“Fine, I’ll rephrase. Will you let me make love to you this time? Or do you still want to be fucked?”
“I don’t know what it says about us that our idea of adventurous is something so soft and—”
“I don’t give a shit what it says about us.” He kissed her again, slow and tender.
“Okay,” she sighed.
Megaera had always thought that making love and fucking were just two different terms for the same act. In all her years walking the earth, she’d never learned the difference.
Until Marcus Kage.
Every kiss, every touch was gentle and reverent. He
was
worshipping her. Making love to her. He was like a high priest and her body the sacrament.
He bared her flesh slowly, taking his time to taste every new bit of skin exposed. She quivered with anticipation and desire. Meg was so caught up in the sensation, she didn’t even know how she’d gotten on the bed or when he’d kneeled in front of her—a supplicant.
Marcus positioned her on the edge of the bed and dipped his head to her cunt.
The first touch of his tongue sliding between her wet folds was instant bliss. Meg hooked her legs around his shoulders and his strong fingers anchored her hips exactly where he wanted them.
But she didn’t want to surrender, and he knew it. “It’s not a competition, Meg. Remember, you’re letting me love you.”
She froze. “
Are
you loving me? Really?”
“Yes.” He dipped his head again before she could say anything else and continued his progress.
She spiraled higher and higher, every stroke of his tongue fanning the flames of desire until she had no choice but surrender. Yet still, this wasn’t the brutal ownership of the beast, it was sweet and tender—which made it even more devastating.
Meg was torn between wanting it to stop and wanting it to last forever.
It was finally her lips that surrendered before anything else. The bond had decided. Her heart had decided. “I love you,” Meg whispered as she threw her head back and the building tension exploded like mini supernovas through every pleasure receptor.
Marcus covered her body with his own, his cock entering her with ease as the aftershocks of the orgasm continued. This too was as gentle as his mouth had been, and she clung to him, buried her face in his neck.
Just as the tidal wave of ecstasy began to ebb, it crested again, then again. His body went rigid, his arms tightening around her, his hips pumping as he came.
Marcus didn’t release her, but rolled to his side and tucked her against him.
Shame colored her cheeks. She couldn’t believe she’d told him she loved him. Stupid bond. He hadn’t said it back.
But that isn’t what love is about any
way, the confident part of her brain reminded her. Love was a gift meant to be given with no expectation. Not even of a returned declaration.
Even if he didn’t love her yet, he would. They’d marked each other.
With that thought, Megaera drifted to sleep.
Chapter Nine
It seemed that Marcus was always leaving her.
He wanted to stay with Meg, be with her, wrap himself around her so nothing bad in the world would ever touch her.
Marcus studied her sleeping form, the curve of her cheek and the arch of her pale swan neck. She was so beautiful, so perfect in every way. She was the ideal complement to his life, to himself. They fit together like two puzzle pieces. She was powerful and strong, but she needed him the same as he needed her.
And he
did
need her.
More than the air he breathed or the blood in his veins.
In her presence, the beast had never been so in tune with his conscious mind. Freeing it hadn’t dominated his humanity, but allowed it to merge within him to be one being instead of two—made him whole.
If only for that, he’d be indebted to her until he took his last breath, but it was so much more that gratitude. They hadn’t had time to make the memories that would deepen their bond even more, but when she’d called him and he’d heard fear in her voice… When she’d told him Frost had been to see her—it had been like an apocalypse inside him. The sight of those marks on her arm where her guilt consumed her…those things could break him. Megaera Eumenides had become vital.
It couldn’t be anything else but love. He supposed he should have told her when she’d said it, but he’d had his mouth full.
He didn’t want to leave but he’d meant every word he’d said. Marcus would find this killer. He had to. She’d die if he didn’t.
Brushing his lips over her forehead, he left the apartment. It went against every instinct he had, but he couldn’t find the killer if he was wrapped around Megaera. He’d been headed to Ian’s place to check on him when she’d called. Meg’s immediate needs had even taken precedence over a partner who’d been incommunicado with everyone for over twenty-four hours.
Standard practice for the department would have been to send a patrol car to his house to check on him, but the captain had called Marcus first. And if he’d had any doubts before that Ian was up to his eyeballs in shit with these murders, they were gone now. He still wanted to believe in his partner’s innocence, but best-case scenario, he was lying in a ditch somewhere from a catastrophic injury.
Worst-case scenario, he was on the run because he was a murderer.
