Fated Mates of the Underworld, Books 1-3

by Baxter, Linzi

  “Again,” he commanded. I didn’t think it was possible, but my body went over the edge again, and my vision almost faded to black, the orgasm was so strong. Atieno thrust into me a couple more times before finding his own release.

  The purple in the room faded, and Atieno rolled to the side and pulled me close. Our hearts were beating a mile a minute.

  I think I might be dead, I thought.

  Atieno ran his hand along my arm, making circles. “Then I’m dead with you.”

  “Wait, you read my mind?”

  “We’re mated. I can hear whatever you leave open to me.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

  “How do I hear you?”

  Atieno rolled over, and his eyes flashed green. I love you, my mate. His lips didn’t move, but I heard every word loud and clear.

  I love you too.

  Epilogue

  Atieno was right, the weather in hell was perfect, as long as I didn’t take the elevator down. I’d have to slather on the sunscreen if I did because it was hot as fuck down there. Then I’d better pack on the sunscreen because it was hot as fuck.

  “I love you,” Atieno whispered against my hair.

  “Love you too,” I told him and shifted on his lap. We had been in hell for two weeks.

  Lucifer complained at first when we didn’t come to hell right away. I needed to get my life in order even though we were only going to be in hell one week on the earthly plane. I still didn’t understand why time in hell was different from time on earth.

  Mike and Sasha were spending more time together. She was excited to be human again. But they still needed to figure out who wanted to kill her. It took hours of talking to Sasha’s parents to stop them from suing the New Orleans Police Department. They claimed it had put major stress on them to know their daughter had died.

  I called bullshit. After many conversations, Sasha talked them into not filing a lawsuit. She didn’t plan on continuing her relationship with her parents, but she needed to find out if they were behind her murder.

  I asked Grandma to come to hell withus, but she declined. She planned to look through more of my mom’s journals to see who had given me to her. My grandma was amazing.

  “You are supposed to be figuring out our laws, not smooching,” Lucifer grumbled as he sat down in the chair in front of my desk.

  My father had his signature black suit on. I hadn’t seen him wear anything else, even when we went down the fucking elevator. My clothes were dripping wet by the time we got to the second level. Lucifer didn’t have a drop of sweat or even look uncomfortable. He seemed to enjoy me sweating to death.

  “You got me here using false pretenses.” I probably could have fought the signed document. Hell, I was his daughter. But I thought it would be a good way to get to know my father better. My mom was also down there. She, Paldon, and I had houses next door to each other.

  “You say potato. I say cucumber.” His eyes danced with mischief.

  My sexy mate tightened his hands around my body and pressed another kiss to my hair. “Is there a reason you are bugging us?” Atieno asked.

  “Can’t I come and see my favorite daughter?” Lucifer pouted.

  I moved the book of laws to the side. Lucifer had asked me to figure out a new punishment system for hell. He said he liked to change it up every so many years. Some of the items they used to torture the souls in hell were from the fourteen hundreds. I loved learning about the different layers of hell’s rings, what made people end up on different ones, and how a soul could work its way up.

  The only time one couldn’t work its way up was if they were sent to the ninth-circle. That was where the scum of the earth went. Hitler had a place on level nine, right beside Synth. I reviewed the ninth-circle laws first, to make sure Synth had punishment of the worst kind coming. A few days after we blew him to pieces, the council reported ten other missing shifters. The gods had a meeting and promised Hecate was where they had left her. I still worried we hadn’t heard the last of them.

  “What do you want, Lucifer?” I asked before taking a sip of wine.

  He let out a sigh. “I need you to run hell for a couple months.”

  My wine spread across the desk, covering Lucifer’s white shirt. He waved his hand, and it was back to a perfect white without a drop of wine on him. He didn’t do the same for my desk.

  “No. Absolutely not. You have hundreds of people out there and seven deadly sins.”

  “Hell would freeze over if I let the deadly sins run it. You and your mate are strong and can handle this. I haven’t had a vacation in years.”

