came unstuck.
“The stones! Reuben, we have to destroy the stones.” Jonny sounded damned certain.
Deke crushed one with a chair, moving quick as a damn snake. “Got one, you bastard.”
Okay. He could do this. He grabbed a heavy table and flipped it. Wolf smash.
The demon sorta... ripped Malachi in half. Good thing that he was already gone, because nasty. Gooey, too.
Reuben found a stone, busted the fuck out of it, and hunted for the other two. Kasey had one, the green thing turning to powder in his fists.
Where was the last? The fourth? Come on! His mate was dying!
The demon roared again, horns scraping against the ceiling as it snatched Yves and Luc up in one hand, the emerald in the other, lifting them all. “Mine!”
Jonny and Reuben both moved, slammed into the asshole’s body, trying to knock it off balance, but it didn’t budge.
Kasey and Deke attacked from the rear, trying to hamstring the fucker.
“Goddamn it!” Reuben roared. “Kill this motherfucking thing!”
Blood dripped on him, slid down his cheek, and he knew it was Yves’.
He looked up and Yves and Luc reached out together, two bloody fingers stretching out and out, touching the emerald, the bright green just like his mate’s eyes, going black.
Dying.
***
Yves blinked over at his brothers, confused and worried, and Girard and Luc there staring at him. “Where is this?”
There wasn’t anything here. No... anything. Nothing to see but them. He didn’t approve.
Luc shrugged. “Nowhere? Everywhere? I don’t know. There’s nothing here but us.”
“Nothing?”
He looked at Girard, their baby brother whole again, solid. “Why are you here?”
“Because you keep bringing me here, asshole. You won’t let go.” Girard rolled his eyes. “You’re so fucking clingy.”
“I killed you,” Yves pointed out. “Big karmic debt.”
“Uh, mercy killing, hello? I fell down a cliff in the middle of nowhere and was losing my mind. There was three days of hysterical suffering death or quick death. The choice was reasonable.”
“Still...”
Luc blinked again. “Seriously? Can’t either one of you keep your footing? I’m blind and I do a better job.”
“You got all the grace. Girard got the temper and I got the smarts.”
“That’s all I get? Temper?”
Luc shrugged. “We’re all gorgeous.”
“If you’re so smart,” Girard said after sticking his tongue out at Luc, “then why are you dying?”
“Possibly because I helped raise what was potentially the biggest teenage angst whore demon alive. I mean, slitting my wrists?” He held his hands up. “Lame.”
“So, go kill him.”
He looked at Luc. “Didn’t we do that?”
“I think we’re in the process.”
“Then what are we doing here?”
Luc’s nose wrinkled. “Existential crisis?”
“Oh.” He glanced at Girard, feeling very small. “I miss you.”
“I miss you. I’m sorry, Yves.”
“What for?” He’d killed Girard, after all.
“Being eighteen and stupid. For making you make the hardest decision ever.”
He smiled at Girard. “I had to. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Yeah, I love both of you and
one of you is dying
, so come on! Quit being a dipshit and live!”
Yves blinked, then looked at Luc. “You called me a dipshit.”
“If the shoe fits, Yves.” That was Girard and Yves launched himself at his baby brother.
“Forgive me. I miss you. So much.”
They both turned to him, identical sets of green eyes boring into his soul. “We forgive you,
frère
. Now you must forgive yourself.”
He nodded and they reached for each other, holding each other for the first time in a decade and the last time in God knew how long. “Good-bye, Girard.”
“Good-bye.”
“God DAMN it! Yves, you wake the fuck up you bastard! Jonny, you wake my mate up right the fuck NOW!”
Oh, dear. Reuben was sounding... strident. Then again, they had just mated and now he was bleeding out on a floor in a sex club.
That was awkward, to say the least.
A voice rang out, surprisingly not hysterical, given the whole demon-breaking-things-bleeding thing. “Okay, what the bloody fuck are you arseholes doing down here?”
“Jared, do be a dear and get me a healer down here immediately before I have to turn Yves and we have a vampiric werepanther to deal with.”
“You are not turning my mate, Boss. I will... I will... I’ll bite your skanky ass!”
