The Incubus Agenda

When Nicholas Tarrant sees a broken and bloody
Brody Lennox dragged into the Werewolf
Coalition he has to decide. Stay under cover or
help the incubus live. His decision is simple.

Nicholas Tarrant has worked hard for his position
on  the  Werewolf  Coalition.  Having  access  to
whatever  is  happening  inside  the  Coalition  is
important  to  the  Underground  and  he's  good  at
blending in.

Brody Lennox is sent to Glitnir to broker talks

of peace but is dragged broken and bloody into
the Council chambers. Ludvik wants him killed as
a traitor.

Can Nicholas save Brody? Or is Brody too

broken to be saved?

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The Incubus Agenda

ISBN: 978-1-77111-801-9

Cover art by Angela Waters

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The Incubus Agenda

Supernatural Bounty Hunters Book

RJ Scott

Chapter One

ick Tarrant took a careful step back and
leaned against the large oak chairs around

the  outside  of  the  room.  He  had  to  be  more  in
shadow  and  less  in  the  middle  of  the  heated
discussion  that  already  had  one  council  member
threatening  to  kill  another.  Newly  elected,  he
finally had his place of the Werewolf Coalition but
he wasn’t willing to put his neck out just yet to say
what  he  thought.  He  had  his  own  ideas  that
would  remain  hidden  inside  him  until  they
needed to be turned into proper plans.

“This rebellion has to be stopped,” Cassius

shouted over the noise of the arguing, which grew
more  violent  and  exponentially  louder  by  the
second.  Cassius  was  the  Head  of  the  Vampire
Clans  Council  and  he  was  here,  it  seemed,  to  do
nothing  more  than  rile  up  the  Wolf  shifters  and
incite  them  to  war.  Given  wolf  shifters  never  did
anything by halves and with the council split over
the  matter  of  Glitnir,  Nick  was  waiting  for  his
fellow  wolves  to  shift  and  tear  off  into  the  forest
looking for the rebellious Underground.

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Only Niceros sat quietly to one side much as

Nick  did.  His  expression  was  guarded  but  Nick
could swear there was the faint hint of a smile on
his face. He was the big wolf in the Coalition now.
Not only did he have twenty Retrievers under his
control  but  he  was  cozied  up  to  Cassius.  Seeing
the  vampire  and  the  werewolf  together  never
failed  to  send  shivers  of  apprehension  down
Nick’s spine.

“Glitnir has done nothing for us,” a new

addition  to  the  rank  of  Retrievers  snarled.  Nick
couldn’t  recall  the  shifter’s  name,  such  was  the
turnover  of  Retrievers  at  the  moment.  Two  other
wolves  pulled  him  to  one  side  and  proceeded  to
pummel  him  into  the  ground.  Snarls  and  growls
and  sudden  silence  made  Nick  think  that  the
Retrievers were going to be one short now. What
the fuck was happening here? Everything was out
of control.

“Does anyone else have anything to say?”

Cassius  shouted  over  the  noise  to  make  himself
heard.  He  crossed  his  arms  over  his  chest  and
looked  down  from  his  height  to  the  shorter
wolves. Nick could see how this was going. Over
half  of  the  Coalition  was  behind  this  vampire,
which put the vamps and the wolves squarely on
the  side  of  Glitnir  in  this  crap.  Not  exactly  the
outcome  that  Nick  was  hoping  for  but  he  wasn’t
saying a thing to the contrary of general opinion.

The Incubus Agenda

His  job  was  to  stay  quiet  and  get  the  intelligence
he  gathered  to  Joseph  without  getting  caught,
nothing  more,  nothing  less.  Silence  fell  over  the
room.

This closed Coalition meeting was anything

but.  Not  only  was  Cassius  here  in  his  flowing
black floor-length cloak that screamed pretentious,
but Ludvik freaking Peitrol was outside in the ante
room  after  asking  for  audience  to  talk.  Nick
couldn’t  recall  the  last  time  that  a  vampire  was
allowed  to  address  a  full  meeting  of  a  werewolf
council,  but  add  in  the  fact  Ludvik  was  fae  and
suddenly anything like tradition was being shot to
pieces.

Not one wolf spoke up against Glitnir but a few

looked  at  the  prone  body  of  the  dead  Retriever
and the blood that pooled under his torn throat. It
was  so  easy  to  kill  these  days,  no  one  stopped  a
murder  in  the  name  of  pushing  down  the
rebellion.

“Then we’re agreed?” Niceros finally spoke up.

Everyone  in  the  room  turned  to  him  with
expectation on their faces. He stood and Nick had
to admit he looked every bit a big bad wolf.  “Do
we need to put this to a vote?” He didn’t wait for
an  answer.  “I  put  forward  the  motion  that  the
Werewolf  Coalition  forms  an  alliance  with  the
Vampire  Clans  Council  and  puts  our  support
solidly behind the Fae and Glitnir.”

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Silence.
Then each of the Retrievers that were left lifted

their hands and as one each shifter in the room,
even Nick, copied the gesture.

The main oak doors to the large meeting room

swung  open  and  banged  on  the  door  and  the
shifters  closest  to  the  door  began  to  murmur
among  themselves  and  the  noise  spread  like  a
wave as the crowd parted. Ludvik had entered the
chamber with two blood demon guards who were
near dragging a man between them. Nick stepped
from his column trying to get a fix on who it may
be  who  was  dropped  unceremoniously  to  the
floor.  It  was  difficult  to  tell  past  the  blood  and
bruising  but  whoever  it  was  this  was  not  good.
Anxiety  curled  inside  Nick  and  he  ruthlessly
pushed  it  down.  Other  wolves  would  be  able  to
scent his worry that this was someone he needed
to  be  saving  from  whatever  fate  Ludvik  had
decided on.

The bloodied man pushed himself to his knees

and  shakily  he  stood.  With  great  pride  in  his
bearing  he  finally  stood  straight  and  only  as  he
turned  in  a  complete  three  sixty  did  Nick  get  a
proper look at who it was. Fuck. That couldn’t be.

Brody Lennox.
His movements were shaky and uncoordinated

but Nick could see what the Incubus was doing.
He checked out the opposition even though he

The Incubus Agenda

was in no position of strength to be doing so. He
shouldn’t be pushing the wolves like this, staring
them in the eye and showing defiance.

“What is he doing here?” Cassius snapped from

where he had moved next to Niceros.

“He was my most trusted assassin, a Fae

Guard, and now he’s a spy. A traitor. He’s arrived
saying he wants to talk under truce but in his own
words he tells us that he wants to destroy Glitnir.”

Nick watched as Brody drew himself taller and

without wincing he lifted an eyebrow in question.

“I think you’ll find I’ve said nothing,” he said

clearly. Then he ruined it by coughing and spitting
blood from his mouth. The trail of scarlet landed
near Ludvik’s feet and the nearer of the two blood
demons smacked Brody around the face.

“Show respect, traitor,” the guard snapped.
“I’m no traitor,” Brody said. The demon jostled

Brody.  Nick  slid  between  two  wolves  and
attempted  to  make  it  look  as  if  he  just  wanted  a
closer  look.  “I’m  here  to  address  the  Werewolf
Coalition on behalf of the Underground.”

Nick bit his tongue, why didn’t Brody just shut

up? If he kept this going he was going to have his
stomach  split  and  be  staring  at  his  guts  on  the
floor. That was if he lived. No one here was going
to  listen  to  anything  he  said  about  Niceros.  He
snorted  a  laugh  and  stepped  close  to  Brody  until
only an arm’s length separated them.

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“No talking.” Niceros leaned in. “Not from

traitors,” he added.

Brody very deliberately took a step closer until

he  was  right  up  in  Niceros’  space.  He  tilted  his
head.  “You’re  purple  with  deceit,”  he  said.  Then
he sniffed the air. “Wet dog.”

Niceros snarled before extended his claws and

swiping sharply at Brody’s face. Brody didn’t have
time  to  move  and  the  steel-like  tips  tore  through
Brody’s skin and narrowly missed an eye. No one
made a move to help the incubus as he crumpled
to the floor clutching his face, but there was plenty
to  be  said  when  Brody  removed  his  hand  and
struggled to stand with blood running free down
his  face.  Muttering  and  hissed  disapproval
worked  its  way  through  the  crowd  and  when  it
reached Niceros he plunged his claws into Brody’s
biceps and held tight.

“Fuck you traitor,” he spat.
“Scarlet now, temper? Or lust,” Brody smiled

weakly but didn’t drop his gaze from being firmly
fixed on Niceros.

“Take him away and finish him.” Niceros

ordered.

“Wait!” Panic forced the word but the clear

thoughts that soon followed had Nick inclining his
head to Niceros in respect. “He could be useful
with what he knows.”

The Incubus Agenda

Niceros appeared to consider the interruption

then his face turned to stone. “He can tell us
nothing. He dies,” Niceros snapped.

“Sir,” Nick agreed with a nod. He stepped back

in  the  shadows.  With  the  hold  Niceros  had  over
every wolf in this room, if Nick showed any more
than  this  he  was  likely  to  be  torn  to  shreds  as  a
traitor himself.

Brody slumped against the blood demon who

held him and both stumbled. Niceros finished the
incubus’s fall to the floor with a well-placed kick
to the back of his knee and laughed when the
demon fell as well.

Cassius came closer to Niceros, the vampire’s

features schooled in thought and he bent in to talk
to the wolf shifter. Finally Niceros was angry, then
resigned, then a whole screaming mess of temper
as he aimed another kick at the fallen incubus.

“Take him to the Council for trial,” he shouted

in anger. Seemed Cassius had  made him  see that
proper  justice  had  to  appear  to  be  done.  Shame
that  courtesy  didn’t  extend  to  the  dead  Retriever
lying in his own blood in the corner. Nick allowed
some  of  the  tension  in  his  body  to  relax  away.  If
there was a delay in processing Brody then maybe
Nick could get word to Joseph, or to anyone in the
Underground.  Brody  was  important  to  the
Underground,  as  he  was  one  of  only  two  incubi
left  in  the  Glitnir  territories  and  if  the  rebellion

RJ Scott

was to succeed they needed to keep every skill
they could close at hand.

Helping Brody meant exposing himself, and

he’d be lost to any role he had in the wolf shifter
coalition. He considered his next move.

Hands gripped him and pulled him into

shadows  and  he  was  suddenly  face  to  face  with
Niceros, whose eyes were scarlet tinged with fury.
“You want him to talk,” he spat, “you make him,
then  you  leave  him  to  rot  until  they  can  rip  him
apart,” he added. Then he pushed away and in a
flurry  of  shouting  and  growling,  the  rest  of  the
Retrievers  and  other  Coalition  members  left  the
room  with  Cassius.  Finally  it  was  him,  an
unconscious  Brody,  Ludvik  and  the  two  blood
demons  left  in  the  chambers.  Nick  noticed  that
Ludvik  had  stayed  out  of  everything  that
happened  after  he  dragged  Brody  in.  Now  it
seemed the Kappa had something to say.

“My demons will assist you in breaking this

fae.”

Nick owed the leader of the Fae Alliance

nothing  in  the  way  of  fealty  or  respect.  He
crouched  down  next  to  Brody  and  was  silently
relieved that  the  incubus  appeared  to  be  alive.  “I
don’t  need  help,”  he  said.  He  kept  the  response
simple but he didn’t have to have shifter abilities
to sense that this was not what Ludvik wanted to
hear.  He  stood  and  faced  the  Kappa  with

The Incubus Agenda

determination  despite  the  fact  that  distaste  and
anger had him wanting to stab the slimy fucker in
the chest with his claws. Ludvik had the whole of
Glitnir  jumping  at  ghosts,  persuading  everyone
that  sticking to the old ways, where  species were
shunned  and  where  shifters  died  for  saying  their
piece, was the best way. Supported by Cassius for
the vampires, and Niceros for the wolves, he was
the one driving force for a closed state. Shifter and
fae rights be damned.

Ludvik smirked, a real honest-to-goodness

quirk to his thin lips, “Do you know who you are
speaking  to  wolf?  You  will  take  the  demons  and
you will break this incubus and you will come to
me  first  to  tell  me  what  he  says.”  He  leaned  into
Nick and for a second Nick’s head spun. Just until
he  could  attempt  to  block  whatever  shit  Ludvik
was  trying  on  him  to  control  his  mind.  He  used
every  non-magical  tool  Joseph  had  showed  him
and  attempted  to  block.  Ludvik  frowned  but
didn’t push harder. “Me first,” he said firmly.

“You first, Sir,” Nick repeated. For a few

seconds he actually felt like this was the best thing
to do. He couldn’t use the charms Joseph had
given him to block Ludvik in case he was found
out, but when Ludvik moved away… Fuck… move
away damn it. My head…

RJ Scott

Ludvik leaned even closer, so near that Nick

could feel and smell the puff of intoxicatingly
sweet breath from Ludvik on his skin.

“Me,” Ludvik demanded. “No one else.”
“You.”
Ludvik moved away and left the chamber, his

spell  work  still  spinning  in  Nick’s  head.  With  all
his strength Nick gripped Brody and hoisted him
up  and  over  his  shoulder.  The  incubus  was  no
lightweight and he staggered a little, forcing back
bile  when  he  saw  the  blood  on  the  floor  where
Brody  had  lain.  He  was  a  peaceful  shifter  by
nature and blood wasn’t his strong point. He was
one of only a handful of shifters who liked heat in
their  fresh  meat  as  opposed  to  eating  it  raw.  The
blood  demons  followed  him  with  bowed  heads
and that was okay, since he was still attempting to
push past Ludvik’s attempts to fuck with his head.
He couldn’t understand what blood demons were
doing  this  side  of  the  Red  Mountains  but  no  one
questioned it.

