A Curse in Darkness by Sherilee Gray

Chapter 4

Warrick

Willow followedme up the stairs, and her scent reached out to me. I breathed her down deep, and like always, being anywhere near my dove drove the beast closer to the surface.

I bit back a possessive snarl. If anyone else had banged on my door the way she had, spitting fire and attitude, I would have kicked them the fuck out. But that was the last thing I wanted. I liked her fire. It made my dick hard. She’d tried to hide it, but she didn’t like the idea of me fucking other females, and I liked that too. Maybe it would get her to stop fighting what she truly wanted and give herself to me.

Or at least stop her from running.

I gritted my teeth when another wave of her scent reached me—the shampoo she used, mixed with an oil she favored, a flower of some kind, along with the natural scent of her skin…and her cunt. I sucked it down like an addict, taking a desperately needed hit. I wanted to bury my face against the sweet spot just below her ear and my cock between her thighs, and fucking live there, breathing her in and fucking her for the rest of eternity.

I’d been waiting for her to come to me, to finally work out she was mine, and the fact that she was here over some bullshit involving my brother and his female, pissed me the hell off. I’d hoped that when she came to me again, it would be to ask me to service her tight little body, not disturb my brother while he rutted with his mate.

As we walked down the hall, we passed rooms, some with their doors shut, others wide open. Most of them were occupied. The sounds of fucking, of females getting off, and getting off good, filled the narrow space.

Willow snorted.

I glanced back, brow raised.

She rolled her eyes. “They’re faking it, or at least some of them are.”

I shook my head.

Her lips curled in a smirk. “You’re in denial, alpha.”

I turned to her. “You think they come here to chitchat? Our dicks are big, and we know what to do with them. And they curve.” I held out my hand, bending my fingers up slightly, giving her a demonstration. “We also love eating pussy.”

My dove froze, blinking up at me.

I took enjoyment from her shocked expression, then noticed how the pulse at the base of her throat fluttered faster—and the scent of her cunt grew heavier. My dove was turned on, and whether she would admit it or not, it was my job to ease that need. “Say it,” I said again, closing the space between us as need and possessiveness pulsed through me. “Say, yes. You know you want to.”

“Pass,” she said, the color of her cheeks darkening.

I was about to offer my mouth to ease her obvious need when another scent hit me. I tilted my head back and sniffed, scenting the air. Fuck. I ran down the hall to the end room and kicked the door open.

My growl tore through the small space.

Dove rushed in behind me and cried out in alarm.

Maddox’s female, Jane, lay draped over the bed, and she was sliced down the middle, through her sternum and down her belly, her innards spilling over the covers. Maddox stood naked by the bed, his massive chest heaving.

He spun toward us. Blood coated his face and hands, and his usually bright green eyes were black, completely devoid of color.

He snarled.

I’d never seen anything like that, not among my brothers. “Maddox,” I said, filling my voice with dominance, trying to get through to him.

Maddox bared his teeth, his gaze sliding to my dove.

“Mad,” I growled again, trying to get him to focus on me.

Willow slid her blade free. “He’s possessed by something or someone,” she said, her blade ready to fly when it became obvious Maddox was about to attack. “He won’t listen to you.”

With a roar, Maddox ran at her.

I charged, taking him down, the both of us crashing to the floor and plowed my fist into his face, once, twice, a third time, trying to snap him the fuck out of whatever this was, whatever had him in its grip. Instead, Maddox grinned up at me, baring bloody teeth, and laughed. The thunder of boots echoed down the hall, then the room was filled with my brothers.

I dragged Mad off the floor and passed him off. “Chain him below.” I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but I didn’t want this shit in my den. I didn’t want whatever evil this was corrupting my brothers.

They lifted Maddox without question as he struggled, spitting and cursing, and carried him off.

Dove watched them take him away. “Whatever was possessing Jane, it moved to Maddox.”

“What the fuck was that?” Jagger said, expression fierce.

I filled my lieutenant in with everything Willow had told me when she got here. I hadn’t really believed it. Hellhounds were strong, powerful; we were not easily defeated or fooled. I didn’t know how to fight this. “Make sure Maddox is secure.”

Jagger gave me a sharp nod, turned, and strode out of the room, and I walked to the side of the bed, where my dove now stood looking down at Maddox’s dead female.

