The Devil You Know (7 page)

“It wasn’t me who left an empty host behind for your buddy to find.”

“Adam is
not
my buddy,” I retorted, though I knew how unimportant the distinction was.

Raphael gave me a knowing look. “Whatever. It wasn’t me.”

“I heard you the first time.” Then I noticed the concerned look in his eyes, and I frowned. “Are you telling me you know who it is?”

“I have a suspicion.”

That worried the hell out of me. “Who is it?”

He smiled condescendingly. “No one you know.”

“Do you want me to shoot you again to loosen up your tongue?”

The smile faded. “You and Lugh make a great couple. I saved your life, remember?”

I couldn’t help laughing. “You don’t get credit for saving my life when you’re the one who put it in danger in the first place, asshole. And you tortured my boyfriend, and God only knows what you did to Andy in the ten years you were with him. I don’t owe you a goddamn thing.”

It didn’t look like he appreciated that at all. He scowled at me, then rose to his feet despite the fact that I’d rearmed the Taser.

“Fine,” he snarled, moving toward the door. “Maybe I don’t owe
you
a goddamn thing, either. You’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

“Tell me who just entered the Mortal Plain!” I demanded, but Raphael kept moving toward the door.

“Fuck you,” he said, and jerked the door open.

My finger twitched on the trigger, but I stopped myself from shooting him again. Yeah, it might get him to hang around, but somehow I didn’t think it would inspire him to talk.

“I’m sorry,” I said, belatedly realizing I should have kept a muzzle on my temper.

In case I didn’t get the message the first time, he gave me the finger. And he slammed the door behind him when he left.

Which was exactly what I wanted, I told myself as I flopped around in my bed and punched the pillow. He had suffered enough on my account, and I hadn’t been good for him even before I’d acquired Lugh.

My chest tightened as a wave of loneliness crashed over me. I’d known almost since the first time I’d met him that I was in love with Brian. I’d known it would hurt like hell to let him go. But no amount of knowing could have prepared me for the desolation I felt now as I realized I might well have gotten my wish.

Eventually, sleep dragged me down, but I wasn’t at all surprised when I found myself in Lugh’s living room. I almost wished I could communicate with him while I was awake, just so I could get a good night’s sleep. But if I could communicate while awake, it would mean he was gaining more control, and that wasn’t something I allowed myself to wish for.

He was wearing the S&M getup with the black leather straps again. My hormones hummed their approval, and it felt like every cell in my body was straining to cross the distance between us.

“You lied to me,” I accused, hoping an argument would keep my cravings under control.

He looked surprised. “About what?” And then he must have gleaned the source of my annoyance from my mind. “Adam was wrong. I don’t know my brothers’ True Names.” He grimaced. “I thought by not forcing them to reveal their True Names when I took the throne, I might mend some fences.”

“Huh?”

He gave me one of those penetrating looks of his, then decided to let me in on another closely held secret. “True Names are granted by the king. As Adam said, it’s a rare ‘honor’”—I could hear the quotes he put around the word—”granted only to the extraordinary.” He shook his head. “The hidden meaning behind the honor is that you’re powerful enough to be a potential threat to the king. So he grants you a True Name, which really is considered an honor—but it also allows the king to summon you from anywhere in the Demon Realm at a moment’s notice. A collar and leash, as it were. That it allows us to be summoned to the Mortal Plain as well is merely a side effect.”

It sure would have made our lives easier if Lugh had put that collar and leash on his brothers.

“As king,” Lugh continued, “I should know the True Names of all my subjects who have them. Most gave them voluntarily as soon as I took the throne. When my brothers refused, I could have used my power to force them to tell me, but I didn’t. Which probably cemented Dougal’s opinion that I was too soft to lead the Demon Realm.”

His image started to go fuzzy around the edges, like it did when I was starting to wake up from one of these dreams.

“Don’t wake up yet,” he urged, then blinked out of existence. I thought I was going to wake up despite his urging, but then some sixth sense told me where he was, only a fraction of a second before the warmth of his breath tickled the back of my neck. “I haven’t finished with you.”

His hands came to rest on my shoulders, his grip firm enough that with only the tiniest bit more pressure, he’d leave bruises. I tensed, but something in my center tightened in anticipation. The room solidified around me as his touch pulled me back down into sleep. His hands slid down my arms until they cuffed my wrists, and then he pressed his chest up against my back.

My throat went dry as I realized that somewhere along the line he’d lost his decorative leather straps—and I’d lost my shirt.