Grunting with the exertion of Brody on his

shoulder  he  stalked  out  of  the  Chamber  to  the
corridor  beyond  and  was  faced  with  a  left  to  the
cells,  or  a  right  to  his  private  room.  Taking  the
right  was  the  safe  option.  He  wasn’t  likely  to  be
able  to  get  Brody  out  if  anyone  had  any  idea  he
was playing for the other team. It was only as he
realised he was outside the first empty cell that he

The Incubus Agenda

wondered how much of the decision was his and
how much was some fucked up magical
suggestion. That would explain the nausea which
wouldn’t leave him. Wolves and magic didn’t mix.

He hefted Brody onto the bed and cursed when

Brody’s  head  smacked  down  on  the  metal  and
stone shelf. Incubus killed by the shifter trying to save
him. The irony didn’t escape him. He shook him as
roughly  as  he  dared,  balancing  permanent  brain
damage with looking like he was actually trying to
rouse Brody. Finally he turned to the demons. He
had to get them away, get Brody out, or fuck, did
he? Should the underground just chalk this up to a
lost cause? They had Levi, did they actually need
another incubus?

Fuck. Ludvik’s doubts and spells needed out of

his head.

“You can go,” he ordered.
“We stay,” the tallest of them said. His response

was so immediate that he’d clearly been expecting
Nick’s  dismissal.  Hell,  if  they  didn’t  move  soon
they  were  going  to  witness  first-hand  the
Technicolor effects of  magic on a werewolf  when
he was sick all over the floor. His wolf pulled and
scratched  inside  him  for  a  shift  to  settle  himself.
Doing  that  meant  he’d  clean  out  the  last  of  the
magic  but  he  couldn’t  afford  to  let  his  guard
down.

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Drawing himself tall he assumed his best

badass  look,  one  he’d  been  practising  in  the
mirror,  and  growled.  He  even  added  in  some
extended  claws  and  as  he  stepped  towards  the
blood demons, they stepped back. Clearly his time
perfecting  angry  dominant  wolf  shifter  had  been
time well spent.

“Move or I’ll gut you here and now,” he

snarled. The demons backed away and as one they
left.  Nick  shook  his  head.  Must  be  the  residual
magic  in  his  system  but  he  was  feeling  territorial
and he wasn’t bluffing when he said he’d rip the
guards  apart  if  they  stayed.  Startled  at  the
stabbing desire of possession that rose inside him
he  spun  on  his  heel  to  look  down  at  the
unconscious form of the incubus.

Possession? Fuck no.

The Incubus Agenda

Chapter Two

rody rose from the depths of the pain a little
at a time. He didn’t have to be a medic to

know  he  was  as  near  to  death  as  he  could  be
without freaking dying. There was a method in his
madness.  He’d  hoped  provoking  Ludvik  would
mean  he’d  be  struck  down  immediately,  leaving
the chance of the messy torture part of prison out
of the equation.

Then he recalled what had happened. He’d

seen  yellow  in  the  group  of  wolf  shifters.  A
stunning  lemon  and  gold  that  spun  and  twisted
from the shadows and he cursed his ability to see
the colours without knowing the person who was
there, out of his line of sight. In among the scarlet
of  temper,  and  the  icy  blue  of  hate,  as  clear  as
daylight  piercing  his  eyes  through  the  small  cell
window,  he’d  seen  the  colour  of  the  person
destined to be part of his future.

Hell. As far as he knew there was an

overabundance of wolves, two blood demons, a

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vamp,  and  one  fae  in  that  room.  The  sparks
weren’t  from  Ludvik  or  his  blood  demon  guards
which left only one thing… wolf. Pain pierced his
head  and  he  couldn’t  stop  the  involuntary  moan
that left his lips. Dying was supposed to be quick,
not this protracted agony that carved lines of pain
in his face and his arms and the ribs he knew were
fractured and pressing on his insides in shards.

“Good. You’re awake. Now stay awake.”
Brody moved his head to face the voice but the

pain from the deep cuts in his skin was too much
and  he  couldn’t  stop  the  nausea  as  it  swept  his
body.  Strong  arms  held  him  as  he  retched  on  an
empty  stomach.  He  hadn’t  eaten  since  the  war
council  in  the  Badlands.  What  was  that?  Two
days?  Three?  He  should  have  listened  to  Levi
when his friend said he was unlikely to succeed in
his mission to talk to the Werewolf Coalition. He’d
not  counted  on  Ludvik  already  being  that  far
ingrained in the Coalition as to be inseparable. No
one  had  counted  on  it.  Intelligence  had  Ludvik
controlling  the  Fae  but  still  at  odds  with  both
vampires and wolves.

Having a vampire in the room didn’t bode well.

Joseph expected a fractured Glitnir, not a cohesive
whole  under  one  Fae  control.  What  they  had
planned,  a  quiet  coup,  was  not  going  down  with
the combination of vamps, wolves and fae fighting
against them.

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A slap across his face had him opening his eyes

wide and shouting in pain.

“Drink this,” a voice commanded. “Water.”
Brody hesitated for a second, then whoever

held him grew fuzzy in his blurred vision and he
couldn’t  see  their  outline,  much  less  what  colour
they were. Sometimes it was the absence of colour
that showed him the most. This male, this strong,
demanding, bastard of a male who smelled of the
earth,  was  wrapped  in  swathes  of  magic  that
blanked the colours he would normally see.

His reserves were low and he inhaled, hoping

to find the emotions that manifested in temper
and hate in this man. All he got was the taste of
magic and he coughed at the acrid essence.

“Stop doing that,” the voice snapped.

Accompanied by a shove backwards away from
the water he had just coughed over himself he
cried out as his ribs protested and his arms hit the
stone.

He attempted words but a firm hand closed

over  his  mouth  and  when  he  tried  to  breathe  he
couldn’t.  He  struggled  but  the  bands  of  pain
across his chest left him only able to feebly move
his legs in a twist of fear. At least being suffocated
to death was quicker than the imagined horrors at
the  hands  of  Ludvik.  He’d  seen  how  close  to
broken  Joseph  had  been,  and  that  wasn’t
happening  to him. He’d kill himself  before he let

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Ludvik take anything from him. A harsh whisper
reached his ear.

“Stop fighting me, no taking my emotions, I’m

poisoned  with  magic.  Okay?”  He  struggled  even
as  the  voice  told  him  to  stop,  his  need  to  escape
getting  stronger.  “Stop  the  fuck  what  you  are
doing.” The words were so low no one other than
him  could  hear.  What  did  that  mean?  The  hand
released from his mouth and he gasped fresh air,
wincing as the blades of magic sliced into his self
and he shut it immediately.

The voice continued. “I’m getting you out, you

just need to heal enough to walk. Can you do that?
What do you need to fix you?”

Strength… all I need is strength…. I can work

around the magic…

He couldn’t speak, instead he lifted a hand and

placed it on the shoulder of the owner of the voice.
They had to know he was an incubus and would
expect  him  to  try  and  feed.  When  they  didn’t
move  he  forced  back  more  nausea  and  focusing
minutely he managed to find a crack in the magic
that muddied this wolf’s auras. He relaxed as the
pure sweetness of strength began to filter out and
into  him.  At  first  it  was  nothing  more  than  a
trickle but then he managed to force more through
and with it came grief, and pain, and the laughter
of  a  remembered  joke  and  suddenly  the  nausea
was  gone  and  even  though  he  was  broken  and

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bloody  he  was  at  least  able  to  concentrate.  His
vision remained blurry but just through that crack
in  the  spell  work  he  saw  something  perfect—a
glimpse  of  lemon,  and  gold,  and  the  taste  of
sunshine.

What the hell.
“We need to get you back to Joseph.” The voice

was little more than a murmur.

A second voice was stern and unforgiving

coming from somewhere outside Brody’s range of
sight, beyond the shape of the person blocking his
view. “Tarrant? Is he awake?” this voice was
instantly recognisable. Niceros, the leader of the
Wolf Retrievers.

Tarrant? Nicholas Tarrant? Close your eyes… the

whisper echoed inside his head and he heeded the
instruction instantly.

“He’s near dead, he won't last the night.”
“You shouldn’t get so close to him,” Niceros

warned.  A  jolt  of  something  encompassed  the
form blocking Brody from sight and suddenly the
tiny  chink  through  which  the  lemon  escaped
vanished.

Just like that the colour was gone, shielded by

new magic.

“He’s too weak to present a threat,” Nick said.

He pressed a hand to Brody’s neck and pushed
hard. “A very faint pulse. I think the skill you
show with your claws was enough to fell him.”

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“Has he told you anything?”
“He hasn’t spoken.”
“He can't stand trial then,” Niceros said. His

words  were  dripping  with  disappointment  but
they  lacked  sincerity  in  the  strength  of  them.  He
probably  hoped  Brody  was  dead  already.  “We
could do with a good show trial today. “You sent
the  demon  guards  away,”  he  added  in  a  quick
change of direction.

“Like one near dead incubus can take on a wolf

shifter,” Brody snapped.

“Your tone lacks respect.”
“My apologies, Sir.”
Brody listened to the exchange and wished for

one ounce of ability. Niceros’ death would mean
one of the major pieces, if not the most prominent
of them all, off the board. One less person intent
on forging forward with inequality and perverted
magic. If indeed Niceros had any idea of the kind
of magic that Ludvik possessed.

“You should finish him.”
“I’m staying until he draws his last breath in

hope he speaks. Until he dies I will stay here.”

“That’s not protocol, Nick,” Niceros said

immediately. Then he sighed. “If he says anything
you find me first. Not vampire, not fae.”

“Not Ludvik or Cassius?”
“Are you questioning me?”
“No, sir.”

The Incubus Agenda

“The mark of your cousin’s betrayal is

something  that  can  be  used  against  you  at  any
time  Brody,  so  be  careful  who  you  trust.”  Brody
heard the veiled threat in the words.

“He is no longer my cousin, our family

disowned him, and his lack of honour is a stain we
can never remove.” Nick lied. He liked his cousin
and  couldn’t  have  been  prouder  of  him  coming
around  to  understanding  what  it  meant  for
everyone  to  be  free.  “I  realise  my  position  in  the
Coalition relies on your patronage.”

“As you should,” Niceros said. “The council is

in session, Ludvik and Cassius have the floor, so
you will bring word to me if the incubus speaks.”

“Yes, sir.”
Niceros grunted his approval of this and Brody

heard him leave.

“What now?” Brody managed to force past lips

split from punches.

“It speaks,” Nick said. There was no heat in his

words, in fact he sounded a lot like he was
relieved.

“Nicholas

Tarrant?

Does—Joseph

know

about—y--you?”

“Shhh. Let me think.”
Brody tried to move, attempted even to stand,

but he got no further than raising his head before
collapsing back. In an instant Nick had him up
and over his shoulder again and Brody couldn’t

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help the noise of pain that left his mouth. His chest
was on fire.

“You can't walk out. I’m carrying you out, do

your freaky shit and get unconscious.”

Freaky shit or not, Brody didn’t have to try too

hard to let himself go. He’d never known pain like
it,  not  in  a  single  day  he’d  been  alive.  He  was
aware  of  the  strides  Nick  took,  of  the  fact  that
daylight  pierced  his  eyes  through  closed  lids.  He
heard  words,  was  dropped  unceremoniously  to
the  ground  on  two  separate  occasions  that  he
knew  about,  and  finally  jostled  onto  a  hard
wooden floor.

“Fuck, Nick, what happened to him?”
“Wolf, Ludvik, demon’s, not sure if the vamps

got to him.”

“Is he actually alive?”
Brody opened his eyes as much as he could.

“Alive,”  he  muttered  and  winced.  The  world
swam  into  focus,  and  for  the  first  time  he  got  a
proper  look  at  the  wolf  who  had  plucked  him
from death and delivered him to… well, wherever
this  was.  As  most  wolves  were,  he  probably
topped out at five ten, a good four inches shorter
than  Brody,  but  he  had  muscles  on  muscles  and
with  his  near  black  hair  and  his  eyes  a  startling
blue he was gorgeous. Of course they’d seen each
other before, in better times, before the entire Fae
Alliance  wanted  Brody  dead,  but  they’d  never

The Incubus Agenda

spoken. The other was also a shifter, not quite so
muscled and older with grey at his temples. It was
this second shifter who leaned over him with
concern on his features.

“He’s alive, Hestion, but he’s hurt badly. He

needs to feed.”

“I can feed him,” the wolf called Hestion

offered.

Hestion instantly disappeared out of sight,

yanked  away  by  a  snarling  Nick.  “No  one  feeds
him  but  me.”  He  threatened  Hestion  not  only  in
tone,  but  he  backed  it  up  with  aggressive  body
language.

“Then you’ll need Phin to help remove the

magic poisoning your body,” Hestion offered. “Or
Joseph. Because Phin is in the Second Kingdom,
Joseph is, hell, I don’t know where he is.”

“We’ll be fine, but we need to stay here. And

you and your family need to leave.”

“We’re ready to go,” Hestion said. “But we’re

no further than twenty miles from Glitnir,
Ludvik’s reach is extending every day and they’ll
find Brody and you.”

“Then we’ll go down fighting,” Nick snarled.

“Up until then we have to hope Joseph’s wards
will stop them finding us. Now please, just go.
Take your family and for Declan’s sake please go
and see him.”

“We’ll put him in danger—“

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“Just find him, put him out of his misery, he’s

driving Levi mad with searching for you and the
rest of his family. And, please, stay safe.”