  I jumped up from Atieno’s lap. “Let me get this straight. You want me to run hell so you can go on vacation? The devil doesn’t get a vacation. Your job is to send souls to the corr… you set me up. You had me looking over this so I would learn what to do.”

  Atieno pulled me back into his lap. “What’s the real reason you need us to run hell? I know it’s not for vacation. You take vacations all the time.”

  “See, this is why I need you guys to run hell. Atieno sees things others don’t, and you don’t take shit, and understand the law.”

  “Human law.” I held up the old book. “This is something from medieval times.”

  “Those were the best times.” Lucifer pulled at his cufflinks. “I miss those times.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Atieno bit out.

  Lucifer let out a sigh. “When the gods got together after Synth’s little stunt, Anubis was missing, and we flipped a coin to see who had to find the mummy fucker.”

  “Wait, he fucks mummies?” I asked.

  Atieno stifled his laugh. “No, he’s the god of mummification.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck, hoping to stave off the headache I feel starting. “Let me get this straight. You want us to watch hell for two months so you can find a missing god.”

  “Yes.”

  I debated what I should do. On the one hand, I was worried someone was missing.

  Atieno spoke before I could decide. “We will watch hell for two months minus the two weeks we were already here. Then we go home. No staying for a year.”

  Lucifer glared at Atieno. “You are no longer my favorite son-in-law. But I concede.” Lucifer stood.

  “I want it in writing before I agree,” I said.

  “Don’t you trust me, dear?”

  “No.”

  Lucifer produced a document, signed it, and handed it over. “See you in two months.” And he disappeared.

  I leaned back into Atieno’s chest. “What did we just do?”

  “Oh, I don’t plan on watching hell. We are going to figure out what the devil is really up to.”

  Hell’s Portal

  The devil never takes a holiday. But he’s about to make one hell of an exception.

  Gemma

  I did what the Titans asked—used my gods-gifted ability to rip magical power away from Prometheus. My reward? A forced 300-year nap sealed a damp, dank catacomb, dreaming of my failures. Nice, huh?

  Now Prometheus is back and, inexplicably, so are his powers. He’s awakened me to run an errand of revenge against Lucifer, Poseidon, and Zeus. I’m starting at the bottom, because I need Lucifer to get to the others. Plus, I’ve got a score to settle with the lover who never came looking for me.

  Lucifer

  Someone went to a lot of trouble to keep me and Dani apart, and cover their tracks under a powerful memory-altering spell. When I find out who it is, there won’t be enough left of them to fill an ash tray.

  But my first priority is to figure out what strange magic is penetrating and disrupting the deepest circles of Hell—and how it’s connected to the fact that my brave, indestructible, gods-touched lover is dying. If I can’t win this race against time, I’ll never even get the chance to convince her I never stopped loving her.

  Prologue - Gemma

  The constant nightmare faded into the back of my mind. Instead of hearing the screams of my sisters, I f
elt a pain in every inch of my body. My own shrieks echoed in the room, waking me up. I sat up too quickly, and the room tilted on its axis. The cold stone I pressed my hand to helped keep me from falling over.

  “You might want to lie back down.”

  I hadn’t heard that voice in… I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep, so I didn’t know how much time had passed.

  I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes to help shield myself from the bright light. The dusty, decomposing scent in the air brought back my last vivid memory of the Titans casting a spell to lock me away in the bottom of the catacombs for eternity. They’d worried I would take their powers away after they used me to take down a Titan—the same one standing in the room. When I stripped Prometheus of his powers, it hadn’t taken away his immortality, only his gifts from the gods. But he was probably there to get revenge.

  Slowly peeling my hands away, I glanced around the room. It hadn’t changed except for the layers of dust. The Titans had created the catacombs to seal my body away forever.

  “How… long?” My throat hurt with each word.

