Dark Light

The Pyte/Sentinel Series

A Fire & Brimstone Novel

Chapter 1

Boston, MA

A violent shiver woke Tomi up, instantly putting her on edge. She pulled her threadbare jacket tightly around herself as she looked out the window of the black four-door sedan that they needed to get rid of, making sure that the street she’d parked on last night was still deserted. 

Shifting her gaze to the rundown buildings lining the street, Tomi placed her hand over the gun on her lap, taking in everything around her from the empty street to the abandoned buildings, noting that she’d be able to see if anyone was coming and slowly exhaled.

This could work.

Of course, a warm bed and a hot meal would have been better, but there was nothing that she could do about that right now. She’d tried, probably for the last time, to ask her parents for help, but they refused to help. Then again, they weren’t really her parents, now, were they? Not according to the adoption papers they’d taped to their front door along with a legal notice warning her that the next time she showed up, they’d call the police. For a moment, she’d thought about risking it and ringing the doorbell anyway, but in the end, she knew that they didn’t care that she was in trouble.

It was amazing how six years could bring so many changes in her life. She went from being a spoiled brat who’d never wanted for anything, engaged to one of the most sought-after men in Boston, to living out of a car, running for her life, and praying every day that this was all just a bad dream.

God, it was cold, Tomi thought as she was forced to grind her teeth together as another violent shiver tore through her body, threatening to break her spine in two. Resigning herself to another long night, she waited until the last tremor ended in a shudder before she pulled her jacket off.

“Here we go, buddy, let’s…” Tomi started to say as she turned around in her seat only to let her words trail off when she realized the backseat was empty.

“Connor?” she said, trying not to panic as she quickly crawled into the backseat and shoved the blankets aside and-

Oh, God…

“Connor!” Tomi screamed as a cold breeze drew her attention to the open window next to her. Terror shot through her as she reached into the front seat and grabbed her gun before she stumbled out of the car. 

“Connor!” Tomi screamed as she made her way around the car only to end up tripping on the curb covered in snow. She dropped to her knees with a wince only to mutter, “Thank God,” when she spotted the small footprints in the snow leading away from the car. Pushing herself up on trembling arms, she followed them, praying that she found him before it was too late.

*-*-*-*

“What the hell are we doing here?” 

Ash looked over his shoulder at the young demon and sighed. Why the hell did he always get stuck training the pups? Ash couldn’t help but wonder as he shifted away from the edge of the five-story building that he was perched on. 

All he wanted to do was patrol alone, go home, drink until he passed out, then do it all over again tomorrow night. Sighing, he kicked an empty beer bottle, sending it flying across the buildings next to them before it finally shattered in the alley a little more than five hundred yards away.

“My turn,” Crotes said, toeing an empty whiskey bottle to the edge of the flat rooftop before he pulled his foot back only to drop it when Ash allowed his eyes to flash silver in warning.

“We have a job to do,” Ash said, gesturing for the young demon to get back to work.

“We’ve been coming here for the past two weeks and we haven’t seen anything. Let’s patrol Harvard Square instead.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? This is our area to patrol.”

“Why?” Crotes demanded in that whinny voice that really fucking grated on his nerves.

“Because Gideon said that this is where we needed to be,” Ash explained patiently, surprising even himself. Normally by this point, he would have told Crotes to shut the fuck up and go get him a coffee and an apple fritter before he threw him off the roof. Perhaps he was softening in his old age, Ash mused.

“But he didn’t tell us what we were supposed to look for. Knowing Gideon’s visions, he could be talking about something that won’t happen for another century,” Crotes pointed out.

Ash hated to admit it, but the kid was right. It was the same argument he made this morning when Gideon told him that he needed to be here again. Something powerful was coming through here. Something that his people desperately needed, but the demon refused to give him any fucking details to help him figure out what the hell he was supposed to look for, simply because he enjoyed fucking with his head.

