Fallen by Suzanne Wright

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

When it became apparent that Raini could wield psychic hellfire, the first thing she’d been taught to do was strangle the ability. Her parents had explained how important it was that she never use it. It wasn’t until she was much older that Jolene decided it would be best if Raini learned how to control it rather than simply suppress it.

Perhaps the Prime hadn’t liked that she’d asked Raini to effectively cut off a small piece of herself, but Raini hadn’t minded. It was better to have spent years suppressing it than to have accidentally destroyed an anchor bond. Once destroyed, there was no way to restore it. Worse, the unnatural severing of the bond could trigger the affected demons to turn rogue.

The entity that lived within every demon was a heartless psychopathic predator. The only thing that gave it a sense of balance was that it shared its soul with a person. If it no longer had that person’s sense of goodness touching its soul, it would be a being of pure darkness. The ultimate evil.

Rogues weren’t insane, but they cared nothing for logic. They felt no need to curb their desires, no matter how cruel those desires were. They’d kill indiscriminately for no other reason than that they felt like doing so—and they wouldn’t care if their actions caught the attention of humans.

The dark satisfaction they attained from inflicting pain and misery was like a drug to them. So, yes, it was never good to have a rogue on the loose. The death toll would always be high.

Only one other person in the history of Raini’s lair had ever possessed the ability to wield psychic hellfire, and that person had left behind awful scars that taunted the lair even a century later. On losing his own anchor in a tragic accident, Doyle had been so utterly devastated that he’d withdrawn from life, leaving his demon in charge.

The entity had wreaked havoc— cremating anchor bonds here, there, and everywhere. The result? Their Prime and a high number of others turned rogue.

Just one rogue could cause utter chaos. A whole horde of them were practically impossible to defeat. They had not only attacked the others within their lair, they targeted outsiders and humans—causing an epic clusterfuck.

Several of the other Primes had united to destroy the rogues, leaving the lair so small and vulnerable that some of the larger lairs had taken advantage—bullying them and trying to steal away the more powerful members, even if those members were children.

Jolene worried that if the rest of the lair knew of Raini’s ability, they’d demand that she leave for fear that history would repeat itself. And so they’d kept it quiet, hoping there never came a time when the information fell into the wrong hands. That time might now have arrived. The fact that she possessed the descendants’ secrets should still the tongue of anyone who felt like causing trouble for her. Should.

“I say we trust her,” said Celia, to which Gunther nodded.

Euan bristled. “And what if she breaks her word?”

“She hasn’t done it so far, has she?” Maddox pointed out. “If she was a person whose word meant nothing, she wouldn’t have come to me the day after I healed her friend. She wouldn’t have allowed me to place the psychic tag in her mind. She wouldn’t have stuck to our deal every step of the way.”

An elderly descendant sighed. “I can’t say I trust that she won’t betray us—like she said, she doesn’t know us—but I trust she won’t betray you, Maddox, so … ”

The redhead again spoke. “I don’t feel comfortable with this. I know that she’s your anchor, Maddox. I have nothing against her on a personal level, but I … ”

“Let’s say a haze took Jordan tomorrow, Pen,” Maddox said to her. “Would you be happy to isolate him in the mausoleum where he’d scream and scream but no one would hear him? Or would you want Raini to help him?”

Pen snapped her mouth shut. A deep sigh left her. “All right, if you honestly believe she won’t betray us, I’ll agree to trust her. I’m still not comfortable with it, but I’ll do it.”

Others said pretty much the same thing, even Marcella.

Euan shot to his feet, glowering. “Letting an outsider possess this knowledge goes against everything our kind is taught.” He sliced his gaze to Raini. “If you betray our secret—” He cut off at the growl that rumbled out of his Prime.

Maddox glared at the piece of shit. “Don’t. Fucking. Dare. You do not threaten her. Ever. Is that understood? Bear in mind that I’ve killed people for less.”

Clenching his fists, Euan opened his mouth … but he said nothing. He teleported away instead. Which Raini’s demon found seriously disappointing, because it had wanted a chance to pummel the little shit.

“The meeting is over,” Maddox declared.

Descendants began to leave until, finally, there was only him, Raini, and his two sentinels.

Carmen blew out a breath. “That actually went pretty well.”

“I thought so,” said Hector. “But then, they probably only behaved so cooperatively for selfish reasons.”

Maddox nodded. Yes, his demons would want Raini to step in if they or someone they cared for were taken by a haze. They’d spent too long watching each other suffer in such a way, never believing anything or anyone could help them.

