In a flash she slapped his balls hard, then squeezed. “Who, motherfucker?”
He shrieked.
Fucking hell. I shifted from foot to foot, my throat feeling tight all of a sudden, my gut knotting. What the fuck? Why the hell was I getting hard over Roxy? Yeah, she was gorgeous, and her body was…shit, perfection, but I’d never wanted to fuck her. Not only would that make shit complicated, it just seemed wrong.
For a start, her scent was—there was no other way to put it—repellent to me. There was something seriously off with it. I didn’t know why, but every time I got a whiff, I wanted to get the hell away from her. It wasn’t bad, just really fucking not right, at least to me. Which made no sense, because Roxy was the sweetest, funniest, cutest, and, fuck, sexiest little assassin I’d ever laid eyes on.
The demon shook his head, then his eyes rolled back so only the whites were showing.
Roxy’s face screwed up. “Ew, are you getting off on having your balls slapped, hog face?”
Ursula, who had closed in and was looking down at him, shrugged. “Some males like it rough, Rox, you know that. Use your blade. We want to make this fucker scream, not moan.”
The demon convulsed under her, light flashed behind his eyes, and then—he vanished.
Disappearing from under Rox, leaving nothing but thin air.
“What the fuck just happened?” I growled and closed the space between us before turning in a slow circle. “Where the hell did he go?”
I scented the air, pulling his stench into my lungs, then closed my eyes, using my powers to search for him. My mind spun, location after location zoomed in, then flared back out, chaotic, confusing, but never able to pinpoint one place, as if the demon was being bounced from one location to the next in a split second, so many, too many.
Snarling, I shook my head. “Whoever took him, they’re scrambling shit so I can’t see where he’s stopped.”
“Fuck,” Ursula muttered.
Roxy yanked a shirt over her head. “Someone sent them to take me out.” She looked up as she tugged on her jeans. “They waited until I was alone, and they went for my head.”
“Not many would be that fucking stupid,” Ursula said. “Going after one of Lucifer’s personal guards is dumb enough, thinking they could take you out, even on your own, was fucking suicidal.”
“The reward must be good,” I said, unable to look away as Roxy pulled her dark hair over her shoulder, wrung out the water, then quickly braided it.
She wasn’t wearing a bra, and the thin fabric showed her tight little nipples as clear as day and—what the fuck was I doing? Was I losing my ever-loving mind right now? I wasn’t here to check out Roxy. I was here to do a job. “It had to be Beelzebub. He has to be behind this. Who else? He’ll have his spies everywhere, watching, waiting for Lucifer to make a move, which means he knows we’re coming for him.”
“You can’t tell me that guy was important. He was a crappy fighter with below-average intelligence. The only reasons to snatch him away would be to make sure he didn’t squeal, and no doubt for intel on our little party.” Roxy finished lacing up her boots and straightened. “Which means, we’re going to have to outsmart and outmaneuver the big red weasel.”
Jesus, the shit that came out of her mouth. My lips actually twitched.
She blinked up at me with her big blue eyes. “What are you smirking about?”
I shrugged. “Just you.” My smile widened. “The shit you said to that demon?” I chuckled, the sound surprising me.
Then Ursula was cracking up as well.
Roxy scowled at Urs. “Whatever.” Then her gaze sliced back to me. “And when did you find your funny bone, all of a sudden? That’s all I need on this trip.”
I shrugged. It had happened slowly, I guess. But then I seemed to understand emotions better than some of my brothers. And sometimes, I thought I felt more than I should as well.
It started when Relic was born. Siring a pup had altered me in ways I hadn’t expected. Also, having mated brothers and their females and pups at the clubhouse had changed things. The ability to feel humor had slowly developed for many of us, though. It was a surprise, but it also made life a lot more enjoyable.
“We better get back to camp. Gus is alone and he’s still just a pup,” Rox said, then spun and jogged away.
I followed her and Urs, covering them from the rear. Rox had a soft spot for the pups; she always had. When Relic was born, she’d kept him with her constantly. When I’d go and check on him, he’d either be napping in her bed or she had him strapped to her chest, carrying him everywhere. I fully believed she was the reason he was such a good male, and why my son’s emotions had been more developed than the rest of us.
Not that I’d ever called him son, not to his face, anyway. Yes, I’d sired him, though not because I was mated but because Lucifer wanted to experiment. I’d donated my seed, that’s all. We’d never had a father-son relationship, that’s not how it worked with us. He was a brother, like all the other hounds in the pack. But since he’d mated Fern, I’d felt a shift in him toward me. We’d always been tight, and I’d naturally been drawn to him. A part of me had always felt some closer connection, but things between us had changed again.
With his mating, not only could Relic understand emotion, he felt it. More than once since, I’d wished I knew what he was feeling toward me, because I didn’t miss that he looked at me differently now. He sought me out, asked me to hang with him more often, and on occasion with him and Fern. I’d watched Dirk and Elena, and War and Willow with their pups, and honestly, I felt cheated I’d never experienced what they were.
I kind of wished I felt what they did, that I could return what I could only imagine Relic was feeling.
