Fallen by Suzanne Wright

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Sitting on the sofa at the penthouse a few hours later, Raini rubbed her thighs. She wasn’t looking forward to this conversation at all. Jolene was right; she needed to tell Maddox about the boycotting, because there truly was a chance that one of his demons was behind it. But he wasn’t going to like the implication all too much, and he might even get pissed at Jolene.

If the situation were reversed, Jolene would certainly have felt—at the very least—extremely insulted that another Prime would accuse one of her demons of such an act. She’d still have performed an internal investigation—Jolene wasn’t a woman who left anything to chance. If she’d discovered that one of her lair was guilty, she’d have dealt with them swiftly. Maddox would most likely do the same.

A little voice in Raini’s head, however, questioned if he really would act. He acknowledged her as his anchor, and he’d sneakily forged his way into her life. But she wasn’t his top priority. He put his lair first. Hell, he hadn’t even formally introduced her to them. She’d only met a few.

If one of them was the asshole boycotter, would Maddox do much more than give them a slap on the wrist? Would he admit their guilt to outsiders? She’d like to think that the answer to both questions would be yes, but she couldn’t be sure.

She could, however, be sure that he’d get all snarly simply because she hadn’t mentioned the boycotting before. Raini hadn’t violated the conditions of their deal by not sharing the recent shitty events with him, but that wouldn’t matter much to Maddox. Not when he had a strong sense of entitlement where she was concerned; not when he was so determined that she rely on him.

Blowing out a breath, Raini reached out to touch his mind. I know you’re probably mega busy, but could you please come see me when you have a few spare minutes? she asked, cool and casual. Nothing in her telepathic voice gave away her anxiety, so she was more than a little surprised when he abruptly appeared right in front of her.

“What’s wrong?” he immediately demanded, glancing around.

A little touched that he’d responded so fast and with such obvious concern, she replied, “It’s nothing huge. Jolene wants me to share something with you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What is it?”

Raini cleared her throat. “So, for the past few months, someone has been trying to boycott Urban Ink. We thought it was personal to Harper and Knox, since she owns half the business. But today, well, something else happened and … it occurred to us that the main focus seems to be me.”

His expression didn’t change, but there was a slight hardening to his jawline. “Explain.”

Raini gave him a quick but succinct summary of the boycotting attempts. “I’m not entirely sure I believe this is all directed at me, but Jolene and the girls do.”

“As do I,” he said, his voice smooth as silk but … dark. Almost menacing.

“Jolene thinks my sister’s anchor is most likely behind it.”

“Why?”

“He tumbled head first into a snare some years ago and declared he loved me.” Raini relayed the occurrence to Maddox, adding, “Jolene intends to question him once she gets her hands on him. But she believes there’s also a chance—”

“That it could be a demon from my lair,” he guessed.

“Yes. She wants to cover her bases, that’s all. She likes to be thorough. She figures it’s best not to assume anything. So she’d like you to look into it. I don’t think I have to warn you that she’ll do it if you don’t. If it was the other way around, you’d do the same.”

Maddox felt anger bubble up inside him. He knew she sensed it. He knew she’d think he was pissed that Jolene would imply that one of his demons had targeted his anchor. And yeah, the implication did fucking rankle. What really pissed him off was that he was only learning of all this now. “Why didn’t you tell me about any of this sooner?”

Lounging on the sofa looking infuriatingly casual, Raini frowned. “It wasn’t part of our deal that I tell you about every little hiccup in my life. Initially, that was all this seemed to be.”

“But I would have wanted to know about it. You know that.”

“Only because you’re nosy as hell. That isn’t my problem. I’m not going to cater to it. There was no reason to tell you. It didn’t affect you.”

Anger again spiked through him. Maddox took a step toward her. “Anything that affects you affects me.”

“And if your club was having problems, you’d have told me all about it, would you? No, of course you wouldn’t have. Because it simply has nothing to do with me. What goes on with Urban Ink has nothing to do with you.”

“This isn’t some issue about overheads or even rude clients. Someone has been shitting all over your name in an attempt to disparage you. You, my anchor. So it has everything to do with me.” And it was an insult he’d have wanted to address, because absolutely fucking no one got to target her this way—he and his equally pissed-off demon intended to communicate that message to whoever had dared do it. “This shouldn’t be the first I’m hearing about it.”

The air cooled as her eyes bled to black. “You seem so surprised that she did not immediately spill all of this to you,” her demon said. “Why? Because she has been so cooperative in other ways?” It gave him a look of disdain. “You have been too arrogant to see why she has given you so little trouble.”

