Chapter 12

Mari waited for their guests to leave through the portal and then sighed with relief. "Well, that went better than it had any reason to."

Cisco lounged back in his chair. "Do I want to know what the business with Willow was about?"

Rio shook his head. "Not unless you want to kill Argento before Esmé has a chance to."

Cisco finished his coffee with a harsh gulp. "We'll leave that alone, then." His eyes searched out Mari's. "What do you think of her offer?"

"I think we should accept it. None of us wants to deal with that place. She's more than capable and seems inclined to work with us."

"She has an agenda of her own," Cisco murmured. "She always does."

"I'm fine with her having an agenda as long as it doesn't conflict with ours. And if she's contracted to work for us, that seems less likely."

"Can't argue with that." Cisco leaned to look at Rio. "You've spent more time at the club than me. How do you feel about it?"

"Esmé will do a good job." Rio shrugged. "And she's right. The people who will be put off by fewer people suffering aren't the kind of people we want to encourage to hang around."

Cisco turned back to Mari. "You don't mind going to the club like she wants?"

"It was always part of the plan."

"Much farther down the road."

"After you'd figured out a way to tell me my father was trafficking in sex slaves?"

Rio whistled low. "On that note, I'm going through to the other side and checking to make sure it's secure. I'll see you there." Neither of them turned to watch him as his footsteps disappeared through the portal.

Cisco didn't look away from her eyes, but it was obvious he wanted to. "Yes. You've had enough to deal with the last couple of days. Forgive me for sparing you that."

"I do, but you shouldn't have. If I'm going to be the queen of this nightmare, I need to know what's going on."

Cisco covered both of her hands with one of his. "You don't have to, you know. No matter what Esmé says. I can be the duke or the baron or whatever, ruling in your name without you ever having to dirty your hands."

She stroked his thumb with hers. All she would have to do is make sure the magic kept flowing. That was the deal they'd made originally. "That would be easier, but I'm not sure it's sustainable."

"Our agreement was that I would be the scary face of the organization and you'd be in the background." Cisco shrugged. "I just want you to know I'm content to continue that way." His face broke into a slow smile, and he leaned closer. "I'm also fine with you being the rightful queen of all of this. More than fine." His breath tickled over her ear when he leaned even closer to whisper, "I would love to watch you crush them all under your heel."

Mari felt her heart race. "Do you really think I could?"

"I know you could." His hand slid into the slit of her dress to grip her thigh. "You nearly bring me to my knees every time you look at me."

She turned her head and claimed his mouth in a blistering kiss that left him panting for breath. "Would you worship at my feet with the rest of them?" she murmured against his lips.

His response was immediate and fervently honest. "Without question."

Mari bit his lower lip, hard enough that he gasped. She felt the shock of his pain burst into her, followed by the heavy press of his arousal. "Then show me." She pushed him away with one heeled sandal, and though he was much stronger than her, he allowed it.

Cisco turned her chair with one hand so that she faced him head-on. He repositioned her dress gently, making sure not to wrinkle or rip the fabric, baring a little more of her every moment until she thought she might catch fire. His deft hands slid up her legs to remove her panties with the same slow and deliberate pace, before tucking them away in his jacket pocket. Then, he reached to gently take her ankle in one hand and delicately lifted it to his mouth for a chaste kiss that tickled her skin before maneuvering her leg to the arm of the chair for better access.

His tail wrapped around her ankle, not forcing her legs wider, merely holding on as if he wanted as much contact with her as possible. He smoothed both hands over her thighs with a deeply satisfied sigh.

She watched him without saying anything, her heartbeat thudding in her ears because she could feel exactly how much he wanted this every time his skin touched hers. His desire snaked through her, hot and sharp.

He lowered his head between her legs and pressed a series of soft kisses along the seam of her pussy before nuzzling between her folds.

Mari reached to hold one of his horns, her grip hard enough that his head jerked a bit. She pushed some of her power into him as she rocked her hips against his face until he moaned against her. "Let me ride that wicked tongue of yours, Francisco."

He slid his tongue into her immediately, his low grumble of satisfaction vibrating through her as he tasted her arousal. She used her hold on his horn to control his movement, slowly fucking herself with his tongue.

The magic rising in her felt different this time, more powerful and less wild, as if by exerting control over him, she could also master the turbulent power that grew within her, tame it somehow.

She enjoyed his tongue that way for several minutes, trying different things with her magic while he worked. Her favorite discovery was that she could very nearly make him come without touching him if she stroked in exactly the right spot with the sharpened edges of her power.

Mari gripped his horns in both hands, angling his head back sharply to look down at him. His eyes were vast, dark, and filled with lust. She'd never seen him like this, and it thrilled her. "How do I taste?"

"Like night-blooming jasmine growing near the sea," Cisco answered immediately, his voice thick with wanting.

"Very poetic." She ran her hands up and down his horns, enjoying how they felt in her hands. "I'm not going to let you get me off while we're not in the compound, but would you like to come?"

Cisco groaned. "Yes, please."

