by Ivy Asher
“We can’t handle that,” Jerif says like the Negative Nancy he is.
“Yes, we can,” I say confidently. “And this is how it’s gonna work, ready? I’m gonna say a place to eat, and you all are just gonna nod and say, ‘Okay, Delta.’”
The guys send out a mix of snorts and chuckles.
“We’re gonna have...pasta and a movie!” I repeat, just like my earlier suggestion.
The guys groan.
“Okay, great. Good stuff. Let’s go,” I say, holding out my hand.
Echo smirks and comes forward, taking it so he can shift me since I still haven’t learned how to do that myself.
“Fine, but can we find a place that serves pasta and steak?” Jerif asks gruffly.
“Ohh, and tacos,” Crux once again throws out there.
I roll my eyes and then laugh because these demons are fucking incorrigible. Good thing I love it.
“If everyone gets on board with pasta and a movie right now, we’ll all fool around in the theater and see how long we can play before we get caught,” I offer, loving the win-win scenario I just set myself up for.
“I fucking love pasta, personally,” Echo declares vehemently, giving me a cheeky smile and a hand squeeze.
“I guess a good seafood alfredo doesn’t sound like complete shit,” Jerif grumps.
Iceman and Crux just stay quiet, their heated looks saying plenty. They’re probably already mentally coming up with ways of how to enact their sexy sneak mode for the theater.
I’ll take it. And every other date night to come. Because these four demons changed my life, helped me find who I really am, and no matter what, I know they’ve got my back.
And my heart.
Epilogue
“Yes! Omg, yes, right there!” I cry out, leaning back into Jerif and the wicked things he’s doing to me. His hot hands are so perfect for this.
Fuck it hurts, but it feels so good at the same time.
“Harder,” I grit out.
“You’re fucking bossy.”
“Harder, Jerif!” I demand, because he’s right at the perfect spot.
“What in the Rings of Hell is going on?” Tazreel demands.
I scream and jump off the couch, grabbing my shirt to cover my chest. “What the fuck are you doing in here?” I yell at the Abdicated Sin of my nightmares. “I told you no more popping into the bedrooms!”
“It’s three in the afternoon. Not even I’m this randy, Delta,” Tazreel states, like somehow it excuses his violating our rules...again.
“I was getting a massage, thank you very much!” I snap, while Jerif smirks and sets aside the massage oil, getting to his feet. “Get the fuck out!” I yell at Taz’s back, because thankfully, he at least turned to stare at the wall.
He throws his hands up like I’m the exasperating one. “Fine, I’ll go get Nefta and be back in ten minutes. Be downstairs with your mates so I can update everyone at once. I have a gathering to go to later, and I don’t want to be held up.”
Tazreel disappears just as suddenly as he came, and I release a furious groan. “I’m getting bear traps, I don’t care what anyone says. That’s the fifth time he’s done that!” I whine.
Jerif chuckles but doesn’t say anything. They never do, no matter how annoying my relatives are. Maybe if Lucifer declares they can’t be punished either, they’ll finally give Tazreel a piece of their mind. Or maybe they really just don’t give a fuck.
Jerif takes my shirt and pulls it down over my head. I give him my back, and he helps me thread my wings through the holes that have been sewn into every top I own now. He rubs over my ass—probably because my leggings make it look so good—and gives it an appreciative squeeze.
“How’s your back?” he asks.
“Better,” I answer, my wings stretching out as I rub at the spot where he worked my knot. Now that I’ve been training, my muscles have been giving me hell. But luckily, I have a strong demon with fire-hot hands to rub them for me. Jerif’s massages have quickly become one of my favorite things ever.
“You know, if we really wanted to show him what’s up, we’d be late to his so-called meeting because we were fucking,” I tell Jerif over my shoulder.
“You really are shameless in your pursuits to avoid training, aren’t you?” Jerif scolds. “I was just warming you up for flying practice, and you know it.”
“Yes, but you could be warming up my vagina with your cock right now, and isn’t that just a better use of our time all around?”
He snorts. “Better get to it, Warrior Princess, or I’ll withhold my warm cock from that pussy and make sure the others withhold theirs too until after you’ve practiced properly.”
I huff. “Oh look at the time, we have a meeting to get to,” I chirp.
Yeah, right. As if he’d actually get the other guys not to slip me the D.
Shit.
He better not.
