Administrative Control

Chapter Four

Jinx kept her posture rigid, watching as hired goons tore apart the room before her. The club was her baby. She’d poured so much of herself into it that it was hard to hold back tears as the men continued to knock down shelves, sending liquor bottles crashing to the floor. They’d already broken a fair number of the chairs and tables in an attempt to show off just how strong they were. Apparently total wreckage somehow equaled badass in their minds.

All she’d really gotten out of the ordeal thus far was that they were dicks. Her girls flinched and huddled in behind her. Thankfully, she’d sent her male workers away, telling them they were needed at another location for the evening. Her boys would have exacerbated the ordeal that possibly could have led to a body count. As it was, the goons were simply making a good deal of noise and breaking a lot of items. They’d not hurt anyone.

Yet.

Jinx had tried earlier to get her girls to go too. None of them had bit on the night at the spa that she’d offered. It was as though they’d sensed trouble brewing. And trouble had certainly bubbled over.

The silent alarms had been tripped. Since Jinx and her establishment were hardly normal, the alarms did not notify the local authorities. What would have been the point?

Come quick and then freak the hell out at the sight of paranormals.

No. That would never do.

The alarms notified her and her own private security. They’d come soon enough. Even though she’d told them earlier that she was having the alarms tested and to ignore any possible alerts.

They were smarter than that. They’d know she was bluffing—trying to keep them all safe. When word reached her of the pending raid on her establishment, she’d done all she could to keep her people out of harm’s way.

Hopefully her security detail would arrive after Helmuth’s men were done trying to scare her by destroying her club. Her security team was headed up by a rather testy alpha male shifter and he’d kill first and ask questions later. This would only lead to more bloodshed. Helmuth was into some dark and twisted shit now. More than his normal and Jinx didn’t want the wrath of it brought down on her people.

As it stood, Helmuth was annoyed with her putting her nose into his affairs. If his men ended up dead after paying her a visit, she’d have a mess like the one on the docks and she didn’t want that.

Helmuth’s goons had been sent to scare her because she’d dared to put a kink in his plans and foil his attempt to kidnap two people. He was pissed and this was his way of making that known to her.

She centered her gaze on Jasper. He was behind the bar and the ringleader of the current group. He moved in Helmuth’s tight inner circle. While he wasn’t Helmuth’s right-hand man, he certainly had the boss’s ear and blessing to be muscle when called for. He was a grade-A asshole who let power go to his head.

She shuddered at the thought of Helmuth. He’d fooled her upon his arrival in Seattle years ago. He’d entered her club looking for the same thing everyone else was who crossed her threshold—sex. As a succubus, Jinx excelled at sex. Her kind required sexual energy and sex to live and survive. This wasn’t a job to her or her people. It was a way to live. Something they needed. And they were good at what they did.

Very good.

No one had left unhappy yet and Jinx had been running sex establishments for centuries. It was easy since she’d basically stopped aging around the age of twenty-five. The more years she had under her belt, the more things changed for her. She’d actually cut back dramatically on taking clients years ago, feeding off the energy in the club instead. She’d made an exception with Helmuth and foolishly let her guard down with him. Once she realized what he truly was—a sick bastard—it was too late. He’d wormed his way into her life.

“So, you like helpin’ the enemy,” Jasper said snidely, pushing more bottles to the floor. He stared out from beady eyes. Five scars lined his right cheek. A sign he’d lost at least one fight in his past with a shifter male. She couldn’t hide her smile. She’d seen him without a shirt before and knew the damage went far beyond his face. Normally, she wouldn’t have gloated at someone else’s pain, but Jasper was a special kind of crazy. He’d been banned from her club years prior for his rough treatment of her girls.

Now he thought himself above the rules governing her place.

He held out a broken bottle in a threatening manner. “Doesn’t look like fucking faeries are around here to lend a hand to you though, does it?”

The faerie in question was Eadan Daly. He was probably tucked away in his home on the east coast, rocking the world of his new bride Inara. The two had come across Jinx’s radar recently and she’d found herself aiding them when she knew it would be in her best interest to remain neutral—as she always did. But there was something about young love that she couldn’t turn her back on.

The tides in the supernatural community were changing and she’d not liked a lot of what she was seeing. Helmuth had paired up with other sick bastards and had grander schemes on the horizon.

Plans that turned her stomach.

As conditioned as she’d been to simply see all but do nothing, she’d found that changing when she’d come face to face with a skinny, hungry Inara in need of help. Inara had ties to an old friend of Jinx’s—James Hagen. Jinx had feared the worst when James had gone missing and was still relieved he had been found alive.

