Page 1 of Marked

One

The high-pitched chime of a cell phone echoes in the room, and I glare at it from my reclined position against the headboard. I consider letting it go to voicemail, ignoring the duties that await me. I already worked my day job as a detective, and it had been a fucking shit show of a Thursday.

After a vampire was found guilty of abusing an adolescent boy, we had to stake him. It was a long, drawn-out chase that ended in a violent scuffle. While nursing a bite to my forearm, we had to go confront the Lord of Las Vegas, the ruler of all the vampires in the city, to inform her of her coven member. That also ended in a screaming match, but at least I didn’t have to stake anyone else.

Now that I’m finally relaxing, why would I want to hunt down another lead? The answer is simple: I don’t. I earned this night to myself. I deserve—I frown when I realize the ringing stopped. Oh, no, that had been too easy.

Before I can dwell on it, my mind goes blank, the suspicion vanishing as pleasure ripples through me at a particularly well-placed kiss. My eyes flutter shut, back arching against the black wood as a skillful tongue replaces those soft lips. Fingers dig into the flesh of my thighs, gripping them to keep them in place as I wiggle against his mouth.

Suddenly, a white-hot pain bursts at the base of my sternum. Fuck! I sneer down at the black pawprint seared into the skin right below my breasts then turn to glare at the phone when it begins ringing again. I reach for it at the same time my lover tosses the sheet over his head, peering up at me with irritation gleaming in his green eyes.

“Let it go to voicemail, Val.” Seth demands.

I look down at him as I grab my phone. “As much as I’d like to, I can’t. It’s work; you know how it is,” I say with a shrug. Seth knows I’m a detective, but he’s oblivious to my second job. And quite honestly, I prefer it that way. I mean, how does one explain that they mark people for the underworld?

With a soft sigh, I answer the call. “This is Val.”

“You have another one, Val,” comes the deep voice from Cerberus. Well, from one of the triplets anyways. “Try not to let this one go.”

I don’t miss the warning in his voice. Really, it’s not my fault my last mark slit his wrists in guilt before I could get to him. “I need fifteen minutes.” I nearly snort when Seth looks up at me, affronted by the time limit. “Thirty would be ideal.” He smirks in triumph before flipping the sheet back over his head to resume his task.

“You are one of our hellhounds. We don’t work on your time; you work on ours,” a second, but almost identical, voice says after taking over the phone. After over a decade of working for Hades’ hound, also known as the Guardian of the Underworld, I can usually tell when a new triplet speaks. Usually.

“The Fates have decided the next soul for you to mark.” The third chimes in. “And it needs to be done soon. Thanatos is standing by to guide them to Styx.”

I roll my eyes. When is the grim reaper ever not standing by? My amber eyes slide back for an entirely different reason when Seth returns his tongue to my clit, a single finger tracing the opening between my thighs.

“I’m kind of busy—fuck!” I curse as he presses his finger into me and curls it toward him, making my body spasm with pleasure.

“Not our problem,” one of them replies.

“Can’t someone else do this?” I pull the phone away from my ear as a breathy moan escapes me when a second finger slides in to join the first. “I’ve had a long day.”

“No, you are the closest. We’re sending the information to you now. Do not fail.” With that the line goes dead.

I toss the phone onto the pillow next to me and rub the bridge of my nose in annoyance. Well, at least I won’t be the only one frustrated tonight. I pull the sheets away from us and put my hand on Seth’s golden locks, pushing his head away. “I have to go.”

His gaze fixes on me, studying me incredulously. “Are you serious?” When I just stare at him, he sighs and pulls his hand away. “You are.”

“I told you, it’s work,” I reply, swinging my legs over the bed to stand. When I turn back to grab my phone, I catch him dipping a damp finger in his mouth. Heat creeps up my neck as I snatch my phone from the black pillowcase. “Tease.”

“Oh, I’m the tease?” He shoots back as he rolls onto his side, looking at me with a cocked brow. “Who is leaving who during the throws of passion, Val?”

I shake my head and slip on my discarded nude panties. “Who even says that?” I question as I step into black slacks and button them.

“I do,” he answers flippantly before grinning. “But I’ll always lick you clean, you taste divine. Like a sinful wine made of the rarest berries.”

No, but really, who talks like this? “Well, you would know about wine.” I laugh, tugging on my white, V-neck shirt over a beige bra.

Sometimes I forget Seth is a warlock. He’s not like others I’ve met. He makes his own wine and essential oils for all things. Whatever pain or ailment I might have, chances are Seth has a cure for it. The oil he makes for menstrual cramps is a damn godsend. I told him he could make a fortune from it, but he simply said that he enjoys it as a hobby and has no desire to get monetary gain from it.

“Speaking of such, I’ve been working on a new flavor and just finished bottling it. Be my test subject?” He asks with a pout.

After holstering my gun, I grab the pack of smokes from the nightstand and tuck them into my pocket along with my lighter. I turn to him with my hands on my hips and quirk a questioning brow at him. “You really need a girlfriend to do these things for you.”

We met about two months ago when he first moved to Las Vegas. Or Hades’ ass crack, as I so fondly call it. I had just finished marking a soul at the Luxor and needed a drink to calm down. I stopped at one of the bars on the casino floor and Seth happened to sit next to me a few minutes later. He introduced himself and one drink turned to five as we conversed. It wasn’t long before we were upstairs in one of the hotel rooms.

The one-night stand turned into a fuck-buddy relationship. It works since neither one of us does commitment. My life is too complicated, and Seth enjoys his freedom too much. We make decent companions, each having our own twisted sense of humor that makes the other laugh. Every couple of nights, we’ll meet up for drinks and sex. We don’t talk about our day, don’t discuss our woes and stresses. It’s perfect.

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