“How did this happen?” I asked her.

She turned to me, her beautiful green eyes wide. “I have no idea, but I think it’s my job to find out.”

* * *

Willow

Jane had been pretty, young, her whole life ahead of her. She’d come here looking for some fun and wound up dead. I had no idea how this involved my task. Maybe I’d just failed it? I didn’t know what this meant, but now, somehow, I had to explain her death to her mother.

I had to take her mangled and mutilated body home and try to explain what the hell happened here.

Her eyes were still wide open and filled with the shock of her last moments. I’d sent a quick text to Chaos while Warrick spoke to Jagger. The leader of the knights of Hell was an expert when it came to demons. I didn’t know if this was what we were dealing with, but if we were, the knights needed to know.

His reply had come a few seconds later. They were on their way.

“I’ve never seen this before,” Warrick said.

“I contacted the knights. They’ll be here soon. Maybe they’ll know something,” I said.

“Which knight did you contact?” he gritted out.

The hellhound alpha didn’t much care for Chaos, especially after he discovered the leader of the knights and I used to hook up from time to time. It felt like a lifetime ago now. Our feelings for each other had never been any deeper than friendship. Never mind that Chaos was now mated and completely besotted with his female, Grace, who also happened to be a good friend of mine.

“You need to get over it. Chaos and I are friends, nothing more.” And why the hell was I explaining myself?

Warrick snarled. “He left you unprotected, he’s the reason Azel got to you—”

“That wasn’t Chaos’s fault.” That was no one’s fault but my own.

He crowded me, until my back met the wall, and he dipped his head. “And that fucking knight has had what I want. He’s been inside you. He’s heard you come. He’s tasted your cunt. So, no, dove, I won’t get over it. You belong to me. I want to kill every male who has ever touched you.”

I stared up at him in shock. “Are you serious?”

The muscle in his jaw ticked.

He was serious.

He wanted me, yes, but once he was done with me, he’d move on to his next obsession, and I’d be left feeling like a fool. I wouldn’t allow myself to be another one of his conquests. Just another woman to warm his bed. He spoke of wanting me, never of feelings. The hellhound alpha didn’t know what they were. He didn’t care about me, he felt territorial over me for some messed up reason. That’s all.

“I’m not yours, Warrick. I’m not a possession you get to claim. And a lot of guys have touched me, so if you’re going on a killing spree, I’d suggest adding some rosemary to your Wheaties in the morning for an extra energy boost.”

His nostrils flared, and he leaned closer, his features changing, blending with his hound, a grizzly mask transforming his face. “Don’t push me. You tease and you taunt and I allow it. You are the only one I let do that. Anyone else I would punish. Right now Mad is chained to the floor belowground, trying to tear his own face off. I’m not in my right mind, dove, and if you carry on snapping at me, I might bite back. You don’t want that.”

I blinked up at him, my heart pounding, fear pulsing through me, but not the bad kind. It quickly turned to something else, something dark and unwanted, a yearning that I could never, would never, give in to.

I loved my mother, but she was an excellent example of why a relationship wasn’t something you jumped into, why you didn’t let lust rule your actions, and I had enough on my plate as it was.

I definitely didn’t need to throw a controlling alpha into the mix, or my bed, no matter how much the thought of reaching up and brushing my thumb over those snarling lips called to me, and no matter how much that wildness inside him drew me.

I didn’t do relationships. I kept my heart guarded, but there was something about Warrick, something that fascinated me, tantalized me, and that was reason enough not to get tangled up with him.

The casual relationships I’d had in the past…there’d been no risk, no feelings beyond friendship. Warrick and I weren’t even friends. I didn’t know what we were, but I was finding it harder and harder to resist him.

“You’re right. No, I don’t want that. I’m sorry,” I said and lowered my gaze. Challenging this male in any way right now was the seriously wrong move.

He growled again, dipping lower, his gaze searching mine. His eyes flashed red. “Don’t,” he said harshly.

I looked back up. “Don’t what?”

“Be scared of me.”

I couldn’t promise him that. He scared me in a multitude of ways, but physical harm was the lowest on the list. “Step back,” I said, making sure not to touch him.

He bared his teeth; his incisors had extended. “Dove…”

“Please, step back.”

