by Larissa Ione
“So?”
“So… I happen to know how protective brothers are—” he snared two flutes of champagne from a passing vamp with a tray “—and I don’t want yours to kill me for making your first time nothing more than a boff in a closet.”
“Boff?” Her laughter rang out, the beautiful sound suiting her.
He handed her one of the glasses. “Yes, boff. And if this doesn’t work, I don’t want everyone in the damned building to hear me yell when my fingers are chopped off.” The idea settled his errant cock down, right quick.
“It’s going to work,” she said. “It better. I’m horny.”
Arik choked on his champagne, then choked again when Ares clapped him on the back a few times.
“You okay, man? No dying before you can get Limos out of her chastity belt.”
More choking. When had Ares developed a sense of humor anyway?
“Agreed,” Limos chirped. “I’ve been looking forward to losing this hymen for five thousand years.”
This time Arik didn’t choke. He just stopped breathing.
Ares gripped his shoulder. “Maybe you two should get going.”
Jesus. Ares was practically undressing Arik and shoving them toward a bedroom. “I, ah…”
“Until you two consummate your marriage, Limos is still under contract,” Ares reminded them gravely.
As much as it was a relief wamate yto know Ares wasn’t just anxious for his sister to get laid, the reality of the situation sucked. “We’ll sneak away in a little while,” Arik said. “This is Limos’s party, and I want her to enjoy it.”
Ares threw his arm around Limos and gave her a brotherly squeeze. “I think you did good with this human.”
Limos grinned. “Duh.”
Ares strode away, parting the crowd to get to Cara, who was scolding Hal for something. The hell mutt was looking at her with big, sad eyes, his ears drooping, but his tail was thumping on the floor. Arik hoped Cara knew she was being suckered.
“I’ll be right back,” Limos said, giving him a peck on the cheek. “I need to thank Idess and Runa for everything.”
He watched her glide away, his fingers itching to let down the hair piled loosely on top of her head. The style was stunning on her, revealing her slim, shapely neck, but he wanted her hair down and her dress off, and soon. Really, seeing her naked would be worth a severed digit.
“Congrats.” Regan sidled up next to him with a bottle of water in her hand. For some reason, she grimaced at his champagne. Maybe she didn’t drink.
Maybe she was pregnant.
Oh, damn. Bile bubbled up in his throat. He’d just married Thanatos’s sister, and he was sitting on a fucking huge-ass pile of information about him. He got why The Aegis felt they needed to do this, and he might have agreed with their save-the-world thinking not long ago. But what used to be black and white for him was now blended in sickly shades of gray, and his sense of fair play was screaming.
Thanatos deserved more than to be used as a breeding stud. He should have a choice about bringing a child into the world.
He lowered his voice. “Are you pregnant?”
She snorted. “That would require sex.”
Thank God. “Don’t do this, Regan. Go home, and forget The Aegis’s plan for you.”
“What’s it matter to you?”
“I just married into this family. I can’t keep something like this from my wife.”
Regan pegged him with a hard stare. “See, this is why I’m never getting married. It takes away your independence and your ability to think for your own damned self.”
He wasn’t going to argue this, but he was going to make it very clear where he stood. “Leave here tonight, or I go to the Horsemen.” Tomorrow he’d pay a visit to The Aegis and convince them that Thanatos needed to be included in this decision.
Regan’s eyes blazed. “Fine. But you can explain to the Elders why I failed. And then you can explain to the entire world that the Apocalypse could have been prevented.” She glanced at his glass and gave him an evil smile. “Enjoy your champagne.” She stalked off, leaving him eyeing his drink and wondering why he felt like the jokt lmpagne was on him.
Whatever. The prickly Guardian wasn’t going to fuck up his wedding day. He found Limos, who drained her champagne, tossed the glass into the fire, shattering it, and then let out a loud whoop. All around, the room erupted in cheers and dancing. Limos grabbed his hand and dragged him into a semiprivate alcove.
“You little minx,” he said, when he realized what she’d done. “You distracted all of them.”
