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  “Stop…Lexi…Stop…I’m gonna pee,” he said as he laughed. “Lexi!”

  “Say Lexi’s the best,” Lexi instructed as he laughed and continued to tickle his mate under his arms.

  “What?” Bailey laughed.

  “Say Lexi is the bestest, most awesomest, most sexxxiest man in all the world,” Lexi said in a playful voice as he dragged out the word sexiest.

  Bailey continued to squirm and writhe under him as he tried to get Lexi to stop. “I thought I was supposed to say uncle?” Bailey asked while laughing and panting for breath.

  “Uncle? Why the hell would you say uncle? What does he have to do with it?” Lexi asked mischievously.

  “Lexi, please…I’m gonna pee,” Bailey begged.

  “Say it,” Lexi coaxed. “Come on, say it. I know you want to.” Lexi laughed.

  “Lexi is the sexiest.” Bailey laughed. “Most awesomest man.”

  “Ooh so close, but no cigar. Try again.”

  “Lexi!” Bailey was laughing so hard the tears were running down his face and into his hair. “Okay…okay…I give. Lexi…is the…most…”

  “Bestest,” Lexi coaxed.

  “Lexi is the bestest…most awesomest, and definitely the sexiest man in the world,” Bailey laughed out.

  “See, I knew you thought I was sexy,” Lexi said with a smirk and rolled off Bailey. “Was that so hard?”

  Bailey jumped from the bed, laughing, raced to the bathroom, and shut the door. Lexi lay on the bed laughing. He turned on his side to face the bathroom, leaning on his elbow, and laid his head in his hand. Bailey opened the door and looked at him with narrowed eyes and arms folded over his chest.

  “Uh-oh. I’m in trouble.” Lexi snickered.

  “Yes, you are, mister,” Bailey growled as he stalked toward the bed.

  “Mister? Hmm would a kiss put me back in your good graces or do you wish for me to grovel at your feet, sir?” Lexi asked in an English accent.

  Bailey couldn’t keep his straight face anymore and burst out laughing. He sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around his stomach. “That was the most pathetic accent I have ever heard. You need to work on your comebacks,” Bailey said, laughing.

  Lexi’s eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped. “Well I never.” He feigned offense.

  “Yes, you have. Now kiss me.”

  Lexi moved to his side. “I think a kiss is definitely called for. But just a small one, because I don’t know if I can keep control of myself with you sitting there in only your undies like that.”

  Bailey turned a bright pink and wrapped his arms around his waist as he tried to cover his growing erection. He was having so much fun with Lexi that he had forgotten he was practically naked.

  Lexi cupped Bailey’s cheek and pressed their lips together and kept the kiss slow and gentle.

  Bailey moaned against Lexi’s lips and placed his hands on Lexi’s muscled chest. Then he felt Lexi’s wet tongue glide over the seam of his lips and he opened for his mate. He loved kissing Lexi. The man tasted so good and he was a fantastic kisser. Bailey always lost his mind when Lexi kissed him.

  Lexi pulled back with a growl and leaned his head against Bailey’s. “I’m gonna die. I just know it. These are my last few days on Earth.”

  “Then why are you torturing yourself? I’m right here, Lexi. We’re all alone,” Bailey hedged.

  “Because I know you’re a virgin, pretty baby, and I want to make sure that you’re sure about us before I make love to you.”

  “I am sure, Lexi. I want this. I want you,” Bailey whispered.

  “You were just running from me, Bailey. If you didn’t have a doubt somewhere in there, then you would have run right to me, without question.”

  “I wasn’t running from you,” Bailey said in a panic.

  “I know you weren’t actually running from me, but you didn’t come to me. I just want you to take a little more time and make sure you have no doubts about us or about me claiming you, okay?” Lexi asked gently.

  “You really are the best mate ever, Lexi. Thank you for being so patient with me and for understanding that I’m a little afraid,” Bailey said and leaned forward, kissing Lexi’s lips. Their tongues joined again and the kiss heated up. Lexi groaned as if in pain and pulled away from the kiss.

