Fallen by Suzanne Wright

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

His anchor sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “I guess I should have seen this coming.”

Lying on his side next to her, Maddox doodled circles around her navel piercing with his finger. “You would be safer here, Raini.”

“I’m perfectly safe at the penthouse. No halo-bearer could bypass Knox’s security measures.”

Probably not. It was the “probably” part that bothered Maddox and his demon. They needed to be as certain as possible that she was perfectly safe. His entity would prefer to therefore keep her at its side at all times, but that wasn’t feasible.

“The security measures only surround the penthouse floor,” he reminded her. “They could snatch you right out of the reception area before anyone had a moment to react, just as they took you from the studio. That was ballsy, but it was also effective. They may think to try it again.”

She must have sensed where he was going with this, because her eyes narrowed. “Don’t ask me to take time off work.”

“Your girls will ask the same of you. They’re as concerned as I am. They will need the same peace of mind that I need.”

“I don’t think the angels will try to take me again. Their plan didn’t work out so well last time, and they’ll expect me to be on my guard. Besides, you pretty much laid down a gauntlet. The archangel won’t send more minions, he’ll come for you himself.”

“Maybe. But it’s very rare that archangels leave their realm. It usually only happens if they choose to fall. If an ant challenged me, I’d laugh and go on about my day. That’s all we are to them. Insects. Creatures beneath their notice. The only reason he’s concerning himself with me and my kind is that he believes it’ll please the higher-ups, who absolutely despise that a breed of demon possesses holy blood.”

“So Castiel might just find your challenge ridiculous.”

Maddox gently tapped her piercing. “Yes.”

Frowning, she absentmindedly traced the grim reaper tattoo on his shoulder. “But aside from the one you released yesterday, you’ve killed every other halo-bearer he sent after you and your lair, right?”

“He could view that as weakness on their part rather than strength on mine.” Archangels could be incredibly arrogant and underestimated demons a great deal. That was their mistake.

“If he does consider you easy to kill, he might decide to take the matter into his own hands.”

“Oh, he will eventually if he hopes to make a statement to the higher-ups. But whether he’ll do it sooner rather than later is something I can’t be certain of. So, in the meantime, I want you close. You may be right; he may not choose to target you again. But do you really think I’ll ever take chances with your life?”

“Maddox—”

“If you couldn’t wield psychic hellfire, you might have died at Gunther’s hands last night.” The sight Maddox had found when he’d teleported into the mausoleum—her pale and injured and bitten—was one he’d never forget. “I noticed the amount of burns he had. You’d hit him with plenty of orbs of regular hellfire. I’ll bet none made him hesitate, did they? You could have retaliated with everything in you, but he wouldn’t have felt the pain. He wouldn’t have been able to think about anything other than draining you dry.”

She swallowed. “I know that. But I can wield psychic hellfire, so it didn’t happen. I’m not helpless.”

“No, you’re not. But the more often you use that ability, the more you risk others finding out about it.”

“So, what, you want me to not only temporarily quit my job but relocate here?”

He smoothed his hand up her stomach to loosely palm her breast. “Yes, that’s about it.”

“I might consider the first, purely because if the halo-bearers do return to the studio, my girls could get hurt—not to mention any innocent clients. But I won’t move here. I wouldn’t be safe.”

“I told you, halo-bearers can’t penetrate this building. Do you think I’d lie to you about that?”

“No, I don’t. But I do think you’re forgetting the none too small issue that your lair hasn’t accepted me all the way. I don’t know what that guy Euan’s problem is, but he definitely doesn’t want me here. Marcella would happily string me up by my own intestines.”

“Only in her head. She knows such a move would get her killed in real life.” And it would not be a quick death—Marcella would know that.

“And what if you’re wrong? What if she or Euan or someone else attacked me? You going to get pissed if I’m forced to use psychic hellfire to defend myself?”

“Yes, because it would rob me of the chance to punish them for hurting you.” His demon would want to get its licks in just the same.

“I wouldn’t feel safe here, Maddox. Or welcome, for that matter. I wouldn’t be able to settle. I’d be on edge all the time.”

“You’re so certain my lair doesn’t approve of you?”

“Uh, yeah.”

