Eve yawned and worked at opening her eyes.
Her body felt a little stiff, but her head felt fine, like the debilitating pain she’d felt the day before hadn’t ever been there. She stretched and that’s when she felt the couch at her back. She was still in Lazarus’s apartment. Her eyes flew open as she pushed herself to a sitting position.
And gasped.
“Lazarus?”
He didn’t answer her, was just standing across from her, features tight, pained. His jaw was set like granite, the vein in his throat pulsing. He was wearing the same T-shirt and jeans from the night before and the muscles in his arms looked carved from stone.
“Are you okay?”
He still didn’t answer but nodded jerkily. It was a complete lie. She only had to look at him to see he was in some kind of pain. She stood slowly. She wasn’t sure why, but the way he was looking at her, the unwavering stare, like a hawk about to go after a mouse, combined with the way the green in his eyes seemed to move and swirl—she felt approaching him cautiously was for the best.
His nostrils flared as she got closer, and impossibly, those carved-from-stone-muscles hardened further.
She reached out, placing her hand on his arm. Her gaze dropped to where she touched him. His skin felt a million degrees. He was like scorching rock beneath her hand.
A rhythmic vibrating sound started up.
God, it was coming from Lazarus.
Her gaze shot back up to his, and she gasped when the green of his irises was swallowed by midnight for a moment.
Lazarus hissed.
What the hell was going on? Something was happening, something Lazarus hadn’t told her. He’d been about to last night, and she got the feeling the way he was with her, this pain or whatever he seemed to be in all the time, involved her.
“What can I do?” She slid her hand up his forearm to his monster biceps, trying to soothe him. God, pet him. Something. Anything. “Tell me, please.”
His nostrils flared and he dipped his head, his movements jerky. Then he dropped his face to the crook of her neck and she froze as he breathed in deeply, dragging his nose up the side of her throat, over her jaw, until his lips were at her cheek, so close to her own.
The rhythmic sounds got louder. God, he was purring. There was no other way to describe it.
“Just one taste,” he said. “Please…just one.”
Eve swayed toward him, her entire body coming alive from the sound of his rough voice, the plea she heard in it. She didn’t know what she was doing, but at that moment she didn’t care; she’d give him anything he wanted.
She turned her head, and the outer corners of their mouths brushed. Her heart pounded harder. Lazarus growled and turned to her as well, dragging his lips over hers.
Eve opened for him instantly, her fingers digging into hard muscle, trying to pull him closer, wanting more. His big hand moved up to the side of her face, thick fingers sliding into her hair, and he tilted her head. His tongue licked into her mouth, sliding against hers in a way that was frenzied, hungry. More than meeting her own desperate need for him.
The purring grew louder, the vibrations from his chest going right through her. She squirmed. God, she felt it, right between her legs.
His other hand slid around her waist and he tugged her closer so she was plastered against his rock-solid body.
Someone knocked at the door.
Lazarus stilled, panting, chest pumping.
“You there?” Chaos called.
Lazarus was staring down at her, his eyes bright green now. He cleared his throat. “I need to answer that.”
Eve nodded, unable to put together any kind of sentence.
His hands slid from her body and she felt their absence immediately. He stepped back, and again his movements were jerky, stiff.
They’d kissed.
Eve lifted her fingers to her tingling lips, trying to comprehend what she was feeling, what it was about him that drew her so strongly.
Lazarus's hand twitched at his side like he was going to reach for her again. But then Chaos pounded on the door and called out again.
He turned away from her, but not before she saw the muscle in his jaw jump. He yanked the door open. “What is it?”
Chaos took them both in, and if he suspected something had just happened between them, he didn’t let on. “We need you out on patrol.”
Lazarus frowned. “You could have just texted.”
“I did, and called as well.”
Shoving his hand in his back pocket, Lazarus pulled out his phone and cursed. “It’s dead.” He thrust his fingers through his hair. “I’m right behind you.” He turned back to her when Chaos left. “I have to go.”
It was unexplainable, but she wanted to prolong their time together. “I’ll walk out with you then I can swing by the kitchens and grab something to eat.”
He nodded and she followed him upstairs. There was a new tension between them now, even stronger than before, and it lifted goose bumps all over her skin.
“The cafeteria’s on the top floor,” he said.
“Okay.”
His gaze lingered on her for several seconds, like he wanted to say something more, but changed his mind, and finally headed off in the opposite direction. She watched him walk away. Would she see him later? Something was going on, something he wasn’t telling her. She needed answers. Maybe they could have a meal together when he got back and talk.
Decision made, she ran after him to ask. Lazarus was already at the balcony doors when she walked into the control room.
He tore off his shirt and shoved as much as he could into his back pocket—
Massive charcoal wings sprung from his back.
She gasped and he spun to face her. His wings moved gently, and as they did, light shimmered across them, catching on flecks of silver.
