Dark Destiny (Principatus) by Lexxie Couper Read Free Book Online Page B

came back to her in a flurry of shadows and senses. She’d arrived as he lay stretched on the grimy concrete sidewalk, blood oozing like thick red paint from his neck through the fingers of the young man leaning over him, a man she’d paid little attention to at the time but now realized was her lifeguard eighteen years ago.
    A deep squirming sensation unfurled in the pit of her belly and she ran the tip of her tongue over the edge of her teeth. Fang face was pretty damn fine, even more so for the simmering demon lurking in his blood, almost as fine as his human brother, but something felt wrong. Something didn’t gel.
    She slid her gaze from Steven, to Patrick and back to the brooding, irritable vampire again. Her spine tingled, a soft tickling itch at her tailbone that made her worry. When that part of her spine tingled, the place where her spine became her tail when she was in her demon form, it was a warning of mischief in the Realm. That part of her spine had tingled the time the fallen star had tried to alter the spiritual status quo, that part of her spine had tingled the time the serpent started up its conversation with Eve, and it tingled now.
    Why?
    What was it about the Watkins brothers that set off her internal warning system? How could these two men, okay, this one man and this one vampire, have any impact on the Realm?
    “I’ve had enough of this, Death.” Steven took a step toward her, his pale-green stare shimmering yellow anger. “Time to tell us what you’re really doing here.”
    “It’s been fun, fang face.” She grinned, ignoring his demand. She flicked another quick look at Patrick and the tingle in her spine exploded into an undeniable spasm of sensations, some of them downright delicious.
    He stared back at her, a flash of ambiguous color seeming to shimmer through his deep-green eyes.
    Who are you, Patrick Watkins?
    She touched her tongue to her lips, tasting him still…and transubstantiated herself from his bedroom. Something was not as it was meant to be, and she needed to find out what it was. Now.
     
    Ven raked his fingers through his hair, staring hard at the empty spot in Patrick’s bedroom only seconds earlier occupied by Death, before turning to glare at his semi-naked brother. “I hate to say I told you so, brother—”
    “No, you don’t.”
    “But I told you so,” he went on, shaking his head. He crossed the room to the tallboy under the window, yanked open the top drawer, snatched out a white t-shirt and threw it at Patrick. “Well, at least I know who’s after you.” He watched his brother pull the item of clothing over his head, forcing aside the driving urge to grab Patrick and shake him. “What I don’t know is why you were lying naked on your bed under the Grim bloody Reaper? I’m telling you here and now, the sight of your erect dick will scar me for life.”
    Patrick gave him a dark look. “Don’t you mean will scar you for undeath?”
    “Ha ha. There you go again with the lame undead jokes, but it’s not going to work this time.” He folded his arms, fixing Patrick with an equally dark glare. “You’ve got some explaining to do, little brother. What the hell was going on?”
    Patrick didn’t say a word. Not for a long moment anyway, and for a second Ven thought he would need to give his brother a kick up the arse. Until Patrick released a harsh sigh and dropped onto the side of the bed, looking up at him with unreadable eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on, Ven. I wish I did.”
    Ven frowned. “Maybe we should begin with how Death came to be stark naked and straddling you like a rodeo rider on a prize bull?”
    Patrick flashed him a cold grin. “Thanks for the simile, Ven. I keep forgetting you were a journalist before becoming a hellish monster.”
    “Still am a journalist, brother. Just freelance now.” He dropped onto the bed beside Patrick. “How else do you think I pay my bills? You don’t become an instant millionaire the second you