Jerif slaps my ass hard.
“Mmmmmm,” I purr. “You know just how I like it,” I tease before skipping away from him. I know that if I don’t, he’ll just grab me, get me all kinds of needy, and then leave me hanging, because he’s a prick like that.
But dammit if I don’t love it.
“I forgot to ask you where you and Iceman ran off to last night,” I say, stalling. “You guys keep saying you’re ‘working on something secret,’ but you never tell me what it is. I tried to get Echo and Crux to tell me, but their lips were sealed.”
Jerif looks at me smugly. “It’s a secret,” he deadpans.
“Oh, come the fuck on!” I huff. “Just tell me already.”
“Fine,” he relents, which surprises the shit out of me. “We’ve been fucking with your old boss.”
My brows pull together. “Sean the Shithole?” I ask, floored. This is definitely not one of the scenarios I imagined when they kept saying they were working on something. I thought it was a sex room.
“Yes,” he says simply, like that’s enough info.
“Fucking with him how?”
He lifts a shoulder. “I melted all his tires on his car. Rafferty keeps freezing his pipes. Echo freaks him the fuck out with moving shadows all the time, so he’s gotten really fucking jumpy. Crux snuck a sex-obsessed imp over once, warded her for the night to look fuckable, but purposely made the ward wear off so he woke up to the demonic version of coyote ugly.”
My hand flies to my mouth as a shocked laugh escapes me. “Oh shit,” I say, unable to stop the laughter that ripples through me.
Jerif watches me, his lips tipping up in a satisfied smirk. “Thought you’d like that. The other guys were worried you’d be all high and mighty about it.” He leans in to brush his lips against my ear. “But I know you. You got that demon side that likes to come out and play.”
“Yep,” I nod, not at all feeling sorry for Sean. “And I’m definitely going to be coming out to play with you four later as a reward,” I say with a sultry wink.
His eyes bank with even more heat than his fiery depths already have in them. Before he can grab me, I race out of the room and down the stairs, heading for the weird sitting room. I want to make sure the fainting couch is left open for Tazreel. He just loves it when that’s the only seat left in the room. I make him meet us in this room every time.
One by one, the other guys drift in, kiss me, and plop down in their favorite spots. We’ve done this quite a bit in the last two months, as the Armies of Hell and the Angelic Legion hunt Morax.
After his unsanctioned realm was destroyed, Lucifer discovered a home base of sorts in Nihil and another recruiting center in Duo Ring. Both places were razed to the ground. But the safe house they found in Purgatory is the one that surprises the shit out of me still.
Nefta said that, because he didn’t choose a side, he can still go back and forth between Hell and parts of Heaven without permission. I realized after she dropped that bomb, that I could do the same thing too, hence my little Heaven break-in attempt with Crux. Turns out that Purgatory doesn�
�t take that shit lightly, though. Nefta chewed me out for a week.
Lucifer suspects that his old buddy the Ophidian is hiding in the Mortal Realm somewhere, which is the last place I heard they were looking for him. Judging by Tazreel’s lack of smug excitement, I’m going to assume they still haven’t found him, but I’m hoping it’s only a matter of time.
Exactly ten minutes later, Nefta and Tazreel pop into the room, and I try not to laugh as Nefta immediately springs for the last armchair available. Tazreel takes one look around, and I swear his eye twitches. He takes a deep breath, as if he’s trying to center himself, and I look over and see Echo trying not to laugh. He walks over to the fainting couch stiffly, but then like he thinks better of it, he chooses to keep standing instead.
“Lucifer and the Armies of Hell have found Morax,” he announces, like it’s an everyday thing and not at all worthy of throwing a fucking Hell orgy for.
“They got him?” I ask with rapt excitement, hope surging in my chest.
“Where?” Iceman asks at the same time that Nefta declares, “Where is he? I want to purge him myself!”
Tazreel holds up a finger, and we all take a breath and wait. “He got away.”
Groans and outrage fill the room immediately. How slippery is this fucker? Do snakes have nine lives too? Because I swear, he gets out of the most impossible situations.
“I know it’s not the win we were hoping for, but it has proven very fruitful. We recovered a lot of tech and journals that will help us figure out what his next move might be, and then we can catch him once and for all. Aside from Delta’s name popping up in various places, we also recovered another name,” Taz tells us. “Medley. At least, we think it’s a name. It could possibly be something else, some other kind of clue. We’re looking into all possibilities right now, but it seems his focus moved from hunting Delta to whatever this ‘Medley’ is. Probably because he’s realized Delta is too well protected now.”
