Chapter 5
My body betrayed me, feeling pleasantly used and sated. My mates had made full use of my body, taking me again and again throughout the day.
Hendrik had conjured food and water, and there was an elegant bathroom attached to the reception area where we seemed isolated.
I’d lost myself to my mates, partly because Logan’s claim on me was too powerful to ignore, but also because this was exactly what I had wanted our reunion to be like.
Blissful and pure.
But now I couldn’t move.
Damn mates, I thought, unable to open my eyes.
Because Logan had commanded me to rest. So I obeyed.
Well, specifically he’d commanded me to “Rest until I was no longer tired.”
And I was tired. I couldn’t deny that.
I couldn’t remember the last time I hadn’t been tired.
I attempted to obey, though. Enough time had passed to be offered three meals from my mates, and many more orgasms, which meant the day was easily gone by now.
Kaito should be looking for me, and the fact that Raze hadn’t been back to check on me either sent alarm bells going off in my head.
But Logan had told me not to worry about anything and that he’d take care of me.
It hadn’t been an order, but an assurance to trust him. Something I very much wanted to do.
My mind and body were completely in tune with his, the mark on my breast burning with his claim. While I had fast healing abilities, I knew that this wouldn’t heal for a long time.
I wasn’t a wolf, but our mate-bond had aligned me closer to his primal preferences.
It most definitely interfered with the work Kaito had done to orient my powers compatible with Hell. Now, I felt animalistic and alive.
While Dante and Hendrik were both dark in nature, they weren’t demons. They’d taken their turn with me, Hendrik making me come on him five times until my legs were shaking, but it had only brought out my dark desires and a tingling of his rose and blood-scented magic.
Orion, especially, only made matters worse for me because he was a Demigod. His powers were divine in nature and gifted from the heavens, not the dark depths of Hell.
As I lay on a nest of pillows on the ground—because we were in a reception area, not a bedroom—I found I couldn’t move as Logan rested beside me. He softly stroked my angelic wing, although I sensed he was contemplating how to safely remove it from me.
A contradictory sensation against how my mates had behaved thus far.
My mates had meticulously cleaned me and cared for me, showing their love even though I wasn’t permitted to leave, or even talk.
Logan had commanded me to not only rest, but remain silent. I’d been “ruining the mood” by saying things like “We should return to the Academy.”
Because what kind of crazy talk was that, obviously.
And since I’d been commanded to rest, I couldn’t open my eyes, or move, or do anything that would strain my body or my mind.
Except I was stressing out about being so helpless, and that edged me further to unconsciousness to obey my Alpha’s command. If I wasn’t awake, then I wouldn’t have these thoughts rolling through my mind.
Or maybe I would. Maybe my nightmares would follow me and stress me out even more.
I whimpered as I struggled with my inability to truly obey Logan’s order.
“Something’s wrong with her,” Dante said. His shadow fell over me and I felt his presence nearby.
It was a comfort to be overseen by my Hunter and it made me relax.
“I told her to rest,” Logan said with a gruff of irritation to his voice. “I’m not sure what else I can do. If she’s fighting it, then she’ll just learn that it’s pointless. As long as my mark’s on her, she will be compelled to comply with anything I say.”
Orion joined us near the nest they’d made for me on the ground. I knew because his sunlight beat against the backs of my eyelids. Our reunion had revitalized him and I wanted to open my eyes to see how his freckles glowed like stars.
I knew that would put me at ease, but at the same time I’d be forced to face my other mates who were clearly working against me.
The conflict made me whimper again, the Alpha’s command rolling through me without a true outlet to obey.
“Undo your order,” Orion instructed. “We need to figure out why she’s struggling.”
“Maybe she can’t obey,” Hendrik offered from a distance.
Finally. One of my mates was getting it.
A hand branded my hip, then ran down my leg. I wasn’t sure who had touched me, but the concern from the gentle touch suggested it was likely Logan.
Good. He felt guilty for doing this to me.
“Open your eyes, pretty mate,” he commanded with a low growl to his voice.
My eyes instantly flung open and I took in the concerned looks of all my mates.
That put me at ease knowing that they still cared about my well-being.
Although, they had been contemplating cutting off one of my wings, so I wasn’t sure how far that concern really extended.
Maybe they were bound to Calamity’s control just like I was to Logan’s Alpha. They were compelled to follow their orders, whatever those might be, but they were still in there somewhere.
Otherwise the mate-bond wouldn’t have strengthened like it had.
I felt closer to all of them, even though something still separated us.
The dark shadow loomed over their hearts, keeping them out of my sight, but I was determined to reach them even if Calamity insisted on perverting the power of our mate-bonds for its own ends.
Whatever those ends might be.
I hadn’t taken the time to try and understand Calamity’s motives. It had seemed like an unstoppable force, but this development suggested it held some sentience.
It had a goal.
And maybe understanding that goal would help me stop what was happening.
“I revoke my commands on you,” Logan told me, making me gulp in air.
I hadn’t realized I’d been taking shallow breaths, trapped by the inability to obey his command to rest when that wasn’t fully possible.
I couldn’t rest until all of my mates were safe and Calamity stopped.
“What does Lucifer want with my wings?” I asked, wanting to understand what order they might have been given.
Orion opened his mouth to answer me, but Hendrik pointed a dagger at him. “We don’t have to answer her questions.”
Orion frowned. His golden freckles glimmered over his beautiful face as if he had been carved from marble and he lit up from the inside. Except, a shadow lingered over his eyes, hiding his soul from me. “How are we going to convert her if we don’t explain to her what she needs to know?”
“She doesn’t need to know anything,” Logan replied. He knelt at my side, his hand still on my thigh. I wore a flimsy top and shorts, something Hendrik must have conjured for me while I “rested.”