The two wolves embraced and Brody watched

it all. He was focusing in on the little things. The
green  of  friendship  that  swirled  around  Hestion,
mixed  with  the  yellow  of  confusion.  But  nothing
around Nick. He took in the growling possession
in  Nick’s  voice  whenever  they  mentioned  his
name.  Then  he  could  sense  nothing  except  Nick
pacing next to him and to the rhythm of his steps
he fell asleep.

Next time he woke he could see colours. Not

much, just a chink  of  that  same lemon, and gold,
and  he  didn’t  want  to  think  what  they  meant.
Instead he reached up a shaky hand and pressed it
to  Nick’s  and  held  on  tight.  The  flow  of
compassion  and  sadness,  of  anger  and  fear,  was
addictive,  the  taste  of  it  like  a  fall  day.  He  was
stronger,  his  chest  tightening  then  releasing  in
time  with  his  heart.  He  could  feel  the  bones  knit
and  buzz  of  life  was  noisy  in  his  ears.  He had  to
stop,  to  pull  back  before  he  went  too  far.  I  could
overdose  on  Nick.  He’d  never  tasted  anything  like
this  shifter’s  life  force.  Each  little  part  he  took
meant the magic around Nick grew weaker.

“Is that enough?” Nick asked, as Brody

dropped his grip on Nick’s hand.

The Incubus Agenda

“For the moment,” he answered.
Nick traced the blood on his arms and nodded.

“Your arms are clear,” then he gently touched
Brody’s face, “but your skin here is still scarred.”

They sat like that, with Nick staring down at

him,  his  blue  eyes  filled  with  sadness,  and
something  inside  Brody  snapped.  Quickly  he
shoved Nick off of him.

Nick didn’t argue, he simply moved to sit on a

chair further away.

“What? You’re staring at me now?” Brody was

irritable and angsty all of a sudden.

“I’m not leaving your side.”
“I need the bathroom.”
“I’ll help you.”
Brody pushed himself upright and swung his

legs to the floor. When he tried to stand he simply
fell back on his ass on the bed.

“I don’t need your help,” he said. Don’t touch

me, I can't take any more of your touch.

Nick tilted his head. “How about I open the

door for you, run you a shower and just stay out
of your reach unless you need me.”

Suddenly Brody was guilty for his irritable

reaction. Nick couldn’t help having the perfect
combination of emotions inside him, or that they
tasted of sunshine and earth at different times.

“I’m sorry,” he apologised. “Thank you for

getting me out of Glitnir, for saving my life,

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just…” he held up his hand when Nick smiled at
him. “My ability to stop feeding is at a low ebb,
don’t come too close or I could kill you.”

“Wolves are hard to kill you know.”
“Not impossible though. Never impossible. I

was an assassin, I am an assassin, I could kill you
here and now.”

Nick leaned forward in his chair and rested his

elbows on his knees. “Like to see you try big man.
I can probably piss faster than you, let alone run.”
He smiled again and Brody couldn’t help smiling
back.

“Take me seriously,” Brody warned.
Nick stood up and held out a hand which

Brody refused to take. Still it was enough to know
that if he was going to fall that Nick was there to
help. This way, with Nick hovering behind, Brody
managed to get to the bathroom, use the facilities
then  wait  as  Nick  filled  the  bath.  When  he
stripped  and  climbed  into  the  warmth  and  the
bubbles  Nick  insisted  were  some  kind  of  magic-
filled herbal remedy, abruptly he realised he was
feeling better. Time to get the questions out in the
open, but first of all a summary of the list so far.

“So I’m guessing this is an safe house, run by

the Underground of course. Also, that Hestion is
Declan’s missing father—and hence the rest of
Declan’s family were here— that you can't go back

The Incubus Agenda

to Glitnir because they will kill you, and I can't go
back to Glitnir because they will kill me too.”

“Pretty much,” Nick agreed. He’d put down the

toilet seat and now sat perched on the lid. “I don’t
want to talk about all that though.”

“You don’t? What is it you want to discuss?”
“About why the wolf inside me demands I

never leave your side.”

Brody didn’t know how to answer that one. The

point  was  moot,  as  both  of  them  knew  what  it
meant.  When  a  wolf  wanted  something  it  pretty
much took over the decision making process of the
human  side  of  the  shifter  partnership.  Brody
sighed  inwardly.  He’d  seen  this  happen  with
Declan  and  Levi,  he  just  never  expected  it  to
happen  to  him.  For  an  incubus,  sexuality  was  a
fluid  thing  and  the  idea  of  Nick  killing  anyone
who went near him was thought provoking. What
would  happen  when  Brody  decided  to  spread
himself  around?  Just  the  thought  of  it  must  have
manifested  itself  on  his  expression  because  Nick
growled again, in that sexy snarly possessive way.

“You’re not fucking anyone else,” he insisted.

“Just me.”

“What if I don’t like men?”
“You’re an incubus. You’ll sleep with anything

that has a pulse.”

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Brody chose to ignore the insult. “I’m never

having sex with anyone else other than you?” he
asked.

Nick nodded. “Pretty much until the day you

die.”

“Given what kind of battles we’re in the middle

of? You realise that could be a very short time.”

“Best start healing then.”

The Incubus Agenda

Chapter Three

etrievers found them in less time than it took
for Nick to circle the cabin in the woods to

ensure all the wards were in place. They’d clearly
followed the magic, since it was the only way they
could have been found. And the one thing that
really made that as confusing as hell for Nick was
that only people who possessed magic themselves
could actually track the damn stuff, which meant
one of the Retrievers in wolf form ranged outside
in the clearing had some kind of magic in them.

Either that or there was someone else out there

hidden in the dark. A fae maybe? Ludvik? Would
he place enough importance on Nick and Brody to
come himself?

He counted ten Retrievers, hell that was half of

all Retrievers—he should feel proud that Niceros
thought to send so many to find him.

“What are they doing?” Brody asked with a

cough. Nick glanced at the incubus and frowned.
Brody’s ribs were healed, the marks in his arms all

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but vanished, but the deep lacerations on his face
looked festering with taut skin and bright red
striations creeping from them and reaching
around his eyes. None of it looked good.

“They’re standing,” Nick answered.
“I can see they’re standing,” Brody said. He

leaned against the wall and peered out into the
growing dark of approaching night. “I’m guessing
they can't see us, or get in.”

“They know we’re here, they just have no

chance of breaking the wards that Joseph and Phin
placed around the cabin.”

“So, we’re in here, trapped? Did Hestion and

his family at least get away?”

“Yeah, they’re gone.”
“If they can't see us, how do they know we’re

even there? It’s not like the shifters can have magic
given you can't handle it as a species.”

Nick couldn’t stop the low growl in his throat if

he tried. “Magic is unnatural.”

“As unnatural as changing from man to

animal?” Brody teased, but Nick wasn’t in the
mood for it.

“Says the man who sucks emotions from people

and  sees  rainbows  shining  out  their  asses,”  he
snapped  before  turning  back  to  focus  on  the
Retrievers  who  appeared  to  be  settling  in  for  a
wait.

Brody chuckled. “Touche.”

The Incubus Agenda

“But you’re right, we don’t do magic, so there

has to be…” he trailed away and peered out into
the dark. Then, decision made, he toed off his
boots before unbuttoning his pants then dropping
them to the floor.

“This is no time for sex,” Brody pointed out. He

looked down at Nick’s cock which was erect.

Nick shrugged. He wasn’t someone who

viewed  being  naked  as  an  issue,  added  to  which
the  fact  he  was  hard  was  a  compliment  to  Brody
and  his  intriguing  brown  eyes.  The  irony  that
nature had somehow linked him to an incubus, a
species  with  no  discernable  scent  as  such  wasn’t
lost  on  him.  Wolf  shifters  were  creatures  attuned
to scent.

“I need to shift,” he explained.
“Not to go outside.”
“Just onto the porch, they won't see me, but I

need my night vision to check something out.”

“Check what out?” Brody coughed again and

this time he pressed a hand to his chest.

“Go and sit down, I’ll be back in a minute.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Brody was a

stubborn bastard.

Nick sighed, then made to open the front door,

Brody stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“They’ll see that.”

“It doesn’t matter. They know we’re here, they

can see us through the wards, they just can't get

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through them to get to us. An open door won't
make it worse. I need to know what kind of magic
is at play on their side before I know what to do
next.”

“Knowing won't change the fact that if they

have someone with any kind of magical abilities
then surely they can get through what Phin and
Joseph put here to protect the place.”

“They haven’t yet,” Nick offered dryly. He

pulled off his shirt and shifted in a smooth motion.
The  scents  of  the  night  inside  their  magic  bubble
were limited. It was strange to see so many other
wolves  standing  looking  at  the  cabin  but  not  be
able to scent them.

Who needs a nose, he thought to himself. Shaking

his head to clear the mist in his brain he focused in
on  each  wolf.  His  vision  was  enhanced  and  he
could  see  some  wolves  he  knew,  others  that  had
been  Retrievers  for  just  a  short  time.  Not  one  of
them  looked  to  be  controlling  this  standoff
situation.  Then,  a  movement  to  his  right  caught
his  attention  as  a  tall  man  stepped  out  from  the
trees  and  moved  to  stand  in  front  of  the  wolves.
He was blond, his hair a slash of near white in the
dusk,  and  he  wore  dark  clothes,  but  other  than
that  Nick  couldn’t  make  out  anything  about  the
man. He didn’t look like a vampire, or even a fae,
if anything he looked like a normal human.

The Incubus Agenda

The man smiled in the growing darkness and

held out a hand. The action unnerved Nick and he
took  a  step  back  before  wrinkling  his  nose  in  a
warning  snarl.  Something  about  this  man  was
wrong. That he possessed magic was obvious, but
who  was  he?  What  was  he?  And  why  was  he
smiling?

Come talk to me little wolf. I can help.
The sounds of the words echoed in his head

and he sat on his haunches puzzled and unnerved.

Who are you? Nick thought.
The reply was instant. Someone who can help

shape your destiny if you ask for it.

The man stepped closer and where his magic

touched  the  barriers  around  the  cabin  there  were
faint  sparks of fire. On  the man’s chest under  his
clothing,  patterns burned with a pure white light
and Nick’s wolf self skittered back.

Don’t go Nicholas Tarrant. Stay. Talk to me, the

man thought again.

Nick backed the rest of the way into the cabin

and was never more thankful than when Brody
shut the door. Nick shifted to human and stood in
absolute silence.

“And?” Brody prompted.
“There’s a human there, with magic. He smiled

at me.” He spoke to me.

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Brody moved to stand in front of him and

gripped him by the upper arms. “Earth to Nick?
Are you okay?”

Unfocused he looked directly at Brody. “He…”

closing his eyes tight he pushed and pulled at his
thoughts until they weren’t fuzzy and unfocused.
“He smiled at me.”

“You said. Is he able to get through the wards?

Should we be thinking about taking a back
entrance?”

“We’re surrounded,” Nick explained patiently,

“and he smiled.”

Brody shook him a little and Nick opened his

eyes wide. “What?” He was irritable and
confused.

“I don’t know what the fuck is going on in your

freaky wolf brain but we really need to get you to
focus here. Should we leave? Can this man get
through? Do men even have magic? What the hell
is going on?”

Nick wriggled free of Brody’s hold and stepped

away to gather his clothes. “I need a shower,” he
said. Without looking back he took the stairs two
at a time and nearly reached the top before Brody
spoke.

“So that’s a no for an explanation then?”
Nick was in the bathroom with the water

switched on before he stopped to consider what
the hell had just happened. There must be residual

The Incubus Agenda

crap in his system from Ludvik for him to be
feeling so chaotic and unfocused.

“Seriously, what the fuck?” Brody asked as he

opened the bathroom door. “What do we need to
do?”

“Go away,” Nick snapped. He deliberately

stood under the water so he couldn’t hear Brody’s
voice.  Just  the  tone  of  it,  the  disappointment,  the
question,  the  touch  of  fear,  all  added  to  the
wooliness in Nick’s head.

“A man. Magic. I’m guessing given you’re not

still a wolf that they can't get through whatever
Joseph and Phin did, but from the way you’re
acting I’m thinking you’re nervous about this man
who stood in our front yard.”

Brody opened the shower stall door as he

completed the sentence and Nick hissed at the
cold air on his now warm skin.

“We’ll talk when I finish,” he bit out.

Deliberately  he  yanked  at  the  glass  door  and  it
closed  easily,  which  he  hadn’t  expected.  He
thought  Brody  would  argue  more.  He  finished
scrubbing from head to toe, cleaning the scents of
the  prison  and  the  run  and  hide  through  Obahn
and  out  the  other  side,  not  to  mention  the  blood
that had soaked into his clothes and onto his skin
from  Brody.  When  he  opened  the  door  Brody
didn’t  even  move  from  where  he  was  standing.
His  head  tilted  to  one  side  he  stared  at  his

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reflection in the misted mirror. From his stance he
was shocked.

“It’s bad isn’t it?” he asked cautiously. He

touched  the  ripped  skin  and  used  two  fingers  to
push the edges of one of the larger cuts together.
Blood  pushed  to  the  surface,  then  there  were  the
signs  of  obvious  infection  in  the  scarlet  puffiness
and the tendrils through his skin.

“Do you need to feed again?” Nick asked. He

wasn’t  sure  how  incubi  energy  levels  entirely
worked  but  his  limited  knowledge  told  him  that
feeding was surely the best way to begin healing.
Brody  shook  his  head,  then  prodded  the  scars
again and frowned. “Don’t do that,” Nick said.

“What?”
“You’ll get even more infected if you poke and

prod.”

Brody turned to face him. “It’s not painful, but

you know why it isn’t healing?”

“No. Why?”
“Like I’d know, that is why I asked you.” Brody

sounded  disappointed  where  Nick  thought  he’d
had  an  answer.  “Probably  magic.  I  found  some
herbs  and  medicines  downstairs  and  mainlined
anything that looked like it might work.”

