Chapter 11

Eleven

Luther

I t's hard explaining a tied-up woman in the back of a car, so I don't try.

The guard at the gate kept shooting eyes at Aster. Lucky for him, the college-aged boy had a head on his shoulders and knew better than to ask questions, check our membership and leave it at that.

"Umm.. ah… Key bearers or Key Masters?"

"Owners soon enough. For now, we are masters."

I keep my answers short and to the point. To prove what I say is true, I roll up my left sleeve and reveal the golden key etched into the skin of my forearm. The boy pulls out a black light and beneath the delicate flourishes of black and gold ink shines through a secondary level no unassisted human eye can detect.

"Cleared. Welcome back to the Gilded Key Society. Please enjoy your stay."

If that failed to appease the boy, my guns on the seat beside me might have had his lips sealed and him punching us through too. But I like to give credit to people having some level of common sense. Viper thinks I have too much faith in my fellow human beings, but I don't know. It's nice to put good vibes out after three and a half decades of putting bodies in the ground. I figure if I can persuade enough angels to fight for my soul, I might get a chance at going to heaven with Aster when the time comes. It's worth a shot.

I angle my head around and catch a death glare from Aster. Common sense tells me to release her and make sure no guns are out of her reach. But the demons in me like seeing her gagged and roped.

We roll to a stop on the outskirts of New Orleans. Fifteen miles back, streetlights slowly faded away to give space for the wilds of Louisiana to take over. This far outside the city, the night air is clean, warm, and holds the scent of jasmine. The club is on an old plantation with sprawling lands and draping willow trees. The perfect location to keep low and let whatever storm is rolling over with Aster pass us by. If she tries to run this far outside the city, she can only get so far.

Not that I see untying her soon. She thinks we will let her go, but this time the girl isn't going anywhere. The first time I let Mirsha and Viper win. This time it's what I want.

Fuck the consequences. Sometimes common sense is overrated.

A valet pops the door open and I step out, handing him the keys.

His eyes go wide when Viper hauls out a pissed-off Aster and slings her over his shoulder. Mirsha jerks his chin at the gawking man-boy and steps in front of him, blocking the view of Aster's fine ass in leather.

"Eyes to yourself unless you want to lose them."

"Sorry, sir. I just…is she okay?"

I grin and rest a hand on his shoulder. "Depends on who you ask. Do us a favor and call in to the manager. Ask them to prepare our suite for a female guest. We will need to sign in a temporary guest for this evening." There are a few rules to keep the members of the Society safe—discretion to the fullest is high on the list. But letting everyone know that once you step within these walls protection is vital. Key bearers, Key masters and guests alike. Names are added to a book nightly and everyone is checked on periodically.

I grip Aster's ass and get a squeal in return and then she knees Viper in the chest. Poor bastard.

Instead of walking through the front door, we round the side of the Society and head for a more discreet entrance. The low-hanging branches of willows give a semblance of privacy as a few members make their way to the back gardens. Embarrassing Aster is the last thing any of us wants so we stay quiet and use the darkness as a shield.

"Evenin', gentlemen."

An aged voice welcomes us from the darkness before a door is eased open and red lights color the night around us.

"Smells like dat rain will be here soon. I'm glad ya got back before da storm hit."

"Meuser Boudreaux," I tilt my head in greeting. Leaning toward the latter end of eighty, the N'awlins local has a fiery spark in his eye that tells of his world-weary time on this earth. He smiles and the age creasing his cheeks deepens with what my grandparents called wisdom lines. I can only hope I get to be his age, but the odds are heavily stacked against me.

For the time we've stayed here, this has been our way in and out of the club. Boudreaux feels like an old friend by now. So far he's not seen us with a woman, so I can understand the surprise on his face at seeing Aster.

His grin turns mischievous with fond memories of being young and wild. "New guest?"

"An old friend."

He tilts his head in understanding and gestures us inside. "Welcome to da society, gentleman and lady."

None of us are interested in joining the club members for sexual entertainment. My dick doesn't respond to anyone but the little minx spread over Viper's shoulder, but we bought in once we discovered the owners wanted to sell but would only do so to members.

Speaking of, her head pops up and those large, expressive icy blue eyes want me dead in my tracks. I tap the underside of her chin and wink at her.

"WET MWE DOWWN!"

