Fallen (Dark in You 7)

He also wanted to fuck her until neither of them could move. They’d get to that part eventually.

Making a place for himself in her life hadn’t been so simple. He’d never blamed her for being angry on discovering he was her anchor. How could he, when he knew he was not what she needed? But he was a selfish creature, so when he’d seen an opportunity to firmly plant himself in her life, he’d taken it.

Did he feel bad about it? No. Employing dirty tricks to get what he wanted wasn’t new for Maddox.

“Your demon has got to be riding you hard, wanting the anchor bond,” said Hector.

“Not as much as it once did. It settles for a while if it sees or hears from her.” Maddox had originally thought that the strength of the bond’s ‘call’ would dull if he and Raini were apart. Having no contact with her had only made it worse, though.

Being close to her did dull it for a while, just as it soothed his demon. But Maddox suspected the reason the entity was no longer so angry was that—given Raini was now part of their life—it believed Maddox would eventually succumb to the temptation to claim her.

Raini’s mind abruptly touched his. Maddox.

The pain and weakness in that one word made him tense. What is it? he demanded.

And then there she was right in the middle of his office with Carmen, slumping to the floor like a sack of spuds.

Maddox was at Raini’s side in an instant, gently rolling her onto her back. She’d passed out, he realized. His demon hissed on seeing the wet crimson stain on her tee. Maddox flipped up the material and cursed at the vicious stab wound. It was ugly. Jagged. Blistering.

He joined his palm to her own and pushed power inside her. Red as blood, it pumped through her veins, lighting each one as it traveled up her arm, down her chest, and made a beeline for the gut wound.

She arched, her amber eyes snapping open and gleaming with pain. She tried snatching back her hand, but he held it tight.

“Shh, I know it hurts.” Because there was nothing soothing about the power inside him, even as it healed her.

“Burns,” she bit out.

“I’m almost done.” The blisters were shrinking, the blood was clotting, and the skin was knitting back together. He briefly glanced at Carmen. “What happened?” he asked, a hard bite to his voice.

“I didn’t see everything,” replied the sentinel. “I had to wait for the Underground’s elevator to come back down and take me up to the basement—she’d gone ahead of me with her crew. When I got up there, she was on her knees on the floor with a dagger buried in her stomach. It was weird. Glowed white. Her friends had surrounded her, their backs to her. She yanked out the blade just as I teleported to her side. I brought her straight to you.”

His demon roared inside his head. Maddox was not what anyone would call emotional. Not much moved him one way or the other. But when triggered, his anger could be a feral thing. It could pound inside him like a heartbeat, driving him to hurt; avenge; kill. Right then, it did exactly that. And his demon encouraged him to act on it.

Grinding his teeth as he fought to keep a lid on his rage, he examined Raini’s wound. Seeing that she was fully healed, he released her hand and scooped her up. “Did you get a good look at the person who threw the dagger?” he asked Carmen.

“Yes, his astral self was popping in and out of view. I didn’t recognize him.”

His demon hissed again, still pressing Maddox to go search for the fucker who’d hurt their anchor. But there was no way Maddox could leave her right then.

As he carefully laid her on the sofa, she looked up at him, her eyes hooded. “It stripped my power from me.”

“What did?”

“The dagger. It took my power from me. Like a magnet.”

His inner entity froze. The last thing any demon needed to be was vulnerable. Right now, Raini was as good as human. “There’ll be a way we can return it to you.”

She weakly shook her head. “I already took it back.”

Maddox blinked. “You took your power back?”

“It was mine.” Her eyes fluttered closed. “Brace yourself. My Prime, my girls, and their guys will be here soon. Good luck with that.” And then she was out.

“She’s right,” said Hector, “they’ll come.”

Carmen nodded. “And they won’t be happy that I took her.”

Maddox looked from one sentinel to the other. “Wait for them outside. Bring them up here when they arrive.”

Carmen hesitated to leave. “I apologize for failing you. Failing her.”

“You didn’t fail anyone,” said Maddox. “You did exactly as I told you to do. You saw she was in danger, and you brought her to me.”