“Do normal medicines work on incubi?”
He shrugged and turned from the mirror to face

Nick. He ignored the question. “Nice lack of

The Incubus Agenda

towel,” he said as he gestured towards Nick’s
naked form.

“I don’t have to use a towel,” Nick said. Fuck,

he sounded all provocative and sexy. Why had he
done  that?  Then  he  wondered  where  the  hell
saying  something  like  that  actually  sat  on  the
ladder  of  importance,  with  strange  magic  human
guy  being  on  the  number  one  step.  In  a  flurry  of
motion  he  left  the  bathroom  and  crossed  to  the
room  opposite  before  rummaging  in  the  large
closet  space  for  clothes.  The  bedroom  still  held
evidence  of  Hestion  and  his  family’s  existence.
This  was  clearly  Hestion’s  room  with  his  wife
going by the clothes in the closet. He finally found
pants  that  were  long  enough,  if  a  bit  baggy  and
well  worn,  and  a  large  shirt  that  at  least  didn’t
cling to each muscle.

Finally he rough dried what little moisture

remained in his hair then, as if his body said
enough he fell back onto the bed and prone, he
examined the ceiling.

“Is it time to talk yet?” Brody asked from the

door. Nick scooted over and patted the large bed.

“Lay down. We’ll talk then sleep.”
Brody appeared to consider the options and

with  a  nod  he  climbed  onto  the  bed  and  settled
himself  on  the  right  hand  side.  No  part  of  him
touched  Nick,  and  to  be  brutally  honest  Nick
thought that was a good thing. He was very close

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to the limit with how close he could get to Brody
without wanting to jump the incubus.

“So talk,” Brody prompted.
“What about first? The whole fucked up

situation where we are fated to be together, or the
one where we’re trapped in a cabin in a forest
with no way out?”

Brody sighed and Nick wished he’d worded it

better. He hadn’t meant to mention the fated
thing. There was no sense in rocking an already
shaky boat.

“I don’t believe in all of that fated crap,” Brody

said simply. “I trust in a lot of things, but I’m not
one of those who thinks there is one person for
each of us and that when we meet there are
fireworks and shit.”

“No, say what you really think,” Nick said. He

couldn’t help his tone, dry with a hint of sarcasm.
As  species  they  had  come  a  long  way  from  the
days  when  vamps  and  wolves  killed  each  other,
and incubi were kept in chains as servants to the
fae.  Still,  the  idea  that  there  was  someone  for
everyone,  even  bastards  like  Ludvik  Peitrol,  was
an ideal he aspired to.

“I just did. Your wolf may be trying that whole

possessive direction with me but I don’t do
monogamy or long term. I am incubi, and that is
what we do, we fuck around and we take pleasure
when and where we can.”

The Incubus Agenda

“Given there’s only a few of you left and added

to which I see how Levi is with Declan, I call
bullshit on that.”

“I don’t even like you much,” Brody said.
“Liar. You like the wolf who got you away from

Glitnir plenty.”

“Speaking of which, you didn’t exactly evade

Glitnir.”

“No one gets away from Glitnir without

Retrievers being sent after them.”

“So give me a summary of what kind of shit

we’re in.”

“They can't get in, we can't get out. Hestion will

get a message to Joseph if he can then, if Joseph is
tracked down, and if he is able, then he can come
get us both.”

“What about the human with the magic

standing on our doorstep?”

Nick pushed back thoughts of the man and his

freaky gaze. Shivers ran down his spine at the
smile. Something about him screamed power. “If
he could get past the wards set by Phin and Joseph
then he would have and we’d be dead by now.”

“Either that or it could be a trap. We think

we’re all caught up in this place with nowhere to
go  then  Joseph  comes  in,  or  Phin,  and  suddenly
they’re  taken.  Imagine  the  kudos  of  having  the
two  most  important Underground  members  back

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in prison. Didn’t you think it was way too easy for
us to get away from Glitnir?”

Nick huffed. “It wasn’t easy dragging your

bleeding self through the forest to Obahn then on
to here. For us to be part of some elaborate scheme
to get to Joseph? Or Phin? That’s kind of far-
fetched. This all happened so quickly, how would
anyone have time to formulate a plan like that?”

“A man with magic maybe?”
“You’re all doom and gloom,” Nick muttered.
“I call it thinking things through and being

practical.”

Nick shook his head. “I call it negative.”
“What if Ludvik gets word and decides to bring

an entire fae army down on us?”

“He has enough to worry about with the

skirmishes  on  the  north  border  with  the  bear
shifters in the Trent Forest, he’s stretched thin, last
I  heard  he  was  recruiting  blood  demons,  and  I
didn’t  believe  that  until  I  saw  them  with  him  in
the Council chambers.”

Nick picked up on one thing. “So why was he

at Glitnir if the bear thing is so damn compelling?”

Another sigh from Brody. “Hell if I know.”
“Maybe you’re important to him?” Nick

suggested. “Maybe you are the bait for the trap for
Joseph or Phin? As to the Second Kingdom, they
need to stop the blood demons thing in its tracks,
it’s why Phin has gone to there to help Asher.”

The Incubus Agenda

“Bait? I’m not liking the sound of that. I need to

ask you something. “

“Go on.”
Brody paused momentarily as if he was

thinking  exactly  how  to  phrase  his  question.
“When  you  came  back  in  from  your  reconnoitre
and  shifted,  you  were  as  white  as  an  albino  elk.
Can you tell me what happened?”

Fear clutched in Nick’s chest and he pushed it

away. Typical that he was trying to be big, brave
and strong and he was probably glowing some
weird colour that showed Brody he was being
deceitful. “Nothing happened.”

“You’re lying. You’re so purple you’re like the

night sky.”

Nick turned on his side and propped himself

up on his elbow. “Hell, I’m still not completely
over the magic Ludvik put in me, add in you
feeding from me. Then give me a man exuding so
much magic he’s nearly explosive with power? No
wonder I was knocked back. That’s all.”

Brody reached out and traced a pattern on

Nick’s thigh. “Okay,” he said gently. “I see all
shades of yellow, and your usual lemon, but no
purples.”

“Lemon? I’m lemon?” Nick laughed and rolled

onto his back. “Figures.”

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“Why? What’s wrong with me seeing you as

such a beautiful colour like summer sunshine in
an early morning.”

“Not a very masculine colour is it, lemon.”
“If it puts your mind at rest it is a strong

lemon,” Brody teased.

“There’s no such thing as a strong lemon, like

there’s no strong pale pink.” Nick yawned as he
spoke and closed his eyes.

“We should fuck,” Brody suggested. “This

might be our last night alive.”

“You want to fuck?” Nick’s eyes opened fast in

surprise.

“I’m an incubus, I always like to fuck.”
“Even with your injuries.” Nick reached up to

touch Brody’s face and the deep claw marks
covered in a poultice and bandages.

“They’re on my face, not my cock.”
“We can make love,” Nick insisted.
“Hmph, nope.” Brody traced a repeating

pattern on his chest and every so often his fingers
glanced over Nick’s nipple.

“That’s nice,” Nick said. “You can keep doing

that.”

“Did you know we don’t just feed on

emotions?” Brody said gently. “I can give you the
best orgasm of your life. You’d never have sex like
it again.”

The Incubus Agenda

“I’ll have sex with you when you think about it

less like a transaction and more like forever.”

“Hmm, not going to happen. This is a one fuck

only offer.”

“And this is my answer. No. Now go to sleep.”
Nick had to compartmentalise. Danger of death

and  torture  he  placed  in  one  box  and  mentally
closed  the  lid.  He  couldn’t  do  much  else.  The
wolves outside could get in, or they couldn’t, they
had  magic  or  they  didn’t,  Hestion  contacted
Joseph  or  he  was  unable  to.  Whatever  happened
he  could  face  it  better  with  sleep.  Shoving  the
whole  mates  thing  in  another  box  marked  with
tomorrow, his last thought  he had was that  Brody
was lying next to him and he’d fallen into an easy
slumber.

And for the first time in the years since he’d

moved to Glitnir to turn his hand at politics,
Nick’s wolf-self was at peace.

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Chapter Four

hen Brody first woke he was disoriented.
He blinked into the dark and attempted to

focus on something. At some point he had turned
in and was hugging Brody from behind. The wolf
was like a damn  furnace, and that  was one thing
Brody  liked  about  the  wolf  shifters  he’d  had  sex
with.  They  were  hot  and  wild  and  all  animal.  Of
course the sex never lasted long, Brody had never
yet  met  a  wolf  shifter  yet  that  wasn’t  impatient
and  rushed.  All  except  Declan  and  Connor.  They
appeared to give their respective partners enough
to keep smiles on their faces.

Maybe it was just him. For an incubus sexuality

and  sex  were  both  fluid  things.  Brody  had  lost
count of the number of supernaturals he had slept
with. Sleep being the wrong word there probably. He’d
even  spent  time  in  a  friends-with-benefit  thing
with  Levi,  which  still  caused  problems  between
himself  and  Declan.  Damned  wolf  was  a
possessive  little  thing.  Or  not  so  little.  Whatever.

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Wolves  were  generally  not  on  Brody’s  to  do  list
unless  he  was  desperate.  But  it  appeared  he  had
woken  up  this  morning  with  a  very  desperate
feeling. Inside him was a mess of colour but at the
core of it he could see something he’d never seen
before.  Black.  An  inky  darkness  that  was,  bit  by
bit, consuming the rest of him.

He should tell Nick. In the morning maybe he

would. But for now that desperation had him hard
and  wanting  and  he  needed  a  warm  body.  His
only option was the prickly snarly wolf in his bed.
Carefully  he  eased  away,  and  his  movement
allowed Nick to roll onto his back. The wolf shifter
was  only  dressed  in  thin-worn  and  very  loose
pants and with a flick of his wrist Brody managed
to  get  the  material  was  pulled  down  and  away
from  the  very  impressive  cock  that  lay  there  half
erect.

“Nice,” Brody murmured and licked an

experimental  stripe  from  base  to  tip.  Nick
wriggled a little and his cock swelled but he didn’t
immediately  wake  up.  Brody  couldn’t  recall  the
last  time  he’d  had  the  weight  of  a  wolf  shifter’s
cock in his mouth. Never let it be said they were
small  or  thin.  Nope.  A  satisfying  mouthful  was
guaranteed  with  even  the  smallest  shifters.  He
moved  so  he  was  positioned  better  in  case  Nick
woke  up  and  flailed  out  at  him  and  with  a  hand

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solid to Nick’s thigh he swallowed him down
whole.

It wasn’t obvious at what point Nick woke up

but he didn’t seem overly worried that an incubus
currently had his cock deep in his throat, and was
very close to dragging him to orgasm. In fact the
way he moved was enough to have Brody feeling
very proud of himself. Add in the occasional deep
growly-groan and Brody was chasing his own
orgasm. Nick’s hand touched his head.

“Close,” he warned giving Brody time to back

off.  Brody  wasn’t  having  any  of  the  backing  off
and he closed his lips firmly to swallow anything
Nick  gave  him.  Nick  arched  and  shouted  his
completion  as  he  came  in  spurts  down  Brody’s
throat. The taste of Nick was like nectar and for a
second  the  blackness  inside  of  him  was  pushed
back.

He released Nick’s cock and rolled over to face

away from the wolf. Abruptly the blackness was
back and climbing inside him. He felt Nick’s hand
on his back but couldn’t form words.

“We’ll talk in the morning,” Nick said firmly.

I’m not sure I’m going to make it to the morning.

The Incubus Agenda

Chapter Five

rody opened his eyes and realised he could
only see out of one. He closed them again

and  counted  back  from  ten  then  tried  again.  Still
the same. Panic welled in him, then he ruthlessly
forced  it  back.  The  cheek  bone  damage  was
probably  causing  swelling  and  as  such  it  was
pressing  on  something,  his  optic  nerve  or
something.  Instead  of  letting  the  panic  take  hold
he  rolled  and  snuggled  deeper  into  the  furnace
that was Nick. At some point in the night he had
gravitated towards the shifter again..

He was so cold. Near shivering. And he

couldn’t see properly.

Fuck.
They probably needed to make their way out of

this  place  to  the  nearest  medic,  or  actually,  if  he
was  being  honest  with  himself  he  either  needed
Joseph,  Phin  or  maybe  some  Levi  loving.  The
ability  to  share  whatever  was  in  his  body  with

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another incubus would maybe, possibly, lessen
the fact he was not well.

Not well being an understatement.
“Nick,” he forced out between dry lips.
Nick moved with a grumble and a growl then a

loud gasp.

“Your face,” Nick exclaimed.
“M'eyes,” Brody said.
“Fuck. You’re freezing.”
I know. The words didn’t actually leave his

mouth even though he tried.

The next time, and he wasn’t sure how long it

was, passed in a blur of pain and sleep and being
forced  to  drink  concoctions  that  Nick  promised
would  do  something.  Nick  also  promised  that
Joseph would be here soon and that he would fix
Brody.

Brody didn’t believe a word of that. He didn’t

want  Joseph  endangering  the  cause  by  dumping
himself  in  a  cabin  close  to  Glitnir  currently
surrounded  by  Retrievers  and  some  weird  man
with  magic.  Not  if  Brody  was  going  to  die
anyway.

“You’re not dying on me,” Nick said over and

over as he held Brody close. The heat of the wolf
was the only thing that stopped Brody shaking,
and it seemed that the foul potions were working
as he actually managed sleep.

“I need to do something. Stay here.”

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Not going anywhere.
“I’m adding some more blankets.”
I need more.
“If I don’t come back… I’ll come back… I won't

be long.”

