Ensured that she was his.
He wasn’t sure how long he held her like that, lost awareness of the world as bliss washed over him, as the dark need to possess her finally released him.
He sank against her, still breathing hard, entire body quaking from the force of his release. He sagged into her, boneless and weak. She wrapped her arms around him and held him, her soft breaths skating across his ear, her heat still encasing him.
Her lips brushed his cheek and he shifted to meet them with his, kissed her long and slow, savouring the warmth that built inside him. Her lips danced across his, gentle and soft, and he rolled onto his side and brought her with him, kept kissing her as he held her close.
Her legs tangled with his.
And gods it felt right to hold her like this, to feel her bare curves against him, her lips on his.
He drifted with her in that kiss, losing track of time.
Nothing could spoil this moment.
He stiffened as his gut swirled and awareness arced down his spine, his senses blaring a warning.
Shot to his feet and stretched those senses outwards, his heart hammering as his power rose and shadows in the corners of the room shifted restlessly in response.
Enyo was quick to join him, adopting a warrior’s stance as she looked around the room. “What’s wrong?”
The ground beneath their feet bucked and she staggered towards him.
He caught her.
Growled.
“Daemons.”
Chapter 21
Keras drew on the shadows around the garden as he tugged his clothes on and Enyo dressed, seeking the source of the disturbance as his senses came back online, the calm he had felt in her arms dissipating.
Enyo finished dressing and looked at him. “I have a problem.”
He glanced at her. She looked down at her feet and colour climbed her cheeks. Her boots?
It hit him.
Her underwear.
She fidgeted with the slats of her skirt and he didn’t miss how she exposed far too much creamy skin as she did that, or how awkward she was about the fact she was bare beneath her armour.
Keras dispatched his shadows, sending them on the hunt, and strode to his dresser. He pulled out a pair of black trunks and felt a little awkward himself as he turned to her and offered them.
“It’s all I have unless I ask one of the women…” He trailed off as he thought about Enyo fighting in the sort of underwear his brothers’ females probably wore.
“These are perfect.” She snatched the trunks from him and pulled them on.
He tried not to stare at her hips as he thought about the fact she was wearing his underwear.
He wasn’t sure which was more distracting. The thought of her in sexy lingerie, or the thought of her wearing something intimate of his.
It became insignificant as his shadows came into contact with the daemons.
And he counted close to one hundred of them.
His focus shifted entirely to the matter at hand when one of the wards went down.
“Damn it.” He grabbed Enyo’s hand and pulled her with him, racing along the covered walkway towards the main room of the house.
His brothers were all gathered there.
“A ward went down,” Ares said and he nodded, confirming he had felt it too.
“You think the furie got her hands on our blood at the gate in Tokyo, or when you guys went to Hong Kong?” Calistos looked from him to Daimon, and then Ares, Marek and Valen.
Keras nodded again. “I had hoped she hadn’t but—”
He cut himself off as he felt another ward go down.
“Shit,” Valen muttered and scrubbed at his violet hair as he pulled Eva closer, a worried edge to his golden eyes as he glanced at her. “We switched them out—we should be safe.”
Marek shook his head. “Meadow has blood from the wraith and his blade. It’s possible she found a way to use that blade and our blood to see our memories.”
“A spell,” Cass murmured and then her voice gained strength as she stepped forwards, her long black dress flowing around her ankles. “She must have more than one witch. It would explain why she didn’t care about losing the one in Hong Kong.”
“Well, fuck,” Cal grumbled and reached for Marinda’s hand. The furie’s eyes shone bright purple as she stared out into the garden. Cal squeezed her hand and her gaze snapped to him. “We’re all good, baby.”
She nodded.
Daimon muttered a ripe curse.
A third ward had just gone down.
The ground shook again, trembled so violently that one of the wooden posts cracked and dust rained down from the roof.
Keras stilled as he sensed it.
The furie.
And her three bodyguards.
He strode to the front door and opened it. Stared at the white wall that surrounded the mansion and waited.
This time, it was the huge wooden gates that shook.
The enemy had penetrated the wards.
“Cass,” Daimon hollered. “A little help?”
She brushed past Keras and held her hands up. Light glowed from her palms as she muttered words, growing brighter and brighter until it was blinding. It shot from her hands and detonated around eighty feet above her, cascaded downwards to form a dome.
A dome that fizzled out just beyond the gatehouse.
“That is not good.” Cass looked at him, her pale blue eyes showing concern. “They must have another witch.”
As she said that, the hole in the shimmering blue dome grew larger, as if the spell had been put in reverse.
She frowned at it. “That is really not good.”
She built another spell and released it, this one a smaller dome that only encompassed the house and some of the grounds.
“It will not hold for long if they do have witches.” She didn’t sound confident that it would hold at all. She grimaced and held her hands out in front of her. “I will try to maintain it.”
Milos came and wound around her legs, and she glanced down at the cat and nodded.
The deity remained at her side together with Daimon as Ares, Marek and Valen stormed into the garden, approaching the edge of the barrier.
“Cal,” Keras said, stopping his youngest brother in his tracks. When Cal looked at him, he added, “I need you to remain inside with Aiko, Eva and Marinda. Someone has to protect them and Esher.”
Cal frowned at him.
“I will do it.” Enyo stepped up to him and Keras wanted to argue but settled for nodding when steely resolve shone in her jade eyes.
Enyo was strong. Capable. If anyone could protect Esher and the others, it was her.
He nodded, pulled her to him and kissed her, and strode forwards, past Cass and Daimon to join the rest of his brothers.
Caterina fell into line beside Marek, a silver blade gripped tightly in her right hand, her caramel hair twisted into a knot at the back of her head. A black T-shirt and dark blue jeans moulded to her lean frame, making her blend with his brother as Marek closed ranks with her and flicked her a worried glance.
Keras would ensure nothing happened to the hybrid, but he wasn’t about to turn down her assistance.
“Do you think the furie wants her witch back or does she want the bodies of the fallen?” Cass already sounded tired.
Valen hollered, “Either way, shit doesn’t look good.”
Just as he said that, the heavy wooden gates burst open, flying off their hinges, one of them shattering under the force of the blow the daemon had directed at it.