Chapter 3

Three

Kade

The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when the smell of her arousal hits me square in the chest. I swear my teeth descend, desperate to bite into her flesh. After all these years, I've been good. We all have. We've waited for the perfect opportunity to claim our fated mate as ours.

Tonight is the night.

Maybe.

"You think she took the bait?" Ryker asks the moment we step into my bedroom. "She had to have, right? She can't be the girl who always plays it safe, right?" He basically pouts, throwing himself back onto my bed with a grunt. “Why can’t we just tell her?”

Sometimes I think Ry is a petulant child, forgetting the rules put in place by the kings before us. I send him a glare, eager to set him on fire with just my gaze. I could if I wanted, but I resist. Barely. He may act like a human child most days, but he is my best friend. And has been for centuries.

“You know why we can’t…”

“It’s set in stone,” Ryker mocks, twisting his face with a huff. “It would be so much easier if we could just walk up to her, take her in our beds, and explain that she’s our fated mate and she’s ours now.”

“And the whole descending into Hell thing? How do you think she’ll take that?” I raise a haughty brow.

“Easy!” he gripes, waving his arms. “Hey there, Evie Girl. We’re demons. He’s the prince, and he needs you by his side to become the king of it all. Oh, we’ll be there, too. You’re our fated. Now, let’s fuck! See? Easy peasy lemon squeezy.” His brows wiggle playfully. Well, until I throw a stapler at his face. “Not cool.” He rubs at his nose, cracking it back into place with a huff.

“If it were that easy, we would have had this discussion three years ago when we found her.” I shake my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. This entire situation would have been easier if communication could have happened. But alas, it’s in the decree of our demon kind. We’d be changing her whole life, dragging her to Hell, and pampering her like she deserves.

She's our queen, after all. Our mate. Our fated.

Only she doesn't have a clue.

She's been sheltered her entire life. Raised by a religious father hellbent on making her suffer. Not to mention, she’s pampered now. When we found her by scent alone, her parents were living in a meager home and low resources. By some chance, her father passed on, leaving the two women alone in his debts. No one imagined the holy man forcing his family to church every Sunday and begging for forgiveness and was in so much debt. Or had a mistress waiting in the wind for him. Thus, this left my queen and her controlling mother penniless. They lost the house, their cars, and everything in between. Well, until us.

"She listened in on our conversation," Merrick says stoically, rubbing his chin and cutting into our bickering. If he didn't, we'd argue for centuries over the same shit. On and on. "Her scent," he sucks in a breath, squeezing his eyes shut with a shuddering breath. "It was so intense." Don't fucking remind me. Every time I think of her deliciously sinful scent, I get hard. It's the incessant need inside me to mark her as mine forever.

Oh, the joys of having a fated mate.

"I know," I grit out in a strangled reply. "Believe me. I fucking live with her. Imagine waking up to the scent of her arousal floating through the fucking air." It's hell on earth.

"Lucky bastard," Ry sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But it was your idea." I flip him the bird as he cackles at my misfortunes.

"He's right," Merrick says with a shrug.

"Yeah. Lucky fucking me," I quip, shaking my head. "But how else was I supposed to get close to her?" There wasn't any other way. Evie is meant to be mine, and if Tobias and I hadn't concocted this plan, things never would have gotten better for them.

"There wasn't another way," Merrick agrees.

"You could have kidnapped her," Ry cuts in, earning two glares. "Or not. Okay? Kidnapping bad. But that scent? God, Kade. It's getting ripe as fuck. She needs a good fucking from the three of us to tame it down. She needs the mark of our union."

I smirk. "Yes, that I can agree on. Then, her scent will change and meld with ours." It'll be a delicious mix of the four of us all together, wafting from her body. For anyone who isn't her mate, they'll wrinkle their nose, knowing she's taken.

But only if she agrees to what we have to offer. That's the main issue. It's been three years and she's yet to break. Even when she's sleeping, we're there, attempting to convince her to be ours.

But she continues to run. Avoiding us whenever possible. If she keeps denying what she feels for us, it'll be too late.

If we don't cement our fated, we're destined to rule Hell alone. Never again able to enter the earth's realm again. I won't go down without a fight, but I can't force her to do anything.

So, tonight is the night.

"She'll be even more irresistible," Merrick sighs. "We'll never stay off her."

"You say that like it's a bad thing, bro. Listen, if our dicks can warm inside her twenty-four-seven, then what's the issue?" He raises a brow, giving us pause. "See? I'm right," he says smugly.

"Do you think she'll actually come along?" Merrick asks, shifting uncomfortably, no doubt hiding the hardness she caused.

I lick my lips. "She has to."

"Uh oh," Ry sing-songs, staring up at me with a grin.

I feel it the moment my glamor slips away from my face, revealing the true demon beneath the human mask. My horns protrude from my forehead, nearly reaching twelve inches. My fists clench at my sides when the rest of it falls away, letting my true form out to play. It doesn't happen often. Thank fuck. Only when I'm feeling the edge of my demise.

"We only have one more night to prove to her that we're it," I growl, licking my lips with my forked tongue. My thin tail swishes behind me in agitation.

"One night," Merrick agrees, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Thank fucking fuck," Ryker breathes out, letting his glamor fall off, too, as he's sprawled across my bed. "My human skin makes me feel all itchy. You think she'll like this?" he chuckles, pointing to his two hard dicks protruding upwards and glistening with pre cum. Both of them jump in unison as he stares up at the ceiling, no doubt envisioning our Evie girl and what she's doing. "Fuck me. If these guys don't get in both of her holes, they're going to shrivel up and die. She's fucking touching herself again," he groans.

We all take a deep breath at the same time, getting hit by her pheromones. It's like a punch to the chest smelling her so close and not being able to do anything about it.

"Fuck this. We need fresh fucking air!" I hiss, shaking my head until my glamor reappears.

"Fuck no we don't. I need to come," Ryker grunts, moving both his hands and stroking himself. "One timeeeee," he whines when I throw something at him again.

"You're a guard for the Prince of Hell, fucker. Act like it. We need to leave right now and blow off some steam." I raise a brow when he pouts again, acting anything but a rational demon.

"Literally, you're the worst cock block in history. I have two, ya know? And needs. Lots and lots of fucking needs that haven't been met in three years." He sighs when his human skin covers him again, giving him an innocent face with dimples. "But I've vowed to wait for her. She's just making it fucking hard. Pun intended." He scowls when he gets up from the bed and rights his clothes. "Let's go get that fresh air or whatever." He waltzes out of the bedroom in a rush, speeding past Evie's closed door. More than likely locked, too.

I shake my head, walking with Merrick side-by-side as we stop just outside her bedroom door. It's like playing with fire. One of my favorite past times—standing out here, practically smelling the cum on her fingers and the whimpers stuck in her throat.

"Tonight. Midnight," I say to Merrick loud enough for Evie to listen. "We'll celebrate Mischief Night like it's supposed to be celebrated."

"Just the three of us in the SUV, bro. It'll be sick," Merrick adds with a distasteful expression.

I nod, accepting the challenge we've laid out for her, and we march down the stairs.

"If she doesn't sneak into the SUV, I'm going into her room and inviting her out," I say as a last-ditch effort. "I can't let my fated and I be separated by different realms with no way to get to her.”

Merrick looks hard in the direction of her room with a stoic expression. "I don't think that'll be necessary," he hums without elaborating and walking away.