She wouldn’t take back helping Inara. It was the right thing to do and Jinx had watched enough wrongs happen in her life to know it was time she stepped up. The help Jinx provided had cost her.

She now had Helmuth’s goons to contend with. Jasper put a hand on the bar top and continued to wave the broken bottle around in the air, making Jinx’s girls cry more. If Helmuth really wanted to make a point, it wouldn’t be with scare tactics. He’d have sent his men to do violence right out of the gate. She knew enough of Helmuth’s type to predict it. And she wouldn’t subject her girls to that. Not if letting the goons trash the place would get them out of her hair.

Jasper laughed. “You put your neck out for PSI and what do you have to show for it?”

She didn’t respond. There was no need. Nothing she said would end what was happening. She intended to let Jasper get his fill of trashing her place and then hope he’d leave. But if he dared to harm one of her girls, Jinx would take the gloves off.

“Nothing to say for yourself?” he demanded.

She shook her head.

Jasper glared at her. “How about I cut up some bitches?”

“You will do no such thing,” said Jinx, stepping forward. “I’ve allowed you to have your fun and games. You’ve scared my girls and caused a fair amount of damage here. You’re done. Leave or I will remove you.”

Jasper snorted. “As if.”

She leveled her gaze on the man, remaining calm in the process. She’d seen real violence in her long life. This was nothing compared to what she’d witnessed and lived through. She walked closer to him. He looked at the tops of her breasts, which she knew were pressed up like offerings. As a succubus she had zero issues with her sexuality. In fact, she embraced and used it as the weapon it was when called for.

“Jinx,” Aneta said from the back of the room.

“I’m fine,” said Jinx.

Jasper laughed. “Listen to the whore.”

Jinx huffed and then lifted a hand. “Do you really think you’re the first person to think to call us that? Oh, please. Tell me Helmuth has smarter men than you at his disposal.”

Jasper’s face reddened and he clutched the broken bottle so hard it shattered in his hand, cutting him and making blood flow. He growled, showing shifter teeth.

She didn’t so much as flinch. Shifters didn’t scare her. They never had. She remained in place. “Stop with the theatrics. Either shift so I can scold you like the bad dog you are or leave. You’ve made your point. Helmuth is displeased with me. Well, I’m none too thrilled with him at the moment either. Yet you don’t see me behaving this poorly.”

“Listen, whore,” snapped Jasper, through shifted teeth. “He’ll mail your head to PSI.”

Paranormal Security and Intelligence was probably one of the only things standing in the way of Helmuth’s total control of the upper west coast. Jinx considered sending them a basket of chocolate as a thank you.

“PSI will chew you up and spit you out. You know it and so do I. Do you want me aligned with them for good? That could be arranged. Oh, the things I know, Jasper, or have you forgotten how close Helmuth and I were?”

Jasper’s expression wavered and his teeth returned to normal.

One of her girls giggled. “Helmuth has it bad for Jinx. He’d never take her head. I’m guessing you were sent here to give her a message, not tear the joint apart. And I’m guessing when Helmuth finds out what you did, there will be hell to pay.”

“The boss doesn’t like being double-crossed,” returned Jasper quickly, sounding worried. “No peace of ass is worth that.”

The same woman responded, “Clearly you’ve never had the pleasure of Jinx.”

He looked to his other men and then to Jinx. “You’re awfully brave for a succubus. You should have stayed out of Helmuth’s business. Like I said, PSI left you hanging.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” a deep, familiar voice said from the entrance of her club.

Jinx gasped. It couldn’t be. They weren’t meeting until tomorrow. She turned in time to spot a man who was well over six feet tall, standing there, dressed to the nines in a designer suit, his close-cut black hair holding the smallest of dustings of white in the temples. White that never seemed to move further into his hairline.

Asher’s gaze raked over the club bar room and landed on her. “Are you harmed?”

Warmth spread over her body at the sound of concern in his voice.

“Who the fuck are you?” demanded Jasper.

Asher adjusted his tie, appearing very calm, cool and collected. Jinx knew it was a smokescreen. That the man kept a lethal side hidden away from view of others. “I was about to ask you the same question.”

Jasper nodded to his men. “Get him out of my sight.”

Jinx’s breath caught. She didn’t want Asher hurt on her account. She was about to signal her girls to turn on their succubus charms and put them in high gear to distract the shifters when Asher moved fast, twisting, striking one of the men, knocking him down with one blow.

