Flynn, Joyee - Damian [Marius Brothers 5] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Read online

  I wasn’t sure of that, but I would support his decision and be there for him. He nodded to Father, who swiftly raised and lowered his sword, taking Aemilio’s head. The body turned to ash seconds later, and my family started to file solemnly out of the holding cell area.

  “I’m so sorry, mi alma,” I whispered, hugging him tightly.

  “I’m sorry this was what he became. The brother I loved and knew would have chosen to die rather than become a demon. I cannot fathom what they did to him to warp and change his mind… All of their minds. Either way, they are the enemy now, no longer my family, and need to be dealt with.”

  “You will not carry that burden alone,” Father said as he handed his sword to Victor. He pulled my mate away and embraced him in a bear hug, as a father would. Cyrus shuddered and let out centuries of anguish. I wrapped my body around his back, scared that something broke in my mate as his loud sobs filled the cell. I would do anything, anything to help him through this.

  Just as I knew my entire family would.

  It was a shorter crying jag than I would have thought, but once he calmed down, Victor gave him a quick one-armed hug and we left. I was okay if Cyrus never had to go down there again. Some things didn’t need to be revisited.

  “Are you okay?” Cyrus asked me as we got near the front lobby.

  “You’re asking me if I’m okay?” I couldn’t believe how wonderful he was, checking on me after all he’d been through. I shook my head, giving him a weak smile.

  “This is going to be hard on everyone,” he said gently. “Everything is changed now and we’re at war like we’ve never been before.”

  “We’ll beat them. All of them,” I replied firmly, gesturing to all my family. “And we’re not alone. Okay? No matter what happens, don’t ever forget that we have help in this.”

  “Thank you, amante.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. We walked out the doors, darkness having fallen by the time we were done. Riley was thanking my mate once again. I couldn’t help the smile of pride that my mate had saved Riley, who was basically one of my brothers.

  I was just about to tell him that when I saw Cyrus’s and Victor’s heads jerk toward the left, and my mate dove to knock Riley down. I heard the shot and turned in its direction, knowing Cyrus would protect Riley, who they were obviously aiming at.

  Holy shit! I saw a man on an adjacent building’s roof who was the spitting image of Cyrus, but twisted, dark. He stood slowly, pointing to me and then making a slashing gesture across his throat.

  Message received. They were out for me now, too, knowing I was Cyrus’s mate and he’d picked me over his family. Before I could even move, the man jumped down and was gone. Stefan and Gabriel immediately gave chase. I was about to when my mother’s words stopped me.

  “Cyrus got hit,” she shouted, trying to get my attention.

  “No,” I whispered, turning toward them as if my feet were now cement, in a creepy slow-motion movement. Father rolled Cyrus off of Riley, who immediately scrambled to his feet and applied pressure on my mate’s back.

  “Micah, get my bag,” he shouted, chaos erupting around me as I still couldn’t seem to move.

  “No!” I screamed, finally able to move. I dove by my mate’s head, frantic. “Don’t you dare fucking leave me, Cyrus.”

  “It’s just a shoulder scratch,” he said, smiling up at me. “No big deal.” I glanced at Riley, who was nodding.

  “It’s a big deal but he’ll heal as soon as I get the bullet out. It’s lodged in his shoulder, but there’s no risk of it being fatal.”

  “Fuck a duck,” I whined, my calm composure through all of this gone. “Okay, no more being shot at. No more getting hurt. No more fucking injuries to anyone here! I’m tired of this shit.”

  “Damian,” Cyrus said quietly, rolling his eyes.

  “No!” I pointed my finger in his face. “No fucking way. I’m not losing you or anyone else in this family if I have to set off ultraviolet grenades everywhere we go before we step outside. This is bullshit.”

  “Damian,” he repeated.

  “How much shit can we take? First they’re after Riley. Then again. Now the guy made a slashing-my-throat gesture. Aemilio wanted to kill and rape me. What the fuck? Demons suck!”

  “Damian.”

  “What?” I roared, not happy he was interrupting my hysterical rant.

  “I love you.” And just like that, all my rage and anger drained away.

  “I love you, too.”

  “We’ll get through this, amante. I won’t ever leave you. Hell, if we have to die, we’re going together.”

  “Okay,” I whispered, wincing as Cyrus gasped in pain when Riley got the bullet out. I’d been so into my rant that I hadn’t noticed Micah brought his bag and he’d gotten to work.

  “Now that it’s out,” Cyrus said with a smile, sitting up. “I’m hungry. Chinese maybe?”

  “You are insufferable. How are you not upset that your father or brother just shot you?” I asked with a growl, kissing him fiercely. He returned the passion, only breaking apart when Stefan and Gabriel jogged back over to us.

  “We lost him. We’ll pick up the trail in the daylight and when we have more backup,” Gabriel announced, looking pissed.

  “We’ll find Eduardo,” he said with conviction. I guess that answered who the shooter was. How creepy was it that it was Cyrus’s brother? And why was he not freaking out? As if knowing what I was going to ask, he answered. “It’s him but it’s not. That’s the best way I can rationalize this. His soul is gone and the man I knew is dead. Evil animates his body, but that doesn’t make him alive.”