He shook his head. “That’s never been the issue, Raini. They were nervous about having an outsider around. Their reservations were never personal to you.”

“They were in the case of Marcella, because she wants to be in this bed, doesn’t she?” Raini squinted, a dangerous glint in her eyes. “Has she ever been in here?”

“No. I don’t shit where I eat.”

“In other words, you don’t sleep with your lair members?”

He thumbed her nipple. “It can bring complications.”

“And sleeping with your anchor can’t?”

“Nothing was going to keep me from having you. I knew that. I knew better than to fight it, so I didn’t try. I don’t see why it has to complicate things. Do they feel complicated?”

“Not right now, no.”

“Good.” He sucked her nipple into his mouth, liking her little gasp. He’d woken her not long after he put her to bed, needing her again. Needing to come inside her, since his demon had robbed him of that the first time round.

The feel of her psychic presence in his mind was more intimate than he would have expected. Perhaps because it felt like her; because it hummed with her strength, her sweetness, her spunk, her innate sensuality. And then there was her psychic taste. Vanilla, peaches, and cream.

At first, it had felt strange to be so connected with her, to feel their minds occasionally brush against each other on instinct, but he was becoming accustomed to it now. And he knew that, for all his power, he could never have stabilized his demon the way this bond did.

She flinched when he raked his teeth over her nipple. “Your demon didn’t take much of my blood last night. Is that normal?”

He lathed the taut bud with his tongue to soothe the sting. “Unless we’re taken by a haze, we don’t need to drink much.”

“Do you guys only feed from each other? I mean … I don’t see how else you can hide what you do.”

“It’s not difficult, because descendants can heal minor injuries. Then we remove the memory afterward.”

“Wait, all descendants can go patrolling around people’s heads the way you do?”

“No. They can only remove a very recent memory— nothing more.”

She trailed a finger down his chest. “But you can do more than remove a recent memory. Much more.”

“My psychic abilities are stronger than that of the other descendants. Probably due to my archangelic blood.” It was strange speaking of all these things he usually held inside, but it didn’t feel uncomfortable. He knew he could trust her. No one had ever been solely his before, but Raini was.

“So archangels are super strong in a psychic sense?”

“That is what I’ve heard. I’ve only ever met one. He recently fell, and he isn’t very forthcoming about what he is. I do know he has to drink blood, so it’s not just fallen angels that are cursed with it.”

Sighing, she shook her head. “I had no idea that happened to the Fallen.”

“Most don’t.” Maddox brushed his thumb over the small, glistening mark his demon had left beneath the hollow of her ear. The line at the center of the infinity symbol had very small wings. He’d gotten a good look at his own mark, so he knew an R sat within the first loop of the symbol.

“The masters of the upper realm don’t like it when angels fall,” he went on. “This is their punishment. Personally, I think it’s mostly supposed to serve as a deterrent to those who might consider falling. It probably works in most cases—who wants to survive on blood? Others, for whatever reason, are prepared to live that way.”

“How often do they have to feed?”

“Weekly. My kind doesn’t. We don’t have the same appetite. It’s in us, but it doesn’t rule us. It’s more like a … side-effect of whatever angelic genes are locked into descendant DNA.”

She shook her head as she said, “I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me that the reason your kind is so insular is that you have things to hide. I, like others, just assumed you didn’t hold other breeds in high esteem.”

“We don’t, because the majority of them treat us as less. We’re not all so inclusive, though. There are even some descendants who choose other breeds as mates. In those instances, they either stick to the common practice of hiding their curse from their partners, or they make the decision to trust said partners with their secret. But they know their lair will kill their mate should that person betray their confidence, so they don’t trust lightly.”

“And since no one really wants to take a mate who they’ll need to either lie to or be prepared to one day let their lair kill, they commonly choose to mate with another descendant.” Raini understood, hiding the compassion she couldn’t help but feel— no alpha male reacted well to someone feeling bad for them, which she thought was plain dumb, but whatever. “I guess it helps that your anchors, until now, were only ever descendants. Why do you think that is?”

“We’ve always assumed it’s because the other breeds of demon don’t possess angelic blood like we do.”

“Makes sense. Do you wonder if more of your kind will soon have other breeds of demon as their anchors?”

