The Real You Read online

  “Remi’s right,” Mitch threw in. “If we let them win this time, they’ll start doing the same thing to everyone, then where would they leave us as a species? We’d all be under their bigoted and narrow-minded thumbs for the rest of eternity.”

  “Exactly. The guild was set up to govern us. It wasn’t put in place to dictate our very way of life. I think, in the end, we’re going to have to build a support base for Simon, Daven, Murtagh and Lara. If we can get people to start seeing what’s really going on, maybe we can sway them to our side of whatever’s coming. If we leave it in the hands of the guild, the common populace won’t get a choice.”

  Isiah couldn’t agree more. In fact, he hoped the next time the guild was set in place, they’d leave him and Claudius alone. Neither of them cared whether the prophecy came true or not. All they’d ever wanted was to live a long and happy life with their mates—their True Ones. They never interfered with the lives of others, so why was it okay for everyone to fuck with their lives? “Then we have to get the train rolling as soon as possible, and also send out word to those who haven’t got a clue what’s going on. Our world deserves a heads-up so they can prepare.”

  “I remember Eric saying something about there being a day warden network for them all to keep in touch. Maybe we could use that to help us spread the word. Surely Lara and Tagh would be able to get in touch with other higher-ups,” Mitch said. He frowned. “Unless, of course, the higher-ups are also against us.”

  His thoughts had merit. Isiah presumed this was going to play out like every other epic battle between good and evil. Unlike those stories, however, real life didn’t always follow along the same guidelines. “We’re going to have to get Gabriel more involved. Loath as I am to admit it, my cousin probably already has his own communication network in place. He always found us easily when he was on the hunt.”

  Isiah was tired of talking. The whole situation was starting to bring him down from the sexual high he’d been on earlier. He wanted it back. Slipping his hand under the sheet, he turned toward Remi and cupped his mate’s balls. Not only did his lover have a nice long, thick cock, his balls were huge and easily filled Isiah’s hands. Not wanting Mitch to feel left out, he looked back over his shoulder and gave him what he hoped was a sultry look. Mitch’s lust-filled gaze told him the message had been received.

  A shiver spiraled down Isiah’s spine at the same time his luscious thoughts hit him. Straddling Remi’s hips, he smiled. His ass was still well stretched from their recent lovemaking, and with that thought in mind, Isiah sank onto his lover’s cock with ease. Moaning, he leaned forward and gave Remi a deep, soul-searching kiss. When he felt Mitch move up behind him, he reached back and brought his lover’s cock to his already-filled entrance. Being double-stuffed was something they had only started exploring, and Isiah had always loved how far they had managed to stretch him. Relaxing his body as much as he could, he broke the kiss and looked back at Mitch. “I’m ready.”

  First, he felt Mitch slip a lubed finger inside his chute beside Remi’s cock. Soon Mitch had worked his way up to three, and Isiah knew Remi was enjoying this moment every bit as much as he was. Isiah moaned, loving how he rode them both so easily. Pulling up and off of his lover, Isiah looked down between their bodies to see Mitch squashing his and Remi’s cocks together. Anticipation at the fucking he was about to receive had his whole body thrumming. When Remi tapped his hip, Isiah slowly sank back down. Pinpricks of heat ghosted over him at the sensation of his body taking both Mitch and Remi inside of him.

  He couldn’t breathe at the sense of being so full. Trembling in need, he nodded, giving his lovers the okay for them to start moving. Leaning forward, he placed his hands on Remi’s shoulder to steady himself. Isiah pressed his forehead to Remi’s as they each took turns at pulling out and sliding back into him. Going as slowly as they were, it was a powerful show of restraint on both his mates’ parts. Given the choice, Isiah knew both men always set a blisteringly fast pace with whomever they screwed. Isiah was lucky he finally had three men to satisfy him. From very early on in his life, he’d loved the sensation of being filled by another man. With Claudius, they’d traded off fucking as both of them liked to be the one getting fucked. Now they needn’t worry as they had Mitch and Remi in their bed. Both men were masters at making love for hours on end.

