“My wife died at your order,” Ares snarled. “What about my sons? Did you plan to kill them too?”
“You sent them away before that could happen,” she croaked. “But I didn’t want them dead, Ares. I swear.”
Pestilence barked out a laugh. “Only because as Ares’s offspring, they were potentially powerful.”
True. They could have been useful as they grew. Unfortunately, they became casualties of the demon war, so yes, she was responsible, if indirectly. She risked a glance at Arik, who stared at her in stunned silence. Shame constricted her chest, and when she looked at her brothers, the loathing and disappointment in their eyes constricted everything else.
“The demons slaughtered most of my family,” Thanatos said, his voice so icy she shivered. “I watched almost my entire tribe be torn apart by Soulshredders. Do you know how they kill, Limos?” Leaping to his feet, he seized her by the beautiful pearl collar of her ruined dress and got right in her face. “Do you?”
Yes, she did, but before she could reply, Arik was there, shoving his muscular arm between her and Than.
“Back off, Horseman.”
Than’s voice was an avalanche rumble. “This isn’t your concern, human.”
“It became my concern about an hour ago, when I drank her blood from a cup.” Arik said. “So back the f**k off. Now.”
No one was more shocked than she was when Thanatos released her. But he wasn’t done with her. Not by a long shot.
“That reminds me,” Pestilence said casually. “I’ve released thousands of Soulshredders in the human realm. Things are going to get real fun, real soon.”
Ares jabbed a finger at Pestilence. “We’ll deal with you later.” He turned back to Limos. “But you.” He practically spat “you” at her. “You’re as bad as he is. At least Pestilence has the excuse of a broken Seal.”
Her eyes burned with unshed tears. “You said you loved me no matter what. You said you couldn’t hold what I did thousands of years ago against me—”
“That was before I knew you are responsible for the deaths of everyone I loved,” he roared. Ares’s hatred lanced her so fiercely that she stumbled backward, pain radiating through her chest.
“Did you know how Heaven would react?” Thanatos demanded. “Did you know angels would be sent to punish and curse us as Horsemen?”
“No,” she rasped. “That wasn’t part of the plan. You were to be my wedding gift to Satan.” Her fingers flexed at her sides. “Before we were even born, he’d foreseen that we would play a role in the Apocalypse, but he didn’t know how. So I was to bring you to him. But I was too slow. Lucifer warned me that Heaven would only tolerate so many human casualties before they took action. I miscalculated, and before I could take you to Sheoul, angels interfered and we were all cursed by them to be Horsemen.”
She’d paid for her failure in blood. After two months of torture, she’d been sent back to the human realm to make up for her mistake.
“Tell them the rest.” Pestilence folded his arms over his broad chest, the metal clanking loudly in the cold night air. “Tell them how you worked against us for hundreds of years to break my Seal. And tell them how you were responsible for stealing Deliverance from The Aegis, not because you didn’t trust The Aegis to keep it safe, but so you could destroy it and prevent Ares or Thanatos from killing me if my Seal broke.” Pestilence bared his fangs in a diabolical smile. “The best part of all of this? She killed Sartael to shut him up, isn’t that right? You thought he was the one person who could find your agimortus, but you were willing to give that up just to protect your piece of shit self. You pissed off the wrong person, Limos. Sartael was Lucifer’s pet, and Lucifer’s sworn to take out his fury on all of you. So not only did Limos ruin your old lives, she’s going to f**k the shit out of your current ones, as well.”
“Limos.” Ares’s big body trembled with the kind of rage she rarely saw—and she’d seen him murderously angry. “You lying, scheming spawn of hell.”
Agony fisted her heart, so powerful she cried out. “Ares, please—”
“Please?” Pestilence spat. “You should be Satan’s whore. Not the human’s. The Dark Lord would give you the pain you deserve—”
Rapidfire gunshots rang out, and the top half of Pestilence’s head exploded in a grotesque rain of bone, blood, and brains.
“Christ,” Arik said calmly, as he holstered his weapon. “Do you ever shut the f**k up?”
Pestilence fell backward into the blood-soaked snow, but even as he landed, he opened a gate and hurled his destroyed body through it.
Limos looked over at Arik, who stared at her as if he didn’t know her at all. Anguish squeezed the blood right out of her heart. “I’m sorry, Arik.”
“Oh, Limos,” he murmured. “What have you done?”
Twenty-eight
The rumble started first. Then the confused expressions.
