Sin Eaters: Devotion Book One Page 5

  Studying both beautiful women, Lenox inhaled and snipped at each pain circuit running through Sanna’s body. The woman had been lit up like a Christmas tree, pain flowing through her whole body. The same was going on with Kyo as well, but as he glanced at the pair, he noticed these ladies’ energy lines were not like those of the typical human.

  Softly laughing, Lenox took a sip of his café-worthy coffee. “Let me explain again. Your loan in Aset has been moved over to the new property without any increase or rate change due to the fire. Our investigation crew clearly saw that the fire was no fault of yours or anyone employed by you. Because of this, and the fact that we recognize that Aset is extremely important to the welfare of the Three Points of St. Louis, we’ve decided that this change is good.”

  Sliding the new unsigned contract across the beautiful oak table, Lenox smiled. He was damn good at what he did. Law was his thing. Though he mainly worked with overseeing contractors and their negotiation within the company, this smoothly written document was his cardinal contract. It would bring nothing but double security and blessings upon the women in this household, even if they didn’t know it. But glancing up at the matriarch of the house who had just walked in, he felt that maybe his perceptions might be off.

  He watched the women huddle around each other and begin talking in hushed voices as he leaned back. As he slowly drank his refilled cup of coffee, he studied them and inwardly chuckled. The women were beautiful; he could clearly understand why Khamun always came back from his sentries tired, stressed, and angry. These women had auras around them that demanded any man with a right mind protect them, lay down law on anyone who came into their lives and tried to harm it.

  Calmly soaking in Sanna’s image, he absentmindedly nodded as the women asked him questions pertaining to the contract. Sanna was beautiful. The way the light soaked into her soft, thick wavy curls of hair, frizzy and pulled up into a free-form puff, brought a comforting feel to his heart. He could see her running around with many children while handling business with her restaurant. He could see her with her many hobbies, and he could clearly see the happy man standing by her side protecting her ’til the day she died, her husband Khamun.

  Lenox abruptly sat up, raising an eyebrow at the vision. He wasn’t a seer. The only time something like this happened was if something extremely important and dangerous was about to happen, and he was being called to go lose himself in the Society libraries, searching for needed information, all due to a Denotation vision.

  Replaying the image in his mind, he shook his head. No, Khamun wasn’t her husband.

  He stood protective over Sanna watching, happy yet sad, pain in his expression. Dark feathers lay around the pair as he reached to take Sanna’s hand and froze, unable to touch her. Sanna sat watching her children. Tears of blood he hadn’t noticed before slid down her cheeks, as the children who had his amber eyes disappeared in the darkness that overshadowed the pair. He could hear Kyo’s screams in the background. Sanna’s skin suddenly glowed.

  With a quick look over the women of the house, he quickly stood and reached for his phone. “Excuse me, ladies. I must make a call.”

  Hastily moving out of the kitchen, he walked outside and hit two numbers. “Eldress V’ance y A’lor, Society is in danger. I just was given a Denotation vision, which I must research.”

  He knotted his brows in concern, listening to the comforting warm voice on the other side as he nodded. “Yes, Eldress, it is steaming from this. Okay, they are being protected as was requested . . . blessings upon thee.”

  Closing his cell, reflex almost had him grabbing his wrist blade and slice across the delicate neck near his shoulder. Only grace and his training stopped him when he recognized the aura behind him before she could sense the attack.

  A soft smile played at the corner of his lips as he looked down at the striking beauty in front of him and quirked an eyebrow. He appreciated that cutie moved like a stealth ninja.

  “Hello, Kyo.”

  Beaming, she glanced up. She didn’t know why, but when he was near, she noticed that her pains went away. He was really comforting, and she felt like she could tell him everything. And the fact that he was oh so yummy didn’t hurt at all.

  Kyo walked up to him a little closer and decided to get to know him. “Are you okay, Mr. MacLeod?” She leaned against a porch beam and studied him out the corner of her eye. Playing it cool, she idly carved into the wood with her nails as she waited for his response.