  “How does it feel?” Mitch whispered in his ear as he leaned over Isiah’s back. Sweat slicked their bodies and it only added to the tangible scent of their combined seed.

  “Feels so good. Making me so horny.” Isiah moaned when Mitch pushed up off him, and quickened the pace he’d set.

  Remi, on the other hand, stilled inside of him and began kissing him slowly, deeply, exploring every corner of his mouth. Mitch’s grip tightened on his hips. He then upped the speed another notch and fucked him into delirium. His body couldn’t handle being loved so much in a short amount of time. His balls were at the bursting point and needed to be emptied again. Isiah let himself go hurtling over the edge and, screaming into Remi’s mouth, he filled the space between them with his cum. His body clenching tightly with his release was enough to bring his lovers to the brink and shove them right on over.

  “That was so beautiful.”

  At the softly spoken words, Isiah turned and locked gazes with his now awake lover. He never broke eye contact with Claudius until Remi and Mitch finished coming.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The days that followed brought the reality of the situation crashing down on Mitch. For Mitch, the worst part was that none of them could go outside without being harassed by other people—most of whom were complete strangers. Everyone, it seemed, was choosing which side of the fence they were going to sit on. Those who sided with the guild were more than happy to yell abuse, or try and cause some kind of damage to them. There was no way in hell he was going to subject his mates or their children to such hatred. Mitch also had begun to notice a little more each time they had to venture out. The tide was swaying. People sometimes openly told them they were supporting them, while others did so privately out of other’s hearing. These were the strangers he liked meeting the most. Poppy and Nell had now joined forces with them. The kicker was Mitch had only recently found out both of his friends belonged to a different sort of preternatural life.

  Poppy, it turned out, was a lesser demon, while Nell came from a very old family of day wardens. It wasn’t often that day wardens took spouses, seeing as their lives together would be short in comparison to how long a day warden could live. But somewhere way back in time, Kyle Chaney had taken a mortal for his wife, and Nell was many generations removed from Kyle, but Kyle still cherished each and every one of his descendants. Or so Eric and Nell had explained to him. The girls hadn’t even batted an eye at the turn of events his life had taken.

  “Shouldn’t Murtagh be back by now?” Eric grumbled one evening after they had all risen for the night.

  Mitch smiled. As much as his friend denied having feelings for Murtagh, Mitch knew better. “You wouldn’t by any chance be missing him, would you?”

  “As if,” Eric hurled right back at him. “I’m basically trying to keep track of everyone’s comings and goings, and he seems to be doing it a lot more than most.”

  His friend was right, of course. In the week since Jordon had paid his little nocturnal visit, Murtagh had been coming and going from the house every day. Sometimes he would go out twice a day and he always seemed in a rush. No one knew where he went, but Mitch assumed it had more to do with the secret he was keeping from them all, rather than the threat of the guild trying to kill everyone. Mitch truly believed if Remi were right, then Murtagh had met his mate and said mate was definitely Eric. Eric needed to get his head out of his ass and into the game, or he was going to lose out big time. These two men who had been alive for many centuries should’ve known better than to act like utter twits. Why were they both so intent on hiding who they were from everyone? It was going to come out eventually, and when it did, it
would be explosive. Not only for Eric and Murtagh, but for everyone else as well.

  While Mitch wanted to tease his friend some more, Remi gave a slight shake of his head. Mitch nodded back in turn, telling his mate he’d gotten the message. They’d already promised Murtagh they’d stay out of it and keep his secret, even if it did seem stupid to Mitch. Still, he knew he’d have to respect Murtagh’s wishes.

  Instead of staying on the teasing track, he replied, “I think when Tagh left he said that he’d be back around dawn. He was going back to the guild headquarters to see if he could get any information on what’s going on. Even though it’s looking more and more like the guild is behind this, Tagh seems to think it’s not quite true. He wanted to see for himself how many of the guild has turned traitor, or if someone was somehow forcing the guild to do their bidding.”