The sound of movement on the snow-caked ground below caught his attention. He stepped onto the ledge, making sure to remain in the shadows as he studied the street below. The only thing he saw was a car that hadn’t been there last night. He’d sent Crotes to check it out twenty minutes ago only to find it abandoned. So far, it didn’t look as though anyone was coming back for it.

“Looks like we have company,” Crotes said as he scanned the street below. 

“Connor!” a woman screamed as she stumbled out of one of the abandoned warehouses that they’d cleared earlier, drawing his attention. Forgetting how to breathe, Ash stood up, never taking his eyes off the woman stumbling towards the street as his heart pounded against his chest while he watched her every move.

“It can’t be…” 

“What’s going on?” Crotes demanded while Ash stood there, telling himself that he was imagining things as he waited for her to turn around, needing to be sure, and when she finally did…

“What?” Crotes demanded as he frowned down at the woman quickly making her way towards another building. “Who the hell is she?”

“My mate,” Ash bit out before he stepped off the ledge.

*-*-*-*

“Connor!” Tomi screamed, frantically wiping at the tears running down her face as she struggled to hold it together. 

He was fine, Tomi told herself as she searched for the rest of his footprints, but between the wind trying to knock her back down and the snow coming down faster, she couldn’t find any sign of them.

“Connor!”

“What the hell are you doing here?” came the question that had Tomi raising her gun as she swung around just as a large figure stepped out of the alley.

“Put the gun down, Tomi,” the man that she never thought that she would see again said, taking her by surprise.

“Ash?” Tomi said as she ran her eyes over him, taking in his short, neatly styled black hair and cold green eyes that used to watch her every move before taking in the black leather jacket, jeans, and black boots that fit his large, muscular build to perfection.

“Put the gun down and tell me what the hell you’re doing out here during a fucking blizzard,” Ash said, practically seething with rage as Tomi looked back, hoping to find Connor so that they could get the hell out of here before she did something stupid like shoot the bastard for ruining her life.

*-*-*-*

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Ash said softly as he took a step closer, refusing to let her go this time. 

As Tomi continued searching for something, he ran his eyes over her and couldn’t help but frown. She was thinner than the last time he saw her, too fucking thin, and her clothes were old, torn, and too fucking thin for this weather. She looked nothing like the spoiled girl that he knew six years ago.

“What the hell happened to you?” Ash demanded.

“You know what happened, Ash,” Tomi said, giving him an unreadable look before she returned her attention to whatever the hell it was that she was looking for.

“I have no fucking idea what happened to you. You ran out of the church before anyone could stop you. A few months later, your parents told everyone that you were dead,” he bit out, furious that he’d been lied to.

When Tomi’s hand began to shake, Ash stepped aside since the last thing that he needed tonight was to have to dig a fucking bullet out of his skull.

“They said I was dead?” she choked out.

“Yes.”

Tomi wiped her eyes with the back of her free hand. “I went to them after I left the church. They knew I was alive and…” she began to say only to trail off with a firm shake of her head as she yelled. “Connor!”

He took another step closer and demanded, “Who’s Connor?”

“None of your business,” Tomi snapped as she looked around again.

“It is my business. I want to know where the hell you’ve been all these years. Why your parents are telling everyone that you’re dead and I want to know why you’re out here in the middle of the fucking night in this weather and why this Connor guy isn’t taking better care of you!” 

She spread her arms wide, momentarily forgetting to aim the gun at him. “You won, okay? I don’t know what the hell your problem is or why you care. Six years ago, you got what you wanted when I didn’t marry Jeff and you haven’t had to lay your eyes on me since,” Tomi said, dropping her arms while she slowly shook her head in disgust. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have more important things to do than to stand around here reminiscing with you,” and with that, she turned to walk away.

“Oh, no, you don’t, sweetheart. You and I have a hell of a lot more to say to each other,” Ash bit out as he grabbed her arm and turned her back around so that she was forced to look him in the eye as she gave him the answers that he’d waited six goddamn years for.

