Hagen, Lynn - Snooke [Demon Warriors 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (3 page)

Chapter Two

Snooke sat at the table in the Melting Pot. He listened as Marino talked about the two shifters that had encroached on his territory and was trying to sell placebo narcotics. Snooke was against drugs period, but it ticked him off even more when he thought of someone selling fake drugs that were probably laced with household cleaners. Some people had the soul of the devil and the conscious of a pea.

Snooke looked around, half-listening as he thought of Kane.

All he thought about was Kane. All he talked about to his friend Chris was Kane. All Snooke craved was Kane. So why in the hell did he panic and leave when given the opportunity to be alone with Kane back in the warrior’s apartment?

One of the major reasons was because Snooke didn’t want the warrior involved in his messed-up life. It was bad enough Snooke didn’t walk the straight and narrow, but Kane didn’t deserve to get caught up in his mess.

But those copper-brown eyes were all Snooke could see at the moment. His head snapped up when Marino called his name. He needed to focus, get Kane off the brain. “Huh?”

“Look at him.” Marino laughed as he pulled his elf boy-toy close to him and pointed in Snooke’s direction as he chuckled to the men around him. “Some girl has his mind turning to mush. Who is she?”

He.
“You know I don’t roll like that. No chick is going to have me all twisted up.” Snooke gave a hallow laugh, void of any humor as he looked at Marino’s goons around the table. The large demons always creeped him out. “I may bang the chicks, but none of them have my head twisted.”

Although Marino kept a male elf like a man kept a mistress at his side, the guy would blow a gasket if he found out Snooke was gay. Marino was fucked in the head like that.
Do as I say, not as I do.
What a screwed-up motto. And the really fucked-up part was that he only applied this motto to Snooke.

“Good. I want you to keep your head on straight. You have work to do, and I don’t want no dame screwing with it.” Marino sat back, looking like he owned the world. Snooke glanced from one man to the next wondering if any of them could see past his façade.

None of them were paying any attention to Snooke. This was good. He began to think again, for the hundredth time, how he ended up in Kane’s apartment and how he had been beaten up. As hard as Snooke tried, nothing came to him.

“Go on, get out of here and do your job.” Marino waved Snooke off as the large demon ran his hand up and down the elf’s arm. He could see the elf shiver, but Snooke knew for a fact it was out of repulsion. The slight grimace on the elf’s face proved it. Why the elf stayed when Marino made his skin crawl, Snooke could never figure out. Elves could shimmer in and out at whim.

Snooke forgot about the elf as he walked out of the Melting Pot. His mind once again raced back to the one person he couldn’t stop thinking about. He stood just outside the door, wondering if Kane would welcome a visit from him when he saw Kane and another warrior, Rainerio, step out of Diablo’s.

Snooke began to panic, his eyes darting around for a way to escape. He couldn’t allow either man to see him here. If they ever made the connection to who Marino was and where he hung out, they would connect Snooke to it as well.

He plastered his back against the door as the two warriors rounded the corner and walked down the alley that separated Diablo’s from Malcor’s Melting Pot. Snooke crept along quietly until he was at the edge of the brick building and then peered around. The two warriors were talking, but Snooke couldn’t make out what they were saying.

He watched as the pair walked toward a darkened shadow and then vanished. Snooke felt relief flood him as he walked down the alleyway. He crept over to where the warriors had disappeared. He knew they traveled through the shadows, but Snooke wanted to stand where Kane had just been while he thought of the man who haunted his every thought. In a small way, it made him feel closer to the guy.

“You look awfully guilty standing there.”

Snooke spun to see the neighborhood know-it-all standing behind him. What the hell was Torky doing here? He straightened, squaring his shoulders as he pulled a calm demeanor out of his ass. “What the fuck do you want?”

“I saw you coming out of Malcor’s. And I saw you watching Kane and Rainerio like you were hiding from them. I wonder if they’d be interested to know these facts. You think I don’t know what goes on in the Melting Pot.” Torky stepped closer, a hateful glare glittering in his eyes. “I may be a lot of things. Money-hungry, nosey bastard, et cetera, et cetera, but I won’t have you plotting against them.”

“You’re talking out the side of your head. I’m not plotting a fucking thing.” Snooke brushed past the nosey bastard. “You can tell them what you want. None of it is true.”
Fuck
, now what? That’s all he needed. For the neighborhood know-it-all to go running to Kane about what he’d just witnessed. Snooke turned and asked Torky in a low voice. “I thought people had to pay you for the info?”

“I am known to be generous from time to time, and I’m feeling mighty generous at the moment.” Torky smiled at Snooke. The smile was anything but friendly. It was taunting and knowing. Snooke had to get to Kane before Torky and give a plausible story of why he’d been there. Bring it up casually somehow.

“Later…spy.” Torky walked past Snooke as he stood there wondering what Torky was going to do.

There was one flaw in Snooke’s plan to get to Kane first. He didn’t know the way in to the warriors’ apartment building. It wasn’t like any other building around. You couldn’t just waltz up in there. You had to
know
how to get in. And Snooke hadn’t a clue. Leaving was easy. Getting in was the hard part.

Snooke took off down King Kennedy, busting a right onto Broadview. He headed straight for Chris’s house and prayed like hell along the way that Chris was home.

Snooke was out of breath and panting by the time he jogged up the front steps and rang the doorbell. He glanced around as he tried to slow his racing heart and get his breathing back to normal.