  Crossing his arms over his wide chest, he rocked back and forth, looking out into the sunlight as he listened to her soft voice. “I’m good. Just had to handle some business on your and Sanna’s behalf, of course.”

  Kyo began to rock back and forth, mimicking his movements. “Well, look, we talked it over. Sanna would have been standing here as well, but we went through it that night. She is still dealing with it, as am I, so . . . ” she said, observing the man out the corner of her eye.

  She inhaled and looked up into the calming, understanding, and trusting eyes of the man before her. She had to stop herself from choking on her rising tears.

  “We thank you, and we’ve combed through the papers and see we have no choice but to accept. Hell, we’d be fools not to, so thank you. We’d like to feed you and the execs when everything is finished.”

  With a curt nod, Lenox replied, “Of course. I’m sure the execs won’t object to that.” He inwardly cussed.

  This joint watching of these women was not going to work in his personal opinion. These ladies were too loveable, too sensual, too open, too honest, too everything he and his bro’s wanted in women that they couldn’t find in Society. Yeah, he was really going to be kicking Khamun’s ass shortly.

  Heading back into the house, Lenox slid his hands over the back of his neck, cupping it and rubbing as he exhaled. Yeah, this was going to be interesting to handle.

  Water dripped on Sanna’s already frizzy curls as she pulled it back into a high ponytail. She sighed, walking around the building. It was raining outside, and for some reason, it seemed the dampness had followed her into the building. Placing her wet coat over an idle chair, she stopped, her mouth dropping. This ain’t right.

  Over three months of working on the new restaurant, and the designs were coming out perfect. But this was something new that she was looking at. The walls to the soon-to-be Aset Reborn were covered with intricately drawn pictures and phrases written in kanji and hieroglyphs. It was so beautiful, all she could do was stare as she heard humming then singing swirling around her.

  With a quirk of her eyebrow, she turned to look around as the singing grew stronger, making the hair on her body stand. Her libido began to go crazy with the caress of the deep sensual voice flooding her senses. Walking farther into what would be the dining area, she slid by the covered piano and stopped.

  The image was beyond words. Squatting with paint splashed over thick, muscled, jean-covered thighs, A white A-cut tee that seemed to be battling with a barreled chest flashed across her vision and made Sanna lick her lips, her eyes continuing their traveling. A towel hung from a well-rounded, rock-hard rear, as muscle-strained arms, with paint splotches that seemed to be kissing mahogany chocolate skin made her breath hitch. Ebon dreads pulled up into a braided ponytail had all sense of knowledge being taken from her mouth, as she watched the fine man sing and paint a magnificent mural.

  All she could do was watch him, as strong hands with long sensual fingers blended color after color and applied it to the wall. Glowing swirls of script seemed to briefly flash before disappearing, making her shake her head in confusion. She quietly licked her lips, as her eyes traveled over his stone jawline. Something about this stranger made her want to run her tongue over the clean-cut goatee and taste the soft plump lips that were belting out her favorite song.

  Shaking herself she inwardly chastised herself for being stupid. She needed to find out who this fine brotha was and who told him to put such wonderful work on her walls.

&nb
sp; Kyo had told her that the new crew was coming in and out of the building, but this man right here, she had to count her breaths. She felt like she knew this man but didn’t, so this wasn’t going to work. What would she look like jumping some man, just because he was artistic, could sing, and was fine? No, she needed a moment to think. To ask the appropriate questions. Such as, how long had he been working on the mural, and other questions, to steer away from ogling the man.

  Sanna shook away the butterflies plaguing her stomach and put a smile on her face. Intent on speaking with the man and finding out exactly what he was painting, she turned on her feet and ran into rock-solid chest. The scent of rich, aphrodisiac-filled cologne hit her senses hard as she looked up with a shocked expression. Her eyes roaming up that solid chest, that man smoothly tilted his head down to hover his lips over her own and kissed the taste, the sense, and the panties off her body. Her stomach clenched in building desire and heat, and her toes curled.

