Cain left without another word. In the demon dimension, some were in, but most were out feeding. It was a lull, if there was such a thing in his world. He gathered as many of his kind together as he could and issued orders, telling them to bring any other demons they stumbled upon, or whose whereabouts they knew, into the plan. Then he headed straight for Tam’s tent.
He was startled to find Anna there, giving him a look like she knew more than he wanted her to know.
“I thought you’d be gone most of the day,” Tam said. “It sounded like some big mission.”
“It is. It’s underway,” he said. He turned to Luc’s mate, who hovered protectively near Tam as if she could do anything to help or harm anybody in her noncorporeal form. “Get out,” he barked. “I need to speak with Tam alone. Go find your mate, we need him.”
Anna looked like she was going to argue, but in the end she just gave him a dirty look and left, too scared to defy him, especially without her mate lurking protectively nearby. Smart girl.
“Come with me,” Cain said when Anna was gone.
“What for?” Tam looked wary, which was good, since she wasn’t going to like what he was about to do.
“We need to keep you safe. I’m putting you in the caves.”
She took a step back. “What do you mean putting me in the caves?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Over my dead body,” she said, flicking her wrist so an energy ball appeared.
She could be so exasperating.
“You’re too drained to fight me. It’s for your own safety just until we destroy him.”
“That could be weeks or months or never. You can’t lock me in there without any food or water. I’ll die.”
“You won’t die.”
He knew exactly what she meant. She wouldn’t be gone, but she’d start a new cycle. He didn’t find that particularly appealing, but maybe it was a good thing. If she started a new cycle, he could bring himself to kick her out of his dimension more easily when this was all over.
“I’ll bring you food and water,” he said. “I won’t leave you in there long.”
She threw an energy ball, but he was ready for it. He’d already gone noncorporeal, knowing she’d fight him on this. She was still drained from earlier when he’d taken too much, her magical recovery time slower. He rushed her, going solid and grabbing her arms again before she could form another ball of magic.
“You will not win this,” he growled. He scooped her up and carried her out of the tent.
She kicked and screamed, flailing about, trying to squirm out of his arms. Halfway to the caves she started chanting. He wasn’t picking up all of it but whatever it was, it was nasty. Or it would have been if not for the ring. The magic bounced off him and dispersed into the night, going off like fireworks in the black sky.
He flipped her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and smacked her on the ass.
“Oww! You cretin.”
“Don’t do that again,” he said. “Did you forget about the ring?” He was happier than ever he’d thought to have that made. Otherwise, there was no telling what she would have done to him, assuming she had enough energy reserves to do anything right now. It was hard to know. Desperation and adrenaline were funny things in humans.
“If you do this, I’ll never forgive you. I’ll f**king hate you forever,” she screamed, still kicking and now pummeling him in the back with her ineffective little fists.
“What do I care?” But he did care. That was the problem. He cared too much about everything. How she felt. Whether she lived or died. He wanted to blame the blood they’d exchanged, and maybe it was partly that, but he’d initiated it. It had come from his possessive nature. She was just his. It wasn’t an idea she was likely to ever warm up to, so initiating another conversation about it seemed pointless.
She stopped hitting him, but it was only the calm before the storm. She jerked her head up and bit his ear, drawing blood. He couldn’t go noncorporeal again without dropping her and giving her a chance to run, and he was not in the mood for a chase.
“Damnit, Tam.” He flung her down on the ground. “Our blood is already mixed, why don’t you make it worse?”
She glared up at him. “You’re not locking me in the caves,” she hissed. “I swear, if you do, you will live to regret it. That ring won’t protect you forever. You think I don’t hold a grudge? You think I won’t make it my life’s mission to destroy you?”
Hmmm, she had a point there. “I’m trying to keep you safe, like I promised everybody I would.”
The witch stood, brushing the sand off her pants, then she broke off into a run toward town. Cain put on full speed and ran her down, knocking her in the sand. She struggled to roll over to fight him, and her fingernails caught him in the side of the face. She was one of the dirtiest little fighters he’d ever encountered, not that many women had the good sense to fight him.