“Oh, Jesus,” Arik said. “Oh, f**k, I said your name.” While he hadn’t been in misery, exactly, it was fair to say he was pained by what had gone down. Damn its cleould g to hell, Limos had gotten him to say her name with a freaking apology, when some of the nastiest, most vicious demons in the underworld couldn’t do it with torture.
Ares had reminded them that her contract with Satan wasn’t broken until they’d consummated the marriage, and now they were screwed.
“We gotta go!” Limos opened a Harrowgate just as the biggest, ugliest beast Arik had ever seen bashed up out of the ice-covered ground. Chunks of frozen earth and ice the size of train cars tumbled through the air and crashed all around them. From inside the keep, the partygoers ran out, prepared to fight.
“Go!” Than shot Arik a do it look, and he nodded, dragging Limos through the portal.
They stepped out in a strange living room decorated like a beach house. “Where are we?”
“My second Hawaiian villa. I wasn’t thinking. I just… I had to get us somewhere.” She swallowed. “Arik, I’m sorry—”
“Sorry? You lied to me, betrayed your brothers, got their families killed, and you’re sorry?”
The floor shook and bucked as she gripped his shirt collar. “Please, Arik, I swear, I meant to tell you…” It felt as if the entire island was rocking, like a lid on top of a boiling pot.
Arik’s adrenaline and sense of self-preservation kicked into high gear. “Doesn’t matter. I have to f**k you. Now.” Yup, that was all kinds of sexy.
Limos didn’t hesitate. Reaching up, she tore her bloody gown from the neck to the hem, ripping it in half. Arik’s breath caught at the sight he was left with, of her in a white, lacy bra, the pearly belt, and thigh-high white stockings. She wore a white garter, which rimmed the tip of one of the stockings mid-thigh.
If things were different, meaning he wasn’t pissed as hell and they didn’t have the king of all demons after them, he’d strip everything else off with his teeth.
A horrifying howl rent the air, and the wall behind him exploded inward. Screaming, Limos opened a gate and dragged him through it. They landed in what appeared to be a jungle, damp, dripping, animals screeching. Limos spun toward him.
“Hurry,” she breathed.
Man, talk about pressure. He was supposed to get it up while demon hordes were trying to kill him, and Satan himself was knocking at the door.
But then Limos dropped to the ground and reached up for him to join her.
In the distance, the rumble started up again.
“Arik.” Limos’s violet eyes were pleading. “He’s coming for me.”
As pissed as he was, as hurt as he was, he still loved her. He wasn’t going to let her be taken. Dropping to his knees, he reached for the chastity pearls, hesitating a centimeter away. “If this doesn’t work—”
“It will,” she swore.
“If it doesn’t…” He inhaled a ragged breath. “If it doesn’t, I’m sorry.”
A single tear formed in the corner of her eye and dripped down her cheek. “I’m sorry too.”
Steeling himself, his ears vibrating at what sounded like a freight train bearing down on them, he wrapped his hand around her chastity belt.
And nothing happened.
“Holy shit,” she breathed. “It worked. Break it!”
Adding another hand, he gripped the fine chain, amazed that something so delicate could have been so strong and deadly, and he yanked it apart. Tiny little pearls flew everywhere, raining down on the lush jungle floor.
“Please, Arik. Now.”
He looked down and swore. He wasn’t hard. This was not going to f**king work. But then Limos sat up and took him in her palm. Before he could suck in a breath, her mouth was on him, her tongue lashing at the head of his cock, and despite the earthquake that was growing more intense all around them, arousal stirred.
He’d always heard that danger was an aphrodisiac, and as it turned out, it was true. Adrenaline surging, his body went safety-off, gunning for action. His blood was hot, and Limos’s mouth was silken magic.
A tree only yards away came down with a crash, and a godawful roar rang out. Despite the fact that he wasn’t fully erect, he pushed Limos down on the ground and cupped her core, sliding his finger along her slit. Shit. They didn’t even have time to get her wet.
A snarl ripped through the air, and he swore he felt warm, rancid breath on his cheek.
“Do it!”
He punched his h*ps forward and entered her in one stroke. Her barrier gave way, and he sank against her, holding her so tight he doubted she could breathe. They were both shaking, and in his hand was the dagger he’d strapped to his ankle before the wedding. He didn’t even remember grabbing it, but he was ready to use it. No one, not even the devil himself, was going to take Limos without a fight.
There was a distant, horrifyingly angry screech, and then the rumble stopped. The jungle went silent, and the only sounds Arik could hear were his panting breaths and the pound of his pulse in his ears.