Chapter 23 #2
Sera wanted to destroy Lothar and me both, for what she saw as a betrayal. She wanted Lothar to tear me to shreds, and if he managed to regain control, she wanted him to live with the knowledge of what he’d done. She wanted us to suffer, but mostly, the person she wanted to punish was Lucifer.
I wouldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t let her hurt Lothar or Lucifer—whatever it took.
A howl echoed in the distance.
Lothar was close, and quickly closing in. My scent was all he’d need to find me, and he’d been locked in my room for days, with nothing but my scent surrounding him. He would’ve known exactly where I was before Sera even released him from the tower.
I pulled myself to my feet, ignoring the aches and pains throbbing through me as Sera walked into the room and strode up to the bars separating us.
“Are you excited? You and Lothar are about to be reunited.” Her eyes sparkled with twisted pleasure. “He’s got those big claws, and those really long fangs, what do you think he’ll use on you first? I can’t wait to see.”
Another howl came. Closer.
The sound of splintering wood echoed from upstairs.
“He’s here.” Excitement burned in Sera’s eyes. “Have fun, won’t you,” she said, then she strode across the room and through a door. As soon as she shut it, it vanished, blending seamlessly with the walls.
Nerves throbbed through me. I was injured, but I was still strong. I could take it, whatever happened next. I could withstand it.
A loud, hollow boom had me gripping the bars, bracing, a moment before the steel door across the room buckled. There was another boom, the steel giving some more—then it exploded open.
I sucked in a ragged breath, goose bumps lifting all over me when I finally saw him in the flesh.
He was huge. His body looked a lot like it usually did, strong, heavily muscled, but now there was fur on his shoulders, thighs, and forearms. His face was the one I loved, but his brow was heavier, and his fangs were longer.
His gaze locked on me, then he leaped across the room and thrust a hand thought the bars, trying to grab me.
I stumbled back. “Lothar?”
He snarled and swiped at me wildly.
“I know you’re in there,” I said. “I know you don’t want to hurt me. I need you to fight. I need you to fight for me. Come back to me.”
He arched his head back and howled, not hearing me, not understanding. I walked closer but still out of reach, so I could try and make him listen.
“Lothar,” I snapped, louder. “Listen to me.” He stopped swiping his clawed hands at me and stilled. His red eyes burned, predatory and utterly intent. “That’s it. Listen to my voice. Lothar needs to come back, you need to let him come back.”
His eyes flickered to gold, just for a split second, before it was gone again.
“I know you’re fighting, Loth, don’t stop, okay? I need you here. I need you to come bac—”
The metallic slide of a lock being opened, froze me in place. My gaze sliced to the door just as it swung open.
Oh fuck.
The beast didn’t hesitate, he burst through, and came straight for me, eating up the space between us, and slammed me against the wall with so much force, I was surprised he didn’t crack my ribs.
I gasped for breath and reached up, grabbing his face, holding his wild, red stare.
“Lothar,” I yelled. “Come back, right the fuck now!”
There was another flash of gold, but again, only for a split second.
He dragged his nose along my naked shoulder, and a deep rumbling sound vibrated from him. “My female. Mine,” he said in a distorted and garbled voice, then he roared in my face.
Fucking hell.
My heart was pounding a furious beat as he scented me again, then nipped at my shoulder and licked my skin.
His head jerked back, his gaze locked on one of the deep cuts Sera had made in my upper arm, and he snarled at it, as if he could intimidate it into vanishing.
He licked the wound. “Heal you,” he said roughly and licked me again, his instincts to take care of me distracting him.
Okay, maybe things would be okay? If I could keep him focused on my wounds while I worked out what to do next— His hard cock prodded at my tightly clenched thighs.
Fuck.
“Lothar?”
He lifted his head with a snarl, and his eyes flashed gold. “Roxy,” he snarled, confusion slipping through, fear as well, then the gold was gone again. “Mate,” he said next, his voice back to the beast. “Claim,” he said and ground his hard cock against my stomach.
His head jerked back suddenly, his mouth opening as his jaw extended into its hound’s snout, then retracted and went back to normal.
His fangs slid back in, then thrust back out.
Lothar was right there, right below the surface, and he was fighting with everything he had, but the beast was strong—and right now, that part of him, the part that knew who I was and had been cruelly suppressed for so very long, was winning.
I was sure Lothar could hear me though.
“Whatever happens,” I said, gripping the sides of his face and making him look me in the eyes, “it’s okay. I’ll be okay. This is not your fault, none of this is your fault.”
Even as I tried to reassure him, I called for Lucifer in my mind, begging him to come, to stop this.
Lothar’s eyes flashed gold again, and he pulled away with an agonized cry and dropped to his knees.
He tilted his head back and looked up at me.
“Roxy?” He shook his head, confusion, realization, betrayal, heartbreak, it all flashed across his face, and gods, I felt it, it was like everything he was experiencing in that moment had been shot directly through my chest.
“Lothar, I’m here. Stay with me.”
He gripped his head with a roar, but when he looked back up, he was gone.
The beast shot back to his feet and hauled me up against him, dragging my legs around his waist. I didn’t fight him, I would never let him think he forced this on me.
His beast was driven by the instinct to claim his mate.
I was his mate, his female, kept from him for far too long.