  She could see in her third eye, his paint splattered fingers all over her silky skin as he gripped her and pressed her to his rigid bulge. Her body let out a shake of ecstasy as she let her hands reach up onto his locks and held on to dear life. She had never felt so right at home in her life. She felt everything in that one kiss. That kiss scared her and pushed her deeper into his touch. His taste seared itself into her very swollen core and overheating blood.

  The slam of piano keys, jilted her, making her turn, then return back to the waiting lips of the bold painter. Blinking, she looked around and saw that he was gone, and no evidence of anyone ever being there with her.

  Walking up to the mural, she saw it was fresh paint, but it was in a wet dry state. Her arms crossed around her as she sighed. Damn! She was tripping. This was too much. Did she need someone so bad that she was imagining sensual encounters?

  Biting her lower lip, she huffed and went back to looking around the almost finished restaurant. Something made her pass as she inhaled. She could swear she still smelled the cologne and feel the taste of the kiss.

  Frustrated, she grabbed her coat, locked up and headed back out into the melancholy rain. This is some utter bull, she thought as she headed to her car. Maybe the blackouts had finally gotten to her.

  Sitting in her car as the rain doused the window shield, she whispered a prayer. She and Kyo had been blessed that everything was going right again. The restaurant was being rebuilt. Their clientele hadn’t been lost, and in fact had grown. She had also been able to send up some money to her brother Dare, also known as Darren, for school. He was in his junior year at the University of Chicago with Kyo’s brother, Takeshi, or Take as their family always called him.

  Smiling at the incoming text from her brother, she had to shake her head at the message and its protective tone: Send more food now, need sweets for the ladies ASAP. Love you sis and don’t let any brothas touch you or it’s on.

  Both men were twenty-four with GQ-meets-everyday-guy-on-the-street facial features, which had her getting bats to fight the women off them. Dare and Take were men who loved to excel. They were damn good at their schooling, so much so that they stayed on the dean’s list, even when pledging Kappa in school. Yeah, those two young men were a good catch, and it didn’t help that their swag was so honest that, without being rude, they always sidestepped women who weren’t up to par. This, of course, helped them gain equally honest women as significant others.

  She had just sent another gift package to her baby sister Amara a week ago. Amara was Darren’s twin, born two minutes behind Darren, which was why they called her the baby of the family. She was the sassy one, always saying something smart to anyone who disrespected her intelligence or her family. That is why she gained the nickname Truth. Yet, she was always respectful about her sassiness, never hurting anyone unless in defense.

  The only way people knew that Dare and Truth were twins was because they had similar hand movements, and they shared the same eyes, skin tone, and dimples. That was it. Everything else, resemblance-wise, reminded people of Sanna. Both Amara and she shared the same curly hair, but Mara’s was a dark sandy brown, which she got from her mother. She also shared Sanna’s height, curvy body, and smile.

  D.T.T., as the family called them, were like the Three Musketeers. You could not break them apart, until Amara got accepted into Spellman and the guys went to Chi-town. Sanna’s phone never stopped ringing with calls from Truth seeking sisterly advice about the men of Morehouse and the surrounding Atlanta area who tried to holler at her, or just to talk. Sanna loved her like she loved herself. Truth reminded her of their mom at times, with her wit, sass, and intelligence. That was what made her the head of her pre-med program and a great youth leader in Atlanta.

  Suddenly dizzy, she looked up. Everything around Sanna seemed to slow in suspended animation. The rain. The people. Even the sound of her favorite song seemed to drone away as her mind and emotions dipped behind that secret wall of loneliness. She counted her breaths as they came out shaky and slow. She hated these bouts of sadness, as she thought of everyone around her having someone.

