“Stay with my mate,” he ordered them.
“Riley, wait.” Saia grabbed his arm. “What’s happening?”
“It’s nothing. A minor disturbance. I’ll be back.”
Assured Saia was safe, he walked out to the enormous black gates of the city and studied the mountain that lay still like a sleeping black wyvern surrounding the fortress and the sprawling town. It was strange for the citadel to be under attack.
Gaelin appeared at his side. “Before you take off, there’s something you should know—didn't want to say this in front of your mate, but you have a problem.”
Riley cut him a sharp look. “Is Saia in danger from it?”
“No. You are.”
He turned away, studying the odd vibe in the air. “Then it can wait.”
“Your call,” Gaelin said. Riley heard the grin in his voice. “But hear it anyway. Should anything happen to her—your mate, her brother’s threatened to hunt you down, skin you alive, then strangle you with your own innards before he sends you back to rebirth.”
Riley gave Gaelin a cool stare then flashed out to where trouble brewed. Noah didn't need to worry. Riley would eviscerate himself before letting anything happen to Saia.
At the sight of the caves where Saia had first been imprisoned, his gut tightened.
On the ground below, two scaly monsters fought each other like T-Rex’s gone wild.
Wrath appeared beside him. “Seems we are under attack. We don’t need another war right now from them.” He indicated the monsters in battle.
“They are just two creatures fighting each other.”
“Is it really? You have been gone too long,” Wrath remarked.
Riley scanned again…still he felt nothing. His gaze narrowed in speculation. He dematerialized. One thing he knew, when he felt nothing, it was bad. The worst happened.
Invisible, he walked among the screeching monsters, looking for weaknesses. What the heck had started this ruckus? Then he saw it, the reason for the bloody battle. Saia’s torn gray hoodie hung in tattered bits from one wyvern’s jagged teeth as the other tried to take it.
Suddenly, their large, snake-like heads whipped around. They sniffed the air.
Shit! They had picked up Saia’s scent on him. Left to live, they would track him until they found her. They were like damn bloodhounds in that regard. He took form. A hissing at his left, and Riley leaped back as a lethal talon swiped at him.
Wrath was right. This wasn’t a war, this was a fucking distraction from creatures who’d been tempted by the scent of his mate. He had to end this quickly and find Saia before anything else happened. Then find who had orchestrated this shit.
“Come on, you dumb bastards. You want me? Here I am.”
***
Saia paced the length of the portico. She rubbed her damp palms down her yoga pants she’d changed into, and glanced around her. The place bustled with activity, preparing for an attack. Most demons didn't stare at her like before, some nodded and moved on.
The faint acrid stink of sulfur drifted to her from the mountains. She pulled her tank away from her sticky skin and wished she’d still worn her skirt and top. But without underwear? If the fortress came under attack, she didn't care to be running around bare-assed.
She perused the skies again. Daybreak approached as the ominous black night gave way to streaks of purple and lavender. She had no idea how much time had passed since Riley had left, and worry made her restless.
Impatiently, she began to braid her hair and hurried back to the main entrance where Ikaria waited. “Why is it taking so long?”
“With an attack, it’s hard to say how serious it is.” Ikaria glanced at the brightening skies. “It all depends if it’s another faction fight, or monsters from the deep—”
“Monsters? What are you talking about?”
“They’re really vicious creatures that inhabit the caverns in the deepest part of Hell. Occasionally, they break through the mystical veils that keep them trapped and enter these echelons, but the trumpets haven’t sounded again, and that is a good sign.”
Then why couldn’t she shake this fear sliding over her skin? “This happens often?” she asked, trying not to panic.
“No. That’s why it’s so strange. None dare attack this echelon of the Sins.”
Saia eyed the massive black gates, guarded by two really enormous demons in black and gray armor. Guess they didn't need a tall watch-post to see out into the arid lands with their heightened senses. They’d probably know if trouble came knocking.
“Can Caligos come here?” she asked, her mind on Trevor.
“There are the rare ones who try, but they are eliminated long before they reach the citadel.”
Then what the hell had her throat in such a tight grip, made her feel like she was choking? She rubbed the pain in her chest.
Riley. He was in trouble—hurt. “Take me to him.”
Ikaria’s expression tensed. “I’m sorry, Saia, but I cannot. Réomer has instructed that you be kept away from perilous situations.”
“Ikaria, please,” she pleaded. “He said for you to stay with me. You will not be breaking his order.”
Ikaria cast a quick look at the guards standing a few feet from them. Then she took Saia’s hand and flashed.
Oh, crap. Saia squeezed her eyes tight, she’d never get used to the horrible sensation of leaving her stomach behind as the air swirled around them. Good thing Ikaria didn't warn her.
“We are here.”
The blast of heat pressed down on her, the thick sulfuric air stinging her nose. Saia let go of Ikaria and glanced around her, trying to will her heaving stomach to settle.
She was back at the foot of the ebony mountain, right in the center of a cacophony of snarls. Surrounded by a sea of demons, both from the citadel and the undernourished ones she’d first seen here. But none of them noticed her, their attention riveted to the foot of the mountain.
Saia pushed through the crowd, swiping at the sweat forming on her brow as more dripped down her back.