He hated that his brain jumped to the worst outcome first. He was supposed to be able to trust his partner, but deep down, Marcus had always had reservations. He’d thought it was just that distance he felt he had to keep because Marcus was a supe and Ian wasn’t.
Something caught Marcus’ attention as he descended the stairs to go to his car. The fine hairs on his neck tingled with awareness. Marcus lifted his nose into the air and breathed deeply. All the usual scents greeted him, but there was something else. Something…foreign.
Toxic.
Like what had killed the Amazons.
Ian could wait another few minutes.
Marcus did a quick recon around the building, though he found nothing out of the ordinary. But he knew something was wrong. He called dispatch on his cell rather than over the radio.
“Hey, Ren. It’s Kage. Badge number 5137. I need a black-and-white to come sit on Furyous Ink tattoos.”
“On Westport Road?” Ren clarified.
“Yeah. Instruct them not to allow
anyone
to enter. The shop is closed. Even if it’s another cop. Even if he says he’s working a case. Have them refer that cop to me. Even if it’s Detective Spinner.”
“You got it.”
Marcus hung up and waited for the cruiser to pull into position in front of the shop before leaving for Ian’s.
Ian rented a small loft near the garment district, which wasn’t too far from Furyous Ink. He parked on the street, not bothering with the parking garage, and entered the building.
The desk clerk eyed him, squinting before he smiled. “Hey, Marcus. Want me to ring Ian for you?”
“Actually, no one has been able to get in touch with him. So I need you to let me up.”
“Do you have a warrant?”
“I don’t need one. I suspect a law enforcement officer is in danger.”
“I can’t give you the key without one.”
Marcus smirked. “I guess I don’t need that either. The city won’t be held responsible for damages when I kick the door down.” He headed to the elevator and the little man scurried behind him like a packrat foraging for treasure.
“Okay, okay! I’m just following policy.”
They took the elevator up to the fifth floor—where the rotten vapor of the toxin that had been on the dead Amazons assaulted him.
“Oh God, what’s that stench?”
“A toxin of some sort. I need you to stay here.”
“Not a problem,” the little man said as he held out the key to Ian’s loft with trembling fingers.
Marcus approached slowly, sure to let his senses absorb his surroundings. He tried to block out the odor of the toxin to see if he could discern some of the more delicate scents. To see if he could smell a particular person.
He banged on the door, giving Ian a chance to answer if he was there. “Ian?”
Nothing.
“Ian!” he yelled again.
Marcus drew his gun with one hand and slipped the key into the lock with the other. When the door slid open…
Everything was covered in what looked to be spider webs. Only, this didn’t have the organized look that Frost’s guesthouse had. It was haphazard, as if millions of spiders had started some kind of war trying to out-spin each other, and had been flinging the webbing like weapons.
Marcus examined the space carefully, looking for any signs of life as he proceeded. The lavatory held the only other door in the loft. Marcus eased it open to find it empty.
There was no webbing, no nothing. Not even any personal effects. All the shelves were empty. The space had already been divested of all evidence of Ian Spinner.
Suddenly, one of the great balls of webbing unwound, its cargo descending quickly toward the floor. As the silk disappeared, it became obvious said cargo was a woman.
Marcus rushed to catch her before she hit the floor. She could possibly provide clues about what had happened there and just where the fuck his partner was. The woman landed in his arms as if that was where she’d meant to go, one pale arm draped around his shoulders.
That was when he realized his mistake.
Her hair clung to his arms, black and sticky, just like the spider silk. Blood-red lips smiled at him, revealing large fangs, and her eyes—
Artemis, but her eyes were creepy.
There were four. They were almond-shaped and wide, with long lashes, and the entirety of them was black, including the sclera. The largest ones were set the widest, with the smaller, more human-sized eyes between them.
“Detective Kage, I presume?” she asked with a slight hiss.
He had to fight the urge not to throw her down and rip off his skin. Her proximity caused him to feel as if there were a million spiders swarming all over his body. But being a supe himself, he knew she couldn’t help what she was.
And regardless of anything else, he needed answers.
“I don’t believe we’re acquainted.” Sweet Artemis, he wanted to drop her. Needed to get away from her
.
She smiled wider, revealing another set of fangs. “I’m Clothos Spinner. Ian’s mother.”
Ian’s mother?
The toxic scent he’d smelled was coming from her. “Arachnae?” he blurted.
