Desire Unchained

“Shade? What is it? Shade?” Skulk shook his shoulder, but he barely noticed. He threw open the door, thankful they hadn’t taken off yet, and fell from the vehicle.

His knees hit the pavement with a crack he heard through the roar of blood in his ears. Doubled over, he wrapped his arms around his gut. Blackness engulfed his vision, his brain. One of his brothers was dead. Who? Gods, who?

He reached out with his mind to connect with Wraith, the brother who couldn’t be more his opposite, but with whom Shade had a unique connection. Nothing. He couldn’t feel Wraith at all. Struggling for each breath, he felt for the weaker connection with Eidolon, but again, nothing. He couldn’t sense Roag, either.

In the background, he heard Skulk talking on her cell phone with Solice, the on-duty triage nurse at the hospital. “Where are Shade’s brothers? I need to know. Now!”

“Skulk …” he gasped.

She knelt next to him. “Hold on.” She listened into the phone for a moment. “Okay, Solice says Roag went to Brimstone. She’s all mad because he wouldn’t take her with him, but she’s getting ready to head there now. She doesn’t know where E and Wraith are. They refused to go with Roag.”

Not a shock. No Seminus in his right mind would step inside a demon pub where female lust could hold you prisoner for days, or worse, send you to your death at the claw-end of a jealous male. But then, Roag had never been in his right mind.

Shade groaned, swallowed sickly. Gradually, a pinpoint of light pierced the darkness. Wraith. He could feel Wraith’s life force. Thank the gods. Relief made his shoulders sag, but only for a second. He couldn’t sense Eidolon. Blindly, he reached out with his hand as though he could touch his brother. Skulk caught his arm, twined her fingers through his.

“Breathe, Paleshadow,” she whispered, using the childhood nickname she’d given him over eighty years ago. “We’ll get through this.”

Not if E was dead. Shit, he was the brother who kept them all level, who kept Roag in line and Wraith alive.

Awareness sifted through him. Eidolon. He was safe.

The pain faded, but a gnawing, aching emptiness drilled one more hole into Shade’s soul. Seminus demons were connected to all their brothers, and when one died, he took a chunk of his surviving siblings with him. Thirty-seven deaths later, Shade felt like a colander.

“Who was it?” Skulk asked softly.

“Roag.” He drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “It was Roag.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So am I,” he said, but it was an automatic response. As much as he hated to admit it, the world was now a better place.





One





When walking through the “valley of shadows,” remember, a shadow is cast by a Light.

—Austin O’Malley





It had been at least two decades since Shade had awakened on a strange floor, hung over and without a clue to his whereabouts. The heavy weight of a manacle around his wrist and the sound of a rattling chain made him smile. It had been even longer since he’d been in this situation and chained up.

Cool.

Sure, he preferred the females to be the ones in chains instead of him, but he’d roll with it.

“Shade.”

The female voice sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it through the ringing in his ears. He couldn’t open his eyes, either.

“Shade. Wake up.” A hand shook his shoulder, not gently, as he’d expect a female to do after a spending a night with him. Hell, she should be waking him with her mouth on his— “Shade, damn you, wake up!”

Groaning, he rolled onto his back, wincing at the dull ache pounding against the back of his skull. “I’m awake, baby. I’m awake. Climb on. I’ll catch up.”

“Thanks, I’ll pass. But call me baby again and I’ll rip your lips off.”

Shade peeled his eyes open. Blinked at the blurry face peering down at him. Blinked again.

“Runa?”

“You remember my name? Pardon me while I pass out from shock.”

The sarcasm wasn’t necessary, but yeah, he remembered her name. She’d been the hottest human he’d ever brought to his bed. Long, caramel brown hair that felt like the softest silk on his chest, abs, thighs, as she kissed her way down his body. Full, sensual lips that had curved into wicked smiles worthy of his wildest dreams, pale champagne eyes that complemented smooth, golden skin that had melted like brown sugar under his tongue.

But he hadn’t seen her in nearly a year. Not since the night she ran away and fell off the face of the earth.

“Why are you here? Why am I here?” He squinted in the hazy darkness. “Where is here?” His first thought was that maybe The Aegis had captured him, but this place was too creepy even for those demon-slaying bastards.