  It didn’t also help that she relied on the bouts of fantasy she had like today that often reminded her of being single in a lonely city. It was rough to try to condition herself that she was strong, independent, and was fine with just dating and flirting. She wanted what everyone else wanted, but she felt that no one was going to come her way. Kyo had always been telling her to stop searching for her keys, whatever that meant, but Sanna couldn’t help her heart. If someone was coming to be her everything, then they were taking too damn long. This was why she cooked and sent care packages to the twins and her godbrother. Why she loved to hear their happy responses and Facebook status brags. This was also why she loved what she did with her restaurant and working with Kyo. It calmed that threat of her inner anguish bothering her and tearing at her self-esteem.

  She frowned at the continuing slow suspended motion of the rain as she turned her car on to drive off. Something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t put her hand on it. The back of her mind itched, and something made her play with her cell, using her thumbnail to shift it up and close it.

  The sudden buzzing sound of her vibrating cell made her jump. She looked at the incoming text:

  DARE & TAKE. R HURT & IN HOSPITAL. COME FAST.

  As she quickly sped home, she just couldn’t understand it. They had just sent her a message to send another care package, then now this? This wasn’t right at all. The blood was slowly rushing through her veins as she drove down Natural Bridge and Kings Highway. The pouring rain blurred in slow motion before her eyes, forming into tunnel vision. Her brothers were lying in the hospital and she didn’t know what their condition was. This couldn’t be happening. She wanted the drama to stop. She felt like her life had been going into this course of the unknown ever since her restaurant had burned down, and she was now utterly out of balance with it all.

  Kyo was in a moving dream. She sighed as she tossed in her bed. Her psyche made her feel as if she was comfortable in her bed while her dream played out. She could taste the air as she flew in the damp night sky. Raindrops splashed against her skin and face as her hair hugged the side of her cheeks and jaw. Silently running through the night sky, the pumping of her blood made her take dips, twists, and turns. Illuminations flickered and danced, greeting her like Christmas lights, while the city skyline opened before her. The city was hers, and she loved it.

  Light as a feather, she jumped and landed against a nearby building. Scaling the wall and using her nails as anchors, with a grunt and a sharp heave, she landed on top of the roof. It felt as if she was hovering as she looked down the art Greco-Roman building. Her silk sheets felt as if they hugged her body like soft, ultra impenetrable, spandex-like wrappings. She sighed and let the sheets drop calmly against her back, feeling it shift into her spine and disappear. She loved her dreams of flying. Everything felt extremely real as she crouched low over the edge to peer at the silent streets down below.

  An
ambulance pulled into the building, and she focused her hearing as she found what she was looking for. Her baby brother lay dead to the world, scratches over his tattooed arms, bandages keeping his wounds sealed and clean. Tears threatened to fall as she hissed at the blood she suddenly smelled. She focused on her godbrother Dare, who lay just as beaten up as her brother. By both men’s wounds, she could tell they had caused the same amount of damage to whoever attacked them.

  Abruptly standing, she tensed, and the hair on her nape stood to attention. She turned in a battle swing, her nails hardening like they always did into diamond-hard spike tips.

  She had sensed her pursuer the whole time, so when she swung, she smiled as she almost hit him. His familiar hiss rent the air, and she kicked back into a low stoop, pausing briefly to run at him. He smelled so good and blended into the wind with his movements as his deep chuckle caressed her between her legs, making her tighten with sudden need.

  Annoyance and hot-blooded lust hit her like a double-edged sword, making her quickly shift her thoughts. She didn’t need to go there right now, like he always made her. She wasn’t here for that, not in this dream, no. It was time to hunt the one who hurt her family, not battle-dance with this mysterious man of her dreams.

  As she watched him, she backed away while he stood back in the shadows. She kept her hunkering stance and sidestepped to fall backwards off the edge of the hospital roof. Opening her arms, she felt her sheets wrap around her. Only, it wasn’t her sheets, but wings. While they opened in the wind, making her hover, simultaneously her familiar dream opponent grabbed her and pulled her back up on the rooftop.

  A flash of shock ran across her face as she glared. Ticked off was an understatement. She felt him hold her in place as she struggled against his hard, warm body, his hands finding the right places to grip her tight.