Chapter 1
Chapter One
Present day
Roxy
Poe strained against his chains, mouth opening to scream as I carved into his flesh, but he only managed a hoarse croak. I’d been working on the demon for several hours, after torturing Tarrant until he passed out.
Still, neither was talking.
Lucifer was convinced they didn’t know where Beelzebub was. I refused to believe it. They had to know something. I needed them to talk. They were B’s little helpers, and if anyone knew where that traitor had run off to after his failed attempt to usurp Lucifer’s throne, it was them.
The only sound in the room now was my leather jacket creaking as I leaned in and pressed the tip of my blade into the delicate flesh below Poe’s right eye. “You want the pain to stop, don’t you, Poe?”
His gaze bored into mine, full of fear and fury. “Yes,” he croaked past his wrecked throat.
“Then you need to talk.” Desperation filled me.
Time was almost up. If I could get him to give me something, freaking anything, I wouldn’t have to go on this hunt for the missing lord, I could just go pick the prick up from wherever he was hiding, bring him back to Hell, and be done.
I swallowed thickly. I wouldn’t have to spend the gods only knew how long with Lothar tracking down the giant red traitor.
He licked his bloody lips. “I-I don’t know a-anything.”
“Losing an eye isn’t fun. You know this better than anyone. They take a really long time to regenerate.” He flinched. “I’m about to make mincemeat out of both of yours, Poe, and there’s only one way to stop it.” I gripped his jaw. “Tell me where Beelzebub’s hiding.”
His mouth opened and closed several times. “No…please. I-I don’t…kn-kno…”
“What are you doing, Roxy?”
I froze, and my gaze sliced to the door.
Lucifer stood there, his yellow gaze shadowed by his gloriously thick black lashes.
He was dressed in black jeans and boots, leaving his chest and all that heavily tattooed skin on display.
He slid his thumbs into his pockets, and the silver rings he wore glinted in the flames from the wall sconces.
He didn’t speak, just tilted his head to the side, studying me.
I huffed. “Before I’m sent off on some wild goose chase, I decided to give torture one last crack.”
His lips curled up on one side. “You thought you could extract information that I couldn’t?”
I dropped my blade from below Poe’s face and straightened. The demon slumped in relief.
Sliding my knife into its sheath, I curled my bloodstained hands into fists. “Anything’s possible.”
Lucifer chuckled. “I suppose, but there is no escaping what must be done, Roxana.”
He rarely used my full name, but when he did, it meant he wouldn’t be swayed. He opened the door, stepped out, and held it open for me to follow. I had no choice but to obey, but I scowled and stomped out, making sure he knew I was doing it under duress.
We headed back along the cavern toward his quarters, and as we walked, the emotions swirling inside me like an out-of-control hurricane shamed me.
Lucifer was my king. My creator. My everything.
Love was a paltry word for what I felt for him, which was why the burning hot rage I felt toward him right now filled me with guilt.
He opened the door to his quarters and strode across the main room, opening the double doors on the other side that led to his private gardens, doors that only those closest to him could see, and again, motioned for me to follow.
Mini, his cat, slinked out with us, curling around Lucifer’s legs when he stopped beside his favorite olive tree.
I wiped my expression clean. I was behaving like a petulant child.
I was a warrior first and foremost, and I would behave like one.
Which meant I bit back everything that sat on the tip of my tongue.
It was hard, so hard, especially when it felt like there was a jagged ball in the center of my chest playing pinball with my ribs and tearing shit up.
His gaze slid to my hip, where the bottom of the scar peeked out between my jeans and shirt.
It was the only scar on my body. It should be impossible, but the weapon that caused the wound had been special, one that was capable of killing me.
It had taken years for the deep slice to heal, and the jagged and ugly scar was a constant reminder of… so many things.
“I still have nightmares about what you went through,” Lucifer said and cupped the side of my face.
“My precious child, my sweet Roxy. I remember the pain in your eyes and the horror. I know what that night cost you. Do you truly think I would harm you purposely? That I would send you on this hunt with Lothar if I didn’t think it was the only way? ”
It hurt being angry with Luci. I hated it. Tears sprang to my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I choked out. “I did doubt you,” I admitted. “I’m just…I’m scared.”
A gentle smile curled his lips. “You are my fiercest warrior, my most brutal torturer and skilled seductress. You have faced down enemies that would make lesser beings piss in their pants. You, my precious one, are Roxana the Blade, a formidable handmaid to Lucifer, the king of Hell, and one of my most beloved creations. There is nothing you can face that you will not defeat.”