I fix her gag from slipping. "Soon, sweetness."

The blush on her cheeks makes the murder in her eyes sound like a fun night.

Viper leads the pack with me in the middle and Mirsha bringing up the rear.

Inside, Boudreaux encloses us in darkness as we wind through the darkened halls, taking the back way to our suite. On this side of the mansion, black carpet covers the floor instead of hardwood. Interior decoration isn't my thing, but this one detail is important. I care because it masks our presence and makes it easier to slip into our room unnoticed.

I hold up my arm and the door scanner reads the code buried in the ink. Like fucking magic, the door opens and I step aside.

Golden light reflects off polished brass and gold trimming. Old-world vibes hang in the artificially-cooled air and for once, I think I might appreciate the black curtains draped over the floor-to-ceiling windows. Before now I felt trapped, but with our Aster locked inside with us, it feels more like our own world instead of a tomb.

Mirsha and Viper come in behind me and Viper heads straight for the connected bedroom directly in front of us. I follow him and lock the sliding door to the gardens.

"IMM GOMMMA KIWWWW YWWWW!"

Viper chuckles and I push the silk tie in just a bit deeper. I run the tip of my nose along her neck and breathe in her very essence. "Like sweet rain on a summer's eve."

"DWWWED!"

Her muffled screams are sexy and do wicked things to my dick.

"What's that, sweetness? I can't make out what you're saying."

Mirsha comes up beside me and warns, "You're playing with poison, brother." The tone in his voice says he likes the danger as much as I do.

"Mm, yeah. I guess we all are. It'll be fun when she bites. We will get to bite back."

Aster fights her bindings and her gag in the cutest struggles that have my dick hard and ready to pound steel.

I hold her head up and stop her thrashing. "Careful, your godfathers might fuck you before untying you."

Let her think about that for a while.

Her sharp intake of air and the way her gaze drops to the defined line of my throbbing cock are very telling.

"Does our girl have kinks?" My voice turns sharp and lethal when that leads to another question that has me seeing blood. "Did you role-play with your lovers after we left you?"

She lasers daggers into my chest.

Viper drops her in the middle of the enormous bed and all that pretty raven hair spills over the golden duvet beneath her.

"Hell's own angel sent to tempt us to sin, brothers." I lean over a squirming Aster and place a kiss on her forehead. "Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back."

I get another muffled string of curses as I follow Mirsha into the sitting area. We both head for the bourbon.

We stand shoulder to shoulder. "You knew who was on that plane." It's not a question and the stiffness in my oldest friend's back speaks volumes.

He puts the stopper back into the crystal decanter and pushes the glass away. Probably because he feels the same sour churn in the pit of his stomach as I do.

"I knew," he admits and turns his full body toward me. I feel Viper come up behind me and turn to see he has water and a damp cloth in his hands. He puts them on a nearby table and we both corner Mirsha who isn't good at sharing with the class.

"I didn't know if I had the strength to face her until she was being shoved inside the car with us. Keeping my mouth shut was easier than trying to tell you two where we were going and who we were collecting."

"You mean safer." Pounding on his face would help with my current anger issues, but I don't want Aster to see either of us bloodied.

Mirsha shrugs out of his suit jacket and tosses it over a nearby chair. He releases the cuff links and places them in a tray beside the bottle of water and cloth.

"What the fuck is the difference? If I talked, I would convince us all to haul ass in the opposite direction. If I stayed silent…well, here we are. What the fuck do you want me to say? She makes me insane to the point I've nearly let the darkness take me. Let's just leave it at that."

Guilt eats at his exterior, and he drops his weight into a nearby chair. I exchange a knowing look with Viper. The last time Mirsha got like this, we had to bribe his way out of a Mexican jail. A bad mood turned ugly at a dive bar on the wrong side of town. Given the number of people in Mexico City, it was Mirsha's luck that he found the one guy who didn't mind beating the shit out of him so he could stop feeling. But Mirsha is a fighter, and it wasn't long before he fought back. Blood was drawn and as soon as the cops arrived, the cuffs went on.

My hurting brother rubs at a spot over his chest. The same one I feel day in and day out. "I don't know how to live without her, brothers. And I sure the fuck can't see us handing her back to her father. Not after what he's done."

"What did the bastard do to her?" Viper's tone is ice cold.

"He is selling her off to the Romanov son to keep his empire."