  “Is it that painful?” Bailey asked mischievously.

  “Yes, yes, it is,” Lexi said and climbed off the bed. He grabbed Bailey’s hand and pulled him to his feet. “Come on. Get dressed and I’ll take you home.”

  Bailey dressed and then looked to his mate. Lexi grabbed Bailey’s hand and dragged him from the room. “Where are we going?”

  “I’m taking you home before my Alpha cuts my nuts off and puts them in a jar on his desk,” Lexi said in a pained voice as he dragged Bailey down the stairs.

  “Why does everyone think I want their balls on my desk?” Micah asked as he walked up the stairs. “First Christian wants to superglue his to it and now you want me to put yours in a jar?” Micah shook his head and smirked. “The only balls I want to look at are my mate’s, but thanks for the offer, Lex.”

  “I didn’t mean…I was. Shit, I’ll stop while I’m ahead. I’m taking my mate home,” Lexi told Micah as they made it to the front door.

  “Good, because if you do anything inappropriate with that young man, when he’s not ready, I will own your nuts.” Micah gave him a pointed look. Bailey’s eyes went wide at the Alpha’s threat.

  “I know,” Lexi said and pulled Bailey from the house.

  Chapter 8

  Bailey opened the door and peered into the living room. It was empty. He looked behind the door and down the hall. That, too, was empty. He entered the house and quietly closed the door behind him. He turned to go up the stairs and stopped short at the sight of Evan standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Sneaking in?” Evan asked with a smirk.

  “Not sneaking per se, just coming in quietly,” Bailey explained with a shrug.

  “Uh-huh. So are you back to stay or are you just here to pick up your things?” Evan asked hesitantly.

  Bailey swallowed. “I’m here to stay. At least for now.” He shrugged. “I don’t know where I’ll be after Lexi and I mate though.”

  “Probably at the Alpha house. Lexi is an enforcer of the inner pack, so he has to live in the Alpha house,” Evan explained. “And being one of the Alpha’s kill enforcers means he would have to stay close by as well,” Evan said nonchalantly.

  Bailey’s eyes went wide. “Lexi is a kill enforcer?”

  Evan’s brows rose in surprise. “You didn’t know that?”

  “No,” Bailey answered and began biting his thumbnail.

  “Knowing that doesn’t change your mind about being his mate does it?” Evan asked in concern.

  “No, I just…I can’t picture Lexi as a hit man. He’s so sweet and funny. It just goes against his personality.”

  “Maybe the way he is is the way he deals with his job,” Evan offered.

  “Probably,” Bailey said while looking at the floor, his mind deep in thought about Lexi. His mate was so wonderful and patient. And so understanding. It didn’t compute in his head how Lexi could be a kill enforcer.

  “So, are you hungry or did you eat at the pack house?” Evan asked.

  “No, I didn’t eat. And yeah, I am kind of hungry,” Bailey answered hesitantly.

  Evan gave him a smile and motioned toward the kitchen. “Well come on. Let’s get you something to eat.” They headed into the kitchen.

  * * * *

  Bailey was stuffed and he just wanted to climb into bed. He called his boss Gypsey while he and Evan sat in the kitchen talking, and Gypsey told him he already heard from the Alpha mate and of course he still had his job. He could come back in the morning. Bailey dragged his tired body up the stairs and opened the door to his room and met Josh’s gaze. Josh was sitting on the edge of his bed looking at the floor when Bailey opened the door, but then his head snapped in
Bailey’s direction and their eyes met. Bailey hesitated for a moment, but then stepped into the room. He lowered his head and walked directly to his bed and sat down. He started to kick off his shoes.

  “Are you okay?” Josh asked.

  “Yeah,” Bailey whispered.

  “So…um,” Josh started to say.