Maddox held his hand out to Raini. “Now for our next meeting. There’s still some time left before it should begin, but I have a feeling that Jolene and whoever else is concerned for you will already be waiting, anxious to see you.”

“This won’t go so well. They’re pretty mad at us both.” Standing, she placed her hand in his. “Before we go, we need to get our story straight. What am I supposed to tell them happened?”

Maddox thought on it for a moment. “As I know you’ll want to tell as few lies as possible, we’ll simply say that you were knocked out by a psychic blow and then wavered to my club by a halo-bearer who hoped to use you to distract me; that you didn’t come around until after the fight was over.” It meant she’d have to say very little, since she could claim she was unconscious for most of what happened.

“Okay,” she said simply.

“I know you don’t like the idea of deceiving them—”

“Really, it’s okay. If they knew, they’d understand. It helps to know that.”

He studied her face and then, satisfied she truly understood the lies were necessary, he nodded.

“Want Carmen and me to come along?” Hector asked him.

Maddox shook his head. “Keep an eye on things here. It’s doubtful that Castiel will make another move tonight, but there’s always a chance.” With that, he teleported himself and Raini to the living area of the penthouse.

He wasn’t in the least bit surprised to find the room full of people, including her parents, her colleagues, and Jolene. Things went exactly as he’d expected they would. People descended on Raini, checked she was fine, and demanded to know what happened.

He told them that she’d been dumped at the club during the halo-bearer attack as an intended distraction, and that Maddox had killed the angel responsible and placed her out of harm’s way.

While her friends, family, and lair members were grateful that he had “saved” her, they were still furious about being prevented from seeing her straight away, and so they spent a little time ranting about it.

Maddox didn’t attempt to explain or justify it, seeing no reason to do so. He’d made the right decision by Raini … who was now rubbing her temples, he then noticed. Maddox felt his jaw tighten. “You’ve all seen that Raini’s fine,” he said, cutting them off. “You’ve heard what happened. So perhaps you could stop yelling—she’s had a tough time of it, she doesn’t need to be dealing with your anger on top of everything else.”

Many sighed and lost their confrontational postures.

“He’s right,” Devon said to no one in particular. “We all need to calm ourselves down.”

“It’s not that easy,” said Evangeline. “I’m still an internal mess after hearing that both my daughters were missing.”

“But surely you all now understand why Maddox couldn’t just drop everything to bring me here,” said Raini.

“I do, yeah, but surely you can understand why we might have wanted answers like yesterday,” Harper said to her. “I absolutely shit myself when I realized you were missing. Devon was in a blind panic. And Khloë went quiet, which is never good.”

“I answered your telepathic yells as soon as I regained consciousness,” said Raini.

“But you didn’t tell us what happened, which meant our imagination pretty much went wild,” said Khloë, whirling her fingers near the sides of her head.

Raini lifted her shoulders. “I was a little out of it when I first came around from the psychic blow,” she lied so smoothly and convincingly that his demon was rather impressed. “Maddox thought it’d be better if I conserved my energy—using telepathy wasn’t gonna do that.”

Harper snapped her mouth shut, unable to argue that.

Jolene went toe-to-toe with him. “I appreciate that your attention was somewhat divided earlier, considering you had halo-bearers to deal with and one hell of a mess to clean up,” she said, not sounding as though she truly appreciated it. “But you could have brought her to us after the battle was over.”

“I could have,” he granted, which appeared to take her off-guard.

“And yet, you didn’t.”

Maddox gave a lazy shrug. “I don’t particularly see why I should have.”

Jolene’s brow hiked up. “You don’t see why?”

“No. I see why you would have wanted me to do it, but this isn’t about you.” Maddox looked around the room. “It’s not about any of you except Raini. That seems to have gotten lost among your own anger and anxiety, which I don’t find an excuse.”

“Is that a fact?” asked Jolene.

“Yes, it is. Raini was plucked out of her place of work—somewhere very special to her, somewhere she’s always considered a haven—and tossed into a dangerous situation. I cared more about her state of mind and well-being than I did yours. I wanted her where I could see her; where I knew she was safe. And if she and I find ourselves in a situation like that again, I will do exactly the same thing. You’re her Prime, I understand that. But never expect me to put you or your rights before her, Jolene. It won’t ever happen.”

There was a long moment of silence, and then Jolene’s mouth curved into a smug smirk. “Good. It’s about time you stepped up.”

