Page 12 of The Devil of London

Tears burned my eyes as my heart shattered. The twisting inside my stomach became painful as I fought the vast array of emotions churning inside me. Nasir was getting married. Who would be stupid enough to do that? Did she not know he was Satan reincarnated?

Vanessa: Hey, I’ve forwarded my things, so they’ll be there when I arrive next week. I hope you don’t mind, but I figured we’d be married at the end of summer, and it was time I began settling in. Love you, K-bear. I can’t wait to start our life together.

Nasir: I look forward to seeing you, darling. I’ve missed you since you’ve been home packing and planning for the wedding with your mama. The last couple of weeks have been hard to endure without you beside me. Our families will settle in together without issue, of that you can be certain. The boys have already begun asking when you’re returning. All your worrying is for nothing. Us finding one another and joining families was destiny, as you once told me.

Vanessa: I’m anxious about the Gathering of Lords. I know you’ve promised to keep the peace, but our families have a tenacious history, K-bear. What if this doesn’t happen and we’re forced apart? I don’t think I could bear being away from you much longer. If my papa does not agree to this merger, then our plotting has been for naught. I assured you that through marriage, you’d get the Italian mafia with me, but what if papa doesn’t go for this?

Pain ripped through me with the knowledge of his upcoming marital bliss. Why should I care? He had made my life hell for as long as I’d known the prick, but it felt as if my still-beating heart were being ripped from my chest. The bastard hadn’t mentioned it, which he damn well should have. Swallowing past the lump forming in my throat, I shoved the pain down and fought to regain control of my emotions.

Wiping away the tears from my eyes, I blew the air from my lungs before closing the messages and searching for Merikh’s number. Once I found it, I shot off a quick message.

Nasir: Um, Khaos is about to murder some Norwegian guy in his lounge. Might need help? Good chat, Shadow. Let’s do it again soon, yeah?

Pushing the phone back into the suit jacket, I stood and headed toward the lounge. The moment I entered, the scent of sweat, sex, and murderous rage slammed into my senses. Khaos wasn’t holding his anger in. It charged the air with his earthy scent of virility, bergamot, and whiskey, and he looked like an angry god, both beautiful and terrifying. It was alarming, but also caused everything inside me to fire up with the need to match it perfectly.

I could sense the murderous rage rolling off Khaos in threatening waves. Plus, the slight tilt of his head meant blood was about to be spilled. Everyone was watching the interaction between Khaos and a large group of huge, burly men. Holy fuckingVikingsepisode! Then my eyes landed on Aricin, The Wolf of the North. He was the tallest and broadest of all of them, and there was very much a reason he held the title he did. I was still staring at him when his eyes slid from Khaos to me and did a double take. Understanding flashed in the Baltic Sea-colored eyes, and I had to force myself not to remember the time I’d ended up in bed naked with the lethal Viking lord.

Magic pulsed somewhere in the room, and I turned until I spotted where it was coming from. The warlock was slowly creeping closer, and the malice of his essence alerted me to his intentions even before he’d decided his fate.

“You touched something that you shouldn’t have today,” Khaos pointed out calmly, which he was anything but at the moment. The asshole who’d been harassing me swallowed nervously, which caused my lips to twitch with enjoyment. “Explain to me why you ignored her warning.”

“If you’re referring to the easy slut you were just with, then she had it fucking coming, Nasir. I was merely browsing her wares when the bitch tried to get my attention. I was just offering to ease her ache as she’d requested.” He looked at me with a cocky smile spreading over his mouth.

“Keep your fucking eyes off my girl, asshole.” As Khaos’s statement registered, the color drained from the guy’s face. “You lie to me again, and you’re a fucking dead man. Try again.”

“I didn’t know she belonged to you,” he stated with uneasiness, pinching his features tightly. “Look, I didn’t hurt her much. I thought she was being a cunt and playing hard to get. It wasn’t like the bitch had your name on her or anything.”

The silence turned uncomfortable, then Khaos laughed softly, but there was no humor in the sound. The skin around his eyes crinkled, but his eyes held no emotion whatsoever. Worse yet, the golden coloring was invading the cyan blue of them, right along with the pupils.

