Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lothar
Sera crowded Roxy, and I could tell Rox was struggling not to punch the bitch in the throat. Instead she calmly handed Sera back the phone.
“What did Zenon say?” Sera snapped.
“His brothers want to meet with you before they commit to this. He said you can bring your demons if it makes you feel safer, but nothing moves forward until this meeting.”
Sera’s eyes were filled with excitement. “We’ve got them, haven’t we?” she said to Beelzebub. “The knights will join us. With them and the hounds, we can’t lose this.”
“I’ll need to talk to my brothers as well,” I said.
“I’ll have to explain the situation. They won’t just follow me blindly.
” I rattled my chains. “But I won’t do it, if this”—I held up my bound wrists—“is what’s in store for us.
If you treat us with respect, we will be loyal to you, but if I show up to speak with them chained and guarded, there’s no way they’ll agree. ”
Her cool gaze slid over me. “You’ll need to prove yourself to me, Lothar, if you want those chains removed.
” She walked closer, not stopping until the points of her nipples brushed my chest. I had to force myself not to shudder in revulsion.
She grabbed my jaw. Roxy’s chains rattled on the other side of the room, her growl of outrage making my stomach clench.
Was her reaction real or for Sera’s benefit?
“Will you kiss me, Lothar, to seal our deal? Will you prove to me that I’m more important to you than your pathetic little mate? ”
I curled my lip, giving her a cocky smile, when all I wanted to do was shove her away.
If I didn’t do this, she would send me with a guard, or she’d keep me here chained up when I needed to warn my brothers, so I did the only thing I could, I slid my hand up her spine and gripped the back of her neck, and instead of snapping it, like I wanted to—because the bitch wouldn’t die that easily—I leaned in and kissed her, hard.
Everything in me violently recoiled, utterly repulsed, but when I released her, looking down at her flushed face and her now red, puffy lips, I smirked at her heavy, lust-filled eyes. “That proof enough for you?”
“For now.” She licked her lips. “You always did know how to kiss a girl,” she said huskily.
The way she said that made it sound like I’d kissed her before, and I’d sure as fuck remember that horror if it’d happened.
Had she seen me with Roxy? That didn’t seem right either.
The way she said it implied the past, a past that she was part of.
“You think so?” I said, not sure what to say, and not wanting to question her directly and risk pissing her off when I thought I might finally be winning her over.
“Oh, I never forgot. Memories of you kept me going long into my imprisonment.”
Memories of me? What the fuck was she talking about?
Roxy made a pained sound, and I turned to her.
All color had drained from her face. She was gripping a chair beside her, as if she was struggling to keep her feet under her.
I searched her face, the wild look in her eyes.
Was the mating bond affecting her the same as it was me?
She had to know that kiss was bullshit. That I’d fucking hated every second of it.
“Feels like history repeating itself, huh, Rox?” Sera said and laughed, a cold grating sound that made my skin crawl, like it had last night, that same feeling coiling in my gut, the sense of wrongness.
No, Roxy’s reaction wasn’t just about the kiss, it was something else. That same flash of memory that I couldn’t hold on to burst through my mind, and the hair on the back of my neck lifted.
Sera grabbed my jaw and forced me to look at her again.
“If you disappoint me, if you betray me, I will slaughter your entire pack, but I’ll make them watch as I disembowel their mates and their children, and anyone else they love first,” Sera said.
“I have shown you but a fraction of the power I possess, and I will unleash it upon you and yours without question, if you fail me.” She slid her hand down my chest. “You have one hour. If you’re not back by then, or if I get even a whiff of deceit, Roxy will be the first to go, and mark my words, she will die screaming. Understand?”
Somehow I contained the fury burning inside me. “I understand.”
She waved a hand, and the silver manacles around my wrists, and the collar buckled around my throat, fell away, freeing me.
“If you succeed, Lothar, there will be a prominent place for you in my court. You will sit at my side and know riches and glory like you’ve never imagined.
I will reward you beyond your wildest dreams.” She lifted to her toes and pressed her lips to mine, then dug her nails into my shoulders.