“You’re a handsome one, aren’t you? You’d make strong sons.”
The idea of making
anything
with her almost made him retch.
Furry little legs crawling all over him…
“Strong willed, too. Most other beings, even supes, have a hard time controlling their reactions to that sort of stimuli.”
“So you’re doing it on purpose?”
“Testing your mettle.” The sensations stopped. “You can put me down now.”
His arms had locked into place, afraid if he moved at all, he’d hurt her. Marcus released her and she smoothed her hands over her long, white lace dress.
He breathed deeply and pulled out the face of the beast. It was painful, but if she wanted to play that game, he was up for it.
She flinched away from him and the beast slipped back beneath his skin.
“Just testing your mettle,” he said.
“Ian didn’t tell me you were a Lycanos.”
“Ian doesn’t know.”
“Oh, then you didn’t know he was my son, did you?”
“No.”
“Yes, we are Arachnae,” she said, her eyes blinking.
“Are you responsible for the deaths of the Amazons?”
“Why would I answer that?”
“The beast can question you, if you prefer.”
Clothos laughed. “You stink of Fury. They’d never mate with a male who was less than honorable. I am perfectly safe with you.”
“My Fury is ill. She feels guilt over these deaths. So don’t underestimate what I would do to save her. If my marked mate dies, honor will matter little.”
“Okay, Lycanos. No. The deaths of the Amazons were not sponsored by the Arachnae Nation.”
That was still avoidance. He decided to try another tactic. “Do you know where your son is, Clothos?”
“No. The loft was like this when I got here. So I decided to wait to see who came looking for him.”
“So if Arachnae didn’t do this, who wants to make it look like they did?”
“That’s an easy question to answer, Detective. Ian, of course.”
“Why would he want that?”
“Because he doesn’t want to die.”
Chapter Ten
Megaera awoke to a wild pounding on her door. She was warm, sated and didn’t want to unbundle herself, but thinking it must be Marcus, she dragged herself out of bed. She needed to get him a key.
A cold chill washed over her as soon as she touched the doorknob.
Whatever was on the other side of that door was
not
Marcus Kage.
She didn’t have time to react to the knowledge before the door swung open. Standing behind it was Ian Spinner, pocketing lock-picking tools with a sly smile.
“No one answered, I was worried,” he said in a voice as smooth as silk.
Most women would have found his dark eyes an invitation, his voice entrancing, but all Meg felt was revulsion. “Marcus isn’t here.” She knew better than to turn her back on a predator, but it was to her advantage to let him think he didn’t affect her. So Meg turned on her heel and breezed back into her apartment, brain working frantically on contingency plans.
“I’m not here to see
him
, Fury. I’m here to see you.”
Megaera was instantly hit with the weight of a shadow so heavy and hungry, it wanted to devour the world.
She was looking at Ian’s soul.
“You killed Galatea.” She stated it matter-of-factly as she grabbed a robe hanging on the outside of the bathroom door. She could have screamed, railed against the invasion of her home, but who would hear her? Staying calm and unaffected was the best way to keep control of the situation.
He laughed. “I did,” Ian admitted easily. “But don’t for one second believe it’s not your fault.” He laughed again. “All this black ooze was right beneath the surface, waiting for you to see it.”
His words sent spikes of pain through her gut, her guilt growing stronger and as hungry as the darkness lurking inside Ian. “No, you killed her. I didn’t.” No matter what she said, however, she didn’t feel it.
But Megaera wasn’t going down without a fight.
She dug into the core of him and found a terrified little boy who didn’t want to die, hiding in the dark. He wanted his mother—but she was the one he was afraid of.
Meg backed away from him as he advanced, moving toward the blessed knife she had taped to the backside of her bookcase. He kept his focus on her face, her eyes.
“That’s right. You know you have no power over me because your guilt is sucking you dry. That’s why I chose Galatea.”
“I didn’t even know her when you chose her.”
“No, but I could see it in the threads of fate. That she would become dear to you.”
That cut her deeply, feeding the guilt, but she continued to edge closer to the bookcase. “Why would you do that?”
“So it would render your power useless against me when I started a war between the Arachnae and the Amazons, of course. Arachnae don’t breed when they’re at war. They’ll have the urge to mate, but no new Arachnae will be born.”
“Do you hate your kind so much that you’d kill off the whole race?” Meg knew she had to keep him talking, or she was fucked.