“Yup.” She cupped the back of his head and drew him down for a kiss. Her tongue was hot, her mouth wet, and in two heartbeats he was so into it that he had her pushed up against the wall. She purred her approval and wound her arms around his neck. He let his hands drift down her sides to her hips as he licked and nibbled at her lips.
God, she felt good, and when she arched, pressing her breasts into his chest, he was lost to sensation.
Lost to her.
“I love you,” he whispered, and his heart nearly stopped when she froze.
“What did you say?”
Shit. He’d just ruined everything, hadn’t he? Well, there was no backtracking now. “I love you. I’m not sure when it happened, but it did, and I’m not sorry.”
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they glowed with a liquid purple light. “I never thought I’d hear anyone say that.” Her fingers threaded through his hair, clutching tightly. “I love you too, Arik. Also,” she said, “I want kids.”
“Now?”
“Yes.” She shook her head. “I mean… my biological clock has been ticking for five thousand years. Human women think they have it bad. But it wouldn’t be smart. Not until the threat from Pestilence is over. The worst thing I can imagine is to be pregnant and have my Seal break. But yes, I do want them, so we should practice. Lots.”
He swallowed over and over, until he felt like he could speak without sounding like a big sissy. “I think,” he breathed, “it’s time to go home.”
With a wicked grin, she dropped her hand to his crotch to stroke his straining erection through his pants. “Do you think you can make it?”
“Not if you keep that up.”
Her hands came back up his shoulders. “I can’t wait to make love to you,” she murmured. “I’ve waited so long, and now I’m glad I did. I’m so glad it’ll be you, Arik.”
She couldn’t have said anything better. Taking her hand, he led her out of the cove. They slipped through the crowd and out the front door unseen, but as they exited through the tent, Ares’s voice rang out.
“You thought you could sneak away, huh?”
“That was the plan,” Arik muttered, and then they were engulfed in Horsemen arms. Thanatos and Ares grabbed them both in thht="0ema bear hug.
“Come by in the morning,” Ares said. “I have a feeling the underworld’s going to be buzzing.”
“No doubt,” Than added. “Stay out of trouble.”
“Our sister has never been good at that,” a voice called out.
Arik and Limos whirled as Pestilence stepped out of the darkness.
Twenty-seven
Leave it to Pestilence to ruin Limos’s wedding night, and as he came closer, gripping a sword in one hand and a hellhound head in another, her stomach dropped to her toes. Arik tugged her close, putting one leg in front of hers in a subtle, protective blocking stance.
Pestilence plopped the severed head into the snow, the blood creating a grotesque slush around it. “Don’t worry, your guards aren’t all dead. Just drawn off by my minions.”
“What are you doing here?” Than growled. He’d armored up, and so had Ares.
“I was hurt that I wasn’t invited to the wedding.” Pestilence sheathed his sword, the clang of his armor ringing out in the frosty night air. “But I brought a gift anyway.”
Limos gripped Arik’s hand tight. “We don’t want anything from you.”
“It’s not for you, dear sister.” Pestilence’s toothy grin was the very definition of evil. “It’s for Arik. Keeping in the theme of the wedding, I brought you the gift of truth.”
Limos’s vision blurred with alarm as she pulled on Arik and prepared to throw a gate. “Come on. We’re leaving.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Pestilence kicked the hellhound head, and it slammed into Limos’s gown, splattering blood all over the beautiful, satiny fabric.
“You bastard.” Arik lunged, and Limos, reeling with shock, couldn’t stop him.
Thankfully, Thanatos caught Arik around the waist. “Dial it back, bro. He’s not worth it.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t plan to kill Arik until he hears what I came here for.” Pestilence’s fangs glinted like icicles in the darkness. “Limos, tell your new mate and our brothers the truth about your escape from Sheoul.”
“Reseph, no.” Limos swallowed the lump of oh-shit in her throat. “Please, don’t do this.”