A tear slid down my cheek as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “It’s okay,” I said again. “You can do it. You can claim me.” The alternative was fighting him, and with him in this state, there was a good chance I’d lose. The result of that would be devastating. I would not do that to Lothar.
He shoved his face against my neck with a growl. “Kitten,” he rasped, Lothar breaking through again. “I’m…I’m sorry.” Then he snarled again.
When he lifted his head, his eyes were flashing red, then gold, not holding one color while the beast and hound inwardly battled it out. Lothar was terrified, he had to be so scared of what was happening, at what he couldn’t stop from happening.
Pain washed through me when I realized Lucifer wasn’t going to stop this. Gods, that hurt, so fucking badly. Maybe there was a reason, some greater good right then. But I didn’t care about the greater good. I only cared about Lothar and what this would do to him.
“It’s okay. I’m yours,” I choked out again, giving him the permission he needed. “I’m yours to take. Claim me, claim your mate.”
His chest vibrated against mine as the thick head of his cock prodded between my thighs. I held on tighter, bracing as he pressed me against the wall with force—then slammed inside me.
I cried out at the intrusion. Lothar was huge everywhere, and if I were anyone else, I would have been torn in two.
But I was Hell-born, and most importantly, I was made for him.
I clung on tight as he thrust wildly into me, as if he had no control at all, had no choice but to claim me like the animal he was right then.
He snarled while he licked and nipped at my throat, my shoulder, and I did the only thing I could, I yielded in every way possible, and held on to him, choking down my gasps and cries of pain, and doing my best to reassure him the only way I knew how.
Lothar would never hurt me. He’d never force himself on me, and I refused to let Seraphina win, for her to hurt us both this way. This wasn’t his fault, it was Sera’s, and that bitch was going to pay.
“I-I can’t stop,” he said harshly against my cheek. “Oh fuck, kitten, I c-can’t stop.”
Lothar was talking to me while the beast claimed me for the both of them.
I wrapped my arms tighter around his neck and pressed my mouth to his ear.
“You don’t have to stop. I don’t want you to stop, my love,” I rasped as more tears slid down my face.
“Everything will be okay,” I said, desperately trying to reassure him, to get him through this, to get us both through this, but not knowing if what I said was true.
He lifted his head, and his red eyes hit mine. “Mate,” the beast said, but it was softer. “My mate.”
“Yes,” I said and took hold of his face again. “I’m yours.”
He rubbed his face against the side of mine, marking me with his scent, and eased up the intensity of his thrusts. “We don’t want to hurt our mate,” he said and slid his thumb over my cheek.
Lothar was getting through to the beast, somehow, they were communicating.
“Your mate appreciates that,” I said. “This feels much better.” And as fucked up as this whole thing was, it did feel better.
The pain of his initial intrusion was gone, and in its place a warmth slowly unfurled, spreading through my belly and between my thighs.
It was pleasure, steadily building inside me.
I gasped, but this time, I didn’t choke it down, because it was the good kind.
The beast groaned. “Mate feels good. Smells good.” He slid deep and ground his hips, his panted breaths quickening. “We want mate to come,” he said and ground his hips against me again. “We want mate to come with us.”
We. That had to mean they were both here now, even if the beast was still dominant.
Heat washed through me—despite my wounds and barely healed body, despite this being the very last way I would have wanted to mate with Lothar in truth—and pleasure built, swirling low in my belly.
My thighs trembled as Lothar began to thicken inside me, stretching me to my limits.
I clung to his shoulders as he thrust deep over and over again.
When he tried to slide out next, my hips were tugged forward with him. He instantly stopped trying and instead pushed back in, rolling his hips against mine while he panted.
“Feel us,” he said roughly. “Feel our knot.”
“I f-feel it.” I groaned. Oh gods, we were locked together.
He ground against me more forcefully, and hot seed jetted into me, filling me up.
I cried out, hooking my arms and legs more fiercely around him, giving both the beast and Lothar what they wanted, what they needed, and came hard with him.
I gasped, and he groaned as we ground against each other, locked in place, our orgasms seemingly never-ending.
He dragged his mouth over my shoulder, sucking, kissing, licking my skin.
I knew what was coming, and there was no stopping it.
He sank his fangs into me and exploded into a wild frenzy.
His jaws sunk deeper into my flesh, and he tore into my shoulder in his excitement.
I bit back my cry of pain, not wanting to make this worse for Lothar.
When he finally released me, he licked his bite, stopping the bleeding, but this wound was different, this was the only wound his saliva couldn’t heal.
I’d wear it for an eternity, so everyone knew I was his.
He stayed where he was, holding me tight, a low rumbling sound rolling from him while we were still interlocked.
Several minutes passed before his knot finally released me, before he could slide his cock free.
He didn’t move, though, even as seconds ticked by. He didn’t speak, either, he just stood there panting, large body trembling, every muscle hard as granite.
“Lothar?” I whispered.
He jumped, like I’d yelled his name, then finally, he lifted his head. I could feel his struggle He was barely holding on, he was still fighting back the beast, but his eyes were burning bright gold now, and they bored into mine.
“Lothar?” I said again.
His chest heaved, that golden gaze searching mine. “What did you do, Roxy? What the fuck did you do to me?”
Then the gold was flooded with red, and he was gone.