The Catalyst (11 page)

“So here’s where my meal wandered off to.” She nodded
to Jane. “You must be new. The boss not letting you feed?” The
demon noticed Cole, a look of alarm crossing her face at the sight
of a large, angry animal in one of the tents.

“I’m Jane. That’s my mate. He’s the Cary Town pack
alpha. You guys let us use the portals,” Jane said by way of
explanation and introduction.

“Oh. Right. Yeah, we never see the
pack in anything but human form.
Wait. Did you say he was
your mate?” The pieces seemed to be snapping into place. She cast a
look of sympathy—or maybe pity—in his direction. “We heard about
that.” She looked back to Jane. “And now you’re a… Oh wow. This is
not my business. I’ll just take my dinner and get out of your way.”
She snapped a finger at the man who still cowered from Cole. The
human looked up at her, his eyes glazing a bit.

“You’ve been a naughty boy, Sam. Whatever am I going
to do with you?”

His voice was husky when he responded, “Whatever you
want, Daria.”

She laughed. “Good answer.”

He preceded her out. Daria watched him go then turned
back to Cole. “I’m not into killing them. I like having my
regulars. I’ll try to keep my toys within my sights if you try not
to break them. Deal?”

Cole snorted in response. When she left, he shifted
back to his human form.

“I’m sorry, Cole. I know how that looked, I just… I’m
starving and…”

“I’m not mad at you. I acted on instinct. You know
what I am, and I imagine you’ve got similar self-control challenges
now.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, standing there like an
idiot, willing the tears not to gather in his eyes. He still wasn’t
convinced she was real. Maybe he was passed out in the den,
dreaming. Such a lovely dream. He didn’t want to wake up.

Of course she’d think he was angry with her. He
hadn’t even touched her, after all. But it wasn’t that. Though he’d
worried on the trip over, the second he’d seen her, he’d known
she’d always be his no matter what she was. Being turned into a
demon changed nothing about the way he felt.

He reached out and touched her, running his hands
over her arms and torso as if making sure she was there and safe.
He noticed her scars were gone, and she looked a bit more busty
than normal, but he wasn’t about to complain about that—as long as
she hadn’t done it for other men.

When his eyes moved upward, his fangs elongated. He
felt fur starting to sprout again. No doubt his eyes glowed gold as
well. “Where is my mating mark?” he demanded.

Jane jumped and took a step back. Now he
was
angry, and he didn’t blame her for being smart and moving away. She
was probably at least matched with him in strength now, even
without having fed, but either she didn’t know that or couldn’t yet
remember. He imagined there was a lot for her to assimilate and get
used to.

“Where is it, Jane? Are you hiding who you belong to
now? It should be there. If our bond still exists, the bite does.
Why aren’t you wearing it? Did you think it was an optional
accessory?”

He knew he sounded like some kind of psychotic, like
he should be wearing a wife-beater and raising a threatening fist
in the air, but there were certain things you just didn’t do to
your mate. It rankled that she’d cover it up for some cheap meal.
He understood her being hungry and not yet in charge of her
instincts—he did. And maybe a human male wouldn’t understand a
mating mark anyway, but it was like she was ashamed of him.

He wanted people to see it. He wanted other
preternaturals to know who she belonged to. The instinct to protect
her didn’t just disappear even if she could take care of herself
now. She was his. She’d known that when she’d accepted his mark in
the beginning. But now it felt as if the rules were changing on
him, and as much as he’d missed her, as empty as his life had been
without her in it, he couldn’t just be someone else for her now. He
was the alpha for a reason.

She held her hands out in a placating gesture, and he
felt guilty that his mate should have to use such a gesture in the
first place, as if she were some weak lower-level pack member and
not his alpha female.

“Cole, no. It’s not like that. Cain taught me how to
alter my form and I was just getting rid of scars, I didn’t think…
I…” She sighed. “I’m new at this. ” She closed her eyes and
concentrated. His bite mark reappeared on her throat.

He let out a growl of approval. “That’s better. Come
here.”

She took a tentative step forward, and he arched a
brow at her hesitance. Then she ran for him and let him wrap his
arms around her. He nuzzled his mark.