“Let go!” Tomi snapped as she tried yanking her arm free.

“Not until we’ve talked.”

“I don’t have time for this!” Tomi cried as she finally managed to pull her arm free and walked away, once again, yelling, “Connor!”

“If he wanted to be with you, then he’d be here. He probably figured out what you really were and got the hell out of here before it was too late,” Ash bit out, his words dripping with venom as he followed her.

He’d only meant to come down here and make sure she was safe and find out why she was here, but once again, he was close to losing his fucking mind. She’d always had this disturbing effect on him and he fucking hated her for it. 

She was his and he was once again forced to stand around and watch as she allowed another man to have her. This was her parents’ fault. Rage had no business bringing his pregnant wife to the surface. It was a mistake, one that got them killed and left their baby girl at the mercy of humans. It was only under the grace of God that Tomi survived and was adopted by human parents too fucking stupid to realize what she was. 

If she’d been brought up in their world, she would have recognized him as her mate and wouldn’t be entertaining the idea of letting another man touch her. Just the thought of her with another man had him seeing red and made him want to fucking kill the bastard.

She had no idea what she did to him just by being near him. That first time they’d met triggered a series of changes in him, leaving him craving her day and night and no other woman would do and he hated her for it.

The only satisfaction he got was knowing that she wouldn’t enjoy sex with any other man now. Her body wouldn’t be able to become aroused for anyone but him. She also wouldn’t be able to carry another man’s child. Her body was designed for him. As he followed her, Ash couldn’t help but wonder how this Connor felt when he couldn’t make her wet.

So many times, he’d stopped himself from telling her the truth. He’d told himself that he needed to do it slowly and ease her into the fact that the world that she knew wasn’t hers. No matter how much she pissed him off, and God, did she piss him off, he never wanted to hurt her. 

That left him with no choice but to watch as the asshole swept her off her feet, making her fall in love with him as he’d fucked everything that moved. It had taken everything he had not to snap the little bastard’s neck, that and the reminder that he was supposed to protect the little prick.

When Jeff proposed so he could get his hands on his trust fund earlier, Ash had enough. After months of watching Tomi allow another man to touch her, he did what any self-respecting demon would do and took her. 

After months of fantasies, he did everything he’d ever imagined doing to her and so much more. She was his and her body knew it. She responded so sweetly to him. Christ, just thinking about the way that she moaned when he touched her was enough to make him lose his fucking mind.

“Connor!” Tomi screamed, ignoring him. “Connor!”

“You might as well stop yelling. He’s obviously long gone,” Ash drawled in a bored tone as he followed her down the street, still wondering why she was here.

Before he knew what was happening, Tomi rounded on him and shoved him back. “Shut up!” she screamed as tears rolled down her face. “Just shut up! He’s not gone…he’s not…oh, God, please, please let him be okay…Connor!”

He was too stunned at her outburst to move. He could handle a bitchy remark, but the flat-out terror he heard in her voice unnerved him. He quickly caught up with her and grabbed hold of her arm to stop her.

“Tomi, I don’t know what’s going on, but you don’t need to live this way. I’ll take you to your parents. You’ll be safe there.” 

“My parents don’t want me. Don’t you understand? He’s all I have!” Tomi sobbed as she yanked her arm free and stumbled away from him.

“Another loser like Jeff?” Ash bit out as anger and jealousy once again surged through him.

“He’s nothing like him!”

“You’ve definitely found a winner this time,” Ash said dryly as he ran his eyes over her.

“Leave me the hell alone,” Tomi bit out, shaking her head in disgust as she kept moving.

“Sorry. Can’t do that,” Ash said, shaking his head as he caught up to her again.

“Oh, and why’s that?” Tomi absently demanded as she looked back, taking in everything around them and-

“Because you’re mine.” 

Chapter 2

“You’re insane,” Tomi said, shaking her head in wonder.

How could she have missed that before? With her luck, he was probably here to do whatever the voices in his head told him to do. “Go home. Take your happy pills and leave me alone,” she said before turning to walk away from him.

