Chapter 9

Who the fuck is this woman with eyes as silver as the moon and hair like liquid night? With a body both supple and thin? With soft lips juxtaposed by the sharp planes of her face? With skin like alabaster?

And when the fuck did I start using words like “alabaster” and “liquid night” when describing a woman?

Normally, I’ll look at their assets. Namely, their breasts and ass (there’s a reason they’re called assets). I’m a tits man, in case you were wondering.

Currently, her gorgeous doe eyes stare blindly up at me and my brother with pain emanating in their depths. I feel irrationally furious at the way Blade treated her. Logically, I know he did it for the scumbag’s benefit—no one can know about Blade’s (excuse me, Malakai’s) attachment to her. I can’t even begin to compute what Rion will do with that information.

Adopting my trademark, sultry smirk, one lost on the petite female, I say, “So, Nina, it seems that we find ourselves alone.”

Blade must really trust me and my brother if he left her alone with us. Though, out of all the members of his inner circle, we’re the least volatile and dangerous. We still have our powers in the Labyrinth, but as demons, my brother and I are unable to access the full extent of our skills. Can’t really create portals to hell to rejuvenate our powers, now, can we? Besides, I have no doubt we will be a tasty dragon kabob if we so much as look at her inappropriately.

I’ve never seen Blade care about anyone but himself, let alone someone he obviously cares about more than himself. The fact that this diminutive slip of a female holds so much power over our esteemed leader terrifies me.

“So it seems.” Nina sighs, turning a longing glance in the general direction Blade disappeared to. For some reason, that irritates the shit out of me.

And it irritates the shit out of me that it irritated the shit out of me in the first place. See my conundrum?

“Don’t be so sad, Bambi,” I jest, placing my arm around her shoulders. She tenses, the action almost instinctive, and I notice Cain’s eyes narrowing in on that minuscule movement. Slowly, as to not startle her further, I remove my arm and rest it back by my side.

“Bambi,” she parrots, narrowing her ethereal eyes in my direction. “That’s not my name.” She almost seems…put off, as if I’d purposely mistaken her name with that of another woman. Granted, it wouldn’t be the first time, but that’s not the case here.

“Bambi.” I nod my head once, my smile growing in tandem with her confusion. “Like the movie.”

One black brow quirks as she cocks her head to the side.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never seen Bambi,” I say in horror, placing a hand to my chest. “Have you been living under a rock?”

“More like in a compound,” she murmurs, her cryptic statement leaving me with more questions than answers.

I exchange a bemused look with my brother, and he shrugs, feigning nonchalance. I can tell he’s trying to act like he’s not utterly captivated by the female who smells like blossoms and sunshine, but his eyes follow her as keenly as mine do.

“We’ll have to rectify that straight away!” I say, and the melancholy in her eyes abates with my dogmatic words. “Wait. That’s insensitive. I’m sorry. I forgot about…” I gesture vaguely towards her eyes, and Cain whacks me on the back of my head. Scowling, I flip him off.

An adorable giggle—seriously, when did I start saying words like “adorable?”—interrupts my retort. It’s a sound I yearn to hear every second of every day.

What is it about her? Am I just that desperate to get in her pants?

Maybe I just need to get laid.

“I may be blind, but I would love to watch Bamble with you,” she says softly, though her tone holds a hint of something in it, something I can’t name. Amusement, maybe, like she is in the know of a secret we can’t even begin to comprehend.

“Bambi,” Cain corrects, speaking to her for the first time. She spins towards him with a wide smile, and I watch as my twin automatically takes a step back. A muscle in his jaw twitches as he crosses his arms over his chest and scowls at her.

“And you must be Cain. I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.” She extends a hand—the nails chewed down to stubs—and I watch my brother narrow his gaze at the offending limb.

Taking control of the situation before it can escalate and implode, I gently wrap my hand around Nina’s wrist and pull her towards me. “Enough of this,” I say easily, bopping her nose. Apparently, I do cute shit around this female. The horror. “Let me give you an official tour of your new home.”

Though the term “home” makes me want to vomit. A blow job it may giveth, but a home it does not maketh.

Pretty sure Shakespeare said that somewhere.

If Nina is confused by the abrupt change in topic, she doesn’t show it. Her brows furrow at my initiation of contact, but she takes a deep, calming breath, and her body begins to relax incrementally until she is calm and flaccid—unlike my dick. Her hand is warm in mine, and that warmth seems to migrate straight to my groin. God, even her hand feels amazing.