Maddox squinted. “What does that mean?”

“You think you understand her. Wrong. You see only what she wants you to see. You will never see more, because you have chosen to never earn that privilege. That is your choice. But never think you have, or ever will, coerce her to do anything. She is smarter and more cunning than you have given her credit for. You underestimate her, and she allows it. Just as she allows you to believe that you are running this show. Each time she made a concession, she furthered that illusion for you. But that is all it has ever been—an illusion.

“I tell you all this for one reason only: I am sick and tired of watching you sing a tune and insist that she dance to it. She deserves better. If the only way you can accept her is if she is firmly under your control, then you need to exit her life. Because you will never control her. Make your choice. Take her as she is or leave her be.”

Once her demon subsided, Raini sighed in annoyance. Why did the entity keep warning him that there were things he didn’t know? Why would it not just let him stay in the goddamn dark? Her demon only shrugged, seeing no need to justify itself. Maybe it was simply that, unlike Raini, the demon did not like that others underestimated it. Perhaps the entity had wanted its anchor to know it was stronger than he believed.

Maddox tilted his head. “I could be wrong, but I think your demon would happily dismember me.”

Raini rubbed her temple. “It did want to do that at one point. Now it wants to incinerate you and dance around your ashes.” God, she needed a drink. Preferably one that was high in alcohol. She stood, meaning to head to the kitchen, but Maddox’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

“Your demon was wrong to think that I underestimate you and haven’t seen that you hide parts of yourself from me,” he said. “I didn’t miss that cunning streak either. Nor was I surprised by it—all offspring of imps are calculating whether they’re imps themselves or not. And despite what your demon insists on believing, I don’t wish to rule you. If I did, I’d have made you my own personal puppet.”

It was honestly unnerving to know he had the ability to reduce her to that. “I know. But you do expect more of me than what you’re entitled to get, and that’s not going to fly with me or my demon. I’ve told you before, you can’t be the main figure in my life when you only have one foot in it. That’s not how this is going to work. And even if I did make you the center of everything—which is never gonna happen, by the way—it still wouldn’t make you any less edgy. You try to take charge because you think you can control the bond’s draw. You can’t, Maddox. It will always call to you. It’ll never ease up. It’ll never go away.”

He stepped closer. “If we were to form the bond, you’d need to part with your secrets eventually.”

“So would you.”

“And I can’t. They’re not just my secrets to keep.”

She stilled as realization hit her. “That’s why you’re holding me at a distance.”

His gaze followed the path of his hand as he slid his hand from her wrist up her arm, over her shoulder, and up to curl around the side of her neck. “I can’t give you more than I’m already giving you. Which isn’t enough, I know. But it’s all I can give. So we go on as we are and make the best of it. Because I’m not letting you go.”

Raini stared at him, wondering what secrets he could possibly possess that drove him to hold back from his own anchor. If they weren’t just his secrets to keep, they had to involve his lair. And while she wished he’d trust her with them, she knew all about keeping secrets to protect yourself. She would have parted with hers if they had bonded, but if keeping her secrets had been necessary to also protect her girls or lair members, she wouldn’t have shared them with Maddox. Not without their permission anyway. So she’d be a total hypocrite if she gave him shit—even in her own head—for doing what he’d done.

Raini swallowed. “If that’s the way it has to be, then that’s the way it has to be. I don’t expect you to tell me things that would make others vulnerable. I can accept your reasons for making the choice you’ve made. But it doesn’t change that if you’re not in this all the way, you can’t expect me to confide in and rely on you. You just can’t. Or you could, but you’d only spend your life thoroughly disappointed because you won’t get your way in this.”

Relieved and grateful she hadn’t pushed, Maddox gave her neck a little squeeze in thanks. On one level, it galled him that she wouldn’t simply turn to him when she needed help or advice, even though he hadn’t earned that. On another level, he respected that she stood firm and refused to allow him to bulldoze her.

Similarly, despite the entity’s vexation with being held at arm’s length, it was impressed by her resolve. Not that it had ever perceived her as a pushover. No, like Maddox, it had recognized straight off that Raini was no weakling.

“You know, your name suits you,” he said.

“It does?”

“Yes. You’re rain and lightning and thunder. A storm. Electric and intense with a will of your own. But you’re not one of those people who wears their inner strength loudly and boldly, daring the world to come at them. You’re content to be a quiet force of nature, but you’re still very much a force.” And he’d be a fool to forget it.