“Every time I’m near you, your heart speeds up and your body craves my touch,” Ash bit out coldly. 

“Nice to know you’re not conceited,” she said dryly as she moved faster, hoping to get away from him. “Connor!”

“Admit it, you’ve wanted me from the moment we met,” Ash said, easily catching up with her.

“Yes, I admit I’ve wanted you to leave me alone since we met. For six years, I got my wish, and in a few minutes, I’ll probably get my wish again,” Tomi said dryly, shaking her head in disgust. 

“You really can’t admit it, can you?” 

She scanned the street again before rounding on him. “Look, I don’t know what game you’re playing and I don’t care. I have more important things to do than to stroke your ego. Now back the hell off.” 

“Then tell me I’m wrong,” Ash snapped, clearly trying to piss her off and it was definitely working.

“Go away,” Tomi said on a heavy sigh as she turned around and started walking faster until she found herself running, desperate to find Connor.

“Just as soon as you tell me what I want to know,” the annoying bastard said as he once again caught up with her. She growled in frustration but didn’t stop running even when she began slipping on the ice. 

“Connor!”

“You know,” he drawled lazily, “chasing after a man that clearly doesn’t want you is kind of pathetic.”

“Connor!” Tomi screamed, terror tearing through her, praying that they hadn’t found them again.

*-*-*-*

“Who the hell is Connor?” Ash demanded, wondering why she was panicking like this over some asshole. Maybe he was her husband? The idea had his fangs sliding down. When he realized what he was doing, Ash ran his tongue over them, sending them back and forced himself to focus.

Tomi ignored him as she ran faster, calling for Connor at the top of her lungs. When she didn’t receive an answer, she checked doors, windows, and long-forgotten dumpsters. Something about this whole situation made him uneasy. More was going on here than just her hooking up with some loser who couldn’t buy her a fucking meal. 

Was this what Gideon wanted him for? To find his mate? Was this when he was supposed to take her back to their world and tell her what they were and help her learn all the powers that were buried inside her? He didn’t think so. He already knew that Tomi was powerful. He figured out within seconds of meeting her. She was powerful, but then again, so was he.

“Ash!” Crotes suddenly yelled, pulling Ash away from his thoughts.

Even with his enhanced vision, he had to squint to see through the thick snow coming down harder now. Crotes was a hundred yards away, jogging towards them with a small sack thrown over his shoulder. As he came closer, it became obvious that the sack was moving. A few seconds later that thought was confirmed by a child’s cry.

“Connor!” Tomi screamed as she ran like the hounds of hell were at her heels. Ash actually found himself checking to make sure they weren’t. “Connor!” 

Crotes laughed as the boy wiggled in his arms. “You’re not going to believe what I found, Ash,” he said, ignoring Tomi as she ran towards him. “I swear to Gods this kid could pass as your clone. I think we should call him Mini Ash.”

Everything in Ash froze. He couldn’t move a muscle as his brain registered everything from the past twenty minutes. The car, the blankets in the back seat, the small bags of clothes, Tomi’s appearance and the way she’d yelled for Connor and… 

Oh, fuck…

*-*-*-*

Tomi slid the last several feet and practically ran into the man holding her son. She didn’t hesitate in putting her arms around Connor and pulling him into her arms. If he’d tried to stop her, she would have killed him without hesitation. She’d done it before.

“Mommy!” Connor cried as he buried his sweet little face against her shoulder. “H-he…took…T-T-Toby from me!”

She placed him on his feet and cupped his small face in her hands as she looked into his bright green eyes. She gently wiped away the tears streaming down his little face as he cried for his teddy bear. It was his best friend and his only toy.

“Baby, why did you leave the car? You know that you’re not supposed to go anywhere without me,” Tomi said as she pressed kisses all over his dirt-smudged face while she smoothed back his short black hair. 

“I wanted to get you something to eat because you were hungry, Mommy.”

