Soul Sentinels 2: Pen and Paser (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Soul Sentinels 2: Pen and Paser

  Pentu Chatha and Paser Ebo are astounded to find their mate being attacked by a shadow demon and a soulless human. They kill their enemies and convince Nina Page to come home with them so they can protect her.

  Nina is scared out of her mind and agrees to the two men's protection, but believing what she's experienced and what she's told is hard to digest. She'd never imagined that shadow demons even existed let alone targeted her. Nor that she would find even one man interested in having a relationship with her, but Pen and Paser are convinced she's their mate.

  Nina decides she wants to train to become a sentinel, too, and although she works hard she doesn't believe she'll ever be good enough to take down the demonic or even the possessed humans. When she is taken by the demonic into the underworld, Nina will face the greatest battle of her life.

  Genre: Fantasy, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 46,600 words

  SOUL SENTINELS 2: PEN AND PASER

  Becca Van

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  SOUL SENTINELS 2: PEN AND PASER

  Copyright © 2016 by Becca Van

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-68295-020-3

  First E-book Publication: January 2016

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2016 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  About the Author

  SOUL SENTINELS 2: PEN AND PASER

  BECCA VAN

  Copyright © 2016

  Chapter One

  Paser looked over his shoulder occasionally as he cooked dinner. He and the other sentinels had been watching Set and Sab as they interacted with their mate, Zara for the last six months, and although he liked her just fine, he was envious. He wanted what his friends had, and even though he remembered Ra telling them all they would find their mates, he was impatient to meet the woman meant to be his and Pentu's.

  He and Pen had been best friends for thousands of years, and the long, lonely existence got to him sometimes, but since Set and Sab had mated with Zara, he seemed to feel the emptiness in his heart much more than he ever had. By the wistful expression on Pen's face when he saw them talking quietly, he felt the same. There was no need for him and Pen to voice their desires to each other, because after being friends for so long, they could practically read each other's minds.

  There were times when Paser wondered if agreeing to be Ra's sentinels had been worth it. Fighting the demonic day after day, week after week, year after year for millennia became a ceaseless fight and at times downright boring. He didn't begrudge keeping humanity safe from the shadow demons, but living and fighting for eternity was starting to weigh on him. Sometimes he wished he could go back to that fated day so long ago when Ra had appeared and offered them immortality and refuse, but he couldn't go back in time, and now that the sun god had said they were going to be rewarded for their loyal service by sending or finding mates for them, he wasn't about to give up.

  * * * *

  Nina had just finished her shift at the bar she worked at, and although she was tired and her feet were aching, she was full of excitement, but she had no idea why. As she stepped out into the cool night fall air, she inhaled deeply and felt the tension in her shoulders and neck ease.

  It was two in the morning and she would have loved to have been able to drive home, but she didn't have the money for a car, so she often rode the secondhand bike she'd picked up at a garage sale a few weeks back or walked. It was only about a mile or so to the apartment complex where she leased a small one-bedroom efficiency, and she liked taking the time it took her to ride or walk home to unwind.

  Tonight was different, though, but she couldn't have said why. As she walked along the street, she made sure that there was no one lurking about in the shadows or following her. She'd learned from experience to keep her wits about her. Last month, she'd been mugged by two teenage boys on her way home, and although she'd tried to fight them off, they had been much bigger and stronger than she was. She was lucky enough to have walked away with a few bruises and a grazed cheek when they'd held her face to the ground as they'd stolen all of her tip money.

  Those little shits had made it hard for her to get through the week without the extra cash she'd earned, because after paying her rent and bills, she'd barely had enough cash left to buy food. Luckily she was frugal and she'd survived. She'd lived off of peanut butter sandwiches and noodles.

  Nina pushed her thoughts aside a
nd thought about the shower she was going to take as soon as she got home, and after she was clean, she was going to go to bed and sleep as long as possible. Tomorrow was Sunday and the only day she allowed herself the luxury of sleeping in. Every other day she got up early to scan the classifieds, looking for extra work so she could get ahead in life.

