Nix dropped his hands and sat up quickly, glancing around to make sure Chaos hadn’t crept back in during the last minute. Once assured of his privacy, he waved a hand, turning the portal’s gaze to follow one human in particular.
Nix had begun watching Kai as soon as he’d realized Kai had been summoned, unable to resist his curiosity. He’d seen the little cutie pie who’d called their warrior demon out of the Void. He’dlistened in on a phone call with a harsh, cold, commanding voice.Mm.
Nix had followed the voice to its origin—New York City and an office building the owner of said voice rarely seemed to leave.
The summoner’s brother. Ivan.
In the past few days, Nix had gotten addicted to watching him. There was something about him, beyond just his mighty fine good looks. A tight air of control Nix would have loved to mess with given the chance.
And maybe he should have felt bad for spying on one particular human—it was more of an invasion of privacy than his normal haphazard viewings—but they’d never meet, so what did it hurt?
And if it gave Nix ideas—images of specific hands on his body, a cold voice murmuring filth in his ear—so what? He was trapped for the time being. Who could fault him for making the most of it?
He let out a happy sigh as the portal focused in on a familiar light-haired head bent over what appeared to be paperwork. It wasn’t the most stimulating of activities to spy on, but it would do for now.
Anything to pass the time.
1
Ivan
Ivan blew through the front doors of his office building, ignoring the security guard’s desperate greeting, and stalked to the elevators, where he slapped the button hard enough to sting his palm.
The prize he had tucked into his suit jacket burned—was the heat real or imagined? Ivan didn’t know. He didn’t care. What mattered was that he needed to make use of it before others came searching for it.
Before hisbrotherscame searching for it.
Ivan’s brothers.
His betrayers, more like. Ivan scoffed as he stepped into the elevator, hitting the button for the top floor, this time with a gentler touch. Everywhere he turned—betrayal. He’d been raised to lead, they’d been raised to follow, and yet they kept fucking. It. Up.
A radiating pain alerted Ivan to the fact that he was clenching his jaw hard enough to grind his teeth down to nubs. He releasedthe pressure with a concentrated effort, wincing as he stretched the tense muscle out.
This was what family did to people.
He stepped out of the elevator and walked quickly into the only office on the floor.Hisoffice. Becausehewas the leader of this business their father had built from the ground up with blood and determination, even if his brothers liked to pretend otherwise.
Once in the safety of his domain, the double doors closed and locked, Ivan threw his prize on his desk. It looked simple enough on the outside: an aged, leather-bound book. But if Ivan’s baby brother was to be believed, it was a Book with a capitalB, one that could summon a demon.
And why wouldn’t Ivan believe Sascha? He’d seen Sascha’s demon with his own eyes just a few hours before. Seven feet of pure muscle, with horns and wings and an air about him that said he wouldn’t mind killing whoever—or whatever—dared get in his way.
Ivan had known something was going on with Sascha—he’d started acting strangely a few days ago, two months into his hiding out in Maine. And not strange as in his usual ditzy forgetfulness, but…cagey. When he hadn’t responded to Ivan’s texts and calls for a whole two days, Ivan had gone to investigate in person.
And had promptly discovered his brother with a giant, horned,wingeddemon he’d summoned “accidentally.” Even more alarming, their other brother, Alexei—who had cost Ivan millions in a botched deal and fled the state two years ago—was there in the company of his own pet monster, a vampire he claimed to love.
But was it love, or was it a power grab?
Because as far as Ivan could tell, everyone had a monster but Ivan.
He tapped his fingers on the leather cover of the Book. All he could hear—other than the ringing in his ears—was his father’s voice in his head.
If they don’t fear you, you’re dead. And you’ll deserve it, won’t you? For being weak. For being unworthy.
How could Ivan’s brothers fear him when they each had a supernatural entity at their disposal? How couldanyonefear him when he was losing control of the only people in the world who were supposed to have been conditioned from birth to follow his orders?
Unless…
Unless Ivan had a supernatural entity of his own.