“You have my sacred word.” She smiled. “Now go.”
I nodded and strode for the door.
“And, Lothar?” she called before I could walk out.
“Bring the alpha back with you. I’ll need to hear it from his own lips.”
I jerked up my chin and strode out.
Growls echoed loudly around the room. I’d quickly shared everything that’d gone down since Roxy and I left in search of Beelzebub, and my brothers were as furious as I knew they would be.
War crossed his arms. “We’ll fight, we’ll do whatever it takes to stop her, but you know this fallen better than us, what’s the play here, brother?”
“Should we send someone for Lucifer?” Relic asked.
I shook my head. “We can’t risk it. I have no idea how powerful she is.
I’ve felt it, though, it flows from her like a constant current, ever growing.
If she’s stronger than Lucifer, if she’s capable of taking him out, the chaos that would flow across the realms would be unimaginable.
I think our best option is to get word to the angels, telling them what’s going down tonight and they need to come pick up their trash. They have to be searching for her.”
War nodded. “Agreed. Silas?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. He’s fallen, but he’ll have a way to make contact.”
“What can we do?” Willow said, striding into the room. The alpha’s mate was not one to sit idle when shit was about to hit the fan, and neither were Jagger’s and Relic’s mates. Fern and Sutton were standing with Wills, looking just as determined.
War shook his head, and both Jag and Relic looked far from happy.
“You need an army, and we have two powerful covens at our disposal,” Willow said.
“There are females and pups here that will need protecting if shit goes south. If this doesn’t go the way we want, you’re gonna have to ward the fuck out of this place and keep everyone safe.”
I nodded. “The fight alone, with someone as strong as Seraphina, will cause unrest. There’s no telling how a loss of balance, or even just a ripple, will affect the humans and demons in this city when she lets loose. This compound will need to be defended.”
Willow’s eyes were locked on her mate, as if they were silently communicating. She nodded. “I’ll call the family here, so we’re all in one place.”
“Can you have someone get Lenny and bring her here?” Jag said.
Kurgan’s female lived alone, and Jagger kept an eye on her.
“Of course.” Wills turned to me. “Where’s Rox?”
“Sera’s holding her.”
Willow frowned at my brothers when several of them growled at the mention of her name. “What’s the problem? Why does Rome look like he’s sucking a rotten egg?” She turned back to me. “Loth? What the hell’s going on?”
“Roxy’s my mate,” I said, because there would be no hiding it. “We mated a few days ago.”
Her eyes widened. “What? How is that possible?”
“She and Lucifer concealed the connection between us from me, a really long time ago. They wiped my memories.”
“They did what?” she snapped, fury burning in her eyes.
“If you can find a way to break the bond, I’d really fucking appreciate it.”
The fury in her eyes turned to pain. “Loth, no, there has to be a way for you both to—”
“She lied to me, Wills. She and Lucifer for centuries. There is no coming back from that.”
She studied my face, then nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out.”
War strode over to her after that, for a private word, no doubt to tell her he was leaving with me.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her, and I turned away and caught sight of Relic doing the same with Fern, and Jag with Sutton.
Seeing them like that, Roxy’s face immediately filled my head, and fuck, yeah, that was a knife to the chest.
I couldn’t think about that now. I couldn’t imagine myself with her that way, that was not our future.
“Relic, you go share our plan with the knights. Tell them everything, tell them to lock down their compound, and have Zenon call Silas,” I said.
He nodded, and after giving Fern one final kiss, he came to me. He gripped my shoulder, and for the first time, I recognized what was in his eyes, what was flowing from him. Relic loved me. My son loved me like a pup loved their sire. There was fear there as well, for me.
“Be fucking careful,” he said gruffly. “You fucking hear me, Loth?”
I swallowed thickly, my new emotions taking hold of my throat and gripping my chest, and I nodded. “You, too, son.”
His nostrils flared, his gaze sharpening, and I knew he could see the same thing in my eyes. He squeezed my shoulder, then he walked out.
As War and I left the clubhouse a short time later, Willow was already on the phone with her family, calling them in.