Dual Embrace: 3 (Shadowpeak Wolves) (17 page)

“You’ll get your clothes wet,” she said sharply, pushing his thigh.

He shook his head. “They’ll dry. What I did was regrettable.”

Dusty closed her mouth. To say she was shocked was an understatement.

“I don’t think I have ever said those words before.”

That, she believed.

“Well, you’re going to have to apologize again, so get used to it,” she said coldly.

He raised his eyebrows. “To Cain? I—”

“I’m not talking about Cain. Although that wouldn’t hurt. I was talking about Cassie.”

“I am a demon. I don’t apologize. If I did I would burst into flames.”

“What? Really?”

He sighed. “No, not really. So you told Cassie about me.”

“Yes, and even though she hasn’t said it, she’s wondering why you haven’t visited her. Where have you been?”

“I had some things to do.”

“Not. Good. Enough.” Dusty ground her teeth together.

He smiled. “You were worried about me?”

“Of course not.” She tried to stand, but she’d been to the physiotherapist that morning and her muscles were weak and tired. He held out a hand and she reluctantly took it, letting him pull her to her feet. “But you’ve been gone four days.”

Brynn grabbed her arm and, turning her, grasped her shoulders, staring into her eyes. “You’re right.”

Drawing her toward him, he kissed her deeply, wooing her with his tongue until she parted her lips and let him in. Desperately she tried to hold herself aloof, but as his tongue continued its erotic assault, she moved closer, rubbing against him.

Brynn cupped her breast, brushing his thumb against her nipple. Dusty shivered as his cool touch lit her insides.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered. “I could not stay away.”

His words penetrated the fog of lust and she wriggled against him.

“Let me go.”

He ignored her, kissing down her neck.

“Let. Me. Go.” Taking a step back, she slammed her hands against his shoulders to push him away.

“What was that for?”

“I said no. You still haven’t explained where you were.”

He grinned winningly. “Ahh, where we were going is far more interesting than where I have been.”

She frowned, not amused. “You tried to stay away, didn’t you? But you couldn’t.”

His face grew serious and a surge of triumph raced through her.

“You couldn’t stay away and yet you expect to just waltz on in and have me roll over, part my legs and say take me, please?”

“Other women do,” he muttered.

“Well, I am not other women and you can’t treat me this way. You can’t just come back without a word of explanation and expect me to welcome you with open arms.”

“I had to leave. I was attempting to do the right thing.”

“What do you want, a reward? Why did you leave? Because you were scared by what happened?”

Something flashed in his eyes. Yeah, she’d hit the nail on the head.

“As I recall, you took off first. And yes, all right, part of me was worried. But not just for myself. My power was out of my control and that has never happened to me before. You know, my leaving was the most unselfish thing I’ve ever attempted in my life.”

“So why have you come back?”

“To catch the bastards who hurt my sister.”

“And that’s all?” Hurt stirred as she realized he wasn’t going to be honest. Anger surged. “So go, find them.”

He sighed. “Let me finish. That’s only part of the reason why I came back. I had to see the two of you. I felt angry, antsy—”

“Anxious? You had to touch us? See us?”

“Yes. You too?”

She nodded. “What is it? What’s happened to us?”

Brynn rubbed his head, looking tired for the first time since she’d met him. “I think we need to wait and have this talk when Cain is here as well.”

“He’s not back until later tonight.”

“I need to go and see Cassie. Will I be welcome back here?”

“You can come back, but only if you’re going to tell us the truth.”

She waited until she was pretty sure he’d gone before limping out into the living room and sinking into a chair. She picked up her ringing phone, relaxing a little at Cain’s voice.

“Hey, sweetheart.” His voice soothed her nerves. “I need you to come over and keep Laney company.”

“Why? What’s happened?”

“Someone sent her another message.”

“Shit. I’ll leave now. Oh, and Brynn’s back.”

“Well, that’s just the cherry on the cake, isn’t it?”

Brynn stood outside his sister’s house, his fist raised to knock. The door opened suddenly, surprising him.

Jay looked equally taken aback. “Who the hell are you?”

Brynn smiled. He was riding the edge of his temper. Just seeing Dusty hadn’t been enough. He wanted her. So badly it was painful. And a fight with Jay might be just what he needed to ease some of the tension.

“Some guard dog you are. You didn’t even know I was here, did you? You know, perhaps it would be better if I took Cassie with me. I promise to do a much better job of looking after her than you.”

Jay flew at him in a blur. He easily avoided the flying punches, landing a few of his own.

“Jay! My God, Brynn? What are you doing?”

Brynn ignored Cassie. He was caught up in the chaos, the violence. He sucked in the power. Not as filling as sexual energy, but it would feed him for a while.

Water blasted him in the face. He pulled back in shock.

“What the hell?” Jay yelled. Stepping back, he shook his head. Droplets went flying. Then his voice grew calmer. “Cassie, love, you should be in bed. What are you doing up?”

“Why am I up? Oh I don’t know, perhaps because my idiotic mate and my equally stupid brother are brawling in my backyard!”

Brynn stared at his sister. She didn’t look like him. She took after her mother with her dark hair and short stature. Dark circles marked the skin under her eyes obscenely. Her hands rested on her hips as she glared at him. She resembled a vengeful sprite.

“Hello, Cassie. No welcoming kiss for your loving brother?”

She shook her head, tapping her foot impatiently. “Loving brother? You don’t write, you don’t call. If this is you being loving then I’d hate to see you indifferent.”

He grinned. “Well, just call me the dark sheep of the family. But I am family, little doe, your only family. Are you going to turn me away?”