Stunned, Jinx simply stood there as Asher turned, undoing his jacket with one hand as he punched a man in the throat with his other hand. The man fell away as if he were a fly being swatted.

Within seconds three other men poured in from behind him. She recognized Eadan instantly and knew the others must be some of the I-Ops. A tall man with long black hair smiled wide as he attacked a man near Asher. The more she looked at him, the more she realized he was one of the files she had in her office. Geoffroi “Roi” Majors.

“Hi, Colonel. Lukian said Eadan and I were behaving badly and he didn’t want to sit on a tarmac with us anymore. Miss us?” asked the man with a grin that said he was up to no good and proud of the fact.

“You listen worse than a toddler, Roi,” Asher said and flipped a man over his back. When the man landed in front of Eadan, Eadan kicked him in the head. “I’m considering putting you all in time-outs later.”

“In all fairness, Lukian thought of this,” said Eadan. “We just agreed and tagged along for the ride.”

Groaning, Asher continued to fight with the men who had trashed her club. Jinx backed up more, putting her arms out to her girls. They rushed to her and she tipped her head in the direction of the back exit. Without needing to be told twice, her girls all ran in that direction. The minute Aneta, the last of her girls, cleared the area, Jinx exhaled a long, shaky breath. She loved her girls and her workers. They were a family of sorts to her, and if anything had happened to them she’d have never forgiven herself.

Jinx didn’t leave, even though the opening was there for her to take it. She’d not walk out and allow the I-Ops to clean up her mess. She’d known that by helping Eadan she was borrowing trouble, and she owed Asher too much already to permit him to take this burden on alone.

She wasn’t a born fighter but she was hardly a shrinking violet. Bending, she looked around for anything that could be used as a weapon. She grabbed a discarded bottle and lifted it, holding it up, ready to do harm. Jinx spun as she sensed someone coming up near her and stopped just shy of hitting Asher with the bottle.

He slinked an arm around her waist and pulled her against his powerful frame, turning her body and putting himself in the path of the oncoming bad guy she’d not known was near her. Asher took a hard hit from behind from a rather beefy shifter, but it didn’t seem to faze him.

A gasp came from behind her and Jinx glanced over her shoulder long enough to see that Eadan had witnessed what had happened. Jinx put a hand to Asher’s chest and he looked down at her, his dark gaze piercing through her. Her succubus side reared to life, sensing desire radiating from Asher. Something she’d never sensed from him before in all the centuries she’d known him.

Unsure what to make of it, Jinx tried hard to keep her succubus from responding. Asher’s allure was too great. His nostrils flared and his eyes shifted colors—a sign he was losing control of his beast side. A side she knew he kept repressed.

“Asher,” she said, her voice low. “Your men will see.”

He spoke and his voice was deeper than normal. “Let them.”

She shook her head. This wasn’t like him at all. Her hand went to his stubble-covered jawline. She wanted to go to her tiptoes and kiss his full lips, but she held back. It was incredibly hard to do, especially with her succubus hormones raging out of control. Asher was simply too close and smelled too good. Not to mention he was drop dead gorgeous.

Jinx tried to push away from him but he held her, his grip iron-clad. He bent his head, his nostrils flaring. “I smell you.”

She gulped, knowing what he meant. He could smell her sex—her desire. She pushed harder on his chest. “Asher.”

He growled and stiff-armed a man trying to come at them, never losing his hold on her. Suddenly, his face was right in front of hers, his lips dangerously close. Jinx tried to harden herself against the pull to him, but she failed miserably as she did indeed go to her tiptoes, her lips touching his.

She expected Asher to come to his senses and push her away. He didn’t. He lifted her off her feet, his tongue thrusting into her mouth. Her succubus side lost its mind, turning on in full and then some. Asher’s kiss intensified and Jinx melted against him, letting him lead. Her body craved an alpha male. Always had and probably always would.

He broke the kiss as fast he’d started it, leaving her touching her lower lip as he released her and spun, thrusting a leg out and kicking one of Helmuth’s men in the chest. The man’s feet came up and off the ground as he went backwards.

Asher advanced on two others who were currently trying to double-team Roi. Asher ripped one back and slammed his head against the bar top. He turned and looked in Jinx’s direction. His eyes widened as someone grabbed her from behind, yanking her backwards.

Jinx stilled as something hard and sharp pressed to her throat. Hot, rank breath coated her ear. “Enough or I cut the whore,” said Jasper against her ear so loud it was nearly deafening.

He pulled harder on her head, making a cry escape her lips. She hated displaying a weakness. She was about to try to break free when something deep down told her to look in Asher’s direction.

