Page 2 of The Devil's Pair

Briley Cross.

He’d always hated and distrusted the woman, even as she’d invaded his dreams and he’d lusted after her fiercely. The woman was a curvy, gorgeous blonde who was also a local cop that Master Gideon had kept firmly in her place, which had mostly been on her knees in front of him.

Well. She’d stayed in her place until now.

Nowshe was pointing her weapon at Master Gideon who was standing large and commanding in the doorway of the main building. Briley was talking to him, just as wanton and brazen as you please. Like she had some goddamnrightto do everything that she was doing, like that dirty slut had a right to evenspeakto Master like an equal, and Gideon looked – well, he looked…

Scared?

Michael had only just recognized the fear on his Master’s face when the shot rang out. He watched, horrified and sickened, as Gideon’s chest exploded and then he fell backwards, just fell straight back into the building. His feet were splayed and motionless – and Michael knew as surely as he knew that the sun would rise the next morning that his Master was dead.

That meant thatMichaelwas dead too, in all the ways that mattered.

The sudden silence was deafening and eerie: Michael was certain that everyone in the Garden was stunned into paralysis right now. Nobody would yet have the ability to shoot back at the intruders – they were all probably barely breathing, staring down at Master and hoping hard for a miracle that would never come.

In the lull, Briley spun and ran to the van, leapt into the back with Iris, Violet, the red-headed beast and the bleeding dark-haired man; the uninjured twin slammed the door shut and then bolted around to the passenger side. The blond monster revved the engine, backed out of the compound yard and hit the gas. They drove straight past Michael as he stood hidden in the woods and headed towards Walton, the small town about ten miles away.

Then they were gone.

And Michael was left standing under a tree, listening to the wails of the Guardians and women-servants in the Garden. He knew that he’d be expected to return there now, to lead thesurvivors in his new role of Right-Guardian. They’d be looking to him to pick up the pieces and make all kinds of decisions, starting with planning the ceremony for sending Master Gideon to the glory of the Ethereal Side.

Michael had no desire to contemplate any of those things, though. There was onlyonething in this universe worthy of his attention: his whole world narrowed and contracted and all he saw was Briley shooting Master Gideon in the chest, over and over and over.

His mind was totally calm and focused now, and he knew precisely what he had to do. He turned and started hiking towards Walton, not feeling the biting cold or the pain in his head, not hearing the cries of his former brothers and sisters as he just walked away from and out of his old life.

He had a single thought and it was pounding in his head on a constant loop, becoming a dark, twisted obsession and his new divine purpose:

I’m going to kill that fucking bitch.

Chapter One

Ten days later

Briley Cross disconnected the burner cell phone and tossed it into her backpack; she stretched and glanced out the window at the emerging spring blooms and blossoms. She was still amazed that Pennsylvania was so mountainous – for some reason, she’d always thought that it was pancake-flat like its neighbor Ohio. The soaring peaks and rolling green hills were a pleasant surprise, one of the first that she’d had in a very long time. She’d always been attracted to contrasts, and the snowy, stern peaks looming over the lush, warm foliage was her idea of landscape heaven.

“Well, darlin’… how’s Elle doing back in Denver?”

She turned in the passenger seat to look at the drop-dead gorgeous man sitting next to her. Dark hair peppered with gray, dark blue eyes that always seemed to be twinkling with humor, a muscular chest with dark tattoos peeking out from the top of his tight white t-shirt. An utterly delicious male specimen, so gorgeous that despite them being stuck together in this van for the past week-and-a-half, Briley wasstillstruck dumb when he smiled at her. She had a serious thing for eye-crinkles on a man, and Drake Keeler made them look sexier than anyone else alive. Well, anyone except –

“Yeah.” The voice came from the back of the custom-made van and she turned all the way around to see the mirror image of Drake lounging on the triple-seat, his massive arms stretched either side across its frame. His full lips were curved in a heart-attack-inducing grin: Dux Keeler in all his glory was (obviously)as breath-stopping as his twin brother. “How’s our former little flower coping with a life of freedom?”

“Yeah, it’s still so weird to remember that Elle used to be called Iris when she was in that cult,” Briley said. “She’s light-years from the Garden now though, and she sounds great. She’s making a real go of it, working for your MC in the bar kitchen. Says she’s saving money like mad so she can get that awful tattoo on her back all covered up.”

“And Viking?” Dux said. “Lastwesaw, they looked pretty serious about each other.”

“She didn’t say too much about him,” Briley said. “But what shedidsay was pointing in that direction… I think they’re in it together and for the long haul.”

“Good,” Drake said. “God knows Elle could use a decent guy in her life, and she can’t do better than our old Doctor Viking.”

“Wait, what?” Briley stared at him, astonished. “Viking is an actualdoctor?”

“Not practicing anymore.” Drake spun the wheel as he spotted a roadside restaurant advertising two-for-one burgers. “But he’s still damn handy in certain circumstances… as I’m sure you’ve had the chance to notice.”

Briley looked at Dux again, remembering full well how Viking had removed the bullet from the back of his thigh after that shoot-out at the Garden. The red-headed giant had been in total control of the situation: his huge hands had been quick and confident with the scalpel, and surprisingly gentle when pulling the bullet out of Dux’s wrecked flesh.

She had been in shock after blasting that motherfucker Gideon smack in the heart, and she’d watched the impromptu surgery in the back of the van with a sense of disconnected unreality; even when she thought about it now, it still seemed like a bizarre dream. Still, it was funny that it hadn’t evenoccurredto Briley to wonder if Viking had any medical training. In her defence, though, it had been one hell of a past ten days and that was putting it mildly.

“As it happens, Ididnotice,” she said. “Howisyour leg, by the way?”

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