“Did you just call Jonny a skank, Reuben? That’s impressive.” Deke was laughing.
“He keeps licking things that don’t belong to him!”
Yves tried to chuckle. Apparently, Jonny was trying to close his wounds.
Luc’s rough tongue dragged over his cheek and then his brother headbutted him, and he took a shaky breath. “Reuben.”
“Yves!” Ruben dropped to the floor next to him. “Love. You scared me.”
“Reuben. Reuben. The demon.” Someone say the motherfucker was gone.
“Gone. Sucked into the stone. Looked like a vacuum cleaner commercial.” Reuben lifted him, cradling him against that big body.
“We have to kill him.”
Reuben nodded, lips tight. “I was making sure I didn’t have to go in and bring him back to help you.”
Reuben rolled to his feet, then walked right over and stomped on the gemstone, turning it to dust.
There was the tiniest, faintest scream that disappeared almost immediately.
“Ta-da.”
“Luc?” Yves asked.
Reuben turned with him in those hard-muscled arms so he could see Luc and Jonny together. “In good hands. Can we go nap now? After you see the healer?”
“Uh-huh. Please. I’m tired and hungry.” He rubbed his cheek against Reuben’s chest. “Did you know this was a sex club?”
***
Reuben laid next to his mate, his hand low on Yves’ belly. They’d eaten enough sandwiches and French fries to kill a small gorilla, seen the healer for Yves scabby wrists and blood loss, and gone to bed.
“Don’t fuck up another of my rooms,” Jared had admonished after showing them to a room with a big bed.
“It’s not a good time.”
Yves had slammed the door in the big wolf’s face and Jared’s “you’re as bad as your brother” hadn’t fazed Yves in the least.
Then they’d flopped on the bed and slept for hours. Now Reuben wanted to see those amazing green eyes, make sure his mate was in there, not a demon.
Yves sighed and purred, stretching tall. “Tell me you’re real, Mate.”
Every time Yves said “mate”, it sounded better. More like something real, even if it seemed impossible.
“I’m right here.” He took a quick, sneaky kiss.
Yves accepted it and then turned it into a slow, lazy one, the green eyes opening to look into him.
Oh.
Oh, they weren’t a bit cloudy. No, they were clear as glass. Yves was there. Right there with him, not one bit of crazy showing.
“You okay, Mate? You well?”
“I’m fine.” Physically he’d been kinda frozen in time, but not hurt. Now, inside he’d been damaged for life. Demons and bleeding kitties...
“I thought we’d lost for a second.” Yves kissed him, their lips clinging. “I saw Girard.”
“It was the demon. He was taunting you.”
“No. I mean, yes, but no. After I made the deal, after all that, Girard and Luc and I were all together.”
“No shit?” He hadn’t seen anything like that, but the demon had been... all swollen. Big as the room, anyway.
“I told him good-bye.” Yves shrugged, pushed closer to him. “You would have liked him, I think. He had a lot of puppy in him.”
“Ha. Are you calling me immature, kit?” He threatened that fine ass with a warning tap.
“Absolutely. Wagging tail, drool, and all.”
“Did I get possessed? No. I think I did okay.” Reuben paused, stroking more bare skin. “I’m glad you got to say good-bye, love.”
“Yeah. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, putting him out of his misery.”
“I can’t imagine.” His kitty was stronger than he’d ever believed. “You still have Luc.”
“I have you.” Yves stared into him. “I have you and I need my mate, yeah?”
Oh, hell yes. Reuben grinned, then took another kiss, this one not gentle at all. He might just have to make protecting Yves his full-time job.
“So, what do you think, Mate? Do you have your passport?”
“Of course I do.” Reuben tilted his head, smiling into that green gaze. “Why?”
“There’s a set of rubies in Peru that are rumored to have been an Aztec princess’ favorites. I figure we could spend at least five or ten years looking for them before we’re bored.”
Reuben laughed out loud, loving this man with all he had in him. “As long as they don’t come with a demon attached, I’m in.”
Hell, he might even dare another demon possession, but only for Yves.
A man had his limits.
END
If you liked this book, you might like
:
Belling the Cat
An Itch to Scratch
The Werewolf Code
Table of Contents
Table of Contents