“They’re…beautiful,” she whispered.
“Eve…”
Her gaze moved over his ripped chest and ridged abs…and the large bulge at the front of his jeans.
He cursed and took a step toward her, his wings folding in as he did. They vanished a second later like they hadn’t been there. “Eve, I need you to—”
A low, vicious sound came from behind her, lifting the hairs on her arms. She spun around. Two of the others had joined them. Rocco and another male she hadn’t met yet. They stood on the other side of the room, on opposite corners.
Both were huge, chests pumping with their rapid breaths, lips curled back, teeth clenched.
And at that moment they were focused on one thing—her.
Lazarus was suddenly beside her, sliding an arm around her waist, pulling her in close to his side. “What the fuck, Zenon?”
The guy she assumed was Zenon was breathing rapidly and his big body seemed to grow with every inhalation. He wore a black T-shirt that clung to his thick biceps and chest. The skin she could see was completely covered in tattoos. His hair was long and pure black and hung forward, obscuring most of his face.
He didn’t take his eyes off her and growled. The sound began so quiet she could barely hear it, but as his chest heaved with every breath, it grew in volume until it was almost deafening.
She tried to scramble back, but Lazarus held her in his firm, unyielding grip, stopping her escape. The terrifying male took a threatening step toward them.
“Do not take another step,” Lazarus said, voice deadly.
What the hell was going on? Wasn’t this supposed to be some kind of safe haven?
“I don’t want to,” Zenon gritted out. His nostrils flared and the look he sent Lazarus was one of pure hatred. “I can’t help it. What the fuck is she?”
“What is wrong with you?” Lazarus seemed genuinely confused by the other male’s reaction.
Zenon didn’t, or couldn’t, answer and continued to pant in harsh, ragged breaths.
A hiss came from the opposite side of the room and Lazarus spun to face Rocco. He shook his head like an angry beast, light glinting off his facial piercings. He looked in pain.
“Something’s wrong,” Rocco said as his eyes lost all color, like Lazarus’s had in her bedroom and became a hollow, black nothingness. “You need to get her away from me…or I’m—” He snarled suddenly and flung his head back. His body torqued violently, every vein and tendon strained, bulging through the exposed skin of his throat and down his heavy arms. After a few seconds suspended like that, whatever had held him let go. He hissed and lowered his head.
Then ran at her.
Lazarus shoved her back so hard her body slammed into the wall behind her. Zenon roared and came at them from the other side, his growls loud enough to rattle glass.
Her heart pounding out of her chest, Eve pressed into the unyielding steel at her back, scrambling to stay upright when her foot slipped, desperate to get the hell away. Oh God.
Zenon moved faster than Rocco and as he drew near, Lazarus planted his feet, legs apart, blocking her with his body. She curled her fingers around the waistband of his jeans, pressing herself into his back, clinging to him. His muscles bunched hard as he tensed, bracing for impact. But instead of coming at them, Zenon dove and tackled Rocco to the ground.
The sound of their bodies colliding was horrific. Neither one held anything back as they went at each other like wild animals.
The door crashed open again and Gunner and Kryos stormed in.
Their sharp gazes landed on the pair fighting. “What the fuck’s going on?” Gunner growled, taking in the men bleeding and grunting on the floor. He had a buzz cut and a deep scar through his top lip. It puckered when he aimed his stare at her and hissed in a sharp breath.
Kryos moved in, dragging Rocco off the floor, tearing him from Zenon. Panting, Rocco dragged the back of his hand across his bleeding lip then pointed at her. “It’s her…if Zen hadn’t stopped me…” He didn’t finish, didn’t need to.
Four sets of eyes slid toward Eve. Three of them were nothing but dark, fathomless pools. Only Kryos’s remained warm brown and conveyed only concern and curiosity.
“What is she?” Zenon growled again. His long hair no longer obscured his face, and a scar or burn marred his right cheek. Tattoos covered his entire neck, finishing at his jawline. In fact, besides his face, there wasn’t a piece of exposed skin that wasn’t inked. Intense hatred oozed from him, and when his gaze landed on her, his lips curled in distaste.
“Do not fucking look at her,” Lazarus barked across the room.
None of them moved. Their gazes lingered, intense and terrifying.
“Kryos, get them the hell out of here,” Lazarus roared.
Kryos, the only one besides Lazarus who seemed to have control, shoved at the males closest to him, but they didn’t budge. Their massive bodies remained unnaturally still, heads cocked with identical expressions she couldn’t decipher but turned the blood in her veins to ice. Finally, after another shove, they tore their gazes from her and stormed out.
Lazarus released a shaky breath and shoved his fingers in his hair. “Fuck.”
Eve turned to him, confused and barely holding it together. “What just happened?” Her voice shook.