She could have sworn she saw something familiar, something regretful, in Pestilence’s icy blues, but then it didn’t matter, because while Ares didn’t lower his blade, he did glance at Limos. “What’s he talking about?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Suddenly chilled, she rubbed her arms and looked bet plane Ares didween her brothers. “Let this go. Don’t listen to him.”
“Trust me,” Pestilence said. “You want to hear this.”
Anxiety spiked, and she put her hands together in desperation. “I’m begging you, brothers. Go back inside and pretend Pestilence was never here.” She moved forward, her high heels punching through ice softened by hellhound blood. “You said you love me no matter what, so this isn’t important. Please. Go inside.”
Silence stretched. Ares and Than exchanged glances, and then Thanatos released Arik, who was still staring daggers at Pestilence, and Ares sheathed his sword.
“Get the hell out of here, Pestilence.” Thanatos strode up to their brother and got so close their armor clanked and their noses almost touched. A breeze whipped their hair until it obscured their faces and mingled strands, pale, warm blond tangling with cold platinum. “Limos is our sister, but you are no longer our brother, and you’ve fucked with us one too many times.”
Another flash of pain sparked in Pestilence’s eyes, and he hissed. “I haven’t even begun to fuck with you.” He grabbed the back of Thanatos’s head and smashed their foreheads together so hard that the crack of skulls echoed deep into the night air.
Than snarled in outrage, and they went down into the snow and ice, fists flying. Ares and Arik went after Pestilence, but the bastard slashed out with a blade, catching Than in the cheek as he rolled to his feet.
“You know who has fucked with you?” Pestilence snapped. “Your sweet, virginal sister. She didn’t escape Sheoul. She sent the demons who attacked us in the first place, and then she found us, lied about escaping, and convinced us to start the war.”
Thanatos remained sitting on the ground, blood running from his cheek and mouth. “Li? You wanna tell this douchebag he’s full of shit?”
“That would make me a colostomy bag, moron,” Pestilence chimed in, reminding her so much of Reseph that her eyes stung.
But yes, she did want to tell her brothers that Pestilence was full of shit. The compulsion to lie was so strong that the evil side of her scales dipped low. She slid her gaze to Arik, who was looking at her as if he fully expected her to explain this all away as a big misunderstanding. He moved toward her, but she stepped back, unable to take comfort from him, not when she didn’t deserve it.
“Limos?” This time, Than’s voice was clipped, threaded with fear. “Say he’s lying.”
“Can’t,” she rasped.
Ares let out a nasty snarl. “Who forced you? What were you threatened with?”
“You think she was coerced?” Pestilence laughed. “Of course you would. Limos would never betray us like that on her own.” He cocked a blond brow at her. “Go ahead. Explain, little sister. Queen of the Underworld.”
“Shut the fuck up.” Again, Arik went for Pestilence, and this time, it was she e, bag, moronwho prevented him from doing something he might not live to regret. When she grabbed his arm, he settled down, though he angled his body so that any move Pestilence made against her would catch him first.
God, she did not deserve him.
“Limos,” Ares said quietly. “Explain.” The word was no less of a command for the soft tone, and she gulped some air like it was made of courage.
“I was raised to be a demon,” she began in a shaky voice. “You know that. But what you don’t know is that I was treated like a princess. I… we… were all part of a plan. From the very beginning, maybe from our conception, Lilith and Satan planned to use us to bring destruction upon the human race.” Her muscles twitched as she forced out the next bit of information. “So when the time was right, I was sent aboveground to study you. To find your weaknesses.”
“You spied on us?” Ares asked.
She nodded. “For a year. You never saw me, never knew I was there.”
A dark shadow passed over Ares’s face, turning his expression to stone. “And what, exactly, did you learn?”
“That your weakness was your loved ones and your arrogance in thinking you could protect them. Than, yours was your peace-loving nature. Reseph, yours was your inability to focus on anything.”
Ares had gone steel-rod taut, and she knew he’d arrived at the end of her story before she’d even gotten through the middle. “Go on.” His voice was dead. And to him, she probably was too. But he and Than had said they loved her no matter what, and she had to cling to his words. “What did you do after you learned what you needed to?”