“We’ve all wondered that ever since I found you. In most cases, having a psi-mate stabilizes us enough to stop a haze from taking us.”

Raini blinked. “Really?”

“Yes. It’s why each of us long to find our anchor. It’s our one hope of being spared that nightmare. But as fate gave me you, my demons are now fearing that if their anchor turns out to be another breed, they may have to forsake them.”

Her heart squeezed. “God, no wonder they’re having such trouble accepting me. It’s not just about an outsider knowing their secrets. Accepting me means accepting that their futures regarding their psi-mates are in flux, and many of them may actually never have the one thing that could spare them the hazes.” Hell.

“Some, like me, have never had to endure one, but that doesn’t mean they never will.” Maddox ghosted his fingertips along her collarbone. “How many of your lair know of your ability to wield psychic hellfire?”

Rolling with the abrupt change of subject, she replied, “Not many. My parents, my sister, my girls, my dad’s brothers, Jolene, and Khloë’s brother.”

“Why do you feel you can’t trust more of them with your secret? They’re your lair members. Surely it wouldn’t make them hesitate to accept you.”

“It’s because of what happened with one of our old lair members, Doyle.” Raini gave Maddox the entire story, finding it surprisingly easy to confide in him. The bond was much more intense than she’d thought it would be, but not invasive to the point where they could feel each other’s emotions; she liked that. “Maybe people wouldn’t react badly to hearing what I can do. But if they did, they’d want me gone.” Her family would leave with her, but not before her father and uncle leveled a few blocks with their idea of “household chemical warfare.”

His eyes narrowed, sharp. “So your sister knows how deadly you are. She’d know you’d have to be drained of power in order to be defeated by her.”

Raini stilled, sensing what he was hinting at. “She didn’t send the astral projector after me. She wouldn’t do that.” Or so Raini told herself. Her demon didn’t have such faith in Demi.

“Just because someone is family doesn’t mean they’re loyal. Take Euan, for example. He’s my cousin, but he’d like nothing more than to usurp me. He’s tried a few underhanded methods in order to do so.”

Her entity’s upper lip quivered in distaste. “I knew he was an asshole. My demon branded him as weak the moment he first opened his mouth.”

“He is weak. Too weak to even see that the high opinion he has of himself is a fantasy.”

Raini played her fingers through his short hair, lightly kneading his scalp. “Do you have any other family members in your lair?”

He shook his head. “I used to. But then our lair once went head-to-head with another—and much larger—lair of descendants. Many died, including my parents.”

Her fingers stilled in his hair. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, her chest tightening. “What caused the battle?”

“The attack on us wasn’t personal. The other lair simply wanted more power, wanted to increase their numbers.”

She felt her face harden. “So they went around challenging lairs, killing some members, taking others.” Fucking assholes.

“Yes. It’s a practice as old as time for demons.”

Sadly, he wasn’t wrong. “Are any of the shitheads alive now?”

“Not since I became Prime.”

“You killed them all? Good.”

“I didn’t do it alone.” He dipped his head and licked at the vein in her throat. “Every one of my demons participated in avenging those we lost. They’re not all fighters by nature, but not a single one of them was prepared to hang back. They all wanted blood.”

“Quite a few lairs targeted ours in the past. They generally don’t bother so much nowadays.”

“Because Jolene has enough plants in various places to know when a lair might think to attack her own. If she hears such a thing, she launches a pre-emptive strike, and she’s never subtle about it.”

Raini nodded, smiling. “Nor does she stop at just that one move. She makes them pay in many ways for a very long time— none of those ways can be traced back to her. Other Primes seem to believe it’s not worth pissing her off. I think even Knox would hesitate to mess with her. It’s not about her level of power, it’s about her level of crazy. I adore her.” She blushed as her stomach rumbled.

His mouth quirked. “Hungry?”

“Kind of.”

He draped his body over hers. “So am I.” He fucked her hard and fast to her utter goddamn delight, making her come so hard she’d swear she felt it in her gums.

A short time later, they were striding into the massive hall of the monastery that featured long-ass tables on which many descendants sat, eating breakfast. A hush fell over the large space as they entered, and some stiffened at the sight of her. Others merely went back to their food, paying her no mind.

