Kane reached for her, his hand trembling as he did so, the vibration indicative of the power of his feelings, of his weakening restraint. His palm burned with anticipation, prickles dancing the length of his long fingers so that they twitched. Her unknowing smile was soft and serene. It could be anything he wanted it to be. It could be beatific, it could be wildly ecstatic. For now it remained that lovely neutral as he touched the tips of his fingers to the curve of her high cheekbone.
Oh, Sweet Destiny. It practically hurt, the overwhelming sensation of rightness and relief that rushed through him. He cradled that gorgeous face against his palm and fought off an emotional wash of tears that pricked behind his lids. His. She was his. At last he had her in his grasp, he had crossed the line and, contrary to all the warnings pounded into him his entire life, lightning had not come to strike him down. What was so bloody wrong about this, he wanted to know. Yes, she was human and he was Demon, but weren’t they more alike than unalike? Were they not both made of flesh? Did they not both crave the touch and presence of that special someone . . . of a passion that blinded the soul? The world was not coming to an end! It was just beginning!
And then lightning struck.
Like the snap of a magician’s cape being pulled away to reveal a tiger in a cage, Jacob the Enforcer appeared before him. Dread and horror rushed into Kane from all vectors, the shock of suddenly standing toe to toe with his Elder brother slamming into him like a sucker punch. This was Jacob at his most frightening. His most terrible. Yes, he was still the same brother who had raised him and loved him all of his life, but this was the side of Jacob no Demon saw until he had crossed Demon law. This was the Enforcer. And he had come to punish Kane.
Kane’s throat went suddenly and brutally dry, his heart seizing in what he had to confess was fear. The punishment for what he had just done was the most severe a Demon could face, next to being put to death. His hand jerked away from the redhead’s cheek as if she’d burned him and his concentration broke from her. She blinked, suddenly becoming aware that she was sandwiched between two strange men and had no idea how she had gotten there.
“Take hold of her mind, Kane. Do not make this worse by frightening her.”
Kane obeyed instantaneously and she relaxed. The resulting peaceful beauty that washed over her was enough to distract him even from the knell of Jacob’s presence. He marveled at how soft and sweet she looked. He knew her mind and nature matched her looks. It was only the cold warning look from his sibling that kept him from touching her again.
“Jacob, what brings you out on a night like this?” he blurted out, unable to think of anything else to say. After all, they were blood brothers. If Jacob was going to give anyone a pass, wouldn’t it be him?
“You know why I am here,” the Enforcer said, nipping that thought right in the bud with a chill, disciplined tone that warned Kane not to test his mettle.
“So maybe I do,” Kane admitted. And still, the immediate danger didn’t seem to be getting through to the rest of him. It was taking everything in his power to keep from reaching for her again. Even though it made him look quite a bit guiltier than he really was, he lowered his gaze to the spotted, dirty sidewalk and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. He gripped hold of the fabric on the inside of those pockets and forced himself to hold on. “I wasn’t going to do anything. I was just . . . restless.”
“I see. So you thought to seduce this woman to appease your restlessness?” Jacob asked bluntly as he folded his arms across his chest. His manner was that of a parent scolding a wayward child. It could have been an amusing thought, considering Kane was just about to enter his second century of life, but the matter was too serious by far.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her,” Kane protested. He would never hurt her. She was precious. She was everything. He would love her as deeply and as thoroughly as he could.
“No?” Jacob asked, his sarcasm very obvious. “Just what were you going to do? Ask politely if you could visit the savageness of your present nature on her? How does one word that exactly?”
Kane fell stubbornly silent. He knew that the Enforcer had read his intentions from the moment he’d decided to stalk his prey. Arguments and denials would just worsen the situation. Besides, the incriminating evidence of his transgression was standing between them.
For a brief, passionate moment, Kane’s thoughts filled with vivid mental imaginings of what could have been more incriminating. He suppressed a shudder of sinful response, his eyes falling covetously on the woman standing so beautifully serene before him. Had Jacob been even slightly off his irritatingly perfect game and come into the picture a half hour later . . .
“Kane, this is a difficult time for our people. You are as susceptible to these base cravings as any other Demon,” the Enforcer said with implacable resolve. It was as though Jacob were the one who could read Kane’s mind, rather than the other way around. “Still, you are a mere two years from becoming an adult. I cannot believe you have me chasing you down like a green fledgling.” There it was. That word again. That . . . term. “Think of what I could be accomplishing if I were not standing here saving you from yourself.”
The remark was like a kick in the pants, and it smarted. Sweet Destiny, it was true. Near Samhain his brother Jacob was weighted down by his responsibilities even more than usual. The last thing he had needed was to be chasing after his own baby brother. Jacob had never asked for his mantle of responsibility. He had inherited it suddenly and unexpectedly when their eldest brother Adam had suddenly gone missing, presumed dead at the hands of some necromancer and a nefarious summoning spell many centuries ago. Jacob had lost a beloved brother and inherited a ponderous duty in one fell swoop. Now he was the pariah of his people. A necessary evil, as it were. Sort of like the internal affairs division of the human police. They were necessary, they were members of the same brotherhood, but oh, how they were held in contempt.
“I’m sorry, Jacob, I really am,” he said at last. Kane felt utter shame washing over him as he appreciated the position he had put his beloved sibling in. It actually surprised him that he hadn’t thought of the consequences of his actions and how they would affect Jacob. He glared up at the Samhain moon and knew that was where the blame belonged. Kane’s throat closed with a sharp sense of remorse that knifed through him.
It was as overpowering as the dread that was welling up within him. He’d betrayed the sanctity of their laws, and there was a punishment for that. A punishment that made an entire species catch their breath and back away whenever the Enforcer entered the vicinity. Kane could suddenly feel the weight of Jacob’s position, and it sharpened his regret to a point of pain in his chest.
“You will send this woman home safely by reuniting her with her escort and making sure she remembers nothing of your misbehavior,” Jacob instructed softly. “Then you will go home. Your punishment will come later.”
“But I didn’t do anything,” Kane protested, a swift rise of inescapable fear fueling his objection.
“You would have, Kane. Do not make this worse by lying to yourself about that. Do not try to convince yourself that I am the villain others like to make me out to be. That will only cause us both pain.”
Kane recognized that truth with another upsurge of guilt. Sighing resolutely, he closed his eyes and concentrated for all of a second. Moments later, the redhead’s escort loped back across the street with a smile and a call to her.
“Hey! Where’d ya go? I turned the corner and suddenly you weren’t there!”
“I’m sorry. I was distracted by something and didn’t realize you’d gone, Charlie.”
Charlie linked his arm with his date’s and, completely oblivious of the two Demons barely a breath away, drew her off, chattering incessantly about that ridiculous movie he was so damn excited to see. It grated on Kane’s nerves to hear it, set off a screaming sensation in his blood to allow her to walk away from him. But what else could he do? She was forbidden and Jacob would fight him if he tried to do otherwise. Sweet Destiny, fight