“I went back to Sheoul, and it was decided that it was time to bring you into our fold.”
“Jesus.” Thanatos jammed his hands through his hair. “What did you do?”
Her throat closed up. The rest of her story only got worse from here.
“She sent demons to attack us.” Pestilence filled in the blanks, his voice so thick with loathing that she knew Reseph was in there somewhere, hating her for what she’d done to him. “She sent the demons to wreak havoc on humans. And then, when things were at their worst, she made herself known to us. She pretended she’d escaped from a hellish existence to find us and tell us the truth about what we were.”
Ares’s eyes became black lasers that lit on her the way they fixed on his enemies. “The demons that tortured and killed my wife… you sent them.” It wasn’t a question. Ares knew. He just wanted her to say it.
She wanted to throw up. “Listen to me, Ares—”
“Answer me, damn you.”
Every instinct screamed for her to lie, but if there was any hope of salvaging a relationship with her brothers, she had to make them understand why she’d done what she’d done. To make them realize that if she could take it back, she wit v>
“My job was to encourage you to war against the demons, to bring humans into it in order to destroy them.” Hysteria had started to lace her voice, and she fought to keep from losing it. “How I got you to do it didn’t matter. The more pain you experienced, the deeper your hatred for demons would be. And once you were corrupted by hate and self-loathing, it would be easy to bring out your demon sides.”
“My wife died at your order,” Ares snarled. “What about my sons? Did you plan to kill them too?”
“You sent them away before that could happen,” she croaked. “But I didn’t want them dead, Ares. I swear.”
Pestilence barked out a laugh. “Only because as Ares’s offspring, they were potentially powerful.”
True. They could have been useful as they grew. Unfortunately, they became casualties of the demon war, so yes, she was responsible, if indirectly. She risked a glance at Arik, who stared at her in stunned silence. Shame constricted her chest, and when she looked at her brothers, the loathing and disappointment in their eyes constricted eve
rything else.
“The demons slaughtered most of my family,” Thanatos said, his voice so icy she shivered. “I watched almost my entire tribe be torn apart by Soulshredders. Do you know how they kill, Limos?” Leaping to his feet, he seized her by the beautiful pearl collar of her ruined dress and got right in her face. “Do you?”
Yes, she did, but before she could reply, Arik was there, shoving his muscular arm between her and Than.
“Back off, Horseman.”
Than’s voice was an avalanche rumble. “This isn’t your concern, human.”
“It became my concern about an hour ago, when I drank her blood from a cup.” Arik said. “So back the fuck off. Now.”
No one was more shocked than she was when Thanatos released her. But he wasn’t done with her. Not by a long shot.
“That reminds me,” Pestilence said casually. “I’ve released thousands of Soulshredders in the human realm. Things are going to get real fun, real soon.”
Ares jabbed a finger at Pestilence. “We’ll deal with you later.” He turned back to Limos. “But you.” He practically spat “you” at her. “You’re as bad as he is. At least Pestilence has the excuse of a broken Seal.”
Her eyes burned with unshed tears. “You said you loved me no matter what. You said you couldn’t hold what I did thousands of years ago against me—”
“That was before I knew you are responsible for the deaths of everyone I loved,” he roared. Ares’s hatred lanced her so fiercely that she stumbled backward, pain radiating through her chest.
“Did you know how Heaven would react?” Thanatos demanded. “Did you know angels would be sent to punish and curse us as Horsemen?”
“No,” she rasped. “That wasn’t part of the plan. You were to be my wedding gift to Satan.” Her fingers flexed at her sides. “Before we were even born, he’d foreseen that we would play a role in the Apocalypse, but he didn’t know how. So I was to bring you to him. But I was too slow. Lucifer warned me that Heaven would only tolerate so many human casualties before they took action. I miscalculated, and before I could take you to Sheoul, angels interfered and we were all cursed by them to be Horsemen.”