  “Sumar is a turncoat for sure,” Daven threw into the conversation. “He jumped too fast at the chance to take the guild master seat from Simon. One minute it all was hunky-dory, and the next, he was in control. I’ll bet my left nut that Sumar’s the one holding something over the others’ heads so they’ll keep following him.”

  Mitch nodded. “Yeah, Tagh said something along the same lines. I really hope he’s careful, especially now that we have Jordon lurking about, wanting to get back at us.”

  A frown marred Eric’s face, giving Mitch another reason to surmise his friend cared more than he was letting on. “If they catch him, they won’t hurt him, will they?”

  “I don’t know anymore.” Daven sounded frustrated. “If you had asked me that a couple of weeks ago, I would have told you the guild wouldn’t be involved in anything like this. But now, I don’t know who to trust.”

  Mitch agreed one hundred percent. “At the moment, I only trust the people in and below this house. When you insisted Nell and Poppy should move in, I was like, ‘it can’t be that bad’. Now, I’m like, ‘who else can we bring here to keep them safe?’”

  “Adrian St. James,” Remi interjected as he sat beside Mitch. “I think we need to get him away from Jordon’s influence.”

  “You don’t think he’s a spy for Jordon?” Eric asked skeptically.

  Remi shook his head. “I think he’s terrified of Jordon and doing whatever the man wants so Jordon doesn’t kill him for being gay. For as far back as I can remember, Jordon has been an openly brutal homophobic bigot.”

  “Remi’s right, Jordon was always a bigot and an asshole,” Princess Telarah said.

  It still amazed Mitch when something as unladylike as swearing came from the princess. In the time he’d known her, she had proved herself to be tougher than she seemed. In his own mind, he referred to her as Princess Leia. She looked so innocent, yet had a core of pure and unwavering steel.

  “Remi’s also right about Adrian. He was the one who gave Thali the information on how to get to Remi’s corpse so we could bring him home,” Orion stated.

  Mitch hadn’t even realized Orion had entered the room.

  “So we get him out if we can?” Mitch asked. He hoped like hell this didn’t come back to bite them in the ass.

  “Are you sure you want to bring him here?” Eric asked. “I mean, he’ll have an even bigger target on his back once Jordon finds out where he is. I might be pissed at the guy for what he did at the banquet, but that doesn’t mean I want to get him killed, either. Shouldn’t we look for somewhere safer for him?”

  So much to do and no time to do it. Mitch’s mind was working overtime. There was fear and anger inside of him because he didn’t know what step to take next. He also knew sitting around the house discussing things to death wasn’t going to get them anywhere. “I think it’s time we take the fight to them. I’m tired of waiting for their next move. As far as I’m concerned, we’re playing right into their hands, so they’ve got to be loving how much this is fucking with our minds.”

  “And what do you plan on doing, love? Are you going to openly walk into the guild headquarters and demand to know what the hell is going on?” Remi teased.

  Sounded like a plan to Mitch. “Damn straight I am. Who wants to give me a lift? Better yet, who wants to go with me?”

  “I was only joking, Mitch,” Remi stated. “We can’t go waltzing in and tell them to snap out of it.”

  “Why?” Growing angrier, Mitch stood and started pacing the room. “If they don’t want to see sense, then I say we take control of the guild and give Simon his position back. This whole thing is fucked up and somebody has to take a stand. So I figure it might as well be us. Now are you with me, or not?”

  Orion chuckled and waved his hand in the air, gaining everyone’s attention. “I’m with Mitch. We aren’t going to get anything done if all we do is sit and talk about the what-ifs. I’m willing to go in and find out what the hell is going on. I want to see for myself if the guild has hired Jordon and his clan to wipe us out, or if Sumar is the only one behind the power plot. My money is on it being Sumar.”