“Oh. Um, thanks. I think.”

“Back onto the original subject, you only gave me a bullet-point version of what’s been happening,” said Maddox, sliding his hand from her neck into her hair, letting his fingers comb their way through the blonde, pink-highlighted curtain. “I want every little detail, no matter how big or small those details are. I can’t properly look into this situation if I don’t possess all of the facts.”

“Okay. But I really need a drink.”

Maddox followed her into the kitchen as she began to relay the full story. He didn’t want to believe anyone from his lair could be responsible; that they would target the anchor of their own Prime, a woman who’d done nothing to them. But could one of them have done it? Euan and Marcella might have been tempted. He wasn’t sure they had the guts to take such risks, though. Given all Raini had told him about her sister’s anchor, Dwain seemed the likeliest culprit.

Watching as Raini took a sip of the wine she’d poured herself, he said, “There are a couple of people in my lair who might target you. I’ll question them. If they’re responsible, I’ll deal with it.”

Raini leaned back against the counter. “I’m guessing one of them is Marcella, but I don’t expect you to confirm that. I didn’t mention her to Jolene. She wouldn’t have been able to resist interrogating her, and I don’t want you and my Prime at each other’s throats.”

“The only person who’ll be questioning my demons is me.”

“Ooh, how very menacing you sound. But Jolene won’t care how powerful you are or what gifts you’re rumored to have. The woman has no fear. She’s playing nice with you right now, but that can change in a heartbeat.”

“I’m well aware of that.”

“Then you’re also aware that, just as she can’t interrogate your demons, you can’t go questioning Dwain or Demi.”

Fuck, he’d walked right into that one. His demon chuckled, reluctantly impressed by the trap she’d neatly sprung. “You expect me not to question the most obvious suspect?”

“Yes, I absolutely do expect that. Don’t let the fact that Dwain has a big motive blind you. That’s not to say he’s to blame.”

“I agree.” Maddox crossed to Raini and planted a hand on the counter either side of her. “‘Big’ is relative, depending on what the individual in question considers significant. But it is very suspicious that Dwain appears to have lied about being mated. And if he continues to stay off the radar, I’ll be even more inclined to believe he’s at fault.”

“But you won’t go question him without first clearing it with Jolene, right?” Raini prompted. Whatever she saw on his face made her snicker. “Not used to clearing shit with people, huh? Well, make an exception. I really don’t want you two fighting.”

Sensing that her anxiety was very real, Maddox assured her, “I have no intention of making an enemy of your Prime. I would much rather she and I continue to play nice, since it makes life easier for you. Now, back to the subject of your sister’s anchor. Did he have much contact with you while in Vegas?”

“Not really. He did call me yesterday, wanting to meet up for lunch. I politely turned down the invitation. But he pushed and got all pissy, so I … toyed with him a little.”

“Toyed with him how?” Maddox felt his mouth quirk as she told him of her short phone conversation with Dwain. “I see.”

“I’d imagine he wasn’t feeling terribly happy with me.”

“Which could have prompted him to strike again,” Maddox mused. Yes, many things definitely pointed the finger squarely at Dwain. “I want to be kept in the loop about this.”

“If there’s anything to pass on, I’ll tell you.”

Satisfied, he said, “Good. I also need you to forward me the email that this ‘Emmett’ sent. I’m assuming you can remotely log into the studio’s email account.”

“You think you can find out who sent it?”

“Possibly. I won’t know unless I try. Now I need to speak with some of my lair members. First … ” Maddox took her mouth, sweeping his tongue inside, swallowing her soft gasp of surprise. She tasted as good as he remembered. He wanted to feast, savor, consume. But he had a few things to do.

He broke the kiss with a sharp nip to her lower lip. “Sleep naked.”

Her brow furrowed. “Why?”

“I’d rather not have to burn any more of your panties with hellfire just to get them off you.” With that, Maddox teleported to his office and then summoned both his sentinels. They materialized near the small bar.

“Something wrong?” asked Hector.

“Find Euan,” Maddox ordered. “Bring him to me.”

Carmen let out a tired sigh. “What did the dumb fucker do now?”

“Possibly nothing,” replied Maddox. “Possibly something that will earn him a punishment. Someone is attempting to boycott Raini’s business, but it’s not as simple as that.”

Sinking into his office chair, Maddox brought them up to speed. “Jolene has suspects within her own lair. She’s right to also consider that one of my demons could be behind it, given the timing of when it all began. I doubt they are, but I have to look into it.”

