Mate to the Demon Kings by Lacey Carter Andersen

4

Alec’s frustrationrode him like a wild animal. He should’ve been angry that their first opportunity to leave the demon realm had gone horribly wrong. After all, they’d spent more years than he could count crawling from the darkest depths of the lowest levels of the demon realms solely focused on returning to earth.

On getting back the lives we lost.

And yet, he wasn’t upset that the opportunity had slipped through his fingers. He was upset that they’d lost the beautiful woman.

Which is absolutely insane.

He froze in his pacing, imagining her. She was tall for a woman, with dark hair and stunning green eyes. And with curves in all the right places. She had stared down a horde of demons, and three demon-kings, and… defied them. Instead of freezing in terror, she’d attacked them. And escaped.

Why does the thought make me want to smile and roar in anger at the same time?

And that wasn’t all, it was also the way she made him feel.

Human.

Like a cure to a vicious virus, just seeing her had awakened within him and his brothers a reminder of what it was to be human. Every moment since her appearance brought out new and strange changes.

We’re even starting to sound different.

And think differently.

What does this mean?

He’d only looked at her for less than a minute. It seemed ridiculous the effect she’d had on him… and yet, the feeling wouldn’t go away.

“My tattoos are coming back.” His brother, Ryder, had taken off his shirt. And sure enough, there beneath his red flesh were the dull lines of the tattoos he’d had in life.

Alec tugged at his own shirt, revealing his stomach. His tattoos were returning too. Strange.

“What about you?” Alec asked Kade.

His twin glared at both of his brothers, but after a tense moment, pulled his shirt up. Tattoos. “We should’ve ignored the awareness of humans.”

Why does he always have to be such a ray of freakin’ sunshine? Sensing humans in this realm was unexpected, and didn’t go as planned, but it’s the best thing that’s happened to us in a long time.

Alec continued his pacing. “Why would we have possibly ignored the chance at getting out of this damned place sooner and with our powers intact?”

Kade crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the cave wall, closing his eyes. “Don’t pretend you didn’t feel the same thing I did when you saw that woman.”

Like she’s part of us.

Like she belongs to us.

Ryder’s expression grew thoughtful. “I feel about her… well, the same way I do about the two of you.”

Alec laughed, glad for a distraction from his turbulent emotions. “God, I hope not!”

Ryder picked a rock off the floor and chucked it lightly at him. “You know what I mean!”

The rock struck his shoulder with no real force and clattered to the ground at the foot of their crude bed. “I know what you meant to say.” I wonder if Kade’s pissed because he felt it too. “There was something about her.”

“Something we need to forget,” Kade said, his words harsh. “We leave her alone. To live her simple life where demons are the enemy, angels are good guys, and what she’s doing is for the greater good of the world. We keep going through the realms, and we get free. Seeing her today changes nothing.”

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.

Which, of course, was broken by Ryder. “Or we get out, find her, and teach her what it feels like to share a bed with the three of us.”

The idea made a shudder run through Alec’s body. Even with this connection, even if we could hide what we are from her, is there any world where we can be with such a woman?

A cruel but logical thought answered almost immediately. No.

He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. “Unfortunately, I’m with Kade here. The woman ran from us. She didn’t want us. So seeing her changes nothing.”

Opening his mouth to say more, he felt a wave ripple over him. Whoa.

“What the hell was that?” Kade asked, frowning.

Alec moved without thinking, striding out of their cave, and climbing up the tunnel to exit out into the open demon realm. The vicious suns beat down on him, but he didn’t care. He moved as if pulled by a powerful magnet.

He heard his brothers following closely behind.

Weaving through the horde of lower level demons, one hissed at him and he growled, sending the other creatures scrambling out of his way. Because he and his brothers were so powerful the darn things treated them like kings. But they were only staying there just long enough to recharge their powers before going to the crossing point. Otherwise, the Enforcers would sense them and send them right back to the lowest level.

Dealing with the creatures was annoying. Being treated as kings… not so much.

Another ripple ran through him, and he adjusted his direction.

The sense of being pulled intensified. It hummed of desperation and need, but also, something he hadn’t felt in so long. A raw kind of loneliness that called to him.

At last, he froze. It took him a second to see the shimmering object in the white sands. Kneeling down, he plucked the gold ring up.

Instantly, he knew that it belonged to the woman. And she was calling to them.

Fuck.Arousal uncurled within him. So overwhelmingly powerful that he knew if he didn’t take the woman soon, he would lose his mind.

He stood, and reluctantly allowed each of his brothers to hold the ring.

“What does this mean?” Ryder asked, his voice filled with awe.

It took Alec a moment to find his voice. “Normally, we could use the ring to bring her back to this world. To obey us. To allow us back to the human realm.”

“But…” Ryder handed the ring back to him.

“Because she’s calling for us, all we have to do is respond.”

“So respond!” Ryder’s expression filled with hope. “I’ve never been this turned on in my life. I’m not sure if she’s sending me images of what she wants me to do to her, or if they’re my own fantasies, but,” he shuddered, “I need her. Now.”

Kade closed his hand over the ring. “Are we sure about this? Responding to her could put her in danger.” His breathing was hard. And even though Alec could tell he was trying to hide his need, it was clearly written in the hard lines of his face.

Alec jerked his hand away. “What danger? We have a plan—“

“I can’t believe both of you could be this stupid!” Kade shouted, suddenly furious. “Don’t you recognize her? Don’t you realize who she is?”

Alec’s entire body tensed. “Who?”

“Sharen!” Kade exclaimed.

An image came to him, of a human woman named Elaina trapped within a realm, begging for their help in getting home to her husband. And of the three demons who must be missing her, their friends.

Damn it.Their simple plan just got a hell of a lot more complicated.