Desire for you - ALPHA ILAY

NAEL

My brother Ilay has managed to turn the whole of Daemon-Heaven upside down. He was supposed to be the boss of Daemon-Heaven, not the one driving Daemon-Heaven against the wall.

Things had really got out of hand in court. Even our father had got wind of it. The funny thing this time was that my best officer's daughter was involved.

I had already heard about the whole story, but I really hadn't expected her to be my brother's housekeeper.

Compared to my brother, I had my life completely under control. I was a born CEO and ran the demonic mafia. I was constantly dealing with the worst people in the world, and even if you don't believe it, the bad serves to balance out the good. Too much good would overwhelm the angels in heaven, especially as they were sensitive beings anyway and we demons needed something to do.

I was sitting in my office with a pile of files in front of me that urgently needed to be dealt with. I was trying to help my father with government business.

I was sitting in an expensive, tailor-made dark blue suit. It fitted me like a glove and emphasised my well-built body. My daily routine was well organised and I strictly adhered to it.

It was obvious that Ilay and I were brothers. We were the spitting image of our mum, except that my eyes were brown like my dad's.

There was a knock at the door when Chris appeared and took one look at me. As we had been working together for a long time, he wasn't just a colleague to me. No, he was a friend to me, and that's why the rule of decorum didn't apply to him.

"You look stressed, Chris. What's wrong?" I asked him with a smile and pushed the documents to one side.

Chris dropped into one of the armchairs in front of my desk and rubbed his temples.

"With all due respect, Nael, I'm really grateful that my daughter ended up with your brother, but I don't know if I can talk some sense into Delilah. Women are demanding creatures," he explained to me as I held out a glass of scotch to him.

"Yes, my brother has strange habits since he was rejected by his girlfriend," I ran my hand over my well-groomed three-day beard and sipped my own glass. Oh yes, Ilay's nature had changed as a result of the rejection, and would any of us ever bring him to his senses? I didn't think so.

"It was a surprise to me when Shawn Redington called me into the courtroom. I had rather expected that there had been an incident during a delivery, but to find your brother there ... Well, that really took my breath away," Chris lit a cigar and handed me one too. I gratefully accepted it and lit up.

"Who would have thought that Redington's son would be such a bastard?" I raised my eyebrows and blew out the smoke.

"I knew he wasn't for her from the start ... Even if she didn't know it. If you don't want to hear it, you have to feel it," Chris said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hopefully your daughter has at least learnt this lesson, even if not the easy way, the hard way will do", I looked out of the window and sighed.

Chris laughed: "Oh yes, she's never held a gun before. Your brother really doesn't know anything".

I had to grin at Chris' words and ran my fingers through my hair.

"What are you going to do with her now?" I asked him, biting my lower lip.

"What I should have done a long time ago, keep her as busy as possible. But your brother said that she's under him now and that he'll come for her one day -"

I interrupted Chris and raised my finger "My brother won't do anything more, he's done enough damage already. Let me worry about that," I assured him, to which he nodded "I appreciate that, Nael," he replied.

"What are you going to keep her busy with?" I asked again, looking at him.

"I thought she could take this paperwork off your hands," he pointed to the pile of papers in front of me.

"She knows about this?" I was quite surprised at Chris' offer. At least I'd have an excuse to keep Ilay in check...

"That sounds good, I'll be happy to explain everything to her when she's able to do it again," I confirmed. Then at least I could devote myself fully to my day-to-day business again. This bureaucracy really wasn't for me.

"If you'll excuse me now, Chris, I've got things to do," I urgently needed to talk to my brother, but the longer I thought about it, the more cautiously I wanted to approach the whole situation.

Talking to Ilay would be like talking to a wall. It wouldn't make sense after everything he'd done. There was someone I had a better connection with and who was less crazy than Ilay.

Achira.

She was the sister we four brothers never had.

My other two brothers were busy elsewhere.

Ilay was actually always our father's favourite. He was always the decent, self-confident boy who did everything right. Since the separation, nobody was happy with his work. It was pure chaos in Daemon Heaven. Several people had already lost their lives at his hands.

Chris nodded in understanding and stood up. He left the room and closed the door behind him.

I pulled out my mobile phone and dialled Achira's number.

It rang several times until she finally picked up.

"Oh Nael, what an honour... I haven't heard from you for a long time," Achira said, giggling on the phone and bringing a smile to my face with her words.

There was no doubt about it, as far as family and friends were concerned, my brothers and I were the friendliest beings in this universe. To everyone else, we were the royalty that everyone respected, or at least pretended to.

"Darling, it's nice to hear your voice... You know I'm very busy."

"Let me guess, this time it's Ilay who's keeping you busy?" Achira got straight to the point and it seemed as if she was also preoccupied with this situation.

"Would you like a coffee at Heavenbucks?" I asked her, glancing at my watch.