  The tall man with shoulder-length black hair rested his hip against the wall made of skulls. When I’d been sealed away, they were just building the catacombs. Everyone thought they had been built to make more room, because cemeteries were taking up real estate, but that wasn’t the reason. They’d been created to keep me hidden away. The labyrinth under Paris was built so that no one would ever find me.

  “Two hundred thirty-four years, give or take a few.”

  I lay back down in the crypt and rested my arm over my eyes. “Why now?” I hadn’t gotten past two-word sentences, and it was a dumb question. He’d come to kill me, and I wasn’t in any shape to fight him. My head hurt, my back hurt—hell, even my skin hurt from years of lying in the same position in a cement coffin. A pillow or a blanket would have been nice.

  Footsteps echoed as Prometheus crossed the small room. He rested his hand on the crypt and looked down at me. His dark-brown eyes flashed orange-red… which gave me pause. I’d taken his powers, so his eyes shouldn’t have changed.

  “We don’t have all day, Gemma. Time to get up. I have a mission for you.”

  “Mission?” Death was what I figured he was there for.

  Prometheus tapped the side of my crypt. “Yes, mission. It took me years to figure out how to get my powers back then years of bribing people to figure out where you were.”

  I didn’t bother trying to get up. My legs felt like rubber, and I wasn’t even sure if they would work. “I didn’t have a choice.”

  His eyes flashed burnt orange. “You had a choice. You chose to do as the Titans asked because they were mad at me.”

  “You stole Zeus’s fire, slept with his wife, and took his baby.” I let out a sigh. “And that is the tip of the iceberg. Do you even want to talk about what you did to Poseidon?”

  Prometheus had turned the seas purple, which had made the fish go mad and start fighting each other. His last trick had been the final straw after centuries of playing tricks on the gods. The only way to get his powers back would have been to meet with Fate, but over the years, he’d done harm to them.

  “Zeus has his toga too tight, or he wouldn’t have been so mad.” Prometheus reached out his hand. “Now you owe me, and it’s time you pay.”

  Tentatively, I gripped Prometheus's hand and climbed out of the crypt. My legs felt weak as I stood for the first time in centuries. The large white fluffy dress pooled around me. The corset hadn’t even loosened over the years.

  For the first time, my eyes trailed over Prometheus. He wasn’t wearing the red toga he was known for. He had what looked like full-length trousers and a black short-sleeved shirt. His long beard was gone.

  “I need a bath and food. But by the way you’re dressed, I see I’m going to have to fill my own tub to clean the dirt off my body.” Nothing like waking up from a long forced nap and having to do everything myself. I highly doubted my women in waiting would still be alive.

  “My clothes are fine. Now, you, on the other hand, look like you walked out of the eighteenth century.”

  Testing my legs, I took a step forward. “Did you happen to bring a change of clothes?”

  Instead of answering, he grunted and motioned toward the archway made of leg bones. As I followed the large man, my mind rolled around the fact I’d missed so many years. I worried about how Prometheus had gotten his powers back. I padded across the rough, uneven pebbled walkway. Judging by the cold shoulder he gave me, I doubted he’d brought a pair of shoes for me.

  We reached the end of the long hallway where an old spiral staircase stood—my freedom from the catacombs. Instead of heading up the stairs, Prometheus walked over to the wall and tapped the lower corner, and a large purple portal opened. Hell’s portal. I’d used to use it—quite often—since it belonged to the only man I ever loved. Nobody knew Lucifer and I had been together for years. We both worried that the other gods wouldn’t understand. Lucifer was concerned they would do something to me to get to him.

  That didn’t matter. It had happened anyway. I’d trusted the Titans, only to be locked away after doing what they asked.

  “Lucifer asked you to set me free?”

  Prometheus barked out a laugh. “No. That man only thinks about himself. I want you to take his powers.” He pulled out a locket. “Put them in here. Then I need the same done to Zeus and Poseidon.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  My body flew back against the wall. Prometheus hadn’t moved from his spot, but his eyes glowed a deep orange. “I will find you and lock you back in that coffin, and instead of the sweet dreams you’ve had for years, it will be your fears.”