Letting out a relieved breath, Raini raked a hand through her hair. “Please tell me this means you two aren’t going to get into a—Dad, put the knife away.”

Lachlan turned wide innocent eyes on her. “Do I tell you what to do with your things? No.”

She inhaled through her nose, her fingers flexing. “Dad.”

He frowned and waved a dismissive hand. “Stop making a fuss over nothing.”

Sliding an arm around Raini’s shoulders, Evangeline gave her a little squeeze. “Relax, sweetheart, he’s not going to throw it.”

Raini looked at her. “You said that at Aunt Rissa’s birthday party. Twenty seconds later, my ex had a blade buried in his shoulder.”

“That was an accident,” said Lachlan. “I was aiming for the pinata.”

Raini let her head fall forward. “I’m done.”

It was another hour before people began to leave the penthouse. Eventually, only she and Maddox—who her father had apparently decided not to stab—were left.

“Jolene sensed there was more to the story, but she let it be,” he said.

Raini nodded, rubbing at her nape. “I was surprised she didn’t push.”

Maddox crossed to her. “She probably sensed it would do her no good.” He took her hand. “Come on.”

“Where are we going now?” Raini blinked as the world flashed white, and then they stood in a massive swanky hotel suite. Like the cathedral, it had a vaulted ceiling, broad beams, stained arched windows, and rough stone walls. The monastery, she thought. “Is this your room? Suite? Whatever?”

“Yes,” he replied, settling his hands on her hips.

The studious look on his face made her frown. “What?”

“I kept wondering why fate gave you to me. Now I know.”

Anchors were supposed to keep each other strong. Given that she could free him and his lair members from a haze … “Mystery solved.”

Cupping her chin, he swept the pad of his thumb over her lower lip. “Now that you know my secrets and I know yours, there’s no reason to hold back from the bond.”

Her heart jumped, and her demon went on full alert. The entity still wasn’t terribly pleased with him, but it did understand why he’d so far failed to officially claim Raini as his anchor. It would give him a chance to make it right if he was prepared to be the psi-mate they needed, not a half-assed one.

Raini bit her lip. “Are you sure you want to form the bond?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“If we were to do this, you wouldn’t be able to keep me compartmentalized from the other aspects of your life anymore. That’s not what it means to have an anchor.”

“Which is why I held back before. As I said, there’s no need to do so now.”

“You also wouldn’t be able to hold me to the terms of our deal. We’d be starting afresh as psi-mates, and we’d each deserve the respect that should come with that. You’d need to trust me to rely on you, not wangle my compliance out of me.”

He twisted his mouth. “All right. But I want you to keep the psychic tag for now. If it hadn’t been for that tag, I wouldn’t have known where you were earlier. Until the halo-bearers have backed off, I’d like to have that peace of mind that I can always find you.”

Yeah, she’d figured he’d say that. “I can agree to that.” It cost her nothing to permit him to leave it there a little longer, and she’d rather have the reassurance that she wouldn’t be plain fucked if the angels came back and pulled more crap. It was clear those guys meant business. “You’d also need to—”

“Raini, you don’t have to tell me everything that comes with having an anchor. I already know, just like I know this is what I want. Everything is out in the open now. You’re trusting me with your skeletons, and I’m trusting you with mine. That’s how it’s supposed to be. So, yes, I want to form the bond.” He raked his teeth over her lower lip. “And I want to be inside you when I do it.”

Maddox closed his mouth over hers and sank his tongue inside. He kissed her exactly how he wanted to fuck her; how he would fuck her. Hard and deep and rough.

She clung to his shoulders, kissing him back, letting him feel the bite of her nails through his shirt. Maddox slipped his hand around that pretty throat he wanted to bite. He’d held her like that when he fucked her the previous night.

His demon wanted to take her now. Knowing they were about to claim her as their anchor, the entity was too worked up to care that she might not be wet enough to take it without pain yet. It just wanted in her. So did Maddox, but not until she was slick and ready.

Still devouring her mouth, he backed her into the small dining table, lifted her, and set her on the wooden surface. “I want you naked.” He whipped off her tee and bra. “Elbows.”

She double-blinked, as if striving to process his order. Finally, she lay back, keeping herself propped up on her elbows.

“That’s it, exactly like that,” Maddox praised, ragging off her jeans and panties. “Now don’t move.” He slid his hands under her ass, raised her hips, and clamped his mouth around her pussy. The sharp breath she sucked in went straight to his cock.

