Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Lothar
We sprinted to the pile of stones at the far end of the field, and I spun around, facing the enemy, covering Roxy. Demons wouldn’t dare attack me, and they sure as fuck wouldn’t have weapons, not like that. I had no idea who was pursuing us, or what they were, but they weren’t getting through me.
“What the hell are you doing?” Roxy fired at me.
I couldn’t think, not with the buzzing in my head and the constant roar of the beast to protect, to kill.
“Are you using your body to freaking shield me right now?”
Honestly, I didn’t know what I was doing. Logically I knew this was fucked, but the beast wouldn’t have it any other way. Growling, I shook my head, trying to clear it, trying to wrestle back control.
Roxy cursed. “The gate needs your blood, Lothar.” She grabbed my hand, yanking me back.
I snarled, fighting the beast, fighting myself to do what I needed to, to open the fucking gate. Zinnia had arranged everything with Death, but in my panic I’d somehow forgotten that the stones needed my blood to open.
Roxy stepped in front of me and shoved me back farther. It was a struggle, but I let her. “Open the damned gate, Lothar. Now.”
Then she spun away, using her body to protect me. That’s when the beast lost it. It was as if the animal part of me was a separate entity, one I didn’t fucking recognize. I gripped my head when another roar echoed through my skull.
“Lothar!” Roxy yelled. “Do it.”
She’d pulled a knife free as figures with no distinguishable features and moving like shadows gathered on the opposite side of the field.
“Not good,” Roxy muttered.
I blinked. They were getting closer, their weapons glinting in their hands.
“Lothar!” Roxy yelled again. “Fucking do it.”
Gritting my teeth, I managed to wrestle the beast back long enough to slice my hand and let my blood pour onto the stones.
Roxy backed up, a string of curses flying from her, until she bumped into my side, knives in both hands.
Without thought, I hooked my arm around her waist as the ground rumbled, ready to pull her behind me again if I had to and out of harm’s way.
Her scent drifted around me, fucking with me like it always did, sending shudders down my spine, telling me to get the fuck away from her, while the beast roared again and forced me to pull her closer, to protect her at all costs.
Something was wrong with me. This wasn’t normal.
“They’re getting closer,” she said under her breath.
The gate needed to open, right the fuck now. I threw up a hand and sent a blast of power rippling across the field. It didn’t touch them. “How the fuck do you kill a shadow?”
“You can’t.”
The rocks and boulders finally rumbled into action, rolling, shifting, reforming into a gateway. Hellfire ignited across my palm, and I blasted it in a wide arc around us, scorching the ground and creating a wall of flames, not knowing what else to do.
The gateway opened, and we were finally looking through to the other side, to where Zinnia stood on the skull pathway waiting for us. The shadowed assassins swarmed us then, closing in quickly.
I tightened my arm around Roxy just as she threw both knives, sending them spinning through the air, and dove through the gateway.
“Close it!” I roared.
Zinnia didn’t hesitate. She slashed her hand through the air and the stones instantly collapsed, the gateway vanishing, locking the shadows out.
Zinnia rushed forward. “What’s going on?”
Zinnia Thornheart was a powerful witch and Death’s consort.
I shoved my fingers through my hair, trying to get my shit together. “We were being chased by…fuck, shadows? I don’t even know?” I growled.
Zinnia blinked at us, her gaze sliding down to my arm still locked around Roxy, and then back up.
Roxy shoved out of my hold and strode to Zinny, pulling her in for a tight hug. “Hey, Zinny,” she said, then shook her head. “Not shadows. Wraiths. And someone’s armed them with the kind of weapons that can kill an immortal.”
“Wraiths?” I snarled.
“Yes.” Roxy planted her hands on her hips. “I haven’t seen any for a really long time though.”
“They’re impossible to kill.”
“Mors might be able to help,” Zinny said, calling her mate by his true name. “I had Egon prepare rooms for you both. Come to the castle and rest, then hopefully we’ll get you the information you need in the morning.”
I didn’t want to rest. I wanted to find out who the fuck had sent wraiths after us and cleave their head in two, but this was Death we were talking about. You didn’t demand shit from him, which meant we’d have to cool our heels until morning.
Zinnia led us back to the castle. It was huge, made of black stone, and looked as if it had burst through the ground fully formed on its own. We took the wide steps up to the massive arched doors, and they instantly swung open.