When Khaos spoke again, his words came out soft and unerringly calm. “Do you see the necklace around her throat?” The man’s eyes slid to where I stood behind Khaos, narrowing on the compass, and without having to look, I knew it pointed toward where Khaos stood. It was an ownership tag. “When you arrived, what did I tell you my rules were?”

“I did nothing wrong. This is bullshit, man. Furthermore, I do not fucking answer to you, Nasir—” The sharp snap of Khaos’s fist connecting with the asshole’s face cut his words short.

When the guy’s head snapped back up from the blow, his eyes were wide, and his hands rose in surrender as he looked to Aricin for help. When it didn’t look like the Viking lord was inclined step in, he said, “What the fuck, Aricin?”

Khaos shut him up with a right hook. The prick stumbled this time, and he could not right himself before Khaos swung again. Something crunched—probably the guy’s jaw, but blood splattered the people closest to them. An uppercut sent the guy flying backward, but Malik appeared, shoving him back toward Khaos.

The guy continued to plead for mercy in a string of incoherently mumbled words, knowing full well what was coming. Rue thrust a chair forward with his foot as Khaos shoved the guy backward so when he fell, he landed on the seat. The guy moved to get back up, but Malik held him there.

Khaos produced a blade and sauntered closer. My blood turned cold as he slashed through the man’s cheek, cutting his jawline open. I knew that pain and the terror of a blade kissing your flesh. The screams turned to high-pitched, agonizing wails as Khaos hooked his fingers around his jawbone and then ripped it out. Several shocked gasps and cries erupted from the crowd, but not a single person moved to stop him.

I had learned long ago, how to endure what arose when someone crossed Khaos Nasir, and while my blood turned colder than the Arctic, I hadn’t so much as flinched when the darkness started to slither through me. It wasn’t until the sharp taste of magic blossomed behind me that I turned, fully giving into the darkness.

“Are you feeling froggy, motherfucker? I dare you to leap,” I hissed in a thickly layered voice. The surrounding magic shot into my fingertips with no one feeling or sensing it as I drained every bit of it from the room. All but the asshole’s magic, since I wanted to see if he had the balls to follow through with the attack. From his fingers, fiery sparks began glowing.

“Out of the way, witch,” the warlock snarled as magic began inching toward Khaos’s unprotected back. When I saw it, I almost snorted in derision.

The warlock’s magic was a gentle, feeble show, which was cute. Mine was terrifying and beautiful. The entire club would feel the raw, unfiltered power if I were forced to combat this idiot. Instead of retreating, the warlock pushed the spell toward Khaos faster.

Without thought, I sent mine against his, swallowing it entirely before the wispy tendrils of my magic found the warlock’s flesh. Then I jerked the ribbons taut, smiling as he became a thousand tiny morsels to feed the rodents. A hand touched my shoulder, and I spun toward it, lifting my black, lifeless eyes to startling green ones.

“That’s some big-witch energy, little bird. How about you reel it in for me?”

I would’ve, but then a fist was swinging toward my face. Merikh casually lifted a hand, catching the fist in his palm and squeezing it. “You fucking touch her, you die. I’d stop acting a fool and back away before I let her consume your fucking soul.” The lethal warning in his tone had my magic slowly returning to the source. “You’ve gotten more powerful.”

“I’ve had a lot of time to hone my craft.” I shrugged and turned back to Khaos, who was busy literally shoving the guy’s jaw down his throat. The low, whimpered sounds coming from the man, as Khaos pulled his arm out of the man’s esophagus, were far too loud in the silent lounge.

“Now, thank Aricin for your pathetic fucking life, asshole. Had it not been for my respect for him, you’d be fucking food for the wildlife tonight.” When the man made a gargled whimper, Khaos ripped him up by his hair. As Aricin’s men stepped nearer to where I stood, Merikh moved closer, barring their path. It was why I had named him Shadow. He’d always stood between me and anyone he perceived a threat. “I said thank him, motherfucker!”

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