“Do you know what female spiders do to their mates?”
“They kill them after mating, to feed to their young.”
“Arachnae are no different. When the Alpha male comes of age, he’s mated with every fertile female. Then he and the other males are killed, eggs are laid in their bodies and the process begins again. I’ve already wiped out three dormant nests.”
“Why not just ally with the Amazons?”
“I may hate what I am, but I’m still an Arachnae.” Ian smiled and a double set of fangs emerged from his gums. “Arachnae venom kills Amazons. I wonder what it does to Furies?”
“Keep wondering, asshole!” Megaera whipped the knife out from behind the bookcase and buried it deep in Ian’s belly.
Black blood gushed from the wound. Surprise bloomed on his face and Meg pounced, stabbing again and again, even as he crumpled to the floor. She wanted to make sure he was dead. If she punished Galatea’s murderer, her guilt would be assuaged.
Ian twisted and lunged to sink his fangs into the meat of her calf.
She screamed as the venom spilled like lava into her veins and webbing shot from Ian’s fingertips, constricting around her. Megaera’s ribs cracked as the silk tightened, and even as her power came to her in a fiery rush, consciousness slipped away.
* * * * *
Marcus left Ian’s loft with more questions than answers. He felt as if he’d lost all the ground he’d gained. If Ian was responsible for the deaths and he’d disappeared, they’d never find him. He was a cop. He knew how to hide—stay off the grid.
How was he going to save Megaera?
He could petition Athena, but he’d never been one to pray, so he doubted she’d listen. But he had to do something. Marcus refused to lose her.
His phone rang.
“Kage.”
“Judging from the black-and-white outside Furyous Ink with instructions not to let me in, I gather you’ve decided I’m your killer.”
“I didn’t decide anything. All I know is that you knew Galatea and weren’t up front about it. The black-and-white is for Nicodemus Frost. He made threats on Megaera’s life.”
“Don’t try your bullshit with me, Marcus. We’ve been partners too long. You’re good at what you do, but I know all your tricks.”
Fuck.
“Exactly, Ian. We’re partners. Whatever shit you’re in, you should have come to me.”
Ian laughed. “Okay, partner. Come to Furyous Ink and we’ll see if you can get me out of this one.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask him not to hurt Megaera, but that would show his hand. “I’m on my way.”
“Oh, I uh…
relieved
the black-and-white on duty. Come through the back door.”
Marcus froze and the line went dead. He knew in his gut those officers were dead.
But Ian was in Meg’s home without an invitation. If he was walking around upright, that meant Megaera wasn’t.
Her power must have been cannibalizing her for Ian to have accomplished that. The clock was ticking.
Tick tock. Tick tock
.
Marcus popped the cherry light on top of his Charger and drove like Cerberus himself slavered at his heels. Two blocks away, he turned off the light and slowed to a leisurely speed. He couldn’t let Ian see how agitated he was, how concerned for Megaera. That would give him the upper hand.
He spotted the patrol car as he passed, but it appeared to be empty. What had Ian done with the bodies? Images of what
Clothos
would have done with the bodies came to mind and Marcus shuddered, sick at the thought.
Marcus parked in the alley and took his time getting out of the car, made sure to scent the air to pick up all the clues around him that he could. The stench of the toxin was almost overpowering.
How could his partner have been an Arachnae and he’d never known? Worse, how could he be a
serial killer
?
And Marcus hadn’t even had the slightest clue.
He remembered the first time he’d climbed the stairs up to that lovely deck. Marcus hadn’t known it would set him on this path, bring him to this place. His whole life had changed in the last few days—his view of the world. He’d had nothing to live for and now he had everything.
And Ian Spinner was trying to take it from him.
Marcus took the stairs slowly. He was so casual in his approach that Ian opened the door before Marcus could. “You move as if lives don’t depend on you.”
Ian looked worse than he had the last time Marcus saw him. His gaunt and haggard appearance was now starved and emaciated. He looked like a specter of death.
Marcus summoned his courage before he spoke and followed him into the apartment. “I said it once and I’ll say it again, you look like shit.”
Ian shrugged. “What can I say? It happens that way with Arachnae women. Stop fucking them, they stop feeding you.”
“Sounds like a problem.” Marcus scanned the room and instantly spotted Megaera. She was held suspended and cradled by masses of spider silk. It was wrapped around her like a shroud. He could only see her lips, and they were cracked and ashen. His beast raged, but the beast wasn’t going to save Meg. The man would save her, and he had to stay calm, in control.