The thunder of boots hitting the stone and packed earth floor echoed outside the door a moment before it was shoved open. “War, it’s Edric. Whatever’s going on with Maddox, it’s got him too. He almost took Fender’s head off then ran.”

“Fuck,” Warrick ground out.

This was not good. Not at all.

* * *

A short time later, after Warrick had sent any remaining women home, and some of his brothers after Edric, we were informed that the knights had arrived.

As if tensions weren’t already through the roof.

Four massive males were standing on the other side of the main gate when I walked out. Chaos, Rocco, Gunner, and Zenon. Roc lifted a hand, waving when he saw me.

I strode up to the gate. “Hey.”

“What’s up, Wills?” Roc asked.

“More than I know what to do with,” I said and turned, waiting for someone to let them in.

Warrick was just emerging from the clubhouse, ducking to fit under the doorframe, then took his sweet time striding our way, and with more arrogance than any one being had a right to.

Chaos muttered a curse.

Warrick finally reached us, and he gave the knights a chin lift. There were muttered greetings all around.

“Can you let them in? We need to know if it’s a demon we’re dealing with.”

“Make this quick,” Warrick said to Chaos. “We don’t want you here longer than necessary.”

God, the male was difficult.

“Fair enough,” Chaos said. “Let’s get this over with then.”

They were allies, but they’d never exactly been bosom buddies.

Warrick’s arm hooked around my waist and he tugged me aside as he opened the gate, like he actually thought one of them would try to snatch me away or something.

I pushed out of his hold and scowled at him. Warrick scowled back, but finally he led the way inside. The sooner I got the hell away from here, the better. He took the stairs, leading the knights below, something he wouldn’t normally do, but there was no other option.

We heard the snarling and cursing, the twisted words filled with hate and violence, as we approached the end of one of the tunnels. Warrick pushed the door open and we filed in.

Maddox was on the stone floor, bleeding from deep scratches over his face and neck. His head snapped our way, black eyes locking on us. “Let me free,” a distorted voice said. “I won’t hurt anyone, I promise.” Its empty gaze slid to me, and Maddox licked his lips.

Chaos moved in then, crouching down, concentration transforming his features. Finally, he lifted his head. “This isn’t demon. This is human. A human soul. Zen?”

Zenon nodded. “Definitely human.” The others nodded their agreement.

Shit.“You can’t help us then?”

Chaos crossed his arms over his wide chest and shook his head. “How did the spirit get into the clubhouse?”

“A human female,” Warrick said.

“Yeah, we can’t meddle in human business. The fact this soul is possessing a hound makes no difference. The angels would lose their shit if we got involved with this. There would be consequences, bad ones. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” This was my task, unless, of course, keeping Jane alive had been part of it. If that were true, then I’d already failed. Though, I kind of thought something would’ve happened by now if that were the case. There’s been no sign from the mother. So, I’d carry on until I knew otherwise.

But I’d had to check with the knights first, otherwise things could have gotten complicated. So now I knew for sure—the scary evil spirit was all mine. Goodie.

I took a small bag from my satchel, our family’s own special mix—rock salt, cemetery dirty, and a few other carefully selected herbs—and lay a thick line of it from wall to wall. “Don’t break this line, and don’t cross it. It will contain the spirit and stop it from moving to someone else.”

The hounds nodded. Then the knights left and I headed back to the room where Jane’s body still lay. What the hell was I going to do with her? I could call Ren. His family didn’t usually work with humans, but I needed a way to get her out of here, and they had a hearse.

“You can’t take her home,” Warrick said, like he could read my mind as he moved up behind me.

“Her mother should get to say goodbye to her daughter.” Jane looked small all of a sudden, fragile. Just an insignificant human in this shitty, fucked-up world filled with monsters.

“You take her home like that, you’ll bring human police here to the clubhouse. It will end in more death.”

I turned to him. “I can’t leave Rebecca wondering for the rest of her life what happened to her kid. That’s cruel, Warrick.”

“That’s how it has to be,” he said, expression cold, unmoved.

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“Is your heart made of stone?”

He took a step closer, his gaze searching mine. “Lucifer gave us the ability to understand emotions, dove, but we were created fully formed, full-grown warriors. Emotions of our own weren’t necessary or wanted. Tender emotions are a hindrance in battle and are especially unnecessary, and not something we were exposed to. But loyalty and courage, he gave us a deeper knowledge of, and we seemed to have developed the ability to feel them over time, along with anger. So, to answer your question, probably.”