His fellow I-Ops had held him back but they didn’t look they were going to be able to hold him long.

Roi’s eyes were wide. “Anyone wanna tell me why the colonel is so fucking hard to keep in place?”

“Methinks the colonel has some explaining to do,” said Eadan, sounding strained. “Colonel?”

Asher locked gazes with Jinx before his gaze hardened and went to Jasper. His eyes shifted colors again and fur sprouted out and over his hands before claws emerged from his fingertips, making his men all suck in sharp breaths. “Take your hands from her at once,” he said, signs of an accent that normally wasn’t there showing through. The air around him began to bristle with raw power and his men loosened their hold on him enough that he shook them off, his full attention on Jasper.

Jasper held tighter to her. “Back off or I cut the bitch.”

“You could try but you’ll be dead before one drop of her blood is spilled,” said Asher, no longer sounding like himself at all. It broke Jinx’s heart to know he’d gone this far over the edge on her account. She knew what control meant to him. She understood what this was costing him. More than that, Jinx knew full well the guilt he’d carry if he couldn’t rein it back in.

“Asher, no,” she pleaded.

Jasper snorted. “Listen to her. She doesn’t want you hurt.”

Jinx stiffened. “I don’t want him to do what he’s capable of. And trust me when I say he isn’t the one who is going to get hurt here. You should take your injured and leave while you still can.”

Asher moved his head back and forth, cracking his neck loudly, the air around him still thick with power. Eadan lifted a hand, running it through what looked to be nothing but what Jinx knew to be raw magik. Eadan’s eyes widened and he whispered something to Roi.

“Colonel is a fucking magik too!” shouted Roi.

Lukian groaned and pulled back on his men. “Give him space.”

Eadan tugged on them both. “Yeah, a lot of space.

Roi seemed very lost. “What the hell is going on?”

“Our colonel is something none of us thought was real,” said Eadan.

“A born shifter with magik,” said Lukian. The man seemed torn, as if he wanted to pull Asher back but knew better than to try.

Jinx met Lukian’s gaze. “He’s more than that even. Go now. He won’t be able to control it and he’d never forgive himself if he hurt you or your men. He sees you as sons even if he’s never said as much.”

Lukian stiffened. “We aren’t leaving him.”

Asher glared at Jasper, his focus singular. “Release my woman.”

His woman?

It was Jinx’s turn to inhale sharply. What was he talking about? She wasn’t his. As she opened her mouth to protest, she stopped, her gut telling her his words weren’t said in error. Her mind raced with all the years she’d known him. With their past. With the fact he’d seemed to keep her at arm’s length for so long. Joy should have been her reaction to discovering she did indeed have a mate. Anger was what won out.

Jinx stomped on Jasper’s foot and spun around, pushing on him with all her might. He didn’t budge. He did lift a clawed hand and bring it at her head. There was a blur and then Jasper was no longer quite Jasper. His head was on one side of the bar while the rest of him sank to the floor in a bloody heap.

Asher stood there, blood splattered on his handsome face and all over his clawed hands. He twisted, appearing very far gone. Vaguely, Jinx heard the I-Ops yelling for her to get back from him. Ignoring them, Jinx reached out and slapped Asher hard across the face.

He blinked, his eyes returning to their normal color. He glanced around and then paused, seeming confused. His gaze went from Jasper’s body to Jinx. “He was going to hurt you.”

“You stupid son-of-a-bitch!” she shouted, hitting him again.

Asher cringed but made no move to defend himself from her. Large arms wrapped around her from behind, lifting her up and off her feet.

“No killing the colonel, darling,” said Roi, holding her to him. “Not until he explains what just happened.”

Jinx wiggled. “Let me down. I’m going to tear his head off now.”

Confusion covered Asher’s face.

Jinx pointed at him. “Your woman?”

Asher paled, his gaze whipping to Lukian.

Lukian nodded. “Yep. You said it.”

“Shit,” said Asher.

Jinx stopped struggling. “That is how you feel about me being your mate?”

He shook his head and reached for her, but stopped as blood dripped freely from his hands. “No. That isn’t it at all, Jeneathea.”

She hung limp in Roi’s arms, unable to believe Asher was really her mate and that he’d spent so long shutting her out. She closed her eyes and hung her head. “I wouldn’t want me either.”

Roi loosened his hold on her and set her on her feet but didn’t release her. Instead, he hugged her as she broke down in tears. “There, there,” he said, awkwardly patting her back. “No tears.”

“Jinx, no,” said Asher, sounding like he was on the verge of shifting again.

She kept crying.