Brody heard the words but he couldn’t speak

and the pain had increased to a level that he
couldn’t control. Blackness stole through his body
and being scared for what Nick said was the last
conscious thought he had before he couldn’t fight
the dark any more.

Nick strode to the front door. He didn’t give

any thought to what he was doing at that moment.
He only knew that up in the top room Brody was
dying and he couldn’t face being next to him and
watching him die without doing something real to
try and fix it all.

He stood on the porch and stripped, shifting to

his wolf, before sitting on his haunches. The
Retrievers had backed away from the magic wards
as Nick expected them to.

You said you could help. Nick concentrated hard

on pushing the thoughts out. He hoped to hell
there wasn’t this psychic link between the
Retrievers and himself.

I can. Is he very sick?
His breathing is shallow, he’s freezing cold and he’s

not able to talk.

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His cuts from the wolf are infected with cursed

magic.

Yes? And? Nick didn’t want magical barely-

there answers and comments, he wanted help.

He needs a magic that is stronger than mine. Joseph

Jameson. You need to get him to Joseph.

We’re trying but he’s not near here and we can't

exactly leave.

If you drop the barriers I could send him to Joseph.
Disappointment surged through Nick. That is a

trick.

Whatever I say will not change that thought you

have. You’re only chance is this. Bring Brody past the

wards and place him near me. He will be gone before
anything is spoken.

And me?
I cannot send two.
Nick lay on the wooden porch and placed his

snout on his paws. He didn’t have long to decide,
but outside the wards he would be faced with ten
wolf  shifters  who  wanted  him  dead.  Not  even
that, but the man with the magic didn’t say he was
going  anywhere.  Ten  Retrievers,  trained,
respected,  fierce  fighters,  would  be  on  him  in  an
instant backed up by death by magic.

I can give you a few seconds of distraction for you to

get behind the wards, but no more. Once this is done I
am no more use to the Underground.

You are with the Underground?

The Incubus Agenda

I have been for a thousand years, the man said

with another one of his enigmatic smiles.

Who are you?
The man shrugged. Many people. Joseph will

know me, as would Micah, Orophin, even. Call me
Methulan.

Methulan. Nick tested the name in his head and

it sounded like a soft whisper. Will you come inside

the wards with me? After you send Brody to Joseph?
Why am I even asking this? It sounds like I trust
him. How can I trust him? Are you using your magic
on me? He snarled the words.

Methulan tilted his head. Do you feel my magic in

you at all?

Nick rose and prowled in front of the main

door. He didn’t feel anything like magic coursing
through his body. The only power he felt was
from the wards and they were faint. No, I don’t.

It’s your choice little wolf. Methulan pointed out

with unforgiving accuracy.

I’m not little, Nick replied with irritation.

You were when I first saw you. Nothing more than a

pup. A baby. I apologise for my manner of speaking.

Nick backed into the door frame then turned

and leaped the stairs four at a time, skidding to a
halt  next  to  Brody  in  the  bed  then  shifting  in  a
smooth  motion.  He  grabbed  his  old  pants  and
forced  his  feet  into  his  boots  then  lifted  Brody
from the bed. His head lolled as Nick manoeuvred

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him out of the room and carried him gently down
the stairs. Brody was still breathing, but the traces
of red, like exposed veins, were brighter and there
were more of them, a network of agony travelling
from the wolf gouges in his face.

He stood ready on the porch and waited for the

moment  when  he  could  send  Brody  to  safety.
When  Methulan  walked  a  little  closer,  near
enough to touch the wards he nodded his head. A
couple  of  the  Retrievers  lifted  their  snouts  in
interest but not a single one moved from their spot
until  Nick  muttered  the  soft  words  to  drop  the
wards Joseph had set.

In a smooth move he placed Brody at

Methulan’s feet and watched as Brody vanished in
an instant. Then it was just him, and Methulan,
and ten pissed wolves who leaped to attack. All
hell broke loose.

Shouting the wards he had been taught he

called  on  the  residual  magic  that  Joseph  had  left
here  and  he  scrambled  back  to  the  house.  At  the
last  moment  he  yanked  Methulan  through  the
barrier with him. A single Retriever made it inside
with  them  and  Nick  watched  in  surprise  as  the
calm, quiet Methulan swung a wicked sharp knife
in a deadly arc, severing the wolf’s head from his
body.

Finally with adrenalin spiking in Nick he

slumped to sit on the steps. Beyond the barrier the

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remaining nine wolves prowled from side to side
and a couple of them shifted and spoke in
shadows.

Methulan held out a hand which Nick was

hesitant  to  shake.  What  if  Methulan  could  hurt
him?  He  looked  into  Methulan’s  storm-gray  eyes
and saw something in them, empathy? He  didn’t
know, but he shook Methulan’s hand firmly.

“He’s safe?” Nick asked. He wanted Brody to

be safe and for someone to be looking after him.

Methulan’s voice was as calm and reassuring as

his smile had been when they had been
communicating through thoughts alone. “He’s
with Joseph now. His life is in the hands of a much
better man than us.”

Nick let out a deep sigh. “So what now.”
“One way or another Joseph will come for us,”

Methulan reassured. “Or send someone.”

“Will the wards here hold them back now?”
“For long enough I hope.” He didn’t sound as

sure about that as he had been about Brody being
with Joseph.

Nick couldn’t expect anything else. No one

could know what would happen next.

“You and the incubus are fated companions, are

you not?”

Methulan spoke with an odd inflection in his

voice, like he was talking in an old fashioned
manner. Are you not, instead of aren’t you. Maybe

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he hadn’t been joking about the thousand year
thing. After all, wolf shifters lived a few hundred
years, why wouldn’t there be supernatural beings
who could live for a millennium?

“My wolf is insistent that Brody is what he

wants.” Nick attempted to be diplomatic.

“Then your wolf-self is right,” Methulan

offered gently. “I find that the wolves, the cats, the
bears, all of them have an uncanny focus on what
they need spiritually and physically.”

Nick realised they were still sitting on the cold

steps  and  the  prowling,  snapping,  snarling
Retrievers were something he wanted to block out,
not that he could hear them, but he could see the
temper  and  frustration  in  familiar  wolf
expressions. He stood up and extended a hand to
Methulan  who  took  it  and  when  they  closed  the
front  door  Nick  walked  into  the  kitchen  and
slumped against the table.

Seemed as if the adrenalin was subsiding and

abruptly his legs were like jelly.

He hoped Brody was okay, prayed that he was

with  Joseph  and  that  Nick  could  trust  Methulan.
Whoever  the  hell  Methulan  was,  ancient  warlock
or  spy,  Nick  was  determined  not  to  sleep  now
until they made it out safely.

If they made it out.

The Incubus Agenda

Chapter Six

oseph paced the long corridor. He reached the
end, reversed his direction then paced back the

other way. Each step was measured and accurate
to the tiles on the mosaic floor. The rhythm of his
steps was enough to settle him inside. Phin wasn’t
here. Phin was the healer, not Joseph.

Joseph had done everything he was supposed

to—used  the  right  spell  work,  the  correct  herbs
and  potions  but  it  seemed  as  if  nothing  was
working. If Phin was here he would just say that
Joseph  needed  to  be  less  impatient,  but  Phin
wasn’t here and Joseph was worried and anxious.

“You’ll wear through the tile,” Micah said from

the main entrance to the corridor.

“You’re the fifth person to say that to me,”

Joseph said. He didn’t want to be irritable with his
little brother but he knew he was on the edge here.

Micah held out a hand and stopped his steady

steps. Joseph bit off his irritation and instead
leaned back against the wall.

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“How long will this take?” Micah asked.
“He regained consciousness enough to say Nick

was in danger then he just passed out. I can't sit in
there with him watching him just die,” Joseph
said.

“You didn’t answer my question.”
“How long is a piece of string?” Joseph

muttered.

Micah pulled his brother in for a close hug then

without a word he pushed went into the room that
held a very sick incubus. Joseph watched Micah
touch him gently.

“He’s still icy cold. Can he feed at all?”
“His system is shut down and he can't do much

of anything. I wish Phin was here.” Sadness
washed over him. “Brody was a good man.”

“He is a good man. Don’t talk as if he were

dead,” Micah insisted. “We need to keep him alive
and well and find out what the hell happened at
Glitnir.”

Micah leaned over Brody. “A wolf scarred

him.”

“And there’s magic in the wounds that is really

dark. The same signature as Ludvik. And what the
hell does Nick have to do with all of this? Do you
think it was Nick who scarred him?”

“We’ll ask him when we get him back from

wherever he is.”

“If we ever get him back.”

The Incubus Agenda

“Your location spell isn’t working then?”
“Something is blocking me from connecting to

him. I can't see past this whole layer of fog and
magic. I can't track a fucking thing. We have to
wait until Brody wakes up again and hope he can
give us an idea of where the hell they were other
than the single word Obahn.”

“Connor suggested that if it was Nick who got

Brody out of Glitnir then he wouldn’t have got far
with Brody this sick. He and Declan left an hour
ago to check out the closest places to there.”

Both men turned when the door opened and

Levi stepped in. “How is he?”

Joseph sighed. Levi was the last person he

wanted to talk to. He couldn’t look the incubus in
the eyes and tell him that his friend and ex-lover
wasn’t getting better. How was Levi going to
forgive him for not being able to fix Brody?

“He’s stable,” was all Joseph could say.
“Declan told me he’s gone to locate Nick? What

does Nick have to do with Brody?”

“I have no idea, and he’s not exactly talking.”
“I want to try something I read about, between

incubi, if it’s okay.” Levi looked nervous. “See if I
can't connect with him and help him, if you don’t
think it will hinder his recovery?”

At that point Joseph was willing to try

anything. He nodded his agreement. But when
Levi stripped and climbed into bed with Brody

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suddenly he wasn’t so sure. Declan was territorial
where it came to Levi and Joseph knew there was
some back story between Levi and Brody.

“This had better not involve sex, or you getting

hurt,” Micah warned. “Otherwise Declan will kill
us.” Levi’s lover was a snarly, growly, jealous wolf
who viewed anyone who went near Levi with
anger.

“Just holding him is all. Declan has nothing to

worry about. You can go, I’ll look out for him.”

Joseph didn’t argue, he wanted the plausible

deniability of not witnessing anything Levi got up
to. Anyway he had a visitor to talk to and Reuben
was  left  dealing  with  the  representative  of  the
Feline  Guild.  Joseph  didn’t  have  to  have  abilities
to  feel  the  general  levels  of  angst  currently
twisting up Reuben.

As if Joseph didn’t have enough on his mind,

he  had  Reuben  up  in  his  face  about  war,  great
battles  and  a  destiny that  Joseph  was  locked  into
with his twin. Damn vampire was a liability with
his talk of aggressive tactics. He had been spelled
into  a  book,  the  Vampire  Book  of  Days,  for  a
millennium  and  his  life  experience  was  set  in
stone in the old ways. He may be the go-to person
for information on what had occurred all that time
ago,  and  what  was  happening  now,  but  Joseph
didn’t trust him.

The Incubus Agenda

Joseph hoped to hell they hadn’t exhausted

every means possible to them in the search for a
fresh start for all supernaturals. He didn’t want
the war that Reuben predicted.

They reached the large kitchen dining area

which is where all the big meetings happened and
Micah stopped him before he walked inside. “Is
there anything you want to talk about before we
go in?”

Joseph frowned. “About?”
“Our dreams.”
Joseph gripped his brother by the arm and

yanked him back into the shadows of the corridor.
“We said that was between us.” He spoke in little
more than a whisper. What was Micah doing
talking about this in an open corridor?

“It shouldn’t be. I shared what I was seeing

with Connor. He’s my partner and he needed to
know what the hell was going on with the
mumbling in my sleep.”

Joseph inclined his head towards where the

group  of  people  waited  for  his  words  of  wisdom
and guidance. Said words probably didn’t include
ramblings  about  dream  walking  with  his  twin.
They needed to lay out a logical path, discussions,
committees,  even  if  Joseph’s  vampire  soul  called
for action and fight.

“I told Phin,” Joseph admitted.
“And?”

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“He talked about the ancient prophesies and

said I should talk to Reuben. The writing about the
twins  uniting  the  vampire  nations  with  all  other
nations blah blah. The dream walking is something
that the book, or Reuben, says is natural between
the  vampire  twins.”  He  used  his  fingers  to  air
quote  vampire  twins.  He  wasn’t  exactly  ready  to
take  on  the  mantle  of the  great  fixer  of  all  things
broken  even  if  destiny  was  pushing  it  on  him.
“Come on, let’s get this meeting started.”

The two went direct to the large table and

Joseph  realised  that  the  friends  who  sat  there  all
appeared  to  have  their  own  seats.  He  hadn’t
noticed  before  but  as  he  took  his  seat,  the  one  at
the top of the table, it was natural for Micah to sit
on one side of him and Reuben the other. Connor
and  Declan’s  seats  were  empty,  and  Levi  was  in
with  Brody.  Simeon  had  sent  his  brother,  Jason,
and that was pretty much it. He just wished Phin
was  here.  He  missed  him  like  he’d  miss  a  limb.
Jason  looked  relaxed  but  Reuben  just  looked
pissed.

“How long does it take to mend an incubi?”

Reuben groused. “We’ve got places to be.”

Joseph ignored the first and focused on the

second. “What places?”

Jason leaned forward and rested his elbows on

the table. “Simeon asked me to tell you that the

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negotiations between the blood demons, the Feline
Guild and the elves is going well.”

“But?” Joseph knew there was a but in here

somewhere.