“I need to feed. Is that okay?” she asked. “Cain said
that the… err… meal… enjoys the experience.”

He knew she felt his erection pressed between them.
“What do you think?”

She pulled back and smiled, her eyes dancing. “I
missed you so much. I was dying without you. It’s my fault, I
shouldn’t have run out like that in the middle of a fight with the
baby coming so soon. It was dangerous and stupid.”

He put a finger to her lips. “That’s all behind us. I
have you. That’s all that matters. I just want to feel you against
me. I sense how hungry you are. Is Cain going to give us trouble
about this?”

“Why would he?”

“My kind and your kind aren’t allowed to be together,
because of the vampires,” Cole said. It must have slipped her mind.
The first vampire had been created from the joining of an incubus
with a werewolf. She’d been born a human with vampire blood in her
veins, which was how she’d ended up Cole’s true mate to begin with.
That vampire blood had given her a link, however weak, to his kind.
Without it, they never would have come together.

Therian and demon relationships were forbidden. Cain
didn’t want any more half-breeds being created. From what the
werewolf knew, the original vampire was strong and more dangerous
than those he’d created from humans. Cain wouldn’t want another one
of those running around. From what Cole had heard, the original
vampire had been under lock and key in the demon dimension for
centuries.

“If it wasn’t okay, he wouldn’t have brought you to
me,” Jane reasoned.

“I didn’t say we weren’t going to be together. Cain
would have to kill me—”

“You aren’t able to die now.”

Cole stepped out of her arms. “Say that again?” Cain
had told him they were still tied together and had said something
about eternity, but it hadn’t penetrated that he
couldn’t
die. Sure, maybe not age, maybe be conditionally immortal like a
vampire, but immortal like a demon?

“Well… Cain told me. When a vampire makes a claim,
it’s forever. If it’s a human, the human stops aging… but they’re
only conditionally immortal, because vampires are…”

“You aren’t a vampire. And I’m not a human. So why
are we having this conversation?”

“I know, we’re a special case. When demons find a
mate, those are always human and they kill them but take their soul
so they can stay. When I got changed, the bond didn’t break, but
you got tied to my lifeline, like a vampire claim.”

Cole could feel his hackles rising. “Can you control
me? In that fucked-up vampire way? Because that shit isn’t going to
work with me, Jane. I am not subordinate to anybody.” His stance
turned intimidating, and he hated himself for directing it at his
mate, but she had to know how things worked. Her species-upgrade
couldn’t change the pack dynamics. He couldn’t let it.

“No… I don’t know. I haven’t tried. I don’t think
so.”

“I don’t want to fight you for dominance. An alpha
should never have to fight his own mate like that. You know the
hierarchy with the wolf pack. Are you going to challenge me?”

“Of course not! Who do you think I am?” She looked
offended and a touch pissed off.

“Not who. What.”

Her face fell, and Cole felt like a jerk for hurting
her. He’d just gotten her back and he was treating her like the
enemy. What the hell was wrong with him? All he wanted was for
things to return to normal. “I’m sorry. This is hard for me. I
don’t know how to react to you. I was used to you being weaker, and
hell, for all I know, you could take me in a fight…”

Jane strode toward him and, as if there were any
doubt before, shoved him across the room. He went flying to land in
a heap of pillows. “Stop being an ass. You want me all weak and
defenseless? Finally, I never have to worry about not being able to
defend myself or about staying away from the rest of the pack
during the full moon, and you’re concerned with posturing?”

He got to his feet, and his eyes glowed. “I warned
you. I’m taking that as a challenge.”

Jane stood her ground. She looked so pissed off with
her arms crossed over her chest, her body flushed, that he didn’t
know whether to be angry or turned on.

Deciding on anger and his baser instinct for
dominance, Cole rushed her. The two of them went flying, hitting a
support pole and taking the tent down around them. They struggled,
rolling around in the heavy fabric that had collapsed around
them.

“Owww, fuck!” Cole growled, as sharp claws dug into
his flesh. Had she partially shifted? She couldn’t be too weak from
hunger if she could do that. “Are we really playing that way, Jane?
I’ve got claws too, don’t forget.”

