Chapter Thirty-Four #2
Each rock that struck was a sharp, piercing reminder of how fragile I felt.
Fear clawed through me. If I died here, no one would stop the monster currently crushing me to his chest. The thought alone made my eyes burn.
He was taking the brunt of it all—shielding me.
And yet he still tried to convince me he didn’t care?
How could he watch me fade if the idea of me dying terrified him so much?
A choked cry escaped me when something slammed into my foot.
The boots didn’t help. It felt like my bones had cracked.
The ache radiated up my leg. Luke shifted me in his arms, tucking my knees up as he adjusted his grip.
He bent forward so much I couldn’t understand how he was still running at all.
“I think it’s slowing,” he yelled.
I clung to his shirt, breathing in his scent—sweet, burnt, something uniquely him. Comfort in chaos.
“What’s happening?” I asked, breathless.
“The end,” Luke muttered. “It’s not just the human world that’s changing.”
“You knew this would happen?”
“I knew change was coming. To me. To this place. But not like this.”
I hadn’t been able to see anything beyond Luke as he ran, but the world seemed quieter now as he slowed. He straightened as he walked, letting his fingers knead my legs like he was searching for something. The caresses were surprisingly soothing against my bruised skin.
He reached for my boot and tugged. “Let me see your feet. I know one was hit by a sizable chunk of Hell.”
I gave him an are-you-serious look, though he didn’t seem to notice—too focused as he yanked my boots off.
“Wouldn’t this be your home or room—or whatever you want to call it down here—that’s falling apart?” I asked.
“I don’t have a home. Everything that exists here is something I created. I can make anything disappear as easily as I brought it into existence.” He glanced at me, brow furrowed. “Do you really think I’d run through falling rubble if it was something I could control?”
I frowned. “But Hell is your domain.”
“And like I said, Hell is affected—just like everything else. It’s changing.”
He was admitting it—he’d lost power, just as I had. Just like the Reapers. My heart shouldn’t have softened because of that, but it did. Each beat now drummed for him.
The warmth didn’t last long.
He peeled off one of my socks. I hissed, trying to jerk away, but I was still tucked firmly against his chest. He dropped to the ground, letting his legs splay out, and sat me between them. Cradling my foot in one hand, he dragged his thumb over the large bruise.
“I should’ve known something might happen down here.”
I wiggled my toes. My foot throbbed, but I could move it.
The pinch of his brow, and the tension in his jaw made me freeze.
The worry bleeding into his features was so visible—so un-Luke—I tensed.
I didn’t want him to notice how much he revealed.
I had craved this attention and softness from Shadow for so long.
I didn’t want to ruin it…even if that made me a fool.
He sighed, still staring at my foot like the bruise offended him.
“My Reaper powers will probably kick in soon,” I said, trying to soothe him.
“You shouldn’t have gotten hit.” He ran his hand up my pants leg. “Was that the worst one?”
“Yeah.” I couldn’t resist smiling—until my gaze drifted past Luke’s face.
Huge chunks of flesh were missing from his shoulders and arms. I could see bone bulging through his right forearm.
“Oh, Luke!” I gripped his wrist carefully, noticing the gashes across his hand too.
He grunted. “I don’t feel it. Why are you shrieking?”
Still, he didn’t pull away from my touch.
My stomach knotted. “Are you… mortal?”
He snorted. “I’d be dead if I were mortal, Kitten. Look at me.”
That was true. Still, it seemed strange that he was so wounded.
“Things are changing,” he added. “The end of things also starts new beginnings.”
“Well, if you’re not mortal, then why do you look like sliced meat?”
He arched a brow, then tapped my head twice with his finger. “Did you hit your head again? And here I thought I was sacrificing my own to keep yours untouched.”
His words had me glancing at the top of his head, and I gasped.
One of his horns was broken completely.
I reached out and gripped the one that remained. “Not my handles.”
Luke’s hand on my calf gripped my flesh suddenly, and the action was so possessive my pussy spasmed, despite the aches and bruises.
“Handles?”
My cheeks flushed. I hadn’t meant to say that aloud. “What were you saying before?”
“Kara,” he uttered, forcing more flutters in my core.
“Are you being affected already?” I asked.
He sighed. “Of course, I am. And what do you mean by already. It’s here.”
My eyes widened. “What’s here?”
He looked ahead, and I followed his line of sight. Everything looked like rubble and ruin to me.
“The crossover. I can feel it. It’ll likely open within a day. Maybe more…or less.”
My heart sank, and I stiffened. Already? I knew what I had to do, but I wasn’t ready.
“Stop thinking,” he ordered. “Come. Let’s see what the end has done to my Hell.”
He stood swiftly, and with the grace of someone who didn’t look shredded to pieces. When I stayed in place, he shook his head and bent down.
“I suppose I shall carry you if your foot is sore.”
I tensed as he gathered me against his chest. Knowing how battered he was, I didn’t want to press against any wounds—though it was ludicrous, since Luke had no sense of touch.