“She has me now. And the pack.”

Jay moved to stand beside his mate, his arm going around her. She leaned against him.

“And all of you are doing such a wonderful job of looking after her. She should be in bed. You’re getting her wet. Let go of her.”

Brynn had easily dried himself with a mere thought.

Jay growled and, taking off his shirt, rubbed his hair roughly. “She was resting until you came barreling in, looking to pick a fight.”

“Do you want to come in?” Cassie asked, surprising him.

“Yes, thank you.”

“Didn’t you need to go to Laney’s?” Cassie asked Jay who was still glaring at him.

Jay looked down at her incredulously. “I’m not leaving you here with some stranger.”

“He’s not a stranger. He’s my brother. I think.”

“I am. I would not hurt her. If it wasn’t for me she would be dead. Dusty can attest to that.”

“She told us.” Cassie squeezed her mate’s hand.

“Where have you been?” Jay asked. “It’s been weeks since Cassie last saw you.”

“I had some things to do.”

“Jay, go, I’ll be fine. We have some catching up to do.”

Jay shook his head.

Cassie sighed in frustration. “Laney needs you.”

“Has something else happened?” Brynn immediately straightened, thinking of Dusty and Cain. “Is someone hurt?”

Cassie eyed him with interest. “No one’s hurt. Jay just has some enforcer business.”

“It will wait. I’m staying.”

Cassie sighed. “Fine, but chill out a bit, okay? Come inside, Brynn.”

With a prod from Cassie, Jay relented and walked inside. But he kept himself between Brynn and Cassie. Laughable, really, considering Brynn could kill her before Jay even had time to draw a breath.

Brynn sat on a large, comfortable chair. Cassie moved to the sofa. Jay immediately lifted her feet onto a footstool, placing a blanket over her legs.

“So?” Jay asked a bit impatiently as he sat beside her. “What are you doing here?”

“Jay,” Cassie scolded.

“I want to know. He just appears in your life, announces he’s your brother then disappears. He couldn’t come and see you? To see how you were? If you really are his sister—”

“She is,” Brynn said shortly, his temper growing. He really was on edge if he was letting this overgrown dog rile him. He took a breath, calming himself. “And I saved her life.”

Jay sat back a little, placing his arm around Cassie as though he thought she might suddenly disappear.

“We’ve been looking for you,” Cassie said quietly, her fingers moving nervously over the blanket. “I tried to find someone who might remember your dad—our dad—but no one did. Are you really my half-brother?”

He nodded. “My father would not have let anyone see him. Not unless he wanted to be seen.”

“And was he, umm, like you? I mean… Was he an umm…”

He smiled. “Demon? It’s okay, you can say it. It’s not a dirty word.”

She blushed.

“Yes, he was. Which makes you a demon too.” He watched for disgust, anger.

Instead she looked intrigued.

He really didn’t understand these people.

“Wow, that’s pretty incredible. I thought demons were a myth. I’ve been doing some research on them. I don’t know what’s true and what’s not though. But most people seem to think that demons are, umm, bad. Is that true?”

He shrugged. “Depends on how you see things. I have a code I live by. It just differs from what others might consider right. I’ve been around humans enough to know that I don’t have the same sense of right and wrong they do.”

“Would you harm me? Jay? The pack?”

“You? Never. And I do not kill for the fun of it. I will for revenge or if I believe someone is a threat.”

Jay stiffened and Cassie patted his knee. “That’s not so different from the way you see things,” she said to Jay.

“I wouldn’t hurt the pack,” Jay protested.

“No, but you’d hurt anyone who was a threat me.”

Jay grabbed her hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing her palm.

“What does that mean for me? Am I part demon?”

“Yes, but your demon side is weak. Hard to sense. Which is why it is easier for you to live here.”

“Easier to live here? What do you mean?”

“Some demons can travel to Earth, but we need to return to Hell regularly. Hell is not quite what humans believe. It’s not below the Earth for a start. It is a completely different plane. The same way you need air to live, we need energy. Hell provides us with what we need. Staying on Earth drains us of that energy. And that means we need to constantly replenish our energy levels.”

“So do many of your kind come to Earth?” Jay asked.

Brynn shook his head. “Only the most powerful can move between planes.”

“So I don’t have the power to go to Hell?” Cassie asked.

“No.”

“Hmm, probably just as well. I don’t like the heat.”

Brynn smiled. “Another misconception. Hell is not fire and brimstone—in fact, we have rather a lot of rain.”

“Oh.” Cassie paused. “So I don’t have any powers?”

“You will in very limited form. I would have to work with you to see what you can do.”

Jay folded his arms. “How did you heal her? That doesn’t seem like a power a demon would have.”

“It’s not. And I wouldn’t be able to do it with anyone else.” He looked at Cassie. “I have the ability to heal myself. You can too, although not to any great extent. You wouldn’t be able to heal a fatal wound.”

“But you could?” She gaped at him in amazement.

“I’m basically immortal. Healing myself is something my body does without thought. For you, it was a little different. Your body had no idea how to heal itself. I merely helped you take energy from the mutt here, and use it to help heal the worst of your wounds. You will feel weak for weeks until you regenerate your power. Sex will help.”

Cassie blushed but Jay’s expression didn’t change. “Why did you come looking for Cassie now? Why have you never gotten in touch with her before?”

“Our father died about six months ago. I never knew about you, Cassie. Not until after he was gone. He left me a letter, telling me about you and asking me to watch over you as he had.”

“Really?” Hope sparked in her eyes.