He blew out a harsh breath. “Fucked if I know.”
When the door slammed open again, Lazarus crowded Eve, keeping her behind him. Her fingers still gripped his waistband, her body pressed close. She was trembling. It took all his self-control not to go after Zen and Rocco and do something he had never entertained once in his long life. Zenon was wild, some might even say unstable. You never knew where you stood with the guy or what he might do next, but Roc? He’d never seen the other male like that. Eve had triggered their demons’ violent reaction somehow. He had no idea how, but his little demi had made herself a target.
Chaos stepped through the door and prowled across the room, teeth gritted. He looked more than a little pissed. In only a pair of faded jeans, there was no missing the Kishi demon he housed rippling and moving restlessly below his skin, desperate for release. Chaos’s brown eyes flashed midnight as he stopped in front of him then slid briefly to the female huddled at his back. “I think we need to talk.”
James walked in and Lazarus waved him over. “Take Eve out onto the balcony for some fresh air, would you?” Her grip tightened and she shifted around behind him, her fists pressing into his lower back. He reached around and gently eased her forward to stand at his side. She was scared as hell, the pulse in her throat fluttering madly as her gaze darted between him and Chaos. “It’s okay, Eve. They’re gone, and Chaos won’t hurt you.”
She gazed up at him, offering him a tantalizing flash of trust. The look in her eyes was so damn innocent it made him yearn for something he couldn’t have. He clenched his fists against the guilt that slammed him in the solar plexus with the force of a battering ram, because it was only a matter of time before she discovered the kind of male he truly was.
Their leader flashed a wide, white, somewhat pained grin, and Eve jumped.
“I just need a private word with Laz.”
“Right, of course,” she whispered.
Chaos’s skin twisted and rolled across his shoulders and down his heavy biceps before his eyes flickered to midnight and back to brown again.
“Oh God.” Eve plastered her body against Lazarus again. She hadn’t let go of him, her fingers now hooked onto the belt loops of his jeans.
“Jesus. Can you put a goddamned shirt on?” Lazarus growled at the other male.
“No.” Chaos shrugged, causing another roll. “It’s uncomfortable.”
Loosening her death grip, he held onto her frozen fingers and turned to face her, using his body to block Chaos from her view. He couldn’t help himself and lightly cupped the side of her face. Her skin was smooth and warm, her cheeks flushed. “James is going to take you out on the balcony. I’ll make sure no one else goes out there, okay?”
She nodded.
Shit. There it was again, that burgeoning look of trust. His stomach knotted and he turned away, feeling like a bastard. Chaos cocked a brow in question. He ignored him, and with surprising reluctance, handed her over to James, watching as he steered her across the room and out the double doors.
“What the hell just happened here?” Lazarus hissed as soon as she was out of earshot.
Chaos ran a hand over the tattoo covering one side of his shaved head. “Fucked if I know. The autumnal equinox is approaching, making shit a lot worse when we’re already struggling.”
The equinox was a catalyst, and with a little sacrificial blood to help it along, opened the portal between Hell and Earth. Leading up to it always messed with each of them, but the whole Tobias situation had made it a whole lot worse.
Chaos put his hands on his hips. “Maybe there’s something with her power we haven’t unlocked yet? Something that’s magnifying the effect? Maybe it’s something else, something that calls to our demons. Fucked if I know, but, brother, whatever it is, it’s strong.”
“You feel it?” Laz asked him.
Chaos’s jaw ticked. “Yeah, I feel it.”
Going by the roll of his flesh and the color of his eyes, Eve’s being at the compound affected Chaos just as much as the others. It was only the sheer strength of his will that prevented him from behaving like Zen and Roc, and the reason they had appointed him their leader.
Chaos cursed, sucking in a breath, and grabbed for the desk beside him.
Lazarus winced as the points of his friend’s wings stretched below his skin, rising above his shoulders before disappearing again. With the ongoing struggle to keep their demon halves under control since Tobias’s defection to the “dark side” the knights had only allowed themselves partial shifts. Wings only. Chances were good they wouldn’t be able to change back from their Kishi forms if they did, and that would suck big time.
“In our weakened state, our demons will continue to try to overthrow us. And I’m thinking the only way to protect her, and us is to make her your mate.” He gritted the words out as if nothing had happened, as if his demon wasn’t writhing just below the surface, desperate to explode out of his skin.
Lazarus scrubbed his hands over his face. That demon side desperate for escape in each of his brothers had sensed something in Eve, something unknown, something extremely powerful.
Which meant Chaos was right.
“The gateway is thinning as the equinox approaches. Without knowing what it is about her that’s affecting our demons, we can’t control it, and having her here around your brothers while you’re unmated, it’s too damn dangerous.”