She leaned back, repositioning the leg that had been over the arm of the chair so that it rested on one of his shoulders. "Unzip and get your cock out." She watched with a smile as he complied. "Get my panties out of your pocket and use them to pleasure yourself."

His eyes never left her face as he did as she commanded. He began to jerk off with quick precision, his breathing growing harsh.

Mari watched him for a while, basking in the sounds he made as they grew more and more desperate. "Put that sinful mouth on me again," she purred as she scooted her hips forward.

Cisco bent his head and dove between her legs again. He suckled at her slick flesh like she was the last drink of water on Earth and he was dying of thirst. The pulsing swirl of his desire was barely contained and almost painful to touch. She stroked it with her magic, over and over, in time with his hand as it worked up and down his cock.

He moaned against her, wanton and nearly feral with need. A part of her she barely recognized looked on with growing satisfaction the more undone he became. She spent a few minutes dragging her fingers along his horns and driving him higher and higher with her power before finally taking pity on him.

"Come, Francisco, but don't make a mess, or you're licking it up."

His tail tightened around her ankle. He turned his head with a growl, driving his fangs into her thigh with a fierce bite that parted her skin. The pain burned along her nerves, twirling around the pleasure that she'd allowed to build up. She drove both of them back into him through his mouth where it touched her, knowing that would seal the bite and set the mark. His entire body tensed, and she heard his breath catch on a cry of relief that left him shuddering.

She reached over his back and ran her fingers along the arch of one wing while he calmed, smiling when the sensation made him shiver.

He nuzzled his face against the place where he'd bitten her, then sat back on his heels to look up at her, a question in his eyes that she read effortlessly. Gargoyles marked their partners with bites, but because of the differences in biology, those bites rarely took when applied cross-species—unless magic was used to set them.

"I wanted to." She smiled. "To mark this moment."

"It was a hell of a moment." He kissed the spot reverently. "I've never let anyone order me around like that before."

"I had a feeling." She toyed with his curls idly. "Thank you. I still don't know if I want the throne, but now I think I might be able to manage it if I do decide that I want it."

He grinned, showing his fangs. "I'm content either way, worshiping at your feet or putting you on your knees."

She knew the offer was sincere because she'd felt how much he enjoyed both. Maybe the answer was more complicated than one or the other. She'd have to think on it more before she could come to a decision. "Let's go home."

"You sure you don't want me to…" He lowered his head to kiss her thigh again, his eyes tilting up, offering her anything she desired with his glance.

She laughed. "Very tempting, but I don't want to waste the magic."

"Home is such a long way off." He kissed slightly higher, letting his lips linger on her skin. "And we have so much magic."

"You have no idea how much magic we have."

"No," he murmured into her thigh. "But I do know how much sex we've been having." He nipped lightly, making her jolt. "And it's a lot."

She pushed him away regretfully, and he didn't resist, though he did pout, and it was adorable. "We do have a lot, but we don't know if the changes at the club are going to cause a problem."

"Fair enough." He kissed her once more before sitting back and wiping himself off with her panties. After tucking them away in his pocket and doing up his fly, he rose to his feet and held out a hand to her. "When we get home, I'm going to have Rio hold you down while I make you come with my mouth until I've milked every drop of magic from you."

His words and the wink that accompanied them made her stomach clench with desire as he helped her to her feet. He spent a moment straightening her dress and then held out his arm for her. His smile when she hooked her arm around his was brilliant.

When they stepped through the portal to go back to the front of Mon Petit Chou, the world was in chaos. James sat on the ground behind the splintered remains of the host's podium, holding one hand to his side. While she was still trying to figure out what had happened, Mari was pressed to the ground by the weight of Cisco's heavy body. The sounds of gunfire registered an instant later.

With his wings forming a shield around her, Cisco repositioned them so Mari was next to James and sheltered against the podium, and then peered over the wreckage to assess the situation.

"We should be safe in here as long as I remain conscious," James said in a strained voice. "I put up a shield after the first volley." He took a ragged breath. "Esmé and her people are pinned down outside."

That seemed to indicate that Esmé probably wasn't the person who had sent the first group after them.

"Where's Rio?" Cisco growled.

"He went out as soon as he sniffed at one of the bullets."

Cisco pulled what remained of a bullet out of the podium and touched it to his tongue. He dropped the twisted hunk of metal and spat. "Iron coated with belladonna."

Mari's chest tightened. While a normal bullet had little chance of doing any lasting damage to a gargoyle, the ones their adversaries were using had been custom-made to kill him, and painfully.

When he moved to rise, she grabbed his forearm. "You're not going out there. You're the target."

He shook his head. "You're the target. They just knew they had to get through me to get to you. One of those bullets will take you down just as easily as if it was coated with witchbane."

James grunted his agreement.

"I need to help him," Mari said with a glare meant to keep Cisco next to her.

Cisco nodded reluctantly. He swept his gaze across the battle taking place outside but didn't move to rise again.

She shifted closer to James to place a hand on either side of the one clutched to his side. "I'm afraid I don't have much experience at this."