Her cheeks burned with mortification when she remembered that they had an audience. She gave him a weak smile. “Baby, Mommy wasn’t hungry. You shouldn’t have left.”

Connor shook his head stubbornly. “No, you haven’t eaten in three days,” he said, holding up three little fingers to illustrate his point. “I don’t like seeing you hungry and I know you’re hungry because I’m really hungry.”

She ignored Ash’s curse and focused on Connor. “It’s okay, baby. Why don’t we get Toby and we’ll go back to the car. I’ll tuck you in and we can head out and I’ll find you something to eat. How does that sound?”

They both looked up expectantly at the large man that seemed to know Ash. He shifted uncomfortably as he cleared his throat. “Ah, about that,” he gestured blindly behind him. “I found him searching an abandoned building. I’m afraid that when we were walking out that the teddy bear fell into an open barrel filled with black sludge. It’s gone.”

“Oh, no,” Tomi muttered as she felt Connor’s entire body begin to tremble. She needed to calm him down before he did something that she wouldn’t be able to easily explain away. “Baby boy, I need you to calm down so that-”

“You’re lying!” Connor yelled. “Go get him now!” Connor screamed as his hand shot out towards the large man. 

He released a pained grunt as an unseen force slammed into his chest, sending him flying. He landed twenty yards away with enough force to crack the pavement beneath him.

“Connor, stop!” Tomi cried as she wrapped her arms around Connor’s small body. Connor easily pulled away, leaving Tomi to chase after him as he went after the man. “No!” she screamed as he held out both of his hands. In seconds, two balls of blue fire the size of baseballs formed above his palms.

“Get him!” Connor yelled as he flung the balls towards the man, who could only turn onto his side as balls of blue fire crashed around him. “He’s my friend!” Connor cried as more fire formed in his hands and-

“That’s enough of that,” Ash said calmly as he clamped his hands over Connor’s, dousing the fire in the process and making Tomi gasp as she stumbled towards them. 

Her fear that her son’s abilities were going to be discovered was pushed aside as she stared at the man gently stopping the catastrophic destruction that her son was more than capable of causing. She was the only one who could calm Connor down when this happened. For some reason, he was never able to hurt her. 

She was immune to his fire and all the other things that terrified her, but she’d never been able to stop them completely like this. Normally, she had to hold Connor until he calmed down, making her wonder why Ash had been able to do it with a simple touch. 

*-*-*-*

Ash took a knee on the cold ground as he looked into bright green eyes that matched his own. The boy gasped as he looked at his hands. “How did you do that?” Conner asked in an awed whisper.

Ash cocked his head to the side as he studied the boy’s features. Connor had his eyes, jaw, nose, hair, and build. The only thing that he seemed to have gotten from Tomi were her ears and lips, other than that, he was identical to Ash. He took in the state of the boy’s clothes and frowned. Much like Tomi, his clothes were well-worn, too large, and not warm enough for this weather. He felt a muscle in his jaw tick with the knowledge that his child had been going without. He and Tomi were going to have words. 

A lot of them.

“Who do you think I am?” Ash asked, watching the boy’s face squish up adorably as he studied him while Ash pulled his jacket off and wrapped it around him.

The boy began to smile as he said, “You’re my Daddy.”

“Oh, no, baby, Mommy told you-” Tomi began to explain softly before Ash cut her off.

“Yes, I am,” Ash said firmly as he looked into his son’s beautiful green eyes.

“Don’t tell him that!” Tomi snapped as she reached down to take Connor from him, but Ash took the boy into his arms and stepped back before Tomi could so much as touch the boy. She took a step forward to take him while he took two steps back. Her eyes narrowed on him as her hands clenched and unclenched into fists.

“Give me back my son, Ash,” she demanded.

“Our son.” Ash corrected her because there was no way he was putting the boy down. It felt too good to hold him in his arms, so right. He imagined this was how it would have felt to hold Connor for the first time as a baby. 