Not something he was exposed to?A life without love or tenderness? I didn’t want to imagine what that was like, and I hated the idea that Warrick had never experienced it.

And if there was ever a reason not to let myself give in to this thing between Warrick and me, he’d just given it to me. The male was as cold as ice, but I’d been right, he wasn’t entirely emotionless. I’d sure as hell felt and seen his anger. “So what about Jane?”

“We may be soulless, but we aren’t total monsters. We want Jane to be with her family as well. She deserves that respect. We’ll move the body, take her to Roxburgh, away from Linville. She’ll be discovered there.”

Soulless?Jesus. The revelations just kept on coming.“Thank you. I appreciate that,” I said, feeling unsteady. I felt every emotion, acutely, and seeing Jane like that…it was affecting me. Deeply. I couldn’t imagine looking at a scene like this and feeling nothing. Did she have siblings? Sisters? Brothers? I thought of my mom, of what something like this would do to her.

Warrick’s thick, calloused fingers slid under my chin, surprising me. He tilted my head back and brushed his thumb across the apple of my cheek. “You have dark circles under your eyes, dove, and you look pale. You took a lot of venom?”

I pulled away and took a step back before I did something stupid like lean into that touch. “I’m fine.” He knew about the tasks and the trials I had to complete, because the last one had required blood, mine, a lot of it. I hadn’t told my family about the trial, I hadn’t wanted them to see me hurt if I lost. I’d battled the witch chosen for me by the witches’ council, and I’d won, but I’d passed out afterward, and he’d found me by my truck before Ren could get to me. Thankfully, I hadn’t passed out in the woods.

He’d brought me here and hadn’t let me leave his room until I told him what was going on and where the thorn-covered-vine tattoos on my arm had come from.

He eyed me now, not believing my bullshit one bit, and suddenly, I would have given anything for a hug. For Warrick to wrap those massive arms around me and hold me against his massive, solid body, to hold me up like he had when I’d been hurt. Because I was scared, and that made me feel so fucking weak.

This task was going to take me places I didn’t want to go, that I wasn’t sure I could go, but had to anyway. And I was terrified I’d fail.

Stop it.

I mentally kicked my own ass. My family was depending on me to do this, to succeed. There was no time to indulge in self-pity. I didn’t have that luxury.

And letting this male close would be a serious mistake. I couldn’t afford any of those, or to lean on anyone. I had to do this myself.

I took a step back. “I’ll contact Rebecca and tell her I couldn’t find Jane, that the other girls said she’d stopped coming here. I don’t know if she’ll send the police here or not, but it’s the best I can do.”

“We’ll make sure she can’t be traced back to us.”

I didn’t know how he was going to swing that and I didn’t really want to. With Warrick, that could mean anything. They were hellhounds, created by Lucifer, and as far as I could tell were completely without conscience. “I need to leave.”

He moved back in, getting far too close. “Stay.”

“Maddox and Edric are possessed by evil spirits and there’s a dead girl on the bed beside us. I think you have your hands full right now,” I said and took several steps toward the door.

His nostrils flared and his shoulders bunched like he was about to pounce, like he was going to chase me down if I tried to leave. “I’d rather they were full of you.”

“Because you want to sleep with me, right?” I said because he didn’t get it. He seemed to be incapable of getting it.

His gaze bore into me. “No, there would be no sleeping, only fucking.”

“You’re consistent, I’ll give you that. As tempting as that wonderful offer is, again, I’ll have to decline.” I was starting to think that it wasn’t that hellhounds were incapable of emotion, but more they were ruled by anger and lust, so much so, there didn’t seem to be room for anything else.

“You’re angry with me,” he said, actually looking confused.

“Nope.”

“You are. I don’t like it.”

“You’ll get over it.” I strode to the door. “Keep Maddox chained, and I’ll get everything I need to perform an exorcism. And I recommend keeping the women out, the bar closed, and shutting down the garage until this is resolved. The spirits target you because you make excellent vessels, so keep to yourselves.”

He nodded and licked his ridiculously tempting lips. “When will you be back?”

Too damn soon. “In the morning. It’ll take me some time to gather everything.”

His massive shoulders lost some of their tension. “I’ll be waiting.”

The way he said it almost sounded like a threat.