She punched him in the arm as they continued to try
to extricate themselves from under the fallen tent. “This is
ridiculous, Cole.”

“It’s not.”

“Yes, it is. You know it is. I’m not challenging you,
you brute. You didn’t walk all over me before, why start now?”

Before, she hadn’t been able to challenge him. He’d
been secure in their roles and who had the power. He hated the side
of him that considered things like that mixed in the same bowl with
feelings of tenderness and love.

Cole went still. “I can’t have this discussion
wrapped up in a tent.”

“I told you it was ridiculous.” She began pressing
kisses across the scar on his belly, trailing her tongue over it,
making him shiver. “Be the man who got this scar protecting his
mother. Don’t be the monster with me.”

He groaned. Oh now she was playing dirty.

“Please, Cole,” she panted. “I’m hungry. Take care of
me.” She managed to crawl up his body, and straddled him. She knew
just the right words to appease the beast.
Take care of me.
He was a brute. But he’d be her brute as long as she’d have
him.

He sighed. “Well, hop on.”

“Such a romantic,” she teased, sending another
well-placed but playful punch to his arm.

Anyone who walked by the flattened tent, would see
the unmistakable outline of one body grinding against another, no
doubt connected in the carnal act. He held her against him as they
joined, and this time tears did come. He couldn’t stop them. He
couldn’t believe she was here in his arms again. Demon or not, she
was a miracle.

“Cole? Are you all right?”

“Shut up and fuck me,” he growled. She didn’t
argue.

He knew the moment she started feeding. It was a
tingling warmth that felt like its own orgasm, a steady hum of
pleasure he could be driven mad by. Sex with Jane had always been
great, but now it was indescribable. Screw the bottle, she was his
drug now.

Chapter Six

Cain’s dimension was largely empty. There were peaks
and lulls, and right now a lot of the demons were in the human
world, hunting for prey. A few tended to bring their meals home,
though. Cain pushed back the flap of one of the tents that smelled
the most like sex.

“Daria, have you seen Leo and Duke? I put them in
charge of guarding the new succubus.”

Cain tilted his head to the side, admiring the
position the other demon had managed to get herself into with Sam,
one of her regulars. It was moments like this Cain was sad they
couldn’t sleep with their own kind. Daria had her charms. Though
she had several men, he suspected Sam was her favorite. If she were
going to take a soul, it would be Sam’s.

The demon’s eyes snapped open, annoyed. “As much as I
like to be watched, these interruptions are getting old.”

Cain growled and she let out a sigh.

“They went to Golatha Falls. There’s a big Halloween
frat party. They went in demon form.”

“They WHAT?” Cain felt his own form changing, the
anger simmering and boiling beneath the surface. Those two were
already in trouble for not following his orders, now they were
partying in demon form at a frat house? Not on his watch, they
weren’t.

“Hey, I told them you’d be mad, but I’m not their
mommy. Now could you please go? You’re distracting my human. I need
him to relax so I can feed.”

Cain cursed under his breath and left the tent. It
took all his self control to maintain his human form when he
reached the university. The Halloween party was bigger than Daria
had hinted, taking up a whole city block and being crashed by
several of the locals. GFU wasn’t that big.

He brushed past a witch—a costumed one, not a real
one… he hoped—three fairy-tale princesses, a genie, four pirates,
and a nondescript monster before he bumped into someone he knew.
The woman had a hold on the man’s arm and shrank back when she saw
him.

“Lucien? Anna?” When Anna had given her soul to his
brother, Cain had assumed they were busy globe-trotting. They’d
barely been in the demon dimension for months, no doubt avoiding
him. “What are you doing here?”

“Anna wanted to come to the party. They do this every
year. You should know, after bringing me my meals.”

“It wasn’t this big last year,” Cain said, feeling
embarrassed that all these human customs and rituals just bled
together for him anymore. He felt more alienated from his own kind
every year. He envied what his brother had found, but he’d never
say so out loud. Jealousy was what had caused their initial
separation to begin with, back when they’d both been human and
Luc’s name had been Abel.