Nexus by Mary Calmes Read Free Book Online

to the guy beside Elliot.
    He scoffed at me. “Emir.”
    One name. Both of them only had single names. Interesting. I returned my gaze to Arcan. “Okay, tell Emir to come out here and talk to me. Him being back there with my father-in-law is making me nervous.”
    “Who the fuck are you?”
    “I asked nicely,” I told him, moving fast—faster than either Arcan or Emir could track—and cleared the counter to stand in front of Emir in seconds. I was in his space, nose to nose, so he had no choice but to take a step back. “I really did.”
    “You have no idea who you’re messing with,” Arcan barked.
    “Marcus, please just go,” Elliot pleaded. 
    “Whoever you’re collecting protection money for,” I told them, “Mr. Locke is done paying.”
    “Marcus,” Elliot’s voice cracked. “You have to go or they’ll hurt—”
    “They won’t hurt anyone,” I promised him.
    “Oh yeah we will,” Emir assured me, and I saw his eyes suddenly change from the ugly dishwater blue they were to an even uglier blood red.
    “No!” Elliot yelled. “Please don’t hurt him.”
    I felt Joe’s father pleading for my life all the way down to my soul. The man really did love me.
    “Too late,” the second guy said as his eyes changed too and he reached for me.
    I took a breath, held it for one heartbeat, two, and then released a pulse of power that froze both men in their tracks.
    “That’s bullshit,” the first guy said.
    It was not exactly the response I was expecting, but they stopped moving nonetheless.
    “Breka paid fuckin’ Tarin this month; you ain’t supposed to be here.”
    Tarin? “I don’t know him.”
    “How?” Now Arcan was confused.
    “I’m visiting,” I told him. “And I’m not alone, and I can assure you that when my sentinel finds out what’s going on here, the council will be notified.”
    They both went even paler than they were to begin with.
    I wanted them out because I had calls to make, because I knew I needed backup. “Go now.”
    “Or?” Emir asked.
    “Or I can make you.”
    I was not the scary warder. My friend Malic, with his growl of a voice, bulging muscles, and arctic blue eyes—he was spooky. Even though I was big, I normally came off as benign. But the two demons tripped over themselves getting out of the hardware store.
    When the door slammed behind them, the bells having never been so loud, I turned to look at Joe’s father.
    “How do you not tell me that you had demon trouble, Elliot?”
    His eyes, that wondrous cerulean blue he shared with his son, were huge.
    “You need to tell me what’s going on.”
    The man was speechless, just staring at me.
    “I can help, but you have to tell me everything.”
    “Marcus.” He finally breathed out my name, grabbing hold of my arms. “What are you?”
    “He’s a warder, Dad,” Joe said, and when I turned my head, I realized that he was there along with his mother and sister. The bells had been loud, and it made sense that Elliot’s family had been coming in while the two demons were running out. I just hadn’t noticed. “And I’m thinking you need one.”
    “What are you two doing here?” I asked Joe’s mother and Barbara, scared for them, startled because I had not prepared for them. I had been ready to protect Joe—I always was—and his father at that pivotal moment, but I had not anticipated the women, and it made me nervous that I had not.
    “I forgot to get the zip ties to hold up the banner, and I thought we’d stop and grab them, and… what in the world is going on?” Deb yelled.
    “They ran from you.” Elliot said, all his focus locked in on me, holding me so tight.
    “Which was smart on their part,” I told him. “Because I would have sent them both back to the pit if I’d had my swords.”
    “You didn’t bring your swords?”
    I looked over at Joe because I heard the alarm, the indignation. Joe didn’t get upset and reel with pain or worry, he yelled. And he was mad.
    “Why the hell