  Mitch would have hugged Orion for his support if he didn’t think his mates would all start growling. “Okay, then we have a plan. So now, besides Orion, who else is going with me?”

  * * * *

  In the end, Remi conceded Mitch had a point, and as much as he loathed putting his mates in danger, he knew they’d all have to go. Orion, Daven, Gabriel and Princess Telarah also accompanied them. Murtagh still wasn’t back by the time they were ready to leave, and Remi was starting to worry. He knew everyone else was feeling the same way. The tension at the house was so thick it was making it difficult to breathe and think straight. The closer they got to the building that housed the guild headquarters, the weirder things surrounding them seemed to get. Within a four-block radius of the building, there wasn’t a person on the streets, which usually bustled with from all walks of life, were entirely empty. The building itself was lit up for the whole world to see, while all surrounding buildings lay in absolute darkness.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Orion murmured.

  They pulled up a block away from the building and took in the situation. Remi stared through the windshield. A car pulled up in front of the guild headquarters. Two men got out of the car and viciously grabbed a third from the backseat. The guy was in handcuffs and had also been gagged. Even from a distance, Remi could sense the handcuffed guy’s fear. “What the hell are they doing?”

  Princess Telarah leaned forward and peered over his shoulder. “I would say the guild has started interrogating people, but for the life of me, I can’t think why. Don’t they know these tactics will start a war?”

  “Maybe that’s what they’re after. If we go to war, then the guild can proclaim martial law and dictate the very laws they want us all to follow.” Remi’s brain ticked over, knowing if this came to pass, the world as they knew it was going to spin so far out of control it would be impossible to ever recover.

  “I think you’re right,” Isiah said. “They decided Claude and I are the chosen ones. By mating with a human, then a demon, we’ve changed the laws of mating. If I remember correctly, it’s supposed to open the way for others to seek a mate outside of their species. Not that I believe in the stupid prophecy. I think us finding our mates has the guild scared, and they’re going to do whatever they can to remain in control.”

  “I know what you’re saying, love, but to the rest of the world, both you and Claude are the prophesied ones. The guild knows this, and yes, they are probably terrified of becoming obsolete.”

  “How do you do that?” Daven asked. “I mean, even though it’s getting easier to see their differences, it still takes everyone else far longer to determine who is who. How do you and Mitch know?

  Remi turned and looked at the vampire. “I don’t understand how you can’t tell them apart.”

  “I said the same thing,” Mitch agreed. “To me they look similar, but not identical. I know the demons can tell by their base scent.”

  “Well, maybe for the sake of the rest of us, they should start wearing nametags or at
least different colored shirts,” Daven suggested. “As I said, lately I can guess who is who, but sometimes it’s still harder than anything to tell them apart.”

  Isiah grinned at the man. “Now where’s the fun in that?”

  “Come on, if we’re going to do this then let’s get it over and done with,” Princess Telarah said as she opened the back door of the limo and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

  Hell, if Lara was up for the confrontation, there was no way known to man Remi was going to sit by and watch her do it alone. He was going to be the one standing at her back like he’d done so many other times in their lives. He knew he didn’t have a chance of getting his mates to stay safely in the car, so instead, he turned and said, “Promise me you’ll all stick together.”

  “Sure, big guy,” Mitch answered and patted him on the chest. “You be careful as well.”

  Remi kissed them all on the lips. “Will do, my loves.”

  “Let’s go in via the back entrance. Sumar would be pompous enough to think no one would dare come and confront him. I doubt he even has any of the entrances watched, but better to get in undetected than walking right in the front door,” Lara said as she led them down a back alley.

  Remi grinned—trust Lara to have thought this out. Knowing her as well as he did, he suspected she had the whole interior of the building mapped out. He wasn’t disappointed when she punched a code into the control panel then easily led them through the interior of the building. Apparently only the main floors were lit, but the darkness didn’t seem to faze Lara. She led them all confidently to a medium-sized storeroom.

  “Okay, now what?” Orion asked.