Yes!
Hondo opened the door, smiling down at Snooke. Damn these warriors were big as fuck. “Hey, can I come in?”

“Always.” Hondo stepped aside, allowing Snooke to enter. It amazed him how Hondo went from wanting to kill him to being friendly as hell in such a short span. Hondo had pinned him as being a spy, and then when Snooke saved Chris’s life, wham—instant friend.

Snooke was still pissed that one of Marino’s men had chased him and Chris down. Thank goodness neither of them was killed and the fucker was in a detention cell now. Oh yeah, thankfully Marino called the hit off, too. That was a big plus.

“Is Chris here?”

“He ran to his job for a moment. Is there anything I can help with?”

Snooke thought of the cookies from the trash Hondo had tried to serve him the first night he had come around and stayed for dinner. He shuddered. Although Hondo was acting cool now, no thanks.

“I needed to ask him something.”

“Shoot.”

Should he? “I need to get in touch with Kane.” He was desperate enough to ask Hondo right about now, even as he thought about the cookies.

“That’s all?” Hondo chuckled as he pulled his cell phone out. “Easily done.”

Snooke found himself chewing his thumbnail—something he never had done before—as he waited for Hondo to talk to Kane.

“Hey, I have someone here looking for you.” Hondo winked at Snooke. “Damn, how’d you guess?”

Snooke gulped as he watched Kane walk down the steps from the upstairs. Did the guy run? It was so cool and creepy how the warriors did that. Although he’d seen it done a few times before, it was still weird. Snooke wondered why only the warriors had the ability to walk through shadows but quickly pushed the thought aside. He was too busy looking at the most gorgeous man alive.

“What’s up?” Kane nodded once at Snooke, his lust-filled eyes perusing Snooke’s body. Snooke gulped and looked over at Hondo, who stood there smirking. He glanced back at Kane, wondering what the warrior was thinking about.

“Is there somewhere we can talk?”

“Sure.” Kane smiled and held his arm out. Snooke took a step forward and placed his hand in Kane’s, feeling the warm palm and noticing how Kane’s hand swallowed his. He felt so damn dainty next to Kane. “Follow me,” Kane said in a deep timbre that had Snooke’s cock filling.

They walked through the kitchen and out to the backyard. Kane held onto his hand as they walked toward a shadow. He’d gone through the portal at the Black River, but using a shadow was a new experience. Would it hurt? Kane must have felt his hesitation.

“It’s easy. Don’t be frightened,” Kane said in a soft and coaxing tone.

Snooke nodded, allowing Kane to take him through. He became slightly dizzy and a sense of disorientation washed over him as they emerged into a bedroom. Somehow using a shadow was different. Kane turned, pulling Snooke into his arms. “Now what is it you needed?”

Snooke caught the innuendo in Kane’s question, and his heart started racing. He wasn’t untried, but to be with a warrior, this was every gay man’s dream. So why was he shaking?

Don’t get him involved.

Snooke pulled away, thinking he was insane for doing so. “I just wanted to ask you about my bruises.” Man, that sounded lame, even to his ears.

Kane’s face hardened slightly, and his jaw clenched. “I don’t know too much about it. Do you have enemies?”

Plenty. But he wasn’t going to confess that to Kane. “I can’t think of anyone offhand who would want to do that to me.” Snooke felt like shit for the lie, but he couldn’t tell Kane what was really going on in his life. The warrior would hate him.

“I found you unconscious on the ground.” Kane led Snooke out of the room and down the hall. He noticed the big, comfortable couch and glass coffee table. There were large floor-to-ceiling windows taking up one whole wall. The place had a very masculine feel to it.

He recognized the place. They were in Kane’s apartment. When Snooke stopped to take it all in, he felt a hard, flat chest press against his back. Kane’s arms circled around his shoulders as Kane’s hand tilted Snooke’s head back.

Snooke looked up into those gorgeous brown eyes. The same eyes that were haunting him since he first met Kane.

“I want you.” Kane lowered his head and took Snooke’s mouth in a searing kiss. The dizziness was back, but not from walking between shadows.

Kane’s lips were soft, a contrast to his rock-hard body. Snooke whimpered and opened up as Kane gave him a slow and drugging kiss. Kane’s hand cupped the side of Snooke’s face and rubbed up and down his cheek. His thumb caressed Snooke’s chin as Kane pressed his body more firmly against Snooke’s.

He could feel Kane’s erection pressing into his back. Snooke was dying to find a step stool so he could feel that hard shaft against his ass. Not for the first time in his life, Snooke cursed his short height.

Snooke’s body jerked when Kane’s hand snaked around and gripped his erection. That large hand knew exactly what to do. He could feel the tips of Kane’s fingers squeezing the head of his cock through his slacks.

Lust, desire, want, and need coursed through Snooke. How could he keep his distance when Kane tasted so damn good? The kiss continued as Kane unsnapped Snooke’s pants. He wanted to shout with joy as Kane’s warm hand encircled his cock. His puckered hole pulsed with want. Snooke craved to be filled by this big warrior. Kane was everything a guy could want. He was handsome, strong, funny, tender, and if he wasn’t mistaken, protective.

The last word brought Snooke out of his lust-filled daze. “Kane,” Snooke moaned into Kane’s mouth. He didn’t mean to moan. It should have come out as a protest, but Snooke couldn’t find the right tone to use. Kane had his brain turning to mush.