“The Feline Guild is balking at the idea of

pursuing diplomatic relations with the Werewolf
Coalition. And the blood demons are determined
not to be forced into forming any kind of alliance
with the vampires. Not to mention both vamps
and wolves are the bad guys in our little war here
by appearing intent on aligning with Ludvik in an
attempt to keep Glitnir in the Dark Ages.”

“Vampires created the blood demons as slaves

a  millennium  ago,”  Reuben  interrupted.  “Being  a
slave gives you every right to be justifiably pissed,
and  I’m  from  that  time.  And  as  to  the  vampires
being  on  the  wrong  side?”  Reuben  huffed.  “That
doesn’t  surprise  me,  we’re  a  bloodthirsty  race  in
all ways and full of righteous indignation”

“Regardless,” Jason said, “Simeon said a visit

from  you or Micah  would  be  a  positive  move,  to
show the blood demons what a new vampire can
be  like  and  maybe to reassure  them  that  you  can
convince the clans to your side. Already there are
rumours that some of the older blood demons are
crossing the Red Mountains and joining Ludvik at
Glitnir. Ludvik is promising them new lives away
from  their  slavery.  Even  with  Asher  in  place  as
King.”

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Joseph shot Micah a look to see his brother’s

expression. Micah looked as resigned as Joseph
felt.

“I’ll go,” Micah said simply.
“No, I’ll go,” Joseph argued.
“Jo, your place is here, I’m not discussing this

with you. Brody clearly didn’t manage to get any
rational discussion with Glitnir despite going
there under diplomatic agreements, so even
though we played it by the rules—“

Reuben interrupted. “Micah is right. It’s your

turn to look to Glitnir, Joseph. We need to remove
Ludvik’s power and control and bring around this
peace you so desperately want.”

“You just want me to go there to kill a few

blood demons to bring them to heel.”

Reuben crossed his arms over his broad chest in

a stubborn pose. “It worked before.”

“You’re like this ancient relic of how things

used to be aren’t you,” Micah commented.

“You don’t change something that works.”
Fuck, the damn vamp was stubborn. “Reuben,

your  ways  were  from  a  time  when  we  knew
nothing but war. Things are different now and to
avoid  war  we  don’t  need  your  expertise  as  a
soldier, but your knowledge of this mythical twin
thing,”  Joseph  said  immediately.  “And  some
freaking idea of what we should be doing with it.”

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Reuben wrinkled his nose. “I still don’t see

what is wrong with a few blood demon
beheadings.”

“Cassius was there.” The voice at the door had

Joseph twisting in his seat. Looking like death but
at least conscious, Brody was being held up by
Levi. “Cassius. At Glitnir.”

“You shouldn’t be up,” Joseph said. He moved

immediately to Brody’s side and helped Levi get
him seated.“

“I’m good,” Brody dismissed. “All three of

them, Cassius, Niceros and Ludvik.”

Disappointment flooded Joseph. His next hope

was to get Cassius at their table. As the leader of
the Vampire Council, with generations of Clan
Fletcher blood running in his veins he was a good
person to influence other vampires.

Micah cursed and Joseph agreed silently with

the sentiment.

“What happened at Glitnir, Brody?”
Micah fetched water and everyone waited

while Brody settled, took some sips then sat back
in his chair. He looked like death warmed over,
the scars on his face still open and weeping but at
least he was conscious.

“We need to get Nick,” Brody said

immediately. “I don’t know where he is.”

“You said that, but I can't see him,” Joseph

admitted, “it’s like something is blocking me.”

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“I can take you there—“
Levi looked at Brody in horror. “You’re not

going anywhere.”

Brody coughed and “Nick—“
“Will be fine. What the hell happened to you at

Glitnir, and why did Nick get involved?”

“Ludvik wasn’t interested in talking. He pulled

me in front of the Wolf Coalition and called me a
traitor.”  He  lifted  fingers  to  his  wounds  and
winced.  “Niceros  did  this,  although  I  provoked
him.”  He  shook  his  head  a  little.  “Thought  I  was
going  to  die  anyway.  The  wounds  were  bad,
infected with magic, I  don’t know. All I  know is,
Nick got me out of Glitnir and we used the nearest
safe house, then of course he came out that we’re
fated to be together blah blah.”

“You and a wolf?” Levi snorted. “That is rich,

after all the shit you gave me over Connor.” He
added a wry grin to soften the teasing.

“Well, whether we are or not I don’t know, well

I do know… look… can we talk about where Nick
is. I don’t know how you managed to pull me out
Joseph, but you need to get your mojo back to pick
up Nick.”

“I can't. I didn’t magic you here. You were sent

here.”

“Phin then?”

The Incubus Agenda

“Phin is in the Second Kingdom, and he would

have said.” Joseph tapped his temple to indicate
the connection he could form with Phin.

Silence fell as everyone looked to each other.

Some new player wielding magic was not a good
thing, although they did send Brody to Joseph and
spoke of being part of the Underground.

“How did whoever it was know where to send

you?”  Reuben  interrupted.  He  rose  quickly  and
gripped Brody’s shirt. Brody let out a yelp, a mix
of  surprise  and  pain.  “Did  you  betray  us?  Tell
someone  where  we  were?”  Reuben  placed  his
ever-present knife at Brody’s throat.

“Put the knife away,” Joseph ordered. “No one

betrayed anyone.” He waited until Reuben
reluctantly released Brody. “You okay?” he asked.

“Even injured I can handle a blood sucking

vampire,” Brody muttered. Then he appeared to
realise who he was talking to. “With respect to the
rest of the species,” he added.

“Did you manage to gather any intel?” Joseph

prompted.

“Only that Niceros was intent on killing me, as

was Ludvik. And Cassius was there.”

“I’ll leave for the Second Kingdom tomorrow, “

Joseph announced. He was excited that he’d get to
hold Phin again—it had been three  weeks now—
and  anxious  at  the  same  time.  What  was  he
leaving behind?

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Chapter Seven

ick stared out of the window for yet another
turn at what he and Methulan had begun to

refer  to  as  dog-watching  guard  duty.  Didn’t
matter  that  Nick  was  one  of  the  wolf  shifter
species, he felt apart from them. He was happy to
attempt  to  forge  some  kind  of  camaraderie  with
the frankly weird Methulan.

“You want a hot drink?” Methulan called from

the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Nick answered, distracted. Four of the

Retrievers  stood  to  one  side  and  were  shifted  to
their human selves. That in itself was a new thing,
very  much  out  of  the  ordinary.  Methulan  placed
the  drink  on  the  shelf  under  the  window  and
peered out into the darkness.

“Why are you frowning?” he asked. “Has

something changed?”

“The Retrievers come and go in pairs in a

pattern, but this is new.”

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“That’s standard to have small teams checking

out the perimeter,” Methulan offered as if Nick
should know that.

Nick silently cursed the fact he’d missed out on

the training for a life in politics. Knowing how to
strategize and understand the other side, and hell,
to  kill,  was  an  essential  skill  now  that  he  was  on
the  other  side.  He  watched  as  two  of  the  larger
wolves made their way out of the makeshift camp.

“You’re still frowning.”
“I’m not exactly trained in all of this,” Nick

said. He was feeling very much out of his depth.

Methulan huffed then sat in the chair on the

other side of the large room.

“Seems to me even as a politician you managed

to get the incubus out of the Glitnir dungeons, no
small feat. You then travelled miles, through
forest, and town, evading capture, until you made
it to this safe house. All this time you had a team
of Retrievers sent to bring you back. Then, you
had the instinct to help the incubus when he was
dying. Seems to me your wolf is a lot closer to the
surface than you ever let it be before.”

What Methulan said was right. Nick had never

felt as raw as he was at the moment. Like he could
shift and rip the throats out of anyone who came
near him. And as for the intense need he had to be
near Brody? Well, that was a new one.

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“Whose side are you on, Methulan?” Nick

asked suddenly.

Methulan crossed his legs at the ankles and slid

down in the large chair a little. Now it was his
turn to be frowning.

“I shouldn’t have to take sides,” he said finally.
Nick snorted. He thumbed to the wolves

outside the window. “You kind of need to,” he
said with disbelief. “Seems to me you chose your
side when you helped me and allowed Brody to
get away.”

Methulan sighed. “It wasn’t the right time. I

didn’t ask to be pulled this side of the wards, that
was your doing. I should be out there with them.”

Nick’s wolf pushed to the surface and claws

pushed  their  way  through  fingertips.  What  was
the  human  saying?  That  he  wasn’t  here  to  help
Nick? That he regretted the fact Nick dragged him
through  the  wards?  If  that  was  right,  then
Methulan was enemy.

“You’d better explain,” he said. He couldn’t

help the threat that filtered through his words.

Methulan looked up at him from where he’d

been staring into his cup. “You have no idea of the
sacrifice I made to form Glitnir, the loss of my true
love, all to fight a battle that should never be
visited again.”

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“You’re not making any sense,” Nick snapped.

“Are you for the Underground or for Ludvik and
his poisoned Glitnir?”

“Lekland doesn’t scare me,” Methulan shouted

instantly. His cup fell to the flagstone floor and
smashed into small pieces.

“Who?” Nick wasn’t following this at all, but

Methulan was stalking the room, agitated and
with a temper simmering very close to the surface.

“You’re the ones who let this happen,”

Methulan said. “Nearly a thousand years of
sacrifice is coming to nothing.”

He abruptly stopped his agitated movements

and tilted his head. “We have company,” he said.

Nick turned back to the window, so intrigued

by Methulan he had taken his eyes off the ball and
his concentration had lapsed on what was
happening outside.

“I need to go now,” Methulan said. His voice

was low and controlled.

“What?” Nick asked, in and around searching

for what the hell was going on. Only two
Retrievers stood on the grass outside the house,
the rest had vanished into the night.

“Fuck, you think they found a way through the

wards?” he asked. “You stay here, I need to shift
and go to the porch.” He turned to where
Methulan had been standing but he was fading in
front of Nick’s eyes. What the hell? Then a wave of

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magic  hit  him  so  hard  that  he  fell  to  the  floor
writhing in pain and with a spark of golden light
Methulan  vanished.  In  his  place  a  ring  of  fire
burned  then  quickly  died  leaving  a  single  word
seared  into  the  wood.  Arberfan.  Some  insistent
voice in his head told him he had to remember the
word  but  he  was  quickly  distracted  by  crashes
outside the cabin.

A fight, the two remaining wolves in a battle for

control with two other wolves. Nick wanted to get
closer,  to  see  what  was  happening,  was  this  an
internal scuffle? It was too dark to see properly, to
see  which  wolf  killed  which  wolf.  He  ran  to  the
porch and stood this side of the wards. This wolf
fight was to the death, one of the wolves who had
been guarding them dead, with his throat torn to
pieces.  Now  Nick  could  make  sense  and  he
inhaled the scents of battle through the wards. He
stripped  and  shifted  in  an  instant  and  with  no
thought  for  safety  or  self-preservation  he  dived
through the wards and into the night.

He instantly identified Declan and Connor, in

wolf form, dealing with the final wolf, and instinct
had Nick prowling the rest of the site, out as far as
the  final  dead  wolf.  He  counted  three  dead,  add
one outside the cabin killed by Methulan’s blade,
and the one remaining who fought. That would be
five  of  the  original  ten.  Declan  and  Connor  had
taken  on  Retrievers  and  come  out  the  other  side

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alive? For him? A final dying howl and the battle
in front of the cabin was done. Scrambling down
the bank Nick slid to a halt and shifted quickly. As
did Connor and Declan, head to toe in blood.

“We need to go,” Connor ordered.
“There are still five,” Nick said. He caught a

movement to one side and spun to face what he
counted as five wolves. The missing ones.

Declan stopped him shifting to fight with a

hand  to  his  arm.  “Five  offered  themselves  to
Connor  as  alpha,”  he  said.  Nick  looked  from
Declan to the wolves then over to Connor. Instinct
had him tilting his head to Connor. As did every
single  wolf  beside  him  as  they  shifted  to  human.
He’d never given in so gloriously to his wolf as he
did  now.  He’d  not  bowed  to  an  alpha  since  he
reached  adulthood,  never  put  stock  in  inherent
nature  or  the  old  ways.  This  felt  right.  Connor,
with  his  strong  beta  in  Declan,  had  freed  wolves
including himself.

“Time to go,” Connor said quickly. Then with a

quirk of his lips and a glint in his eyes he turned to
Connor. “You up for a run, politician?” There was
no censure in his tone, nothing to imply Nick had
chosen a path that Connor didn’t approve of.

“Brody?” So much was wrapped in that single

word.  Did  Connor  know  how  Brody  was?  Did
Brody  reach  help?  Did  Methulan  actually  send
him  to  where  help  could  be  found  or  was  the

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warlock human back on his side aligned with
Glitnir and with Brody back in prison.

“He’s safe, but very sick,” Connor said. “Shift,

we need to leave.”

Nick did as he was instructed and was utterly

determined to keep up with Connor and the rest.

They only stopped twice and that was to switch

direction and Nick watched as Connor and Declan
used  an  ancient  language  and  herbs  to  block
anyone tracking them. He assumed Joseph or Phin
had  something  to  do  with  that  but  he  was  too
exhausted  to  ask  Connor.  He  was  fit,  he  was  a
wolf, but he wasn’t a hunter like the seven shifters
he ran with.

When they reached the place that was the end

of this crazy run Nick’s first thought was for
Brody. He shifted to human and mindless of being
naked he rounded on Connor. “Where is Brody?”

Declan answered. “I’ll take you.” The rest of the

wolves shifted and stood ranged in a semi-circle
facing Connor. Every single one of them respectful
and quiet.