Carmen pursed her lips. “Slander is both Euan and Marcella’s style—they’ve proven that recently with the shit they whispered about you. They’d never make a direct move against her for fear of what you’d do. Sly maneuvers like this, though? Yeah, they might do something like that.”

“If it’s one of ours, my money is on Marcella,” said Hector, folding his arms. “Not just because she feels threatened by Raini, but because she resents that—as your anchor—Raini has a true place in your life. It’s the one thing Marcella has always wanted.”

“I intend to have a little talk with Marcella as well,” said Maddox. “But I’d like to speak with Euan first. Fetch him for me.”

Hector nodded and then teleported away.

Maddox looked back at Carmen. “Who’s currently assigned to Raini?”

“Duncan and Hoyt,” she replied. “They find it highly amusing that they’re making the employees at the Underground hotel pretty nervous. Jolene’s also stationed two demons to watch over Raini, as have the Thorne Primes.”

“I expected that they would.” While a part of Maddox reflexively balked at the thought of others taking on the duty of protecting her, since it was rightfully his duty, he’d prefer that she had the added surveillance. Halo-bearers would struggle to get to her while she was so well protected.

He’d briefly wondered if they could be responsible for the boycotting, but he’d dismissed the thought almost as soon as it drifted into his brain. This was too personal.

Just then, Hector reappeared with Euan, who looked appropriately put out. The mere sight of him made Maddox’s demon snarl. It saw only weakness when it looked at Euan. So much bitterness, arrogance, and false bravado.

Euan frowned. “I hope this won’t take long. I wasn’t even halfway through my dinner.”

Maddox gestured at the leather chair opposite him. “Have a seat.” In the past, he’d always been glad for his own sake that there was no way to read the mind of a descendant— their mental shields moved like a labyrinth, protecting their thoughts and secrets. But right then, it was supremely irritating, because he had no way of plucking the truth out of Euan’s mind.

For a moment, the other male looked like he might refuse the invitation to sit. But then he crossed to the chair and sat with a sigh. “What is this about?”

“Something was brought to my attention today.” Maddox drummed his fingers on his desk, feigning a coolness he didn’t feel. “It seems that someone has gotten it into their heads that it is perfectly acceptable to disparage my anchor’s name and boycott her business.”

Euan went very still. “Let me guess,” he said, his tone dry. “You suspect me.”

“Do you have a reason why I shouldn’t?”

“Well, I am your cousin. Just because we don’t see eye to eye doesn’t mean I would make trouble for your anchor.” Euan’s brows drew together. “You would automatically suspect that members of your own lair are involved?”

“When one of those members has proven he’s very fond of slandering people’s names and has recently shown an unhealthy lack of self-preservation, yes.”

Euan’s eyes flickered. “If anyone from our lair is responsible, it’s Marcella. It’s her you should be talking to. I have nothing to do with whatever’s going on around your precious succubus. You’re pointing the finger at the wrong person.”

Maddox pursed his lips and then shrugged. “All right.”

Euan stared at him, his lips parted. “W-what?”

“Well, if you say it wasn’t you, it wasn’t you.”

“You … you believe me?”

“Should I doubt your word?”

“No, I just … well, it’s … You don’t trust me.”

“True,” allowed Maddox. “But I don’t trust most people. Your dinner will get cold if you don’t return to it.”

For a long moment, Euan watched him closely, clearly not so convinced that Maddox believed him. But then he teleported away.

His brow creased, Hector turned to Maddox, “You didn’t interrogate him, just lightly questioned him. Why?”

“If I was to leave a single mark on him, he’d run around the lair telling everyone I’d hurt him—one of his demons, a member of my family—merely because I suspected he might be trying to stain my anchor’s name.”

“And you think that’s why he might have done it, if he is guilty,” Carmen guessed. “So he could argue that we couldn’t trust you to put us before her.”

“If Euan’s behind it, yes, I think he’d hope for that,” Maddox confirmed. “But if I truly believed he was the culprit, I’d have interrogated him in any case. For me, the likeliest person to be at fault is the anchor of Raini’s sister.”

Carmen worried her lower lip. “Would you put Raini before our lair?”

“Would you put Hector before it?” Maddox shot back, already knowing the answer. “I’ve forsaken the anchor bond, Carmen. That’s as much as I’m willing to do.”

“I get it,’ she said. “And for what it’s worth, I wish you weren’t in a position where you have to forsake it.”

