Dark Fates (A Paranormal Anthology)(123)

“Yes, yes. Mating ruts.” Enoch made a bored noise and waved his hand. The world snapped sideways, and Fox and Jubilee arrived at his home in Upstate New York. Alone.

“That,” Jubilee declared, “will take some getting used to.”

He laughed and picked her up, careful of her wings. “Only that?” he teased.

She twined her arms around his neck and grinned. “I keep waiting to wake up and find out this is some kind of crazy near-death dream.”

“It’s not,” he told her soberly before setting her on the bed and going down on his knees at her feet. “You’re an angel. Fallen or born, you are here.”

“I’m yours,” she whispered, and his gaze zeroed in on the mark he’d left on her. “I don’t understand the rest, but can we figure it out later?”

“We have the rest of our lives,” he promised and ran his hands up her thighs. “I want to know my mate now.”

She sighed and drew him close for a kiss. The spice of her filled his being, and Fox nibbled her lower lip. He’d gone to the hotel to mourn his human life, a quiet escape from the war he’d fought to keep in stalemate for two centuries, and he’d found his future.

“I love you, Jubilee,” he said against her mouth before delving his tongue in to twine with hers. She indulged his kiss for several long moments, breaking it only to lean away and catch her breath.

“I love you,” she promised. “I love you with everything I am.” And deep inside him a clarion bell rang, and the fledgling mating bond snapped into place. It resonated through him and then along another bond—one that tied him to the Watchers. He knew that Enoch had felt it happen, and then Enoch closed the door to their link, leaving Fox in privacy with his mate.

Wonder filled him, wonder for her and for what role she would play and how all their lives would be changed. There was no going back now. Then her hands were on his face, and she tugged him to her, and he let all of that go. She was in his arms, and that was all that mattered. Tonight, he would celebrate the best birthday gift in the world. Unexpected, unforeseen, and wholly without precedent, Jubilee was the best present he had ever received.

The future would sort itself out.

Later.

Much later.





Epilogue


Kincaid's arrival perfumed the air with the scent of sulfur. Enoch spared his “brother” a glance and poured a third glass of brandy. Sage stared into the fire and shook her head. “This is a dangerous game they’ve decided to play.”

“We knew they would,” Kincaid reminded the witch without preamble as he flung himself down into one of the armchairs. “It was merely a matter of time. Natural-born angels and demons. We cannot sense them because they do not break the covenant of Heaven or Hell.”

“Spoken like a man used to twisting the rules.” Enoch passed a drink to each of his partners before picking up his own. “But it would seem that, for now, Heaven lost the first round. Jubilee is ours.”

“Are you sure?” Sage spared him a long, considering look. Her dark, thick, unbound hair spilled over her shoulders. She’d strung some kind of jewels through it, and they glittered like a dozen tiny stars in the firelight.

“Yes, the mating bond with Fox is fledgling, but deeply placed. I can sense her through him. His loyalty was never in question.” Save for the brief moment the kitsune had thought Enoch would kill her. They had no need to execute her now, and she was loyal to Fox and Fox loyal to them. Check and mate.

“So next would be a truly born demon,” Kincaid mused aloud, his expression darkening in thought. “Male or female?”

“Male,” Sage said before Enoch could. “Of course it would be male. The angel female, would unlock a male demon. I have already set my scrying glass to try and locate him, but, until he is unbound, he will be invisible to our sight.”

“Let loose the wolves then. Send them out.” The cats belonged to him, but the wolves to Kincaid. Enoch raised his glass. “To the next battle.”

Sage laughed softly and raised her glass, with Kincaid rising so that his glass could clink with theirs. “To our next victory.”

“You’re both so cocky,” Sage admonished. “To us, may we survive this changing of the tide.”

“Always so cautious.” Kincaid brushed his knuckles down her cheek, and Enoch sighed. The witch and demon made a lovely pair, their darkness in perfect complement. But the deep silver of her eyes shone with the lights of the heavens and reminded him of all the places he would never see again.

“My caution has kept you two fools alive.” Sage withdrew from his caress and tossed her drink back. “I will let you know if we see anything.” And, with that, she walked away.

Enoch stared after her retreating form and glanced at his brother. “You really should stop pushing her.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” The demon drained his glass. “She has a new lover, you know.”

“He won’t last.” And Enoch ignored the thread of violence pulsing through his blood. He made damn sure not to know the names of her lovers, lest he kill them.

“No, but it changes nothing between us three.” The demon had less control and had, upon occasion, slit the throats of those Sage favored, after she was done with them, never before. Enoch never betrayed that knowledge, and, if she had her suspicions, Sage never asked.