Nick forced the sight of the wolves from his

head  and  ran  after  Declan.  They  found  Brody
almost  instantly.  Supported  by  another  incubus
Nick recognised as Levi, Brody seemed frail but he
was  alive.  Nick  reached  him  and  yanked  him
away from Levi and into his own hold. Strong, he
gripped  Brody  and  drank  in  the  weight  of  his

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man.  Glancing  to  his  side  he  saw  a  door  and  in
seconds  he’d  half  lifted  Brody  through  the  door
and  into  a  small  room.  He  yanked  the  door  shut
behind  him  then  reverently  placed  Brody  on  his
feet, settling him to stand and checking he wasn’t
going to fall over.

“What happened?”
“How did you?”
They spoke as one then spent the next few

seconds  playing  the  ‘after  you’  game  until  Nick
couldn’t  help  himself.  He  held  him  close  and
kissed him. With a laugh Brody pushed him away.

“You taste of blood, and your aura is bright

red.” He frowned. “Is that temper or lust?” he said
out loud. “Your colours confuse me.”

“I am so happy to see you alive,” Nick said

gently. He gripped Brody by the upper arms and
stared  straight  up  into  Brody’s  brown  eyes.  His
other half looked tired, exhausted even, and pale,
and  the  marks  on  his  face,  the  deep  scores  from
Niceros’s  claws,  hadn’t  faded,  or  disappeared
entirely.  In  fact  they  still  looked  puffy  and  there
were  tendrils  of  red  that  remained  wrapped
around his right eye. “Are you okay?”

“Joseph tried everything to reverse the injury,

but it was that and Levi sharing himself with me
that have me actually standing upright.”

Nick couldn’t help himself. His wolf was

furious. He growled low in his throat. “What do

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you mean, shared himself? Do I need to rip his
throat out?”

Brody’s eyes widened comically. “No. Hell,

you’re still on that whole fated mates thing?
People can touch me you know.”

“Not if they want to live,” Nick muttered.
“When I say shared, I mean, I fed from his bank

of emotions.”

“No fucking involved?” Nick asked crudely.
“Nick, hell, this isn’t the Dark Ages.”
“Was there fucking?” Nick insisted. He sniffed

Brody,  but  there  was  still  no  discernable  scent.
Freaking incubi and their  no-scent crap. His wolf
demanded  that  they  get  to  the  down  and  dirty
now and Nick pushed it down ruthlessly.

“No. For God’s sake. I just fed.”
Nick huffed his disapproval. “I’m here now,

you can feed from me.”

Brody sighed then let out a soft curse. “Feeding

from you won't help me,” he offered. “I need a
special kind of emotion, a connection—“

Nick shoved him gently. Not enough for him to

stumble but enough to stop him talking.

“Now,” he said. “Try it. How do we do this?”
Brody pointed down at Nick’s erection, which

wasn’t something going away very soon. “Not
with that,” he said. Then he shook his head. “I’m
not feeling so good. You need to take me back to
Levi so I can…” he stopped talking and coughed.

The Incubus Agenda

The  human  part  of  Nick  panicked  and  he  even
opened  his  mouth  to  call  for  help  as  Brody
stumbled  and  Nick  had  to  support  him.  But  the
wolf in him, the part of him that was instinct and
need  and  feral,  gently  had  them  both  sit  on  the
floor. Nick pulled apart Brody’s shirt and touched
his hand to Brody’s beautiful skin.

“Do it.”
“I need Levi.”
“You’re so freaking stubborn. It doesn’t hurt to

try. Do it.”

“Nick—“
“Do it Brody. Now.”

RJ Scott

Chapter Eight

rody allowed his body to relax against Nick.
There wasn’t any point to this. He needed a

special  kind  of  fire  inside  him  that  only  another
incubus could give him. A purity of emotion that
built  inside  an  incubus  and  formed  the  core  of
them. This wolf intrigued him, and yes, they were
good in bed, but he wasn’t as convinced as Levi by
the whole fated mates thing. He’d seen it happen,
he couldn’t deny it existed, Levi and Declan were
a  connection  Brody  had  never  seen  before  but
when  he’d  connected  with  Levi  he’d  seen  love
inside the man for the wolf who was his true other
half.

Was it possibly Brody would have one of those?

A mythical mate who was the true other side of
him? Was it Nick? Nick’s wolf certainly seemed to
think so.

Concentrating on pulling whatever fragments

of emotion out of Nick that he could, Brody closed
his eyes.

The Incubus Agenda

“Are you okay?” Nick asked him. His voice,

soft and caring, caused Brody to open his eyes and
look  up  at  the  wolf  shifter  cradling  him  so
carefully. The scarlet of lust or temper had died a
little  to  be  replaced  by  the  orange  glow  of
contentment  speckled  with  faint  sparks  of  gold.
He missed the pale yellow that was Nick.

But gold? Gold meant things that Brody wasn’t

ready  to  accept.  Fated  mates  were  the  old  ways.
Gold  was  love,  and  Nick  couldn’t  love  him.
They’d only just met. At least there was no silver
and white which was mated and final.

“I’m fine,” Brody answered gently. “Close your

eyes and let me concentrate.”

“Okay. Go for it.” Nick did as he was told, then

his eyes opened again? “And?” he asked.

Brody stifled a laugh. His wolf was impatient.
Wait. His wolf?
Brody screwed his eyes shut for an instant.

Then in a smooth move he reversed their positions
so that Nick ended up lying on the floor on his
back and Brody straddled him.

“Shhhh,”

said,

irritated.

“I

can't

concentrate.”

He was lying. He never had difficulty with

concentrating,  but  Nick  was  a  bundle  of  energy
wrapped  up  with  nerves  and  impatience  and
Brody had to push through that. He attempted to
ignore  Nick’s  erection  trapped  under  him  and

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pressing  against  his  own.  And  yes,  he  had  a
freaking  erection,  but  that  was  just  biology.  He
was up against a  hot shifter, and he  was good at
the sex thing. Sex was good. Lots of vitality could
be gotten from sex.

Nick wriggled a little but Brody shook his head.

“Stop moving.”

Then he placed both hands flat on Nick’s chest,

sliding them up close to Brody’s heart. The crinkle
of  hair  beneath  his  fingers,  and  the  feeling  of  his
nipples  was  enough  to  have  Brody  near  begging.
Maybe  they  should  just  have  sex.  Sex  worked  to
recharge. A  cutting agony  sliced through his face
where  the  injuries  refused  to  heal.  Seems  like  his
body wasn’t up with the whole fucking thing.

Instead he looked deep into Nick’s startling

blue  eyes,  so  rare  for  a  wolf  shifter  when  they
were normally  some  variation of brown, and lost
himself  in  the  depths  of  them.  The  connection
wasn’t instant, it wasn’t fireworks or other fabled
true  mate  explosions  and  disappointment  slid
through Brody. He could admit some part of him
wanted to believe Nick’s announcement.

No. This was slow. A trickle of orange and gold

moved  between  them,  swirling  in  the  air  and
wrapping  warmly  around  Brody’s  body.  He
focused in on the colours and saw the pale lemon
and  smelled  the  scent  of  a  fall  day.  There.  That
was  beautiful.  He  sighed  at  the  sight  of  it  and

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unconsciously  shifted  himself  a  little  so  that  his
hard length was aligned with Nick’s. The sigh that
left  Nick’s  mouth  was  perfect,  a  soft  sound  that
accompanied the lemon, of settled calm and peace.

Brody couldn’t just focus on the colours that

were soft, he needed the strength of scarlet temper
and icy blue hate, the extremes of emotion would
bridge the gaps in his soul that were damaged. He
searched for hate but there was none. Not for him,
not  for  this.  He  prodded  for  temper,  but  Brody
was pliant and smiling up at him. Silver speckled
his blue eyes, and Brody peered closer. The silver
of purity was something he had never seen before.
He  realised  he  was  moving  in  a  dance  as  old  as
time,  a  rhythm  of  pressing  and  sliding  his  cock
against  Nick’s.  He  was  feeling  strong,  clean,  and
he turned his vision inwards. Black had taken up
residence  inside  him,  although  the  only  other
person who knew that was Levi. He focused in on
the  black  and  could  view  it  slowly  diminishing,
pushed  back  not  by  the  extremes  like  hate  and
lust, but by the pale lemon that was Nick.

“Your face,” Nick murmured. He lifted a hand

and  traced  the  scars  left  by  the  claws.  The  touch
had  Brody  flinching,  but  not  in  pain.  Intensity  of
touch along with the colours and the black inside
him dwindled to nothing and finally it was gone.
Orgasm  built  inside  him,  slowly  the  colours  of

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passion and love became stronger, but even in
them was the pale lemon, and white.

Oh hell, no. White. The colour of fate twisted

with silver could only mean one thing. His days of
multiple partners, of being with anyone else were
over.

Nick writhed under him. “I’m going to… help

me… so close.”

Brody moved his hand and pushed aside pants

and  material  until  he  could  wrap  it  around  the
two  of  them  as  best  he  could.  With  clumsy,
imprecise, needy motion he sensed they were close
but it was Nick who was coming first, and arching
up  into  Brody’s  grip  he  shouted  his  completion.
This  precipice  was  terrifying,  could  Brody  allow
himself to fall. Who would catch him?

He stared into the blue eyes.
“Come for me,” Nick demanded.
That was enough. With the feeling he was

flying he took the leap and a lifetime of his desires
was  in  this  one  orgasm.  Coming,  he  arched  back
then  collapsed  against  Nick.  He  was  exhausted,
overwhelmed  and  felt  emotion  tight  in  his  chest.
His hypersensitive skin tingled as Nick ran hands
up and down his back.

“Hey,” he said softly.
“Hmmm?” Brody waited for whatever Nick

was going to come out with.

The Incubus Agenda

“Your face, the scars, and the red lines. It’s all

faded, still there but faded. You know what that
means don’t you?”

Brody groaned. He knew what Nick was going

to  say,  something  about  fated  mates  and  staying
together  forever.  Brody  was  alternating  between
being scared and thrilled at the prospect.

Nick chuckled. “Told you so,” was all he said.

Bastard.

RJ Scott

Chapter Nine

rody stared into the mirror in the bathroom
and frowned. Nick was right. They’d gotten

back  to  the  room  that  Brody  had  been  using  and
needed to get ready to attend a full meeting, or as
full  a  meeting  as  could  be  managed  considering
how  everyone  was  spread  out.  They  had  thirty
minutes to shower and that was it really.

Nick came up behind him and placed his hands

on Brody’s hips. Being shorter than Brody had
him peering just over Brody’s shoulder.

“See, mostly gone,” Nick said gently. “Not that

I don’t think scars are cool, but I do prefer you this
way.”  He  chuckled  and  stepped  closer.  He  was
hard again, the length of him nestling in the cleft
of  Brody’s  ass.  “Thing  is.  You  did  all  that  colour
stuff,  lemon  and  gold,  or  whatever  you  were
mumbling when your eyes went all kind of weird
and white.”

“Colour stuff,” Brody murmured. “You don’t

know the half of it.” In actual fact he still felt like

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his insides had been scrubbed clean—in fact he’d
never experienced anything like this.

“So you say you’re coming around to the fated

mate idea, with this gold and the silver and white,
so from your point of view you’ll never be with
another woman or man again. Right?”

Brody smiled at Nick’s serious expression.
“No. You’re pretty much it for me now.”
A look of satisfaction passed over Nick’s face,

followed quickly by a burst of scarlet lust in a halo
around him.

“Thing is,” he began, “my wolf is a little

pissed.”

“Because?” Brody knew exactly where this was

going and he realised he craved the connection as
badly as he knew Nick’s wolf needed it.

“I need to get my wolf on,” Nick said. His touch

moved  from  hip  to  ass  cheek  then  up  to  his
shoulder. “We can't go to any meeting before I do
this,  or  I’ll  rip  them  to  bits.  Levi  mostly  and
Declan  won't  like  that.”  He  glanced  around  him
and  Brody  didn’t  have  to  be  a  genius  to  know
what  he  was  looking  for.  He  reached  out  and
grabbed one of the creams Joseph had been using
on his scars. Looking at the words on the front, he
wasn’t shocked to see  his first pick was probably
the best thing for the job, an oil infused with herbs.

“At least my ass will smell good,” he joked as

he passed it back to Nick.

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“Are you sure?” Nick asked. Brody saw the

pale sage of impatience and the need to go right
now and he knew he didn’t have it in him to stop
this. It was what he wanted.

“As long as we switch, wolfy,” he murmured.
“Any time.”
The first touch of oil was cold but it warmed

and by the time Nick had stretched him enough to
make it easy, Brody was needy and hard and near
begging.  When  Nick  crooked  his  finger  and
tapped  gently  inside  it  was  nearly  game  over  for
Brody  but  he  managed  to  hold  back  by  not
touching  himself.  If  he  wrapped  a  hand  around
his  cock  with  Brody  inside  him,  if  only  with
fingers, he would last ten seconds at the longest.

“Can I go inside?” Nick asked politely. Brody

nearly laughed at the man whose wolf was
probably inside demanding to be let out for the
fucking side of this.

“Please,” was all he said.
Nick pressed inside, the slide was so smooth,

and there was no pain, nothing but a momentary
press of fullness that had Brody gasping and
screwing his eyes shut tight.

“Am I hurting you?”
In answer Brody merely pushed back against

the thrust and opened his eyes until he could look
directly at the colours swirling around them. So
beautiful. White light with silver, scarlet, gold,

The Incubus Agenda

lemon, a rainbow of oranges and reds, stunning.
He didn’t last long, wanted to be joined and hell,
claimed.

At the single moment when he was coming, he

felt Nick’s bite. A sting of sensation then Nick was
coming inside him.