  Nina didn't have any family, so the luxury of her even thinking about attending college after finishing high school had been a pipedream.

  The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, making shivers of alarm race up and down her spine. She turned to look behind her and she couldn't see anyone about, but the feeling of being watched remained. Without trying to be too obvious, she dug into her purse and sighed with relief when her hand landed on the can of pepper spray. She withdrew it from her bag, pulled the cap off and clutched the can tightly in her fist.

  Nina picked up her pace. She didn't want to break into an all-out run, but with the way she was feeling, maybe she should. Her skin felt like it was crawling with ants and she was panting, but not from exertion. She was scared but had no idea where the threat she felt was coming from. When she turned the corner, the sensation of being watched dissipated, but it came back within seconds. However, when she again looked behind her and all around, she couldn't see anyone.

  She thought she saw movement in the park up ahead, but when she squinted and looked harder, nothing moved and she couldn't see anyone lurking in the shadows. Usually Nina walked through the park, but the thought of doing so now gave her the chills, so she changed direction and began to skirt around it.

  Tomorrow she would probably laugh at her paranoia and scoff over being scared by the bogey man she hadn't been scared of since she was a little girl, but she was all alone and still couldn't shake the feeling of eyes on her.

  As she got to the farther edge of the park, she began to relax. She was no more than two hundred yards from her complex and nothing untoward had happened. Normally she didn't have an overactive imagination, but for some reason, tonight felt different.

  Nina froze when she saw something move out from behind the trunk of a large pine tree on the edge of the park, but she couldn't see anything other than what appeared to be a moving shadow. Her heart flipped in her chest and then slammed against her ribs when she realized that the shadow seemed to be moving toward her. She backed up a step and then another, all the time keeping her eyes on that…thing.

  When her back connected with a hard body, she whimpered, and as she moved her head to peer at whoever she'd bumped into, she felt as if she were moving in slow motion. Every beat of her heart was loud in her ears and each breath she inhaled wasn't enough to fill her lungs. She had to tilt her head up to look into the guy’s face, and when her gaze connected with his, she wished she hadn't. The man's eyes were filled with evil, yet they also appeared to be soulless. That was when she realized that the chest pressed against her back wasn't warm like it should have been. In fact, she couldn't feel any heat coming off of his body at all.

  It took every ounce of her determination to lift her foot from the ground and take the first step away from him because she was trembling so hard her knees had actually been knocking together. A bubble of hysterical laughter formed in her chest as she understood an expression she'd once heard from one of the nuns in the convent she'd grown up in. Knee-knocking fear.

  She'd always thought that Sister Lysandra had only been trying to scare her and the other girls, but maybe she hadn't been.

  Nina froze again when she turned her head face-forward and saw that the shadow she'd seen earlier was hovering so close to her. If she were brave enough to reach out, she would have been able to touch it, but she wasn't that brave, nor that stupid. There was something really weird going on, but she wasn't sure she really wanted to know what. After she managed to bring her other foot next to the first, she tried to shuffle sideways to get out from between the weird man behind her and the floating dark shadow. When she clenched her fists, she felt the can in her right hand and lifted her arm quickly then pressed the button down. A fine mist shot out and straight into the guy’s face and eyes. She gulped when he blinked, but the pepper spray didn't seem to have any effect on him whatsoever. He didn't howl in pain or try to rub his eyes.

  The sound of eerie laughter hurt her ears, and if she hadn't been so fucking scared, she would have lifted her arms and covered them to keep the screeching sound out. The quaking in her legs moved to the rest of her body when the shadow seemed to form an arm and lift it toward her. Nina couldn't contain her fear anymore. Her heart was pounding so hard she wondered if she would have a heart attack, and that wasn't all. Pain pierced her chest. She felt as if a piece of her was being tugged at, and when she looked down, she saw a small blue light coming from her body.

  She screamed as loud as she could, hoping that someone was around and would help her, but she wasn't about to hold her breath. She ducked under the shadow’s arm, spun and took off running as fast as she could. The pepper spray can landed with a thud before rolling away.