"Oh yes, shall we meet soon? Because I need to talk!"

I had to laugh: "See you soon, love."

With those words, I hung up and put everything on my desk in the right compartment.

I teleported to the front of Heavenbucks and looked around.

Two hands reached for my eyes and covered them.

"Achira..." I had to grin and finally turned to her.

I grabbed her by the tail and spun her around in the air, making her laugh.

"Nael! I've missed you so much," she said, beaming. Her teeth were so white, her skin as beautifully dark as chocolate and her hair wildly curled. Achira was a true beauty and as beautiful as she looked on the outside, she was just as beautiful on the inside.

"I missed you too, darling. Let's go inside," I replied and held the door open for her.

Wide eyes looked at us and all the demons that were in Heavenbucks rose respectfully as I signalled for them to sit back down.

They all continued to do so, remaining standing while I sat down with Achira in the back.

A waitress came up to us to take our orders.

"What will it be?" she asked us.

"Hmmm, I'll have a cappuccino," Achira ordered.

"A double espresso for me," I replied and looked at Achira while the waitress went on her way again.

"So, you need to talk more, my dear... Tell me," I was curious to hear what Achira had to say, because I hadn't really heard much of anything.

She rolled her eyes with a sigh and ran her fingers through her curly hair.

"I don't even know where to start... It's bad, Nael, the only reason I'm still doing all this to myself is because I still have a shred of hope that he'll be his old self again..."

"Hope? What gives you hope that he'll be his old self again, Achira? His heart is broken. Of course, his heart can be mended, but the scars that have been left can't be undone." I knew what I was talking about, because for a while I was no different.

The only difference was that my mate had died of a demonic disease. I had to accept it, because there was nothing left that could have saved her. It was all centuries ago and sometimes kept me busy for hours. I learnt to deal with it by investing my grief in myself and not doing anything Ilay did.

"Where do I start, dear cousin? It's a long story, and I know you can't fix hearts, but you can fix minds..." Achira reached for the cup the waitress had brought and sipped it.

I shrugged my shoulders and leaned back: "I've relieved myself of my duties for today, I want you to tell me everything."

Achira smiled wryly at me and nodded, "Fine, then I'll tell you how crazy your brother really is..."

I also took a sip of my espresso and savoured the slightly bitter flavour of the coffee on my tongue.

"Hmm, that's what I love about you, Nael. You enjoy everything to the full, you have class and you have flavour ... I can tell you that Ilay's palate no longer knows the difference between bourbon and vodka."

I couldn't help but smile at Achira's words and nodded slightly: "Less is sometimes more," I whispered quietly and put the espresso cup down on the table.

"It all started when Ilay's partner, Ryan, suddenly became our prisoner. Even back then, I thought that Ilay was up to something. He kidnapped an alpha from his pack, can you imagine what that does to a pack and its mate?

"They were all so worried about Ryan and Ilay did something he should never have done.... He pretended to be Ryan in demonic form. That didn't last long and he had to hide from his mate, Catherine is her name..." Achira paused at these words and looked me in the eye.

"When Catherine found out, she threw herself off the cliff to take her own life," Achira whispered quietly, staring at the table.

I frowned and thought about her words. "Why did she want to take her own life...? I mean, of course it's not everyday that another mate shows up at the door, but that's no reason to take your own life, is it?"

Achira nodded: "Catherine has a troubled past behind her. She was trapped in another pack and was abused there," Achira explained to me.

I didn't know if I was really seeing the light ...

"Her unstable condition made her want to take her own life, especially as her she-wolf and her demon didn't get along either."

"At some point, Ryan and Ilay had to work together to bring Catherine back from the dead. Eventually they took a liking to each other and when they got to the point where they wanted to be together for the rest of their lives, your father came into the picture. He gave him one day to break up with her... or banish him. He turned her down at her request and his life went downhill from there, while she had a child with Ryan in the meantime," Achira took another sip of her coffee and sighed.

"How did he end up with Delilah?" I asked her, frowning.

"Oh my love... Ilay has a sense of humour, you know that," she pulled out her phone and showed me a picture.

"She in the centre is Catherine and as you can see that's Ilay and Ryan. I've saved this picture on my mobile phone as a reminder of them." I looked at the picture. Catherine really was a beauty, no wonder my brother was crazy about her....

"Maybe when you see Delilah, you'll find the answer to all your questions," Achira said with a smile and reached for my hand.

"Whatever Ilay is up to... He mustn't hurt her any more Nael... Delilah has already suffered enough," Achira whispered softly. I nodded in understanding and stroked the back of her hand gently with my thumb.

"She's safe with me, Achira," I confirmed.

She smiled desperately and shrugged her shoulders.

"Like I said, when you see her, it will all make sense... I don't think Ilay will just let her go."

What did Delilah have that other women didn't?