A horned demon with leathery, mottled green skin and scarlet eyes greeted us.
“Hey, Egon!” Roxy said, beaming. “It’s been a while.”
He inclined his head, his lips curling up.
“Miss Roxana. It is a pleasure to see you again. It has indeed been a long time.” His gaze slid to me and back to Roxy.
“I have rooms all ready for you,” he said.
“Would you like me to bring a tray up once you’re settled? You must be hungry after your journey.”
“That would be much appreciated, Egon. I’m starved,” Rox said and gave his arm an affectionate squeeze.
I lifted my chin when his gaze came back to me.
Egon headed off, and I took in the massive room we’d walked into. I never thought I’d ever step foot in Limbo, or I fucking hoped I wouldn’t, not the way a hound would usually end up here, let alone come to Death’s castle.
Zinny cheerfully carried on, leading us up a wide staircase and along a dark hall with walls that seemed to whisper and move.
Roxy’s room was right beside mine, and when I shut my door, I could hear Zinnia and Roxy talking through the wall—well, not what they were saying, just their muffled voices.
Roxy laughed, and before I knew what I was doing, I’d stepped closer to the wall separating us and had pressed my ear to it.
I jerked back. The fuck?
What was wrong with me? I was starting to get seriously worried.
Ignoring the beast who wanted me to stay right where I was, cheek pressed to the fucking wall, I strode to the bathroom and stripped off.
I didn’t understand any of this. The beast being at odds with me, not feeling like part of me, was messing me up big-time.
We weren’t two separate entities. I was the beast, and the beast was me—or that’s how it had been.
How was this even possible, this separation? Why was it happening now?
I gripped the edge of the bathroom counter and stared into my own eyes.
They flashed red without me even sensing it, as if my beast was looking back at me and he was pissed.
I knew what he wanted. To get closer to Roxy.
If Roxy told me to drop to my knees, I had a feeling he’d force me to do that as well.
The beast was acting as if…as if Roxy was something more to me—to him. Fuck. How was there a him?
I rubbed my hands over my face. I’d know if there was more between me and Rox, if there was a…a special connection. My brothers told me how it felt when they found their females, and this wasn’t it.
I stepped into the shower, and the cool water felt good on my overheated skin.
Okay, yes, Jagger missed the signs for a while there, but that was different.
There were reasons for that. I’d known Roxy for centuries, if there was anything more between us—the kind predestined by fate, because I couldn’t even bring myself to think the word—I would have worked it out a long time ago.
Her scent sure as fuck wouldn’t repel me or, on the odd occasion, make my skin crawl when she was too close for too long.
The water ran down my chest, and I dipped my head under the stream. I lathered up, rinsed off, and—what the actual fuck?—I couldn’t help wondering if Roxy was doing the same thing.
Images of her naked and soaping up were quickly followed by ones of her bare skin covered in blood, the way I’d seen her in Skull Forest right after she’d taken out those demons.
She’d looked wild. Shit, she’d been spectacular like that—vicious, ruthless, a fierce little warrior.
I squeezed my eyes closed. I shouldn’t be thinking about her like that. It wasn’t right.
None of this made sense, but I’d gotten hard for her, more times than I could count since we took off on this hunt for Beelzebub.
Seeing her mutilate a group of demons naked wasn’t the only thing that had happened in that forest though. I’d locked it away, right after it happened, because, motherfucker, it had been exquisite torture—and it had been messed up for me to enjoy what happened as much as I had.
A groan slipped free as the memory pushed forward, of Roxy, all warm and sleepy, crawling on top of me while I lay by the campfire, of her soft moans as she’d rocked her hips, fucking riding my thigh in her sleep.
I shook my head, trying to shake the memory loose, but it was no good, and before I realized what I was doing, my hand had slid down my chest, over my stomach, and was gliding up my rock-hard cock.
A growl slipped from me, and I slapped my other hand to the marble wall and squeezed my dick more firmly.
She’d been so hot; the smell of her slick pussy had covered her usual offensive scent and I’d lain there fucking mesmerized as she’d gotten herself off.
I acted like it didn’t affect me, as if I’d barely noticed when Rox had woken up, teasing her. I’d lied.
While she’d rocked against me, I’d imagined freeing my aching dick, shoving down her pants, and letting her hot little pussy take what it needed. I’d actually contemplated waking her up and offering her my cock instead of my thigh.