I let his deep voice resonate over me, through me, then covered his hand with mine, looking up at his handsome face. Every sharp line and angle was as familiar to me as my own reflection. “I’ll do whatever it takes to carry out your orders, Luci. I won’t let you down.”
“You never have, Rox. I know you’re angry with me right now, but I hope when this is all over, you will be able to forgive me,” he said and pulled me in for a hug.
I wrapped my arms around him, the guilt gnawing wider inside me, because he was right, of course.
He sensed exactly how I was feeling. Lucifer knew everything.
All the things he’d just said were very nice, but the anger, the hurt, was still there because he did know how hard this would be for me, and yet he was making me go anyway.
Everything Lucifer did was for a reason, though, and questioning him, doubting him, was disrespectful and disloyal. These volatile emotions made me feel so awful, so ashamed. “You know I love you,” I said as a hot tear streaked down my face.
He swiped it away gently. “Of course, I do. And I love you, too, so very much,” he said, his thumb sliding down to my jaw. “You will get through this, Roxy. I promise.”
I nodded, but for the first time in my very long life, I doubted him. I doubted my king.
And when he wrapped me in his arms, holding me tighter, and a pained sound rumbled from his chest, I knew he felt that too.
Lothar
“Lucifer always has an ulterior motive, which means he has to know more than he’s letting on,” Warrick said from his spot on the other side of my quarters.
War was right. Lucifer liked to play with people and situations, but this was different.
“I agree, but when it comes to his throne, he’s not gonna want to mess around.
It would be in his best interest to share everything he knows.
If he has any info on Beelzebub, I fucking hope he decides to fill me and Rox in on it. ”
War nodded and his brow lifted. “I’m surprised he chose Roxy to go with you, honestly. He likes to keep her close.”
I was just as surprised. I shoved a couple pairs of jeans in my bag with the rest of my clothes and zipped it up. “Yeah, especially since we have no idea how long this could take.”
If truth be told, I wasn’t looking forward to it.
The handmaid had been giving off some serious vibes lately, ones that rubbed my beast the wrong way.
Well, more than usual. I slid my favorite knife into my boot sheath, swung my bag over my shoulder, and we headed through the dens and upstairs to the clubhouse aboveground.
“You need anything, just call,” War said. “And keep me updated, yeah?”
“Will do,” I said as my alpha gripped my hand and pounded my back with the other.
I’d said my goodbyes to the rest of the pack last night over a few drinks.
The parking lot was empty when I walked out, most still sleeping it off.
I headed to the chiller behind the workshop and grabbed the deer Jagger had caught, butchered, and bagged for Kurgan.
Kurgan was still refusing to see Jag, blaming him for keeping him from his female, so Jag was giving him time, and we were taking turns dropping off his meat.
When I walked back around front, Asher was there, waiting by her bike.
“You come to see me off?” I said as I strode up to her. “Gonna miss me, huh?”
She slugged me in the chest. “I’ll live.” She smirked. “And okay, I’ll admit, I might miss you a little bit, but only because you buy the best hooch and don’t act like a pussy when I drink you under the table.”
I chuckled. “You keep saying sweet shit like that to me, you’ll make me blush.”
She rolled her eyes. “Idiot.”
Ash was a high-ranking alpha female from the Silver Moon wolf pack.
I’d known her for quite a few years. But we’d gotten tight after we’d almost hooked up one night at a party here at the clubhouse—almost—because she’d changed her mind by the time we reached my quarters.
She said if we fucked, she’d never talk to me again, and she liked me too much to freeze me out.
After that, we started building her bike, and now we went for rides, drank good whisky, and hung out whenever she wasn’t busy with her pack.
I hadn’t expected to feel this way for anyone apart from my brothers.
There was this deep sense of loyalty when I was with her, and though she didn’t need it, a protectiveness.
I could admit, for a while, I’d hoped she’d turn out to be my mate, but then she’d confessed she’d been mated before.
He’d died a long time ago, which meant anything between us, beyond the physical, was impossible.
She was beautiful, tough, bold, funny, but after her confession, I knew that what I felt, with my limited emotions, was the same thing I felt for my brothers, and no more.
I let my power flow through me, preparing to open a gateway to Hell.
Time moved faster belowground, and I wasn’t sure when I’d be back.
“Take care of yourself while I’m gone, yeah?” I said to her.
She smirked. “Of course. No one fucks with me. And I expect you to do the same.”
Oh, I was coming back. I was going to find that fuck, Beelzebub, and I was going to drag his ass back to Lucifer—even if that meant bringing him back in several fucking pieces.