James forced a smile. "Not one of my talents I'm afraid, or I'd offer some advice."

"Just keep the shield up. I've got this," she said with much more confidence than she felt.

Mari closed her eyes and tried to block out the noises of gunfire and shouting from just beyond the walls. She took a deep breath and was about to admit that she was out of her depth when her palms prickled. The sensation was distant, as though buffered somehow. She focused on the pain, the same way she sometimes did on the desire of those around her. Her breath stuttered as the pain rushed into her. As the connection between them solidified, she doubted again if she had the knowledge to heal him. Wouldn't she have to understand more about the workings of the body than she did?

She pulled his pain and took it into herself, the same way she did with desire of those around her. The ache sharpened as she focused and became a searing blade that cut through her. The sensation raced through her and made her breath catch.

With the small corner of her awareness still open to the room around her, she heard him sigh with relief.

"That helps. Thank you," James said.

Mari opened her eyes to smile at him and realized that the looming presence of Cisco was no longer beside her. Panicked, she looked around for him.

He stood at the ruined windows, looking out over the street with a strange expression on his face. Beyond him, Rio strode back toward the restaurant, shirtless and with the golden glow of the cougar lingering in his eyes. Bullets had hit him in a few places, but those wounds had already knitted themselves shut, and Mari was certain that the majority of the blood painting his golden skin was not his.

The gunfire outside had ceased, but the shouting had not. She saw a few of her guards milling about, checking every corner of the street to make sure there were no targets left. Esmé stood from where she had been sheltering with her attendants on either side of her and said something to Rio that Mari couldn't hear. Rio bared his teeth in a grin and winked but didn't pause an instant in his return. It was as though he had a rubber band that tied him to Cisco that stretched as far as it could handle before rebounding.

When he couldn't abide the distance between them for a second longer, Cisco rushed out to meet him, enveloping Rio in his arms and wings in a crushing embrace.

Rio stood still with a good-natured smile as Cisco inspected him for wounds. "I'm fine. They didn't have any silver."

Cisco growled. "You didn't know that when you charged out there like a fool."

Rio laughed as Cisco aggressively ran his hands over every inch of exposed skin. "I had a pretty good idea. They were after bigger game than me."

Cisco rolled his eyes. "An iron bullet to that thick skull of yours still would have put you down for long enough that they could come up with a more permanent solution."

"They never even saw me coming. Half of them were looking at the sky the whole time."

Cisco seemed to finally arrive at the conclusion that Rio was unharmed and grunted. "Well, good thing we didn't bring Tilly out with us then."

Iron would have brought Tilly plummeting out of the sky just as easily as it would have Cisco.

Rio nodded. "We need to make sure it's a varied group we bring out every time."

Mari made sure James was comfortable and then picked her way through the rubble of the restaurant to join them outside. "Who was it?"

Rio leaned to rub his face along the side of her neck in greeting. He let his nose trail along her skin for a moment before straightening to look her in the eyes.

"I'm not sure," Rio said after a moment. "Out-of-town muscle like the last time. I didn't recognize any of them. Esmé and her folks were under fire when I came out of the portal, so I'm pretty sure it's not her organizing these attacks. I still think it's Argento."

Mari let that settle for a few seconds. "So the list of people who want me dead is all of my father's enemies and all of his friends as well? That's a long list. Pretty much everyone in Las Vegas."

Cisco held her gaze. "I think his friends likely want me dead so they can get their hands on you, but they won't be gunning for you directly."

Her anger boiled over. "Then they'll do the same thing he did. Keep me a captive to run this preposterous fucking city."

Rio ran a hand slowly up her arm. "We're not going to let them."

Mari tried to let him comfort her, but his gentle touch didn't penetrate the walls she'd started to put around herself. It was never going to get better. Everyone wanted her for their own ends, either dead or captive to their whims. She hugged herself to stave off the chill she could feel gathering deep inside her.

Cisco wrapped a wing around her, pulling her toward him. He leaned down to whisper to her, "I protect what's mine, Mariana. And you're mine."

She shivered as his words finally got through the icy walls to the heart of her she'd been trying so desperately to protect. Clutching him tight, she nodded. "I'm yours." Silent tears began to fall as she hid her face against him.

Cisco sighed when he felt her relaxing against him. "How's the car?" he asked Rio over the top of her head.

"That thing could withstand an apocalypse. Esmé and her folks took cover against it, and nothing even came close."

"Basilio's paranoia was good for something, after all."

Rio snorted. "Not sure I'd go that far, but it'll get us home for sure."

Cisco scooped Mari up in his arms. "I'll ride back with you."

"You sure?" Rio sounded doubtful.

Cisco grunted. "It's not going to kill me to ride in a car for half an hour, and I shouldn't make such an attractive target for them just in case there are any snipers out there waiting for me."

The ride home was fraught, and none of them spoke much. Cisco sat with a sour look on his face and his arm locked around Rio as if he was seeking comfort as much as offering it. For his part, Rio pet Cisco's thigh, his fingers slow and soothing over the expensive material.