Chapter Fourteen
New Year’s Resolution Number Fourteen: Forgive…but maybe don’t forget.
“Are you going to rip my heart out of my chest?” Noren’s eyes widened as he stared at Devereaux. “I hear that’s the punishment you like to give to your enemies. Full disclosure, though, I’m not going to stay dead if that’s the method you employ.”
They were back in Devereaux’s mansion. Four days had passed since Lark had killed her father. Guilt still ate at Devereaux, and when he thought of how close he’d come to losing her…
Never again. She can never be threatened again.
And the bastard before him was a threat to his queen.
“You’re going back to hell,” Devereaux told the hound flatly. “I’ve got witches coming in to do the job.”
Noren yanked at the metal restraints that held him in place. They were in the basement, back in the cells that held the enemies of the vampires. “You’ve gotten awfully chummy with the witches. Did you forget they were lining up to burn your queen not too long ago?”
“I don’t forget anything. When I needed a fast way to teleport to Oris’s tower, they sent me and my men. We worked out a deal, you see.”
Noren panted. “What were the terms of that deal? Because I don’t think you fully realize—”
“I let them live.”
Noren waited. “Uh, what else?”
Why did there have to be more? “That’s it. I let them keep living. If they hadn’t helped me, I would have killed them all right then and there.”
“Fuck. Does Lark know what a bastard you are?”
He hoped she never found out. Devereaux opened his mouth to growl out a response—
“I know exactly what he is.”
Devereaux spun around. Lark stood just a few feet away. He could only shake his head. “No one else can sneak up on me. How do you do it?” His senses were so acute, so advanced, so—
She shrugged one delicate shoulder. Looked sexy as all hell. “Maybe I just get beneath your guard?”
Yeah, love, you do.
“Maybe you know I’d never be a threat, so you just don’t worry when I get close.” She smiled at him.
Warmth spread within Devereaux. He’d waited centuries for his mate, and he knew the wait had more than been worth it. For her, he would have waited as long as necessary.
Lark strolled toward him. Slid her arm around his waist. “The bonding ceremony is tonight, but I find you hanging out in the basement?”
“Last minute business,” he told her gruffly. “Nothing to worry about.”
Noren cleared his throat. “Uh, hello! I happen to think my life is something to worry about.”
The guy was getting on Devereaux’s nerves.
And the hellhound just kept raging. “I came to this place willingly. I followed the whole team after Oris was killed. I thought we were all coming back here to celebrate. You know, because we were winners. We fought the biggest vamp villain out there and won.”
Both Devereaux and Lark turned to look at him.
“We?” Lark repeated carefully.
Devereaux’s eyes narrowed on the hellhound. “Want to tell us exactly how you helped?”
“Of course.” Noren’s eyes flashed. “I helped you to take the battle to Oris, something the guy didn’t expect.”
“You kidnapped me,” Lark reminded him.
“I gave you the element of surprise. I knew that once I had you before Oris, then Devereaux would come running. Hell, I even knew he’d turn to the witches for help because he’d need a fast transport. And who do you think convinced the witches to help?” He stared at them expectantly.
“I did,” Devereaux snapped. “Because I told them they either helped or they died.”
Noren rolled his eyes. “Look, buddy, I don’t get who told you the lie that you were charming because you’re not.
The witches didn’t help because of you, they did that because of me.
Because after Lark summoned me at her place and they had the burning party outside, I’m the one who went and talked them down when they retreated to a local bar to lick their wounds.
” A furrow appeared between his brows. “The ones still alive, anyway. I told them that it was far better to deal with you and Lark—a woman who wasn’t exactly super keen on paranormal bloodshed.
” He glanced at her with a knowing gleam in his eyes.
“I saw that based on personal experience.”
“The idea of bloodshed appeals more and more,” she snapped at him with a cold smile. “Or have you forgotten what I did to Oris?”
Noren nodded. “Yeah, see, that was the tricky part. The witches didn’t think you’d actually go through with it and kill him.
The witches hated Oris more than they hated any hunter out there.
The guy had drained more of them than you could count.
He got some magic high off their blood, and they were his delicacy of choice.
That’s why they were so eager to burn you.
They thought killing you would hurt Oris.
” A shrug—or as much of a shrug as he could manage while secured in the restraints.
“But the witches listened to me. They trusted me. After all, I used to be a warlock. I convinced them it would be better for everyone if we helped you and Devereaux kill Oris. I mean, sure, you might not have gone through with it, but I knew Devereaux would. In the end, Oris would be dust.”
Devereaux took a step toward the bastard. “You took her from me.”
Lark lunged forward, too. “And you burned Devereaux!”