“It’s impossible. You and I have never,” she looked at Connor and waved her hand between the two of them, “you know.”

Connor wrapped his small arms around Ash’s neck before he turned to look at his mother. Tomi froze mid-step as her gaze went from Connor’s face to Ash’s and then back again before she gasped. 

She placed her hands on her mouth. “Oh, my God.”

“No, I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” Crotes said as he limped over to join them with a glare at Ash. “Really appreciate you taking your time to step in there, asshole.”

Connor gasped before he cupped Ash’s ear and whispered. Ash shifted the boy in his arms as he turned to Crotes. “No swearing,” Ash said while Connor nodded firmly.

Crotes looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. Instead of arguing, he shook his head in disbelief as he arched his back to snap it back in place.

“You’re not his father,” Tomi mumbled weakly.

“Yes, he is, Mommy. I can feel it. Can’t you?” Connor asked as he snuggled into Ash’s hold. “He’s my daddy.” 

“But…”

Crotes groaned as he popped his shoulder back in place. “Trust me, lady. Even if they didn’t look like twins,” he said, giving her a deadpan expression that clearly told her what he thought, “Ash was able to take control of the boy’s powers. Only his father can do that. A child can’t hurt either parent or his siblings, but only the father has the ability to control his powers to help the child learn properly.” He gestured to Ash and Connor. “There’s your paternity test, no need to go on Maury for that little tidbit of information.”

Tomi looked like she was about to choke as she looked from Crotes to Ash. Her eyes locked on Ash as her jaw clenched shut. He knew exactly what she was thinking about. Since they’d never dated, mostly because she was dating the asshole at the time, she was most likely wondering how exactly he’d managed to get her pregnant.

Of course, if she hadn’t ducked out the next day and vanished, he probably would have picked up on the impending pregnancy and explained everything to her.

She opened her mouth, probably to ask how, but he wasn’t in the mood to play twenty questions. He needed to get his son home and fed. Damn. He almost grinned. 

He had a son! 

Focus!

“It was the night before the wedding,” Ash said as he shifted Connor in his arms. Connor lay his head against Ash’s chest as he watched his mother come to terms with this news.

Tomi opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again only to close it just as quickly. She frowned up at him and shook her head. 

“No, I wasn’t with you that night. I may have had a few drinks, but I think I would remember that.”

“One would think,” Ash drawled. “But I assure you, it did happen that night.” He looked pointedly at Connor. “The proof’s right here.”

She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. “No, it didn’t. I remember what happened that night.”

“Do you, now?” Ash drawled in a bored tone.

“Yes,” Tomi said firmly. “Jenny told me that she’d spotted Jeff going into a room on the first floor with another woman. So, I went to his room, where I found him fast asleep.”

“I’m hungry,” Connor said at the same time his little stomach growled.

“That’s it!” Ash snapped as he lost his patience, knowing that his son was suffering. He looked over at Crotes. “Cover your ears, Skippy.”

With a grumble, Crotes covered his ears. “You too, buddy,” he said to Connor, who covered his ears before he lay his head back against Ash’s chest with a look of pure contentment while he closed his eyes. Ash pushed aside the warm feelings the boy was creating in him and focused on the pissed-off woman standing in front of him.

“Let’s just cut the shit, okay?” Ash suggested.

Tomi gave him a firm nod, her eyes never leaving Connor’s face. He had no doubt she was contemplating how to get the boy out of his arms and run before he could stop her. Good luck with that because, as far as he was concerned, the boy was staying with him.

“I was forced to switch with the little shit because he didn’t want you catching him fucking someone else. I was in his room when you came in.”

“You could have said something!” 

His arms tightened around Connor as he leaned forward. “Let’s set the record straight, sweetheart. If anyone owes anyone here an apology, it’s you.”

“How do you figure that?” Tomi demanded.

He gave her a humorless laugh as he shook his head in disbelief, “Gee, I don’t know, maybe because I woke up with you riding me?”