He loved going down on her. Loved her taste, her scent, how shamelessly she demanded more. Usually, he’d take his time; play and tease and savor. Not tonight. His demon didn’t have the patience to wait, and Maddox couldn’t chance that the entity wouldn’t simply surface and take her before she was ready. So he drove her up hard and fast, squeezing her ass tight as she came, knowing he’d leave bruises.

Maddox lowered her hips, snatched her hand, and pulled her upright. “Taste yourself.” He fisted her hair and took her mouth again, growling in approval as she tore open his fly and freed his cock. “Hungry for it?”

Oh, Raini was. She absolutely was, and she saw no need to pretend otherwise. Playing it cool wouldn’t get her royally fucked, and she was all about those royal fucks.

She curled her hand tight around his rock-hard shaft and pumped, keeping her grip just right. During their other nights together, she’d learned what he liked and how he liked it.

Raini frowned when he removed her hand. “Hey, I was in the middle of something.”

“You can make me come with that talented little hand of yours later,” he said, yanking her closer. He inched the thick head of his dick into her pussy. “Quick warning: my demon is probably going to bite you. You got a problem with that?”

Nu-uh. Call her weird, but she kind of got off on the idea. Curling her limbs around him, she lifted a brow. “Would it matter if I did?”

One corner of Maddox’s mouth kicked up. “No.” He grabbed a fistful of her hair and rammed his cock inside her.

She winced at the flash of pain, but then the discomfort was washed away by pure pleasure as he began to move. He rode her hard, using his grip on her hair to keep her mouth pressed lightly to his, as if he wanted to drink down her every breath and gasp and moan.

“After three, we both let go,” he said, and she knew what he meant—they would both ease the hold they’d kept on their psyches to stop them from connecting. “One, two, three.”

Their minds collided with such force she’d have staggered if she’d been standing, and she came hard even as their psyches fused together—two spheres intersecting rather than becoming one mind. And then, that easily, Maddox’s psychic presence pulsed inside her, alive with his dominance and power and strength, bolstering her in a way she couldn’t explain. It even had a “taste.” Bourbon and rich chocolate dessert. All of it enlivened and stabilized her demon.

Realizing his cock was still hard inside her, that he hadn’t yet come, she opened her eyes. His entity stared back at her, its black gaze glinting with intent, and she sensed another royal fuck coming on. Awesome.

“Feeling pretty smug now that you’ve got what you want?” she asked, because her own demon sure was.

“I already had what I wanted; you were already mine,” it replied, squeezing her breast. “Now it is merely official.”

She winced as it roughly twisted her nipple. “You like to hurt me, don’t you?”

The demon’s mouth curved. “Only in a good way.” And oh, then it started fucking her like it hated her. Which did hurt in a good way. Every thrust was a little too rough and went a little too deep, but she didn’t want it to stop.

She jumped as it snapped a hand around her upper throat and pressed its thumb at the hollow of her right ear. She ground her teeth as the flesh there began to burn, and she realized it was leaving the anchor mark on her.

Sheer satisfaction glittered in that black gaze. “Do it.”

Knowing what it wanted, she returned the favor and left her own mark on the hollow beneath its right ear—an infinity symbol that she knew would have a slight personal difference but, right then, she couldn’t properly see what it was. And while her orgasm was creeping closer and closer, it was kind of hard to care about anything else.

Still brutally jackhammering into her, the demon slipped a hand between them. “Tonight, I will be the one who comes inside you.” It parted her folds, exposing her clit to its thrusts, and oh God oh God oh God she was gonna—

It sank its teeth into her neck. The hot stab of fire shot straight to her core and sent her tumbling into the mother of all orgasms. The demon drank and drank as her release all but destroyed her. She felt its teeth unlock from her neck just as it powered harder and harder into her pussy before, finally, it jammed its cock deep. She felt its hot come splash her inner walls.

She sagged against its chest, gasping for air, limp as a damn noodle.

A hand stroked her hair with a gentleness that told her Maddox was back in control. “You okay?” he asked.

She hummed, too fucking out of it to talk. Hell, she didn’t even have the energy to lift her eyelids. She felt him press his palm to hers, and then his power rushed to her neck, healing the bite.

“You taste far too good.” He pulled out of her and then carried her to the bed, where he carefully set her down on the mattress. “You’ll sleep here.”

She only hummed again. It was mere seconds later that sleep dragged her under.