His skin was warm and smooth against mine, and the silky locks of his hair draped over my shoulder when he planted a soft kiss on the side of my neck.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, but though my mind urged me to pull away, I found myself holding very still, my heartbeat ratcheting up as my breath came suddenly short.

His chuckle tickled my ear. “I don’t think it’s terribly mysterious.” He emphasized his point with a little bump-and-grind action that let me feel the entire length and breadth of him. It seemed he’d lost his pants now, too.

I clenched my thighs together against the surge of my desire. I’d been attracted to Lugh since the first moment I’d laid eyes on him, but I didn’t dare let myself act on that attraction.
Not
because I was saving myself for Brian, I mentally insisted.

“Relax, Morgan,” Lugh whispered in my ear. “I’m not going to make love to you. I know you’re not ready for that yet.”

I tried to muster a protest at his use of the word “yet,” but my tongue appeared to be glued to the roof of my mouth, and I had too many brain cells focused on the pulsing heat at the small of my back to unstick it.

He rubbed his chin over the top of my head. I don’t think it was an accident that the motion caused his hair to sweep over my breasts, teasing my nipples into pebbles.

“But you’re desperately in need of some stress relief,” he continued. “I can give you the release you crave without making love to you.”

Once again, I opened my mouth to argue. And once again, not a sound came out. Lugh’s arms swept around my waist, holding me even more tightly against him.

Suddenly, we weren’t alone anymore. A sound finally escaped my throat, but it wasn’t the protest I’d been planning; it was a low, urgent moan.

Adam, bare-chested and wearing nothing more than a pair of shrink-wrap-tight jeans faded to white in some interesting places, flashed me one of his feral smiles as Dominic molded himself against his back. Already, Adam’s impressive erection strained against the confines of those tight jeans, threatening to burst through the thin fabric, but he visibly swelled even more as Dom’s hands slid down his chest, tweaking his nipples on the way.

“Stop it,” I managed to gasp, but I was swimming in arousal and suspected I would expire of frustration if Lugh really did stop the illusion.

I’d both seen and heard Adam and Dom having sex before. The time I’d heard them going at it in an adjoining room had been one of the most erotic forbidden thrills of my life, though I still hated to admit it to myself. The time I’d
seen
them had been entirely different. They hadn’t been willing, though Adam had managed to muster just enough enthusiasm to get the job done. Adam’s fury and Dominic’s humiliation had robbed the scene of all erotic potential for me, but I had a feeling Lugh was about to create a visual that would linger in uncomfortable fantasies long after this night was over.

One of Dom’s hands continued to play with Adam’s nipple, while the other smoothed over the bulge in Adam’s pants. Adam moaned in appreciation, his head falling back against his lover’s shoulder. Dominic gave me a saucy wink—which he never would have done in real life, being far less comfortable with public displays of affection than Adam.

“Don’t do this,” I begged Lugh, but we both knew how my body thrummed in anticipation.

“Just a dream,” he murmured in my ear as Dominic slid Adam’s zipper down.

Moisture trickled down the inside of my thigh when Adam’s enormous erection sprang free. My body clenched as I wondered what a cock of that size would feel like inside me, stretching me to my limits. Lugh’s tongue flicked out and tasted the shell of my ear, and I fought against a cry of pleasure.

“You’re allowed to enjoy this,” he whispered.

At that point, I didn’t have much choice.

Dominic wrapped one hand around Adam’s cock, stroking him from base to tip, milking out a shiny drop of pre-cum. My mouth watered at the sight, and once again Dominic gave me a very un-Dominic-like smile, a devilish glint in his eye as he brushed his middle finger over the head of Adam’s cock. I watched in spellbound fascination as Dominic brought that finger to his mouth and sucked it.

I knew what he was going to do then, and while a part of me still frantically fought my arousal, I was helpless against it. Lugh held me tight, his own erection a constant heat at my back, as Dominic positioned Adam for optimum viewing convenience then dropped to his knees.

I shook my head, but couldn’t muster any more strenuous protest as Dominic cupped Adam’s magnificent ass and then enveloped him in his mouth. Adam and I moaned in sync as Dom began to suck, his cheeks hollowing with each forceful pull. I licked my lips, and I could almost taste him in my mouth.

No. It wasn’t
Adam’s
taste that burst over my tongue. It was
Brian’s.
The sensory memory overwhelmed me, and when I drew in a breath and let it out on a moan, I could have sworn I smelled Brian’s unique scent all around me. Watching Adam and Dom was almost unbearably exciting, but it was Brian I ached for, Brian I longed to have filling me.