Maddox guided her to the table around which his sentinels, Gunther, and Celia were gathered. Too hungry to care about looking polite, Raini didn’t hesitate to help herself to the various foods that were piled on platters in the center of the table. She let the mindless chatter go on around her, concentrating on enjoying her breakfast. Until Hector spoke to her.

“So, Raini, is it true that some succubae can kill with sex? I’ve always wanted to know.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a myth,” she said before sticking a forkful of food into her mouth.

“What about the whole kiss-enslavement thing? Are there really succubae who can make a person subservient to them just by kissing them?”

Raini pursed her lips. “Some say there are. Some say there aren’t.”

“I wouldn’t have thought a succubus could wield psychic hellfire. I was under the impression that their powers are always sex-based.”

“Most make that mistake. We’re often dismissed as real threats.”

He set down his cutlery. “Can you only strike one person at a time with the psychic hellfire?”

She took a swig of her coffee. “The truth?”

“Yeah,” he replied.

Voices quietened again, and she knew people would be having a good eavesdrop on this conversation. All right, maybe it would be better to let them know how sharp her claws were. It would be the best way to ensure anyone thought twice about targeting her.

She shrugged one shoulder and spoke matter-of-factly. “I could send out a blast of it that would liquefy and consume every brain in this room aside from my own. Your skulls would cave in, which is a dead giveaway that the cause of death is psychic hellfire, so I’d have to burn every corpse to get rid of the evidence. It really wouldn’t take long, though. Then I’d go home, shower, dispose of my clothes. People would eventually find your ashes, but your deaths would never be traced back to me—I’d be very careful not to leave anything of myself behind.” She frowned. “Why does that make you smile?”

“It’s so … vicious,” said Hector. “Lacks any mercy. I like that.” His eyes narrowed. “You’re not quite as sweet as you come across, are you?”

“Sure I am. Someone can be lethal and still be a relatively nice person. People just tend to assume that the most dangerous beings wear that danger on the outside.”

“And you’re careful not to,” mused Carmen.

Raini lifted a brow at her. “Wouldn’t you be, in my position?”

Carmen nodded. “Yeah, for sure.”

“Does it bother you that we drink blood?” asked Celia.

“It’s not like you do it for shits and giggles,” said Raini. “You can’t help what you are. And Maddox told me you don’t kill your ‘food,’ so no.”

They asked her more questions—some about her gift, some about her lair, some about her job, but nothing too invasive. She wasn’t sure if they were trying to get to know her or just being nosy.

Once she was finally done eating, she leaned into Maddox and said, “I need to go to the penthouse now.”

He looked down at her for a long moment and then sighed. “If you go to work, Carmen goes with you. She’ll stay in the studio. If you need to enter another room, she will go with you. If you need to leave the building for any reason, she will go with you.”

“I’m sensing you think I’m going to argue. Why would I? She’s a badass.”

Carmen snorted a laugh. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Plus, when Harper, Devon, and Khloë were dealing with shit of their own, I asked them to be smart and accept whatever level of protection they needed,” Raini added. “I’d be a hypocrite to fight you on this.”

Once they’d both finished breakfast, he teleported her straight to her bedroom within the penthouse. “Carmen will wait in the reception area for you,” he said, cupping her hips. “You should still consider staying with me until all this is over.”

Raini sighed. The man was nothing if not persistent. “I told you, I wouldn’t feel safe there.”

“That will change once you get to know my demons and they get to know you. Which is good, because then you’ll have no problem switching to my lair either.”

Her head jerked back. “Switching to—” She cut off as his mouth landed on hers and kissed her hard. Then he teleported away without a word. Raini shook her head. “Unreal.”

“I thought I heard voices,” said Harper, entering the room with Devon and Khloë. “What’s unreal?”

Raini smiled. “Hey, I didn’t realize you guys were here.” Taking in their somber expressions, she folded her arms. “You’ve come to ask me to take some time off work, haven’t you?” Exactly as Maddox had predicted.

Devon gave her a sheepish look. “We just want to make it hard for anyone to get to you.”

Raini lifted a hand before the three of them could begin a lecture. “I’ve been through all this with Maddox. I don’t want to have this conversation again.”