“It’s a
very
vexing problem, since you asked. When I didn’t show up for work, did the squad go to my house?”
“No, it was just me. Looks like you’re leaving town.”
“I am. But I have one thing to do first.”
“What’s that?”
“Start a war between the Amazon Nation and the Arachnae. It seems that four dead Amazons weren’t enough, nor was leaving Arachnae silk all over Galatea’s house.” He smiled, fangs descending from his mouth. “That’s the trouble you can help me with, Marcus. You can tell me how many bodies it will take to start a war.”
“How would I know?” Marcus shrugged—and then darted a hand inside his coat for his gun.
Even with Marcus’ preternatural speed, Ian was faster. And this time the army of spiders that swarmed up Marcus’ legs was real.
They functioned as one unit, lightning fast, rushing over him to pull his gun out of its holster and forming a black, hairy hand to pass it to Ian before they were absorbed back into his body.
“I’m still faster. I bet that chaps you, Lycanos. All of your secret bullshit and here I was, right under your nose. Literally.” His smooth features twisted into a maniacally gleeful expression.
“Why couldn’t I scent you?”
“I don’t give off pheromones to attract a mate or warn off other males. There’s only one male chosen to service females each breeding cycle. Only my toxin has a scent.”
“I could have helped you, Ian. We’re partners,” Marcus said, trying to get Ian to see him as a safe harbor. It would give him enough of an advantage so he could save Meg. Or so he hoped.
But Ian had the same training Marcus had. “Gaining the suspect’s trust? Please.” Ian snorted.
“I don’t have to gain your trust, Ian.” He made sure to use his name, as if they were friends. “I already have it. We’re partners.”
“You won’t choose me over her. You’ve bonded, marked each other. You’d let the world burn for her, Lycanos.”
“You’re right, Ian. I would. Which is why I’ll help you do whatever you need, if only you’ll let her go.”
Ian nodded toward the wall where she hung. “She’s dying,” Ian informed him. “I see the beast looking out from your eyes. You could kill me. You could rip my flesh off my bones. But that still wouldn’t save your precious Meg. Only I can do that. Only I can absolve her of the guilt she feels. You see, I told her
she
was the reason I killed Galatea.”
Marcus roared and slammed Ian against the wall, his tenuous hold on his control shattering with the Arachnae’s words. His army of spiders swarmed from Ian’s body but the Lycanos didn’t give a damn. He was poised to rip the Arachnae’s head off when Ian laughed.
“Yes, kill me! And it’ll be the same as killing your Fury.”
“What do you want, Ian?” Marcus still had his claws at his throat.
“I told you,
partner
.” He laughed maniacally. “I want you to help me start a war.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to be food for the next crop of Arachnae! I deserve to live my life the same as they do!”
“But those Amazons didn’t?” He had to keep him talking until he could come up with a plan, but it was hard to think with the beast vying for control and the maddening brush of furry spider legs scuttling over his body.
“You should know by now the nature of every creature is survival at all costs.”
“Don’t rationalize what you’re doing.”
“I don’t have to. It simply is what it is.”
“Why Galatea? Weren’t you seeing her?”
Ian blinked and black oil seemed to fill his sclera. He knocked Marcus’ hand away and Marcus allowed it. They both knew he wouldn’t strike until Megaera was safe. Goddess, but if he lost her…
“That was
mother
, actually. To bring me to heel. So I would come home to the nest and do my duty.”
“So you didn’t kill her? Didn’t choose to be with Galatea because of Meg?”
Ian’s crazed laugh sounded again. “No. I didn’t even know they knew each other!”
With that, the spider silk holding Megaera burst into flames and she emerged like a phoenix from her own ashes.
Her beauty was terrible and wonderful all at once. The webbing melted away like spun sugar in the rain. The silver fire of her hair and body blazed brightly, the fiery aura surrounding her while blood tears—the trademark of her Fury power—coursed down her cheeks.
Megaera was safe.
Now Marcus was going to do exactly as Ian had described and rend his flesh and muscle from bone.
“No, Lycanos. You gave your word to me that he would belong to the Amazon Nation.”
“He hurt you,” Marcus growled.
“Your
word
.”
Marcus struggled for control of his thundering heartbeat and the Change that surged over him. But Megaera trusted him to keep his animal in check. She’d already turned back to Ian.