At that accusation, Noren winced. “Can we chalk that up to some overzealous showmanship? Sorry, but I had to make the scene look real.” He jutted his chin toward Lark.
“And when Devereaux burned, when you turned all angry and started punching me, when I saw the rage inside of you, I knew I was right to bet on you. You could kill your father, if there was something he threatened that mattered to you. Something—someone—you wanted to protect.”
Her gaze slid to Devereaux.
Noren wasn’t done. “The witches had two to one odds that Devereaux would be the one to take out Oris. They already knew he was crazy about you. They saw that shit firsthand at your apartment. He’d do anything to keep you safe.
And the guy hadn’t told you what a total freak job your dad was—probably because he was trying to protect you. ”
“Shut the fuck up,” Devereaux ordered.
Noren clamped his lips shut.
Devereaux thought about how easy it would be to permanently shut up the hound. You ready to visit hell again?
But Lark’s soft hand pressed to Devereaux’s chest. “Why didn’t you want me to know what Oris was really like?”
“Because your mom already gave you a life of hell. I didn’t want any more pain for you.
You aren’t like either of them, love. You’re strong and you’re good, and you are everything that a queen should be.
I’ve never met your equal.” He exhaled. “I planned to keep you away from Oris. I knew he’d want to use you, to hurt you, and it just couldn’t happen. ”
She stared up at him. Her gaze was so deep and tender. “Noren is wrong.”
The hellhound sucked in a breath.
“I find you to be quite charming.” Her smile lit her eyes. “Charming and fierce. Dangerous and sexy. Everything that I could ever want.”
She wanted dangerous?
“Let’s go get bonded, Dev. Because I’m ready for a future with you.” She leaned onto her toes. He pulled her closer. Their mouths met.
Noren coughed. “Um, before you two head off and get busy…what about me?”
“Let me send him to hell,” Devereaux whispered against her mouth. “It can be a wedding present.”
“No!” Noren yelled. “Would you listen? My curse is broken! It ended when Oris turned to dust. I still have a hellhound’s powers, but I don’t feel the chain around me any longer.
I don’t feel the link that tied me to hell.
I don’t have to go back. Listen! Shit, I can help.
I can be the best damn guard you’ve ever had.
You gave the frigging Van Helsing family a chance, and we all know how crazy they were. Give me a chance, give me a—”
“You have a chance,” Lark said.
Devereaux sighed.
She winked at him. “Wedding present?”
Fine. As if he could deny her anything.
“This is why I bet on you!” Noren crowed.
“Because you do what’s right! I knew that, in the end, you’d be the one to kill Oris.
Because you kill the real monsters. Those of us who are just…
different…or who may turn into a flaming beast from hell, you know that we aren’t the real threats.
You’ll stop those threats, Lark. You’ll change the world, you’ll—”
“I’m going to get married.” Her voice was flat. “I’m bonding with the man I love. My prince charming, and he is charming, by the way. Say anything different, and his charming self will kick your ass while I eat some popcorn and enjoy the show.”
Noren was sweating.
She glared at the hound. “I’m trusting you because there were dozens of times when we stood in that tower room—plenty of moments—when you could have killed me, if that was what you truly wanted to do.”
Devereaux stiffened. But he’d also realized the same thing. That was why he hadn’t destroyed the hound—yet.
“When Oris told you to take me to hell, you could have vanished with me in a blink,” Lark continued in her careful voice. “You didn’t. You wanted him defeated.”
“Talk to the witches,” Noren urged as he strained against his restraints. “They’ll back up my story. They’ll tell you that I was working to help you two win all along!”
Devereaux gave the guy a cold smile. “We already talked to them. They are now our allies, so we had to check in with them.”
The hellhound gaped. “All along…you knew? You knew the truth about me? But I’ve been in this prison for days!”
Yes, he had been. “Maybe next time you won’t kidnap a queen…”
“Or burn a vampire prince,” Lark concluded with a nod.
And Noren slowly smiled. “You two…I swear, I like you both.”
Devereaux twined his fingers with Lark’s. “Our ceremony is waiting.”
She nodded.
They turned and walked away.
“Hey!” Noren yelled. “I want to be there! Come on, don’t leave me! I want to see you two get hitched! It’s the big show! The big moment! I want to see it—”
“Our bonding will be private. Just for us.” Devereaux’s hold tightened on Lark’s hand. “But we’ll consider inviting you to the after party.”
“Dammit, Devereaux!”
Devereaux led his queen from the cell. His fingers were almost shaking. The moment he’d waited for, the moment he’d wanted was almost there.
He would have Lark forever.
He would have the only thing he wanted.
The only woman he craved—his. Forever.