Page 10 of Demon Unleashed

Pearce pointed to Enya. “Enya is concerned about the lack of demon activity this week. She thinks Zoltan is planning something.”

“Of course he’s planning something,” Daphne said, to Enya’s surprise. “He’s always planning his next move.”

“See,” Enya said, glowering at her colleagues. “Even Daphne thinks so. And she isn’t a warrior.”

“No, she isn’t,” Logan said. “We are, and we’ve been doing this for a long time. You don’t seem to remember that there’ve always been times when the demons were quiet. It’s natural.”

Enya grunted. “You’re just getting complacent. You don’t wanna see the threat. Fine! I’ll deal with it myself if I have to. I’ll go on patrol.”

Aiden shook his head. “Don’t, Enya.” He sighed heavily. “I’ll talk to my father. He’s visiting this weekend anyway to see the twins. If he agrees, we’ll send out an alert to the other compounds to be on the lookout for anything unusual. Maybe Zoltan pulled some demons off Baltimore because he needs them somewhere else.”

Enya felt her pulse settle. “That’s what I’m worried about.”

With some luck, Barclay, Aiden’s father, the head of the Council of Nine, would validate her concerns. He was experienced and wise, while her Baltimore colleagues were only seeing the upside of decreased demon activity: they could spend more time with their mates.

She wondered if she would feel the same way if she had a mate. She quickly dismissed the thought. First and foremost, she was a warrior. Nothing else mattered. However, it seemed that having mated had shifted her brethren’s priorities.

Enya looked at the women in the kitchen. Now that every warrior in the compound except herself was mated, evenings like this one had become more frequent. Like a large family, they ate together whenever there was an occasion. Tessa, Hamish’s mate, and Kim, Manus’s mate, were already setting the table, and Leila was pulling a roast out of the oven. Winter was tossing the salad, and Daphne scooped the roasted potatoes into a large bowl. All the while, the women chatted and laughed. They’d become friends, accepting each other and their oddities and quirks.

For so many decades, Enya had been the only woman in the compound, but now, everything was different. Things had gotten more domestic. Suddenly, Enya was the odd one out, the only one without a partner. It had never bothered her before. She liked being different, liked not being like anybody else. She liked her freedom, her independence. And while she loved her brethren and their wives and children, she suddenly realized what she had turned into: the outsider. The person looking in through a window, watching happy couples live their lives.

The door opened and the two young vampire hybrids entered. Grayson and Ryder were on loan from Scanguards, the Stealth Guardians’ vampire allies in San Francisco, and had become an integral part of the group. Both in their twenties, they were single, and while neither was in a relationship, they were regularly sowing their wild oats with any woman who tickled their fancy, be it human, vampire, witch, or otherwise. She glanced at the handsome youngsters. They were outsiders, too, but it didn’t seem to bother them. For them, living at the compound and fighting demons together with the Stealth Guardians was an adventure. One day, they would return to San Francisco and make lives for themselves there. For Enya, this was her life.

“Dinner is ready, guys,” Leila announced.

The men rose from their seats and trotted to the large dining table, where they joined their mates. The twins suddenly appeared as if out of thin air, giggling.

“There you are, finally!” Aiden scolded them softly.

Ever since Xander and Julia had mastered the skill of making themselves invisible, their game of hide and seek had taken on new dimensions. Watching over them and making sure they were safe couldn’t be easy for their parents.

Enya caught Pearce and Daphne share a loving look as they smiled at the twins, and though she didn’t know what Pearce whispered into Daphne’s ear, Enya knew it had to do with the child they were expecting. A tightness suddenly clamped around Enya’s chest. Damn it, she couldn’t stand being here right now. This display of affection was making her physically sick.

Enya slipped out of the room and stepped into the quiet corridor. She could still hear their voices, their chatter and laughter, but nobody had noticed her leaving. Nobody would miss her. Nobody would look for her. As she walked to her quarters on one of the upper floors of the vast, castlelike building, she pulled out her phone and scrolled to her recent calls. She found the number—it had been over a week since she’d used it. So far she’d resisted giving in to the temptation to call, though she’d come close to it several times in the last few days.

But why resist any longer? Where was it written that she couldn’t sleep with the same man twice? It was her own rule, which meant she could change it. It was a silly rule anyway. An arbitrary one. Maybe she would change it. Maybe she would allow herself to amend the rule to three times. Yes, she could do that. But no more than three times. She had to be firm on that.

Her heart beating an excited tattoo against her ribcage, she pressed the number and let it ring.