Lazarus’s stomach knotted. He’d really gone and fucked everything up. He was the reason his world had shattered into a million shards of utter hell. His weakness had kicked off the mess they all found themselves in now, and his brothers were still paying the price for it.
Chaos must have read the look on his face, and thankfully, didn’t push. “Take her to your room, put up a shield, and keep her the fuck there until you’ve claimed her. She’s too dangerous to move around the compound.”
Chaos took off, and Laz collected Eve and led her into the elevator, hitting the next floor down. She was going to be stuck in his apartment, with him, until they figured this out or they mated, and he didn’t know how he was going to keep it together having her that close 24/7.
Eve stayed close by his side as he hustled her toward his quarters. Once inside he could use his powers to veil the erratic energy she was throwing out, and hopefully give his brothers a break. She must have a million questions and he knew she was waiting until she was in the safety of his rooms to ask them. And shit, somehow, after witnessing Roc and Zenon losing it back there, and Eve knowing that Lazarus and his brothers were made the same, that they had the same kind of vicious demon inside them—he had to convince her to mate with him.
Fuck.
A crash sounded behind them followed by Kryos’s voice echoing down the hall. “Run!”
He didn’t bother to turn around. The sound of growling, of pounding boots sprinting after them, said it all. Scooping Eve in his arms, he ran for the end of the hall and threw the door open to his apartment. It slammed behind him and he threw up a field of energy that should keep his brothers out. The other male didn’t make it that far. Another crash came as they hit the floor. Kryos had taken him down before he got there. As the only mated male among them, Kryos was the most stable. Eve didn’t seem to be affecting him at all. Proving Chaos right. Mating would solve this, whatever it was. Rocco’s hissed protests echoed through the door seconds later as he was dragged away.
At that moment, Lazarus became aware of the warm female bundled in his arms. She’d buried her face against his neck and her rapid breaths tickled his skin, sending tingles across his scalp. “You all right, Eve?”
“No,” she said, voice muffled.
Her lips lightly grazed his throat when she spoke, and he fought not to shiver in response. Jesus. He couldn’t take much more of this. Now he’d tasted her, he wanted to kiss her again in a way that went beyond desperate. Lowering her to the ground, he took a step back. “I’m sorry if they scared you.”
“Scared me? I’m terrified. Why did you even bring me here? You said I’d be safe.”
That knot in his gut twisted. “You will be, I promise. I will keep you safe.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “What was that? What’s going on, Lazarus?”
“I know you have a lot of questions, and I will answer them.”
“When?”
“Soon.” Yeah, he was a fucking coward, but he wasn’t ready to have that discussion with her, not yet. It was pathetic, and he didn’t know why he was torturing himself, but he wanted one more day. One more fucking day of what if, of what might have been, before that look of budding trust on her face disappeared for good and turned to fear and disgust.
He craved that look like a starving animal.
Her eyes narrowed. “Lazarus—”
A quiet knock at the door thankfully interrupted whatever Eve was about to say. “Yeah?”
“It’s Meredith. Can I come in?”
He pulled the door open and motioned for Kryos’s mate to enter. “How’s Roc?”
“Ashamed of himself. He sent me to apologize to Eve.”
Eve took in the woman in front of her. Meredith was beautiful, tall and slim, and the stunning smile she directed at Eve was kind. “He really is sorry. If it wasn’t for—”
Lazarus cleared his throat, stopping the other woman mid-sentence. Frowning, Eve shot him a look. But he’d moved to the small kitchen off the living room and started messing with his coffee machine.
“Anyway.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “You’re safe with Kryos and me. Since we’re mated, he has all of that”—she aimed her thumb back toward the door—“under control.”
Eve frowned. “Mate?”
Meredith’s smile widened and her eyes softened. “Yeah, he stormed into my life and swept me off my feet.” She chuckled. “I’ve been waiting a long time for another—”
“Coffee?” Lazarus barked from the kitchen.
They both jumped and spun to face him.
“No. Thanks,” Meredith answered, her gaze moving back and forth between her and Lazarus. He wasn’t subtle in the least. He was stopping Meredith from telling her something, and Eve wanted to growl in frustration.
“Okay. I better head out. If you need anything, anything at all, I’m just down the hall.” She glanced back at Lazarus as she spoke. “I’ll come back in…a couple of days?”
He nodded and crossed his arms.
“If you need to talk before then, just ask Laz for my number.”
“Thanks, I—” A sudden wave of nausea took Eve by surprise, causing her stomach to roll. Oh God, she was about to throw up. Her vision swam and she reached for the back of the couch.
“Lazarus.” Meredith’s voice sounded panicked.
“Eve?” Lazarus called.
His voice grew distant, his footfalls muffled. Her vision dimmed, shrouded in darkness like a shadow moving over her, right before she crumpled to the floor.
The last thing she saw was Meredith’s worried expression and Lazarus stalking toward her.