“He doesn’t want you going to Urban Ink either?” asked Harper.

“No,” replied Raini. “More, he wants me to move in with him for a while. And eventually transfer to his lair, now that he and I are bonded.” None of the girls looked surprised by her news.

“After the way he acted here yesterday, I expected him to shrug past whatever was holding him back,” said Harper. “I also figured he’d ask you to join his lair. Anchors typically like being close—it helps ease the protectiveness a little. Knox asked the same of me when we first found each other.”

Devon sidled up to Raini. “How would you feel about joining Maddox’s lair?”

Raini felt her nose wrinkle. “Not so good. I love my lair. Plus, his demons aren’t sold on me. Two in particular are not Raini-fans.”

Khloë frowned. “How can someone not be a Raini-fan? That’s like someone not being a Khloë-fan—it makes no sense.”

Harper looked at her cousin. “I can think of a few people who aren’t Khloë-fans, and you’ve given them undeniably valid reasons for that.”

The imp flicked a dismissive hand. “Those incidences don’t count.”

“Why not?” asked Harper.

“Because I don’t want them to.” Khloë turned back to Raini. “On another note, want to tell us what really happened yesterday? Maddox is a super good liar—I was very impressed—but I sensed there was more to the story.”

Raini let out a long breath. She didn’t want to lie to them, but there was no way she’d break her word to Maddox. “I would tell you if I could.”

Khloë twisted her mouth and then shrugged. “Fair enough.”

Raini felt her brow crease. “You’re not going to push?”

“Some things just can’t be shared,” said Khloë. “At least not without betraying a confidence or putting someone’s safety at risk. I wouldn’t ask that of you, even if I am nosy as hell. Keenan has things he can’t tell me—sentinel stuff. I get it. There are things I haven’t told him, like that you can use psychic hellfire. It’s not my secret to tell. Have you told Maddox about it?”

“Yes. He’s not fazed.” Which didn’t entirely surprise Raini. He didn’t seem the type to be easily daunted. “Maybe if he had the kind of history our lair has, it would be different.”

“And you trust that he won’t go blabbing about it?” asked Harper.

Raini nodded. “I do.”

“So do I,” said Khloë. “Hearing the way he shot Jolene’s butt down yesterday … yeah, I don’t worry so much about you now. He’d never put you in danger.”

Devon gently elbowed Raini. “Your dad saw it, too. It’s the only reason he didn’t toss that knife.”

Raini snorted. “He’s so worked up about Demi’s disappearance and the boycotting thing that I thought he might just stab Maddox in lieu of Dwain.”

“That dweeb is doing a better job of hiding than I’d thought he would,” said Devon, her jaw tight. “Not a single person has reported seeing him.”

“My source should get back to me sometime today about our dear Harmony,” said Khloë.

Raini put her hands together. “Will you call me as soon as you hear from them?”

“Of course,” Khloë assured her. “And you’ll agree to take some time off work, right?”

Raini groaned. It would be for the best, she knew that, but … “I’ll be bored out of my mind.”

“Why not hang out at my place with Keenan and Asher, then?” suggested Harper. “You’ll be safe there.”

“I want to,” said Raini. “I really do. I miss my little dude. But what if I bring danger to your doorstep? To him?”

Harper made a pfft sound. “No halo-bearer would get through the security measures, and they probably wouldn’t think to look for you there anyway.”

“I told Maddox I’d take Carmen with me wherever I went,” said Raini.

Devon frowned. “Carmen?”

“His sentinel,” Raini elaborated. “Knox is not gonna be down with a woman he doesn’t know being around his son while he’s not there to watch over him. Neither would you, Harper.”

The sphinx bit the inside of her cheek. “I could ask Ciaran to teleport Keenan and Asher here so that you’ll have some company. Asher loves the penthouse, and he’d be thrilled to see you.”

“That would be awesome,” said Raini. “You really wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course not,” Harper told her.

Raini blew her a kiss. “Thank you.”

Harper snorted. “You might not be so grateful after a few hours of babysitting a thieving, hyper, pyroporting menace—and I say that with all the love in my heart.”

“Your son has Wallis blood in his veins,” said Devon. “Did you really expect him to be anything but a menace?”

Harper sighed. “No, not really.”