  He blinked, and I crumpled to the floor. I needed more information before going toe to toe with Prometheus. Taking a few breaths, I picked myself up off the ground and walked toward the portal to Hell.

  When I was two steps away, he reached out and grabbed my arm. “Don’t even think about crossing me.”

  It wasn’t the hard tone that sent a shiver down my spine. No, it was the coldness in his touch. I nodded, and he dropped my arm. Before he could change his mind, I stepped through the portal.

  The smell of brimstone wafted through the air. I had missed that odor and even the cockiness of the man behind it. The thought of him not remembering me passed through my mind for a second. I shook my head and walked up to the large gate. At least one thing hadn’t changed. My hand hovered for a second before pounding on the door. The door swung open, and a large man with a battle-ax stood before me. He had on the same trousers and shirt as Prometheus.

  I brushed my hands on my dress, feeling self-conscious for the first time in my life.

  “ID.”

  “I’m here to see his majesty.”

  The large man snorted. “He doesn’t take guests. You can leave or show your vacation papers.”

  “Vacation papers, as in, people come here to vacation?”

  Lucifer used to hate having people come to hell. For years, he’d closed off the gates to anyone he didn’t like, but a person could still request a visit.

  “Demons Island is one of the top tourist destinations. Now, show me your papers or turn around and leave.”

  My dress wouldn’t make it easy to take down the guard leading me through the gates of hell, but it wouldn’t be the first time I’d fought someone while wearing a gown. “I believe Lucifer would be surprised I’m here and mad to find out you sent me away.”

  The guard reached up and scratched his beard. “You’re not the first woman to come here, demanding to see him.” His eyes traveled over my body. “Maybe the first to show up in a costume. Most show up wearing nothing to appeal to the side of him that sleeps with anyone who shows him her breasts.”

  “I’m not in a costume… I’ve been away awhile.”

  Lucifer’s guards didn’t have powers, but if the fight came to much, they could summon Lucifer and let him know what was going on. My only choi
ce was to take out the guard and make him call Lucifer.

  I pushed my way through the marble archway. The guard stepped in my path. Using the strength the gods gave me, I pulled back and punched him in the gut. My hand vibrated off his ribs and didn’t move the guard an inch.

  When I glanced up at the tall guard, he frowned down at me and swung his battle-ax. I rolled to the side, the blade missing me by a centimeter. The breeze from the blade whispered across my skin.

  Before the guard had time to right himself, I swiped out my leg and connected with his chin. The kick made him lose his balance, and his feet got tangled in my fluffy dress. When he came crashing down, I was relieved to hear my dress ripping. The corset was no longer crushing my lungs. I jumped up and stood in my bra and underwear. My dress was wrapped around the guard's legs.

  It wouldn’t be the first time Lucifer had seen me naked. I reached down and grabbed the battle-ax and held it to my shoulder. Nobody was going to stop me from storming Lucifer’s palace.

  I was taking a step toward the walkway when a hand grabbed my ankle and pulled me back. I went crashing down on the hard stone. The most unladylike scream escaped my mouth, followed by the sound of a crack as my hand hit the cement. My bones shouldn’t have broken that easily, but I didn’t have time to figure out what was happening to me. Kicking out, I hit the guard in the head with my foot, and he let out a grunt.

  I rolled to the side and took a couple of breaths. It was time to finish him off. I braced my arm against my chest and grabbed the weapon’s handle with my other hand then stood over the guard in a white lace bra and panties with a battle-ax over my head. If it was any other circumstance, I might have laughed at the situation, but I needed to talk to Lucifer, and this guard stood in my way.

  “Stop!” a man yelled behind me. His voice warmed my soul.

  The guard on the ground was still knocked out, and I contemplated swing the ax down and eliminating him for causing me to break my arm.