“What about your promise to me? Your promises are worth shit, Cain. Just take me out. Do it now, so we don’t have to go through this. You’re scared he’ll get to me. You know he will. Just take me out of the equation. It’s that simple.”
“You think I want to sleep with you right now? After all this with you biting and clawing?” He eased off her, ready to throw her back down if she tried to move again, but all she did was peel her shirt off and unhook her bra.
Her voice turned soft and seductive. “I don’t know, Cain. Do you?”
She was unbelievable and infuriating. He’d just snap her neck but it wouldn’t actually kill her. She was tempting, lying there half na**d and flushed in the sand.
“If I didn’t know better I’d say you liked f**king me.”
She laughed. “Of course I like it. Did you not hear all those times I screamed your name?”
He covered her body with his, his mouth finding her throat, and then he bit down. Hard. She shrieked, not expecting that. He wasn’t going to think about what he was doing or why he just had to mix their blood and make sure it stuck. An internal monologue had started, insisting he mark her in a real way. He didn’t have a knife handy, but he was pretty sure this would work.
He bit into his own wrist and pressed it against her neck, both to blend more of their blood together and to heal the damage he’d caused.
She scrambled away when he released her, her hand going protectively to her throat. “What the hell was that?”
“You. Are. Mine. Now you’re going to the caves where you’ll be safe, and I don’t want to hear another word about it.”
She was nearly wiped, but she managed to create another energy ball. Without hesitation, a fireball flared to life in Cain’s hand. He threw it to disarm her. It burnt her arm and knocked her back in the sand.
When she was down, he picked her up to carry her the rest of the way to the caves.
There were tears in her voice when she spoke. “I hate you. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but I hate you.”
It didn’t matter what she felt now, some part of him had decided he wasn’t letting her go. She’d get over it. There would be plenty of time to sort out their issues if he could keep her away from The Cycler.
When they got to the caves and he’d opened a pod in the wall, she made one last attempt to sway him.
“Please, Cain. You don’t have to do this.”
He ignored the pain that had started in the center of his chest, right around the region where his heart was supposed to be but probably wasn’t. He shoved her in and tossed her shirt at her, then he sealed the pod.
The demon started to walk away, but the sound of creaking rock stopped him. He turned back, shocked to find her standing there with her hands on her hips, so much anger simmering in her eyes, he thought they might glow red with fire of their own.
“It appears the cave’s magic is incompatible with mine. I’m not a demon or part demon, so I guess it can’t hold me. I never want to see you again.”
He should have turned back around and walked out. He had work to do before the meeting. There were too many humans in power out there who knew too much. Damage control had to be done. He didn’t have time for this. But instead, he strode toward the witch and pulled her toward him, his mouth finding hers.
She resisted at first, but soon enough, she was kissing back, moaning against his lips, her hand sliding down his pants. Sexual heat rose off her without thrall, without him doing anything preternatural to elicit it. He broke away from her mouth and whispered in her ear.
“You want to see me every day for the rest of your life, and you know it. You want me to f**k you like a bitch in heat, and if you say anything different, we’ll both know it’s a lie. Now go back to your tent and stay there. No wandering until we get this situation under control.”
He turned and left the cave, one of her energy balls hitting him in the back on the way out.
Chapter Twelve
Hadrian stood by the pool on the roof of Anthony’s penthouse. Jack was waiting for him in the forest near the portal point into the demon dimension. They’d discovered it while tracking the werewolf pack alpha. The sun had set less than an hour ago, but it wasn’t quite time for the meeting. Would it look suspicious being up here this early? He adjusted the Roman collar on his clerics.
The metal door slammed against the brick. Anthony’s dress shoes clicked over the concrete as he reached the conference table. Why he preferred open air meetings, Hadrian had never bothered asking. It seemed strange for a man who otherwise seemed so intense about security.
“Where’s Charlee?” he found himself asking. He didn’t care where Anthony’s mate was, but making small talk would make him look less nefarious.
“She’s in her room, taking care of the baby.”
The vampire king seemed tense. For a moment Hadrian wondered if just taking out the infant would end the police state—even though the idea made him recoil. That child had done nothing wrong, no matter who her father was.