  “I’m really tired, Josh. I’m gonna go to sleep,” Bailey said quickly. He slid his pants off and climbed under the covers. He rolled so his back was to Josh and pulled the covers up to his chin.

  Josh sighed heavily. “Are you ever going to talk to me again, Bales?”

  “I just did talk to you,” Bailey responded.

  “You know what I mean,” Josh said with another frustrated sigh.

  “I don’t know. As of right now, the answer is no.”

  “Look, Bales―” Josh began to speak but Bailey cut him off.

  “How could you tell him of all people, Josh? How could you tell anyone for that matter? That was between me and you. No one else in the world knew about what happened with Marshal except for us. You had no right to tell Matthew anything about me.”

  “I didn’t―”

  “I’m going to sleep now. Good night, Josh,” Bailey cut him off again and pulled the blankets fully over his head. He heard Josh sigh again and then he heard shuffling and the bedroom door close softly. He peeked out from under the blanket and saw that the room was empty. He uncovered his head and rolled to his back, staring at the ceiling. He knew he was being hard on Josh, but this wasn’t some small insignificant secret he told Matthew. This was his life before. He killed someone, well maybe. But still, if the wrong people found out about it, he could go to jail. Human jail. He was trying to hide from that life, to move away from it. And that information in Matthew’s hands could open up a whole lot of hits Matthew could throw his way and he didn’t want that. But most importantly, he trusted Josh. But now? Now he didn’t think he could ever trust him again, and that hurt his heart, because Josh was the only person he considered his true family. Josh was his brother as well as his best friend and he felt like he had just lost him. Tears sprang to his eyes from the thought and he rolled over, pulling his knees up close and hugging himself. He closed his eyes and prayed sleep would take him away from his troubles.

  * * * *

  “So what did you find out in Napa?” Dante asked Storm as the council sat in Micah’s office.

  “Gabriel and I were able to locate a few pieces of paper that looked like they had equations on them, but other than that, the place was empty. It looked like someone had cleaned the place out.”

  “We found a few papers in the caves as well. Did you give them to Aaron?” Micah asked.

  Storm nodded. “Yeah, he’s working on them.”

  “It sounds a little convenient that you each found a few pages but everything else was gone. It makes me think it’s all a set up of some kind by Malachi,” Dare said.

  “Dante and I were saying the same thing,” Micah explained. “But I still want to know what they say. I asked Raffy to have a look at them, too, seeing as they mentioned the Nephilim. I’m hoping his knowledge of the creatures will help us.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Ryland offered. “I wish Dare and I were able to get something in the fae realm, but no one there says they have seen Malachi in over twenty-five years.”

  “Has anyone heard from Raith and Rory’s group? They’ve been gone for almost a week with Zane,” Dante asked.

  “No and I’m beginning to worry. I was going to call Viktor and ask him if Adam could help us locate Rory and then hopefully we would locate Zane at the same time,” Micah said. A knock came to the door. Micah pressed the intercom button and spoke into it. “Come in.” The door opened and Aaron, Raffy, and Christian walked in. “Hey, guys, what’s up?” Micah asked.

  “I was looking over those papers you all gave me and the equations don’t calculate correctly,” Aaron began to explain.

  “What do you mean?” Dante asked.

  “Well, the ones you gave me shows that Malachi was working on a serum to cloak the rogues. But the ones that Storm and Gabriel gave me says that the serum is to help them shift into something else. But what doesn’t make sense is it’s the exact same equation on both papers, but the end solution is different. But from my calculations of what’s written here, if this formula was put to use, the rogues would be able to convert back to their original form,” Aaron explained.

  “Meaning what?” Ryland asked.

  “Meaning, they would no longer be rogue. They would go back to whatever they were prior to Malachi changing them. But that’s impossible. Being rogue is more in the mind than a DNA change.”

  “For vampires and shifters that change into rogues normally, but what about the ones Malachi changed. Maybe it is a DNA change and that’s the counter serum,” Dante said.