Her small, dainty hand that I can just picture wrapped around my?—

“How long have you known Kai?” she asks conversationally.

Cain wanders a few steps behind us. One glance over my shoulder shows his hands in his pockets and a wry grin playing on his lips.

“Oh, a few years, give or take,” I say dismissively.

Her face practically glows, as if someone lit a candle beneath the surface. “He’s a good man.”

I just barely hold in my snort. Good man, my fucking ass. He’s a good leader, for sure, and he’s just and fair, but never would I consider Blade a good man. He keeps men like Damien around him, for fuck’s sake.

“Shouldn’t you be asking us the most important question?” Cain cuts in scathingly. Both Nina and I give him befuddled looks. I recognize the expression on Cain’s face: cruel and cold. Icy terror skates down my spine, stealing the warmth from my body.

“Cain, what are you doing?” I warn darkly.

His smile grows, revealing sharp teeth. A flash of red appears in his irises, the color nearly blocking out both pupils. The distinct stench of smoke and sulfur permeates the air.

Ignoring me, Cain keeps his attention on the trembling Nina. No doubt, she can feel the shift in the air as his demon form makes an appearance. Fucking asshole.

Blade will kill us.

“Don’t you want to know what we’re in for?” he asks, and I growl.

“Shut the fuck up,” I hiss, my own teeth instinctively elongating.

“You see, my brother here is a trickster demon,” Cain continues. “Me? I’m a sex demon.” His voice takes on a seductive purr that brings most women to their knees. The power he exudes is almost staggering, a physical force thickening the air like syrup.

Most women, that is, except Nina, apparently.

To my shock and horror, her shoulders lift and her spine straightens. The only indication that Cain’s power is affecting her is the tightening of her fists, dull nails digging into her palms.

“What are you in for?” she asks with more bravado than I’m sure she feels. Her chin lifts almost imperceptibly as she rests her blind, silver gaze on Cain.

“Well, well, well. I can’t give you all our secrets, can I?” he taunts, smirking.

I take a threatening step closer until I’m nose to nose with my idiotic twin. “Seriously, Cain, shut the fuck up.”

“Kai obviously trusts you enough to leave me alone with you,” Nina insists, and Cain swivels his head to glare at her once more.

“Your precious Kai is the worst of us all,” he hisses, and then Nina does the stupidest thing I have ever seen: she takes a step closer and places a hand on his arm.

An enraged roar escapes my brother as he staggers back a step, clutching at his stomach. I step in front of Nina, fully prepared to fight my brother until she’s capable of escaping. It isn’t just because I’m attracted to the dark-haired beauty. I would save anybody from my brother’s unwarranted wrath.

The color drains from Nina’s face, as if she is only now understanding the severity of the situation. The danger she unwittingly placed herself in.

Her next words, however, are a proverbial kick to the nuts. “I’m sorry.”

What. The. Fuck?

“Why the hell are you sorry?” I ask, spinning towards her. Bambi’s eyes aren’t on me, but on my brother. Guilt swirls in that milky gaze, and she lowers her head submissively.

“I shouldn’t have touched him,” she whispers in a choked voice. To Cain, she adds, “I hate people touching me too.”

Dozens of emotions flicker in my brother’s garnet gaze before he settles on anger.

“Stay the fuck away from me!” he snarls before stomping away.

I watch my twin’s retreating back before turning towards the trembling female. Miles upon miles of pain are buried in her expressive eyes. It would take a necromancer for me to uncover it all.

“I’m sorry,” she repeats to me, and I manage a wobbly smile, suddenly grateful as fuck she’s unable to see it.

“It’s fine, Bambi. My brother has his issues.”

“Don’t we all…” The last is said in a hushed murmur, her expression contemplative.

But I have to wonder why my brother ran away. It’s not his usual MO. He much prefers facing the problem head-on and snarling at it until it scampers away.

If I know my brother as well as I think I do—better than I sometimes know myself—it’s because he was just seen more clearly than ever before in his life, and that terrifies him.

“Let’s take the tour, shall we?” I ask, clearing my sluggish head. And then, with more of my signature humor, I quip, “I’ll let you touch whatever you want, as long as you’re good.”

When she laughs, not understanding my sexual innuendo, my smile grows.

Yeah, I’m an asshole. Sue me.

But fuck if something about this female isn’t twisting me up inside.