I can’t help but feel a whoosh of relief at that. The guys are constantly taking shifts to watch the portal and the mansion, all of us on edge that Morax would try something again. I’d love to believe that he’s going to leave me alone for now, but I can’t help but wonder what it is he’s moved on to, and if it’s something worse.
I try to think if the name Medley rings any kind of bell, but I’ve got nothing. I look to the guys, who seem to be doing the same thing as me, but they seem just as clueless. And then over to Nefta. She’s gone white as a ghost.
“What’s wrong?” I demand, panic pushing through me at the look on her face.
She swallows, and every eye in the room is suddenly on her. Nefta looks from me to Taz and then slightly shakes her head. She pushes out of her seat and runs her fingers through her purple hair, pulling at the strands in frustration.
“Fuck!” she screams out suddenly, making me jump. The rage I hear in her tone shocks me.
“Nefta...what’s going on?” I ask with growing dread that’s creeping through my gut like a vine.
“How the fuck did he find her?” she demands, but it’s clear the question isn’t posed to anyone but herself.
My brows pull together. “Find who?”
“He must have followed me...” she mumbles as she starts to pace around the room, all of our gazes locked on her. “That has to be it.”
“Who’s her? Medley? So it is a name? It’s a person?” I demand, not liking whatever it is that’s upsetting Nefta so much.
She stops her pacing and turns to me, sorrow, anger, and something akin to regret shining in her Concord colored eyes.
“Yes,” she admits, swallowing hard as her wings flare out behind her. “Medley...is your sister. And my guess is that Morax is going to go after her just like he did with you.”
I stare at Nefta blankly as the word sister sinks in.
Well, fuck.
End of Book Two
Hellgate Guardian Series
Rapid-Release Schedule
Book 1: June 8th
Grave Mistakes
Book 2: June 22nd
Grave Consequences
Book 3: July 6th
Grave Decisions
Book 4: July 20th
Grave Signs
Also by Ivy Asher & Raven Kennedy
Shifter Romantic Comedy Standalone
Conveniently Convicted
Dystopian Romantic Comedy Standalone
April’s Fools
Also by Ivy Asher
The Sentinel World
The Lost Sentinel
The Lost and the Chosen
Awakened and Betrayed
The Marked and the Broken
Found and Forged
Shadowed Wings
The Hidden
The Avowed
The Reclamation
More in the Sentinel World coming soon.
Romantic Comedy Standalone
Conveniently Convicted
April’s Fools
Also by Raven Kennedy
Paranormal Shifter Romance:
Addie: Pack of Misfits Book 1
Reese: Pack of Misfits Book 2
Jetta: Pack of Misfits Book 3
Fantasy Reverse Harem Romantic Comedy:
Signs of Cupidity: Book 1
Bonds of Cupidity: Book 2
Crimes of Cupidity: Book 3
For the Love of Cupidity: Book 4
Cupidity Box Set
Romantic Comedy Stand-Alone:
Can’t Fix Cupid
April’s Fools
Conveniently Convicted
Dark Contemporary Romance:
The Girl Who Cries Colors
Cruel: Savannah Heirs Book 1
Tame: Savannah Heirs Book 2
Wild: Savannah Heirs Book 3
Dark Paranormal Romance:
Void
Wicked Webs
Ivy Asher
Ivy Asher is addicted to chai, swearing, and laughing a lot—but not in a creepy, laughing alone kind of way. She loves the snow, books, and her family of two humans, and three fur-babies. She has worlds and characters just floating around in her head, and she’s lucky enough to be surrounded by amazing people who support that kind of crazy.
Join Ivy Asher’s Reader Group and follow her on Instagram and BookBub for updates on your favorite series and upcoming releases!!!
Raven Kennedy
Raven Kennedy lives in California with her family. She is most known for her international bestselling Heart Hassle series about a quirky cupid who wants to find love for herself. RK writes in a range of genres, including romantic comedies, fantasy, dark romances, contemporary, and paranormal. Whether she makes you laugh or cry, she hopes to connect with readers and create characters you can root for.
You can connect one-on-one with RK on Facebook in Raven Kennedy’s Reader Group and on her Instagram. Click the icons below!