So did Maddox. Raini was right in what she’d said—the bond would always call to him. He’d never be free of that. His demon would never be free of it, which increased its anger with each day that passed. Honestly, Maddox sometimes worried that the entity might take the matter into its own hands. Because although it understood the need to protect their kind, it would never put others before its own wants.

He cut his gaze back to Hector. “Bring Marcella to me.”

She must have put up a minimal amount of fuss, because the sentinel returned with her mere moments after he’d left the office.

Marcella gave Maddox a sultry smile that held a mocking tint. “Changed your mind about wanting some private time with me? You only had to call and say so.”

He gestured to the chair that Euan had vacated. “Sit down.”

She glanced from one sentinel to the other, taking in their sober expressions, and her sass fell away. “What is this?”

Maddox tipped his chin toward the chair, not speaking until she’d finally sat down. “I have a question. If you were me, and you heard that someone was trying to boycott your anchor’s business and shit on their name, who would you suspect could be involved?”

Marcella’s eyes widened. “You believe I did that?”

Maddox flicked up a brow. “Is that what I said?”

Her mouth tightened. “We wouldn’t be having this conversation if you didn’t believe it was me.”

“Now that’s where you’re wrong, Marcella. If I wholeheartedly believed it was you who was playing these games with my anchor, you’d be in the cellar right now begging for mercy you’d never get.” Her pleas would mean nothing to him or his demon.

She swallowed hard. “But you suspect me.”

“Do you think I shouldn’t?”

Her mouth bopped open and closed. “I can see why you would. It’s no secret that I don’t like that she’s around. But it’s also no secret that I don’t like pain. I have nothing to gain from playing with her. The only thing it would get me is hours of torture. She’s not worth that for me.”

“Hmm. Any theories on who in our lair might be tempted to toy with her?”

“If I did have any, I wouldn’t name names.”

“Noble. Euan wasn’t so noble. He pointed the finger right at you.”

She. “Of course he did. It’s just like him to throw someone under the bus to divert suspicion from himself.” She paused. “I didn’t do it, Maddox. I swear to you, I didn’t.”

“Glad to hear it,” he said. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

Surprise rippled across her face. That surprise quickly gave way to wariness. Just as Euan had done, she waited a few moments before teleporting out of the office.

“Think she was telling the truth?” Hector asked him.

Maddox rubbed at his jaw. “She meant it when she said Raini wasn’t, in her mind, worth going through hours of pain. But she’d play such games if she thought she could get away with it. As for having nothing to gain by it? That’s both true and false. Hurting Raini wouldn’t gain her what she wanted.”

“Which is to be your co-Prime,” said Carmen.

Maddox nodded. “But it would gain Marcella the mere satisfaction of pissing off both me and Raini. She’s spiteful enough to do that.” Nevertheless, he wasn’t convinced she was to blame.

“It could be Euan and Marcella working together, though I doubt it,” said Hector. “Neither would trust the other not to be setting them up to take the fall. What now?”

“Now I try tracking the sender of the email,” replied Maddox. “I’ve had Raini forward it to me. And if it does lead me anywhere, I would say it will lead me to Dwain.”

“At least you don’t have to worry that she’ll be physically harmed by whoever’s doing this,” said Carmen. “They appear to be content with simply fucking with her.”

“Not if they’re the one who sent the astral projector her way,” Maddox pointed out.

Hector frowned. “But I thought he was aiming for … You think he meant to hit Raini?”

Maddox shrugged, feeling his jaw harden. “What I know for sure is that my demon wouldn’t have been able to handle knowing she was so vulnerable. It would have worried about her day and night. I’d have been no better. My attention would have been divided, which isn’t good when you have halo-bearers on your ass.

“Also, I’d have spent more time with her than usual, trusting that she was safe while with me, so someone could have then made a case that I was too distracted by my anchor to lead the lair properly anymore. That would have caused a massive wave of unease among the lair, considering our demons are relying on me to keep them safe from the halo-bearers.”

“Making her vulnerable would have, in a roundabout way, made you vulnerable—not just to attack from halo-bearers, but as a Prime,” Carmen realized.

“Which would have suited both Euan and Marcella,” said Maddox. “Euan, because he wants to be Prime. And Marcella, because her only hope of mating the ruler of this lair is if said ruler isn’t me. So, yes, there’s a very real possibility that one of our own betrayed me this way. I don’t think they did, but we can’t rule them out.”

Carmen sighed. “Hell.”