“Why are you like that?” he asked.
I blinked up at him. “Like what?”
“So stiff. I might not feel it, but I can see it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you sure you can see that?”
After all, he sure couldn’t see how attracted I was to him. Anyone with eyes would know right away how well I responded to Luke’s touch—everyone but him.
He arched a brow. “Don’t be cryptic. Clearly, you’re snooty for a reason. Just speak plainly.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “I’m just saying you seem to be blind to other things.”
The hum that built in his throat was deliciously deep and male. “I’m not blind. I just won’t let you take me for a fool.”
Then he tossed me—literally—high enough that I left his arms for a couple of seconds, squeaking, before he caught me again.
“What was that for?”
“Loosen up.”
“I don’t want to irritate your wounds.”
“What wounds?”
I quickly glanced at his arms and realized most of his flesh had mended. He smirked when our eyes met again.
“I feel no pain,” he said, amusement in his voice. “So even if I were —”
“Excuse me for not wanting to inflict more damage!” I muttered, pushing his chest. “Let me down.”
A stabbing burn slashed through my bare foot the second I put weight on it.
“Ow!” I turned just as he leaned in closer, practically yelling the word into his ear. “You didn’t put my boots back on.”
“The boots aren’t the problem. It’s your foot.” His breath fanned my cheek. “And you didn’t put them back on.”
“You were the one who scooped me back up,” I said, exasperated.
He chuckled darkly—and then did it again. “You feel pain. It’s better that I carry you.”
My power returned, and I breathed a sigh of relief as my bruises began to heal. I nudged away from him, smiling. “I don’t need you to carry me.”
He crossed his arms, watching as I materialized boots on my feet. “Don’t think about fading, Kitten.”
I cocked my head. “You wanted me to earlier.”
“Yes, when Hell was falling on top of us.” He scowled. “Next time, leave when I say—and don’t try to pull me with you.”
“I didn’t know I wouldn’t be able to take you.”
“Now you do.”
“I would try again in a heartbeat.”
He froze, shock slackening his mouth. “What?”
“You looked…vulnerable. Just as confused as I was. Of course, I would have tried to take you with me. I’d do it again if the need arose.”
His nostrils flared. “Do not say things like that.”
“No, I’m not you. I won’t lie about what I feel.”
He stalked toward me. Heat rushed up my face, then down my neck as he swallowed me whole with his intensity. The way he stared at me was so overwhelming most of the time.
“Don’t say things like that,” he repeated.
“Why not?”
He gripped my nape, bending down, and pressed his forehead to mine.
“I can’t fuck the truth out of you. And you’re hiding your fear so well from me by pretending to desire me,” he rasped, inhaling.
“You want honesty? I want to breathe you in. Roll in your scent. Know your touch so maddeningly well it drives me insane. Taste you. Drink you down if that’s the only way to keep you.
I want to consume you, Kara, completely. ”
My lungs felt like they were breathing in smoke. I was so heated. I panted, closed my eyes, and felt his breath meet mine. Desire and need clashed inside me. I wanted those things too—so he could see the truth and finally stop denying me.
I gripped the back of his head, brushing my lips across his jaw, then said, “Luke, you said I couldn’t hide my fear from you. If you can’t find it…doesn’t that mean it’s no longer there?”
I felt his big body shudder and reveled in it. Although the Devil wasn’t supposed to feel, he trembled for me.
A felt the hot, heavyweight slither up my leg. Luke was testing me with his tail, stretching it to my other leg, coiling the large appendage between them, then over each knee, climbing higher. My breath stilled, and a shocking amount of need burst through me.
It was a test I’d surely pass.
A sudden squawking sound caused me to jump slightly. I was so wrapped up in my need that the noise startled me. The flapping of wings came next. I looked up just in time to see a skeletal bird fly overhead.
“You have evil birds on hand down here?” I asked.
Luke’s brows pinched together. “Not that kind. Mine are much bigger.”
“I’ve never seen those before,” I said in awe as a few more flew by. A couple swooped near us, but none of them attacked. I giggled and held my hand out for one. It nipped at my fingers playfully, then darted away. “They look similar to my dad and brothers’ skeletal forms.”
“Lots of things are without flesh. Not everything is a replica of your father,” Luke muttered. He took my hand and dragged me forward.
“I miss him, Luke, and I’ll talk about him all I want.”
He stilled a moment, not turning. His broad back rose and fell several times before he said, “You’ve distracted me enough. I want to see what else is new.”
I gave him a funny look, though he couldn’t see it. “You truly have never seen those before?”
“No.”
“You know nothing of what’s happened to Hell?”
He sighed. “We’re all at the whim of what’s happening. We’re all weakened. I can’t know everything, Kitten. I don’t care about anything beyond the outcome. That I know with certainty.”
The Devil was so sure he’d get what he wanted in the end that he didn’t care to admit that he’d weakened.
My heart twisted painfully as I followed behind him.
I was positive, too—that I could end him when he became mortal.