“I’m right here,” I countered, placing my hand on his, hoping the physical contact would bring him back to me.
“Whatever’s going on, you can explain it to me.
I’ll listen.” After experiencing the power of Logan’s Alpha, I knew what it felt like to be compelled.
They wouldn’t be able to stop themselves, but perhaps I could negotiate with Calamity through them.
“No,” Logan growled, his eyes flashing with dark power as he dug his fingers into my leg, making me yelp. “You don’t listen. You obey, little mate.”
My insides twisted with the force of his Alpha’s growl.
But it was so much more than that. Logan was my sweet, gentle soul. This treatment was unlike him and tears stung my eyes.
“Great, you made her cry,” Dante chided. “Come on, Hendrik. Let’s go check on your portal spell while Logan fixes this. I can’t stand it when females cry.”
Hendrik shrugged on a jacket that reminded me of earth, but he left the front open to display his hard muscles. “It should be almost ready.” He waggled his eyebrows at Dante. “Her orgasms powered most of it, but I do need a little pain and blood. Are you volunteering?”
Dante grinned. “Only for you, Hendrik.”
I blinked at them as they disappeared down a hall I hadn’t noticed before.
As if it had been spelled to remain hidden.
“Portal?” I asked, fear tinging my voice that was already cracking from my tears.
Orion answered me, despite Logan clearly not approving as he showed his teeth. “We’re going to earth soon, little star. Lucifer is waiting for us.”
My eyes widened. “And why would we want to go to Lucifer?”
“Stop talking,” Logan snapped, not at me, but at Orion.
I sensed that my Demigod was fighting Calamity’s hold better than the rest. It was his sunlight and his brilliance that fought against the darkness.
“Make me,” Orion said calmly as he stood to his full height. He towered over us, his brilliance shining through his freckles, betraying the power that lurked underneath.
He’d been inside me more than once today, filling me with that warmth and his love that he still held for me.
He was my Virtue, and out of all of them touched by Calamity, the strengthening of our bond seemed to help him rather than hinder him.
“I don’t want to go to Lucifer,” I said, forcing myself to my feet. I wobbled on my legs, my body deliciously used, but I needed to stand up to them.
If Hendrik was successfully making a portal to earth, I feared it would all be over.
“And why not?” Logan asked.
“Because Hell will freeze over for one,” I snapped. Surely he could listen to reason even if Calamity had infected him. “The entire realm will be lost, Logan. If that happens, Lucifer won’t be able to rule over it like you want.”
“Who says that’s what we want?” he asked, tilting his head.
It made me grind my teeth that he’d said “we,” as if he and Lucifer shared the same goals.
Right now, they likely did.
“But it’s not what I want!” I shouted.
Orion steadied me by my elbow, allowing me to lean into his strength. All of this was starting to make me dizzy. “And what is it that you want, little star?”
Logan glowered at him, but didn’t tell him to shut up like I suspected he wanted to.
Orion was too powerful to be ordered around. While I was technically more powerful than all of them, Logan had a means to control me.
A Demigod was not under his power.
Something I hoped to exploit to win my mates back.
“I want you,” I said, squeezing his arm, then I glanced at Logan. “All of you. Lucifer isn’t your master. Calamity isn’t your life’s purpose. We are meant to be together and make a difference.”
“And that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Logan said, his tone softer as he brushed a kiss across my brow. “We’re together now and we’re going to stay that way.”
“What about Kaito?” I pressed. “Or the twins? Or Cole?”
Logan shifted his weight as if those names made him uncomfortable. “We’re still working on ideas of how to convert them. Kaito rejected Calamity. He’s not even a lower-level demon like Cole, but he was still able to push it out. We suspect the angels will be just as difficult to overpower.”
“Do you even hear yourself?” I snapped. “I’m glad that Kaito was able to stop Calamity from controlling him.” I clawed against his shirt, clinging to him. “Just like you should do, Logan. Fight it.”
He plucked me off in the next instant. “I don’t want to fight it, little mate. I have found my purpose and I can see the bigger picture of what Lucifer was trying to do.”
My eyes stung with emotion, but I held it in, refusing to show weakness. “You already had a purpose, Logan. To stop Lucifer, not fucking help him!”
“No,” he snarled, grabbing my wrists and pushing me against Orion whose hands fell to my hips, keeping me in place. “You have always been my purpose, Lilith. And this is how I save you from yourself.”
I couldn’t help it. Tears freely fell over my cheeks.
I wasn’t going to be able to stop this.
They were too far gone.
Dante exited the hall only to glower at us. “She’s still crying? Fuck, Logan. I told you to fix it, not make it worse.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, then retreated into the hall as he grumbled about useless wolves.
“You want her to stop crying? Fine!” Logan growled, his emotion breaking through.
His anger betrayed what he was really feeling.
Conflicted and frustrated.
He leaned in, cupped my face, and held me in his sights. “Stop. Crying,” he said, his Alpha’s growl lacing through the words.
My tears instantly dried up, but it didn’t stop the emotions from rolling through me. The tears had only been a symptom of my pain.
And now it didn’t have an outlet as it roiled in my stomach, eating me up from the inside.
As if that had tipped the situation over the edge, the ground rumbled in response.
“What are you doing?” Logan snapped. “Stop it.”
His Alpha’s growl commanded me to do something I couldn’t do, making me anxious again.
I wanted to obey, but I wasn’t the one making the ground shake.
Heat billowed up from my feet as the floor took on a pattern of red flame.
“It’s not her,” Orion surmised, stepping away from one of the streaks of the burning pattern.
I felt the pull in the next instant, shortly followed by a gruff voice in my mind.
There you are, my Queen.