“I’m falling in love with you,” Brody

whispered. “I want to love you so bad, is this
wrong? If you left me for a day I would be lost.”

“You and me,” Nick groaned as he arched in

ecstasy.

“You and me,” Brody whispered. “The Gods

help us both…

RJ Scott

Chapter Ten

ick insisted on holding Brody’s hand as they
walked into the kitchen dining area for the

meeting.  Brody  wasn’t  arguing  and  Nick’s  wolf
needed that  connection, although any  wolf in the
room would know they were together. And there
were  a  lot  of  wolves.  The  ones  from  the  house,
plus  himself,  Declan  and  Connor.  Declan  and
Connor had their back to him and were talking to
the five new recruits, who then left the kitchen by
the  back  entrance  to  who  knew  where.  Nick  was
sure  they  would  be  told  eventually  what  the  hell
was going on.

Levi left the table and pulled Brody into a close

hug. “Good to see you well,” he said.

“Thank you for what you did, taking some of

the black from me.”

Levi shrugged. “The magic was nothing inside

me when I have Declan here to help me destroy
it.”

The Incubus Agenda

“But Declan wasn’t here when you first took

some. You put yourself in danger. What if he’d
never come back?

Levi glanced over at Declan and smiled. “I

knew he was coming home.”

Nick put two and two together and in response

he held out a hand which Levi shook. He waited
for the familiar need to kill Levi for being  an old
sexual  partner  of  Brody’s  but  nothing  came.
Seemed  like  Nick’s  wolf  was  content  at  the
moment.

“Thank you,” he said to Levi. “For doing

whatever you did.”

“Joseph did most of it,” Levi said with a shrug.
“Where is Joseph? I want to thank him too.”
Levi smiled. “He’s on some kind of freaky mind

call with Phin he’ll be here in a couple minutes.
Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

In actuality, given Phin wasn’t here, there was

only one other person at the table that Nick didn’t
recognise.  A  tall  dark-haired  vampire,  with  long
wild  curly  hair,  who  appeared  to  have  a
permanent scowl. He carried so many weapons on
his  person  he  must  surely  be  holding  his  body
weight in knives and swords. And hell, was that a
bow  and  arrows  on  his  back?  The  vamp  was  a
walking  army  of one, and  as  he  was  at  the table,
he must be important. Although he wasn’t sitting,

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he was absolutely still and silent and staring at
Nick like he had two heads or something.

Crossing to the man, still holding Brody’s hand,

he introduced himself.

“I know who you are,” the warrior said simply.

“I knew your family well.”

“I don’t have a family. Not much of one other

than  Declan  and  he’s  my  third  cousin  twice
removed  or  something.”  He  must  mean  Declan.
Nick’s  parents  had  died  a  long  time  ago  and  he
didn’t  have  siblings,  or  even  aunts  and  uncles
come to think of it.

“Your ancestor, and Declan’s, the sire who

began your line. I knew him.”

Nick knew vampires lived long years, but

tracing back connections like that would mean
several hundred years. What was it with him and
Methulan handing out all this longevity nonsense.

“Nine hundred and eighty four,” Warrior-

vamp said simply. “Yes, I’m old. No, it isn’t
because I am a vampire and I don’t age like wolf
shifters. Yes, I was magicked away by trickery and
yes, you should sit down so that all this can be
explained.”

Thus he was dismissed and he allowed himself

to be led to the table and Brody encouraged him to
sit.

“What was all that about?” Nick asked Brody.

The Incubus Agenda

“Long story short. Way, way back,a Kappa

called Lekland, who we believe is the same person
now  called  Ludvik  Peitrol,  had  dark  perverted
magic.  He  spelled  Reuben  here  into  the  Vampire
Book of Days, nearly a millennium ago. Turns out,
as  per  the  prophesy,  vampire  twins,  in  this  case
our  own  Joseph  and  Micah,  were  enough  to
release  Reuben  and  he  is  now  here  to  lead  us  in
some glorious battle where we win and the Third
Kingdom is created.”

Nick stared at Brody. Okay. That all sounded

just a little bit out there. He glanced over at Reuben
who  stared  directly  at  him.  His  wolf  whined
inside him, a strange and new noise that Nick had
never sensed before. He didn’t think wolves even
whined  in  that  weird  almost  respectful,  yet
somehow  fearful  way.  He  quickly  looked  away
from Reuben and was never more thankful to see
Brody smiling at him.

“He’s kinda intimidating,” Brody whispered.
Nick’s wolf immediately settled. If Brody felt

the  same  way  then  that  was  okay.  They  sat  in
silence for a while waiting for Joseph and Micah.
Nick  had  an  awful  lot  to  say  and  hoped  Joseph
knew  who  the  hell  Methulan  was  and  why  he’d
vanished  and  why  the  hell  he  had  such  a  fluid
way  of  switching  sides  at  the  drop  of  a  hat.  And
what  exactly  was  the  magic  used  that  meant
Brody hadn’t healed, and where did Nick fit in to

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all of this. He thought back over his time with
Methulan and was comforted by the strong grip of
Brody’s hand.

“Wait,” he said in a loud whisper suddenly as

something occurred to him. “Lekland. You said
the name Lekland.”

“Yeah, Kappa, spelled Reuben, we think he’s

still alive and is now Ludvik.”

“Methulan mentioned that name.”
“Who?”
“Methulan, the warlock who—“
His words vanished as he was yanked back and

up against the wall with Reuben’s hand around
his neck and Reuben’s clear jade eyes stormy with
temper.

“What did you just say?” he demanded.
Dimly he could hear shouting but his vision

was blackening. Fuck, this vamp was strong.

“Methulan…” he choked out…

“Said

Lekland…” he couldn’t manage any more, but a
louder shout, Joseph? Phin? had Reuben releasing
his hold and Nick fell to the floor in a heap.

“You can't do that!” Joseph shouted.
“He spoke of Methulan,” Reuben shouted just

as loudly.

“Strangling him won't get him to explain.”
Brody helped him to stand then stood between

him and Reuben. Incubi never looked dangerous

The Incubus Agenda

but they could turn emotions back on attackers
and have them on their knees in seconds.

Joseph blocked Reuben as he moved back

towards Nick.

“No,” he ordered. “Sit the fuck down.”
Reuben stared directly at Nick past Brody and

narrowed his eyes.

“Explain,” he said. Then he softened the words.

“Please,” he added. “Please," he repeated, his
voice broken. He sat down in the chair that Joseph
indicated and somehow he looked less warrior
and more wounded vamp.

Everyone sat down and Nick explained exactly

what had happened at the cabin. Dragging his
protector through the wards, the conversations
that they’d had.

“And he identified himself as Methulan,”

Reuben asked firmly. “You’re sure.”

“Methulan. Yes.”
“Describe him.”
“Human, tall, white blond hair, gray eyes,

although when you got close one eye was tinged
blue at the center, the other green.”

Joseph cursed and dimly Nick realised he and

Micah were talking. His focus was on Reuben.
“You know him?”

“If he is Methulan, then he was my lover, the

one that Lekland wanted so much that he drove us
apart, spelled me into a book and trapped me for a

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millennium. Lekland cursed me, and cursed
Methulan to an eternal life on his own. Please, tell
me…” he stopped and there was visible pain in
his expression. “Was he well?”

Of all the questions Nick expected it hadn’t

been this one.

“He was well,” Nick murmured. “Strong,

determined. A human with magic. He saved
Brody by sending him back and he stayed with me
until help arrived.”

“We’ve seen him in our dream sharing,” Joseph

said. Everyone looked at him and Micah. The
twins sat silently and uncomfortable.

Reuben leaned forward in his seat. “You never

mentioned you were dream walking,” He accused.

“It’s only been in the last week,” Joseph

defended. “We didn’t think it meant anything, but
now, with what Nick just said.” He glanced at his
twin, and Micah nodded. Clearly there was some
kind of agreement between them. “The man we
shared in our dreams is the man who’s murder
Micah was accused of. Ethan Harris.”

“A name he used,” Reuben said softly. “You

said he died?”

“Murdered by someone who made it look like a

vampire had killed him,” Micah confirmed. “We
suspect that it was Ludvik.”

“Methulan didn’t die. See, he can't die, not all

the time I am alive. His life is entwined with

The Incubus Agenda

mine.” Reuben dropped his head in his hands. He
looked defeated. “Did he say anything? Mention
me?” he mumbled into his palms.

“He said very little,” Nick was honest. “He

observed  a  lot.”  Then  it  hit  him—he  needed  to
remember  something.  “There  was  a  word.”  He
closed his eyes to attempt to recall what had been
written on the wall. Brody squeezed his hand and
Nick  opened  his  eyes  to  look  at  his  lover.  The
room melted away and it was just the two of them.

“Remember the word for Reuben.”
Nick nodded. The fire in the grate jogged his

memory of letters burned into wood.

“Arberfan,” he said softly. “A.R.B.E.R.F.A.N.”
Reuben inhaled sharply and Nick looked

directly at him.

“Does this mean anything,” Joseph prompted.
Reuben appeared to have been struck dumb

and it was Micah who spoke. “Arberfan was the
place where the final battles were held, between
the vamps and the elves. Before Glitnir. The place
that the Vampire Book of Days was created.”

Reuben nodded. “The place where Methulan

and  I  became  no  more,”  he  said  agonized.  He
stood and placed his hands firmly on the table. “I
knew  it  would  come  to  this,”  he  said.  “This  is
where  everything  comes  full  circle.  Way  back
when  human  and  incubi  first  came  together  as
friends,  they  knew  that  one  day  it  would  be  a

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hybrid of all of us that would finish this. Back at
Arberfan we all thought it was Methulan, and we
imagined that Arberfan was the place for new
beginnings. We just didn’t count on Lekland’s lust
for Methulan.”

“Wait. Rewind. Incubi and human hybrid?

What do you mean?” Brody said. “I don’t
remember anything like that in my history
books?”

“You wouldn’t. Only one person was born to a

human  mother  and  an  incubus  father,  Methulan,
and  he  had  no  children.  He  was  born  with  so
much  magic  that  no  one  had  seen  the  like  of  it
before. An incubi-human would be the one to lead
us,  a  strong  man  with  magic  and  compassion.  A
good  man.  All  this  and  he  wanted  me.  Me.”
Reuben  said  it  like  he  couldn’t  believe  what  he
said. “He was my lover, my friend.”

Silence fell over the small group. Nick couldn’t

recall ever hearing anyone so sad.

Finally it was Micah who asked the one

question that needed an answer. “Arberfan,” he
said. “Where is that? I’ve pretty much exhausted
all routes and never found an actual place.”

“In the Red Mountains between the Second

Kingdom and Glitnir,” Reuben said softly. “I have
no idea what is left there.”

The Incubus Agenda

Everyone looked to Joseph, as ultimately it

would be him that would decide what next but the
mood in the room was determined and focused.

Joseph nodded. “Seems like Arberfan is a place

we need to check out.”

Reuben stood. “I will leave immediately.”
Nick didn’t hesitate, he had a connection to

Methulan now, and he knew exactly what he was
doing next. Brody squeezed his hand in silent
agreement.

“I’m with Reuben,” Nick said.
“I’m going with Nick,” Brody said.

RJ Scott

Epilogue

euben constantly forged ahead with a fixed
purpose, which left Nick and Brody behind

as they travelled to the Red Mountains. The three
travelled quietly and quickly and reached the
Mountains in four days without much sleep.

“Do you really think he remembers where it is

after all this time?” Nick said out loud.

“I hope so.”
Surefooted, Reuben followed a path that Nick

couldn’t  see  and  finally  he  stopped.  Nick  and
Brody caught up with him and over a peak a flat
area  lay  before  them.  The  space  at  first  appeared
empty  and  silent.  But  then  he  saw  him.  In  the
centre of it all a man with long blond hair stood.
Methulan. Too far away to call, Reuben obviously
decided  running  was  the  best  option  and  he
sprinted down towards the man.

Nick sat down on the nearest rock and pulled

Brody with him. “It’s too private to watch,” he
said gently. This reunion after nearly a thousand

The Incubus Agenda

years  would  be  unbearable  to  see.  They  turned
their  backs  long  before  Reuben  and  Methulan
would meet in the middle.

Grasping hands they looked up at the

mountains. Nick tried to imagine a thousand years
apart knowing your lover was still there and
couldn’t touch you, or talk to you. It was an
impossibly large thing to think.

“This is the start of the end of this war isn’t it,”

Brody said softly. “Here at Arberfan. The last
stand. Either way, live or die, something has to be
done.”

“Freed Blood Demons, a new Kingdom? Yeah,”

Nick agreed. “Something has to be done.”

“What will we do now?”
“Wait for Methulan and Reuben? Go on to

Simeon. I never expected it to be this easy to find
Arberfan.”

“The final stand,” Brody murmured. “Not

much time left then.”

Nick pressed one of Brody’s hands between his

and nodded. “But whatever time we have together
before  the  end?  We  are  living  every  second  of  it
together.  Right?”  He  knew  he  sounded  unsure
and needy for something, anything, from Brody.

In answer, Brody leaned forward and pressed

an achingly beautiful kiss to Nick’s lips.

“Agreed.”

About the Author

I am a writer of male/male novels and short
stories.

From cowboys to bodyguards, and firemen to

billionaires  I  write  dramatic  and  romantic  stories
of  love  and  passion  between  men.  My  first  real
love will always be the world of romance and my
goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a
troubled road to reach happiness, and more than a
hint of happily ever after.

I am the author of the award winning books,

The  Christmas  Throwaway  and  Oracle.  I  am
known for both my Texas series charting the lives
of  Riley  and  Jack,  and  also  my  Sanctuary  series
following  the  work  of  the  Sanctuary  Foundation
and the people it protects.

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