  Another blood-curdling scream left her mouth when a cruel hand gripped her shoulder so hard she knew instant bruises had formed. She twisted and threw one of her own arms up, hoping to knock the hand on her shoulder off, but the man's grip tightened to the point of agony and as his fingers pressed on her collarbone, she wondered if it would snap.

  She caught movement in her peripheral vision and felt her mouth drop open when two very tall, very muscular, handsome men appeared out of nowhere, and then they were striding toward her purposefully. Their jaws were set in determination and they looked like what she imagined warriors from the past would look like, except for the modern clothes. They both reached up and over their shoulders and as they pulled their arms back to the front, she saw that they were each holding curved, sickle-like swords in their hands, and the sword blades had a slight golden glow to them.

  “Let her go,” the one with brown hair demanded as he looked over her shoulder at the evil man gripping her so tightly.

  The only way she could describe the shrieking sound that hurt her ears as the man laughed was evilly demonic. When the hand on her shoulder gripped even harder, Nina had to grit her teeth so she wouldn't scream in agony again. She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw so tightly she wondered if she would crack a tooth, but dental work was the least of her worries right now.

  A breeze superseded a swishing sound, and when she opened her eyes, it was to see the black-haired man standing in front of her with his sword across his body as if he'd just slashed the air. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw that the shadow in front of her looked like it had been cleaved in two as it writhed and shrieked as if in pain. How that was possible, she wasn't sure, because the shadow wasn't even substantial enough to be solid, but now wasn't the time for questions. If she got out of this with her life intact then maybe she would start to ask.

  The man behind her wrapped his free arm around her neck and began to squeeze. Tears poured down her cheeks and although she clawed at the arm strangling her, it didn't seem to affect the guy trying to kill her.

  Nina felt the man hurting her jerk and she somehow knew that she wasn't the one causing him to hurt. His roar of pain hurt her ears, but then, to her relief and surprise, the arm around her neck fell and the grip on her shoulder ceased. If she could have stayed upright, she would have, but she fell to her knees, coughing and gasping as she tried to fill her burning lungs. Her throat was so sore, and even though she felt as if it had been crushed, she could feel her chest expanding and deflating each time she inhaled and exhaled.

  When she turned her head, her mouth gaped in horror. The man who'd been holding her had been nearly sliced in two by one of those wickedly sickle-shaped swords, but what scared her beyond reason was that there was no blood and he was still standing.

  Nina tried to push to her feet so she could run, but she was trembling so much and feeling weak with fear that she nearly fell flat on her face. She caught herself at the last moment an
d somehow ended up on her ass. When the evil guy turned and looked at her, her breath stuttered in her throat and she felt frozen with terror. He was smiling at her, but it was the most maliciously evil smile she'd ever seen. The brown-haired man stepped up behind him, and with a fast slice of his sword, he decapitated the evil man.

  Nina stared in horror at the macabre scene, and when she heard the screaming, she covered her ears to try and block the horrid sound out. The head rolled toward her and stopped about a yard from where she was sitting on the ground. Acid roiled in her stomach and she turned to the side as she vomited, heaving until there was nothing left to come up.

  Darkness closed in around her vision and she pulled in great gulps of air as she tried to remain conscious. Swiping a hand across her mouth, hoping to remove the vile taste didn't help, and she realized her eyes were closed.

  The darkness receded and when she heard movement, she opened her eyes and watched with fascinated horror as the body and head turned to ashes. Silence reigned, a slight breeze blew the ash away and for the first time since the horrible screaming had stopped, Nina realized she'd been the one making all the noise.

  The two men who'd saved her took a step toward her and before she could stop it, a whimper escaped her mouth. Both men stopped and with slow deliberation, lifted their arms up, the golden, curved blades of their swords gleaming in the soft light of the street lamp she only now became aware of.

  She wanted to get to her feet and run as far and as fast as she could, but she was still quaking so much that she felt as weak as newborn foal. She squeezed her eyes closed, waiting for the death blows, but when nothing happened she forced her eyelids up.