Urged on by the grip of Dom’s hand on his ass, Adam began to thrust into Dom’s mouth. Dom showed every sign of loving it, his face awash with pleasure. I imagined Brian plunging into me as I watched them, and I almost came just from the mental image.

Lugh took my hand and guided it to the juncture of my thighs. I was still wearing a pair of jeans and some underwear, but the button and zipper were open. I fought against Lugh’s urging for about half a second, then couldn’t stand the arousal anymore. I didn’t want to give in, didn’t want to let Lugh win this mini battle of wills, but the stimulation was just too much. I felt like I had to come or I would break into tiny little pieces, never to be put together again.

Dominic was oblivious to me now, sucking Adam’s cock like his life depended on it. I slipped my hand into my panties and stroked myself in time to Adam’s thrusts.

Within the first few strokes, I erupted like Mount Vesuvius. I heard a howl start to rise from Adam’s throat as my vision flashed white with pleasure. The howl was cut off abruptly, and my eyes popped open to stare up at the ceiling of my darkened bedroom. The tail end of the orgasm rippled through me as I realized I was awake and one hand was between my legs.

Muscles quivering in the aftermath of the massive release, I lay on my bed and breathed like a runner at the end of a marathon. For a long, breathless moment, I gloried in the warmth of the afterglow, knowing I was going to feel humiliated when the glow faded, and not caring. Then I noticed the phone clutched in my other hand.

The warmth fled, and I sat bolt upright and stared at the evidence.

What the fuck had Lugh been doing with my body while he distracted me with sex? I glanced at the clock beside me and confirmed it was oh dark-thirty in the morning, but I hit the Redial button anyway. The number that was backlit on the phone was an unfamiliar one. Holding my breath, I waited for an answer.

“Uh-oh,” said an all-too-familiar voice on the other end of the line. “Did big brother get caught with his pants down?”

My hand tightened on the phone, and at that moment I was pretty sure I’d cheerfully kill both Lugh and Raphael if I had the chance.

Raphael laughed at my outraged silence. “Don’t get your panties in a twist, as the saying goes. I have been ordered to cooperate with you.”

I snorted. “Like that means anything.”

“It’s true, I’m not great at following orders, especially when they come from Lugh. In the Demon Realm, he could punish me for my insubordination. Here, he just has to swallow it. However, I did agree with him that it’s in everyone’s best interest that I finish telling you what I’d come to tell you earlier tonight. Please forgive my fit of pique, but you have to know you are a sore trial for anyone’s patience.”

I started to retort, but he spoke right over me.

“The demon that was summoned into the Mortal Plain and left that body in the alley is known as Der Jäger.”

I’d taken enough German in high school to translate the name. “The Hunter.”

“Indeed. He’s an unusual creature. He has a unique ability to recognize demons in the Mortal Plain—and to hunt them. That’s how he earned his True Name. He is also the demon equivalent of a sociopath. His entire life revolves around the hunt and the kill. For the past three hundred years, he’s been imprisoned in the Demon Realm, but Dougal has offered him his freedom if he can find and kill Lugh.

“The good news is that since your aura overwhelms Lugh’s, Der Jäger can’t seem to catch his scent. Everyone’s quite puzzled by the phenomenon, though I suspect they’ll be even more puzzled after tonight. Der Jäger will no doubt have sensed Lugh’s presence while he and I spoke, but I’m certain he won’t have been able to home in on it in so short a time.”

“How do you know he hasn’t been able to catch Lugh’s scent?” I asked.

“Because I’m one of the bad guys, remember? That’s the whole reason I went back to the Demon Realm in the first place, to infiltrate another cell. I’ll feed you what information I can, but I’m also going to keep my cover.”

I heard the warning in his words and instantly bristled. “I told you before, if you ever hurt Andy again—”

“Good night, Morgan. Sweet dreams.”

He hung up on me, and it took every ounce of my self-restraint not to throw the phone across the room in frustration.

I wasn’t surprised when I woke up at around ten in the morning, groggy and bleary-eyed, after several hours of uninterrupted sleep. Funny how Lugh hadn’t felt like speaking to me after my little chat with Raphael. I’d been more than ready to give Lugh a piece of my mind for driving my body while I was asleep, but apparently he wasn’t overly eager to hear what I had to say about it.