  “However you want to look at it that helps you is fine with me,” I replied immediately. “Just promise not to shut me out, okay? We’ve come so far that if you shut back down, I’d become a worried mess and freak out on you.”

  “I wouldn’t want that.” He snickered, giving me another kiss.

  “Thank you, Cyrus,” Micah said as he hugged Riley, who looked as if he couldn’t breathe from the force of it. I met his gaze and he, too, rolled his eyes. “You saved him twice. I couldn’t even imagine trying to raise our daughter alone or going on without him. Thank you, brother.”

  “It was instinct,” he replied, going to shrug and then thinking better of it. I could tell he was embarrassed with all the praise. He’d get over it. I was ready to kiss his feet for saving Riley, too, and I wasn’t even mated to the man. But I did love Riley as well. We all did.

  “It was selfless,” Micah said, shaking his head. “You’re nothing like the man we just talked to. Don’t ever think you are just because your family chose that path. Damian wouldn’t love you if you could ever end up a demon.”

  “How did you—” Cyrus started to ask, looking shocked and a little sick that they knew.

  “Because it was written all over your face and a logical thing to think,” Riley answered before Cyrus even got the words out. “My family, save my grandmother, was slaughtered by demons. I was a child and in the house when it happened. When we heard your family might still be alive but demons, I found myself wondering how I would have handled it. It was the same question I was asking myself. You’re not them, Cyrus.”

  “Thank you. That means a lot to me.” We all got to our feet, Micah still plastered to Riley, kissing every inch of his skin that he could. I felt for my brother. Twice in one day his mate was attacked. Hell, he’d almost lost Riley once before.

  Ours was a dangerous life, and so far we’d all come out of it unscathed, but I couldn’t help but fear we wouldn’t always be so lucky.

  Morbid? Yes, but reasonable.

  “Chinese it is,” Mother said with a smile, standing on her toes and pulling Cyrus down for a kiss on the cheek. He went willingly, going a little stiff in my arms but not fighting. It was an adjustment for him but one he’d get used to. My family was loving and affectionate. “Thank you for saving one of my boys, son. You did good.”

  Cyrus cleared his throat of his emoti
ons and nodded.

  We all got back into our cars and headed home, Stefan and Patrick volunteering to go into town and pick up the food. As we drove home, my hand in Cyrus’s, I couldn’t imagine my life without him anymore. And as much as I hated the demons, they were the reason he was in my life.

  “Okay, I gotta ask,” Micah said from the driver’s seat, breaking the silence. We were in his car, along with Riley. “What was this weapon Aemilio talked about?”

  “Solar flare security system,” Riley answered, blushing. “I figured if we could get ultraviolet-type lights built into the sensors, then demons would get burned if they even stepped onto the property. I’m just finished actually.”

  “Baby, I don’t know if I should be impressed and screaming that you’re a genius or throttling you because of course they’d come after you now,” Micah said with a growl.

  “My question is if even you didn’t know, how did the demons find out?” Yeah, I agreed with Cyrus. The kitchen staff who told the demons how to get into the compound couldn’t have known that.

  “You’re going to be the likeliest suspect,” Riley said gently to my mate as he looked at us over his shoulder. “Only a few people have access to my lab.”

  “I—”

  Riley held up his hand, shaking his head. “I know it wasn’t you. Even if you hadn’t kept saving my life, I would never have doubted you. But given this new development with your family and that you work in the clinic with me, people will wonder. I thought it was only fair to give you the heads-up.”

  “Well, that just blows,” I grumbled. I wasn’t known for my eloquence.

  “Yeah. It does,” Cyrus agreed with a pout.

  “Well, we know the truth,” Micah said, giving me a wink in the rearview mirror. “And we can just sick Damian on anyone who says otherwise. He throws a mean right hook.”

  “I still have a few of you left to punch,” I replied with a wide smile.

  “You seriously have been punching your brothers for pulling me aside and getting my head out of my ass?” Cyrus gaped at me as if I’d grown a second head.

  “Hey, being the youngest of seven taught me a lot. One thing was to never make a threat unless you’re willing to go through with it.” I shrugged. “I’ll let Riley off the hook since he took the bullet out of your shoulder.”

  “Gee, thanks.” Riley snickered. The car was suddenly filled with peals of laughter. There may be a war coming or one already upon us, but it was simple moments like this that would get us through it. That and the man beside me. The one who showed me I wasn’t a freak for what I needed, opened up his heart so I’d be happy, and loved me as I loved him.

  THE END

  WWW.JOYEEFLYNN.COM

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Joyee Flynn grew up in Chicago living in the same house all her life until she left for college. Though she has a great life, she loves to get lost in fantasy that only books could bring. Her wide interest in reading was reflected in her writings. Currently Joyee lives with her dog, Marius, named after a vampire from Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire series. She dreams of one day living out in Montana, enough land to have a few horses, and find a couple of cowboys of her own.

  A lover of men, Joyee’s all about them in any form in her books. Vampire, werewolf, military, doesn’t matter at all as long as they are hot, hard, and sex fiends!

  Also by Joyee Flynn

  Classic ManLove Marius Brothers 1: Micah

  Classic ManLove Marius Brothers 2: Remus

  Classic ManLove Marius Brothers 3: Stefan

  Classic ManLove Marius Brothers 4: Victor

  For all other titles, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/joyee-flynn

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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