  “That’s possible, but then I’m really confused. Why make an army of rogues to just turn them back? I would think Malachi wouldn’t give a damn if they stayed rogue or not. Shit, I would think he would probably kill them off himself if they didn’t follow orders,” Aaron said.

  “Can he change humans into rogues?” Phenex asked as he appeared through the wall.

  Everyone looked at him stunned by his sudden appearance and by his outward appearance. The angel-demon was covered in cuts and bruises. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were torn. He looked like he had been in a war.

  “Phen?” Ryland jumped to his feet and moved over to Phenex and grabbed his arm as he studied his face. “Are you all right? What happened?” Ryland asked, his brows drawn down and worry lines across his forehead.

  “Just a little scuffle, that’s all,” Phenex answered and walked farther into the room as Ryland continued to hold his arm. He moved stiffly, with a small limp and a slight twinge of pain on his face when he stepped on his right foot.

  “Let’s get you to the clinic so Aaron can check you out,” Micah offered as he stepped closer to Phenex, his face full of concern.

  “Thank you, Micah. But there is nothing your good doctor can do for me. I’ll be fine in a few days,” Phenex explained as he sat in one of the chairs.

  Ryland knelt down in front of him and placed a hand on his knee as he looked into Phen’s eyes with love and concern. “What happened, Phen?”

  Phenex met Ryland’s eyes and his softened as he looked into his mate’s eyes and saw the concern there. He lifted a hand and cupped Ryland’s cheek gently and ran his thumb across his cheek. “I had to go to Tartarus.”

  Ryland sucked in a quick breath as his eyes filled with fear and he grabbed onto Phenex’s arm “Tartarus?” he whispered in a shaky voice. “Why would you willingly go there?”

  “I had to find Nigel Brighton,” Phenex answered.

  “Surely there was another way for you to find out about Malachi?” Ryland asked.

  “That is where the beast escaped from, Ry. I had to go there,” he explained tenderly as he stared into Ryland’s eyes.

  “What is Tartarus?” Micah asked.

  “Somewhere you never want to go, either living or dead,” Dare said.

  “Tartarus is deeper than Hades. It is reserved for the worst sinners. Not even Lucifer himself is in Tartarus,” Raffy explained in a frightened voice. His body shook and he clung to Christian.

  Phenex looked to Raffy. “You are partly correct, omega. Tartarus is deeper than Hades and the worst of the worst are kept there, but Lord Lucifer rules it all. Nowhere is safe from him.”

  “And you went there?” Storm asked in confusion.

  “It was the only way to find Brighton and ask him if he knew about Malachi’s whereabouts or his plans,” Phenex explained nonchalantly.

  “But you might have been trapped there for eternity,” Ryland said with anger in his voice. “You should not have taken that risk, moleam.”

  Phenex’s head snapped back to Ryland’s. Their gazes locked and they stared at each other.

  “He just called him my heart
, right?” Dante asked Dare through their mating link.

  Dare looked at Dante and smiled. “Yes, moleam.” Dante kissed Dare quickly.

  Micah cleared his throat. “So what of this Tartarus?” he asked, breaking the spell between Phenex and Ryland.

  Phenex looked away and cleared his throat. “Brighton was there. I was able to get to him. He is, as the humans say, not a happy camper. He wants revenge on Malachi for tricking him into thinking they were mates and for leaving Tartarus without him. He told me to look into the Nephilim. That Malachi was in cahoots with them.”

  “But I thought the Nephilim were good? I thought they were human,” Storm asked.

  “Only part human,” Raffy answered. “And part angel. One of the worries of the gods is that the Nephilim are out to destroy them because of the gods banishing their fathers to the underworld.”

  “So who are these Nephilim and how do we find them?” Micah asked.

  “As I have said, they are the offspring of angels and human women that were thought to be evil,” Raffy said.

  “That’s true, omega. But there are actually two types of Nephilim. The original Nephilim were created by the angels and the human women. But then the second is the ones created by the fallen and the human women,” Phenex explained.