There, in the place where she’d been fought over that first time, she found Riley facing a creature she’d never seen before. “What are those things?”
“Wyverns,” Ikaria said. “And very, very dangerous—they’d eat you alive.”
Fear choked her as Riley circled the beast. What the hell was he doing? His shirt hung in shreds. Blood streamed into the waist of his pants from a deep slash in his belly. One monster lay limbless on the ground, still alive. The thing lifted its head and hissed out long breaths of flame from its snout. The fire curled around Riley but didn't harm him.
The remaining monster raised its head and sniffed.
A snarl resonated amidst the mutiny of voices. Its serpent-like skull whipped around. Soulless black eyes slowly searched the hordes and then fixed on her. It hissed and darted forward, its lethal tail swinging. The monster would have decapitated Riley if he hadn't ducked. But that whiplash recoil of the tail caught him in the back and sent him flying several feet away. He hit the ground hard, skittering across the rubble, then just lay there.
A blood-curdling scream escaped her. “Riley!”
He leaped to his feet, his gaze scanning the crowd. The horror on his face froze her.
“Gaelin, get Saia out of here!” He leaped for the wyvern, his sword swinging in an arc. The creature’s high-pitched shriek rebounded off the mountain’s rock face.
Ikaria grabbed her arm, hauled her back into the horde.
The crowd turned. Several pairs of eyes fixed on her. The demons with fiery irises stared longer, then they started circling her. The ring grew smaller, tighter. Two smirking, red-eyed demons grabbed Ikaria and pulled her away.
Alone, Saia faced them, her heart thumping hard against her sternum. This wasn't the citadel where the demons kept their distance from Réomer’s mate. Here, they followed their own twisted rules.
One smiled, moving closer, his teeth—hell, no, his stained fangs—flashed in
the torchlights. Blood-demons!
“Stay away from me.” Her hand flew out to hold him off. A weapon. She needed a damn weapon! Frantically, she searched, tried to see whose dagger she could snatch, when something heavy filled her fist.
What the hell? She had no idea how the black, wickedly curved scimitar had appeared in her hand. Didn’t care. Gratefully, she palmed the weapon as the fangy demon pressed forward. A malevolent grin spread across his face like he’d found his favorite treat.
He rushed her. She ducked and lashed out, the dagger slicing across the demon’s belly. A furious growl erupted. He spun around, talons burst free from his fingertips, and then he leaped for her…and vanished.
Hands snatched her from behind. She pivoted, slashed out, and reeled back in horror.
Wrath’s cold green stare trapped her. Blood flowed from the deep gash in his palm. Demons stepped back, wary now.
Fear darted up her spine. Oh, dear God! She’d cut Riley’s father—she’d cut the Sin of Wrath.
Too late for regret now. If he planned to kill her, she might as well go out with a bang. “Why aren’t you doing anything? He’s your son. Save him.”
Wrath waved his hand. Instead of the fight stopping, the wound on his palm vanished. Like it was far more important that he not bleed to death.
As if bored with her conversation, the entire fight, he studied his healed palm. “Why?”
“Why?” she cried. “You ask me that? He’s your son, isn’t that reason enough?”
Wrath lifted those eerie green eyes and stared at her for a long moment. In a move so fast, and before her shocked mind could register it, he yanked her close. With barely a stir in the air, he flashed. Her scream never quite made it past her throat.
Moments later, they were back in the obsidian fortress. Saia stumbled. Tried to get the spinning in her head to stop, and fell against a hard wall of muscles. Appalled, she shoved away from Wrath.
A hand pressed to her chest, she fought to stop her heart’s race for freedom.
With sheer effort, Saia dragged in a deep breath and glanced around, needing to calm down. She was in an enormous study with ceiling-high shelves lined with books, and parchments strewn on a long table at the far end of the room. Windows in the tower room overlooked the River Styx and the gleaming Erymic Mountains.
Unable to relax, she spun back to Wrath. “You left Riley there alone.”
“I don’t involve myself in battles that are of no concern to me,” Wrath said.
And there was the difference in their lives. Her meddling mother made it an art form to interfere in all aspects of her life to keep her safe, it didn't matter that she could never love Saia the way Saia yearned. But Wrath just shrugged Riley aside.
“What do you concern yourself with?” she snapped.
His eyes narrowed dangerously. “Tread carefully, little mortal. I could cause you to do untold horrors, and trust me, you don’t want that.”
Saia swallowed. She was his son’s mate. He wouldn’t really hurt her, would he?
Her wary gaze followed him as he walked past her to his desk. A shadow moved. Christ! She leaped back, locking eyes with a lizard-like monster, not even her nightmares could prepare her for.
Blackish red scales ran down its body. A dangerous tail with spikes sprouting from the end snaked around the desk. It sported a mouthful of pointy fangs. And from a reptilian shaped head, slitted black eyes fixed on her.
“Erogus.” At the quiet command, a whiny grumble rolled out of the creature. “She is not food.”
Yes, not food—you big overgrown lizard.
Saia took another wary step back and watched the thing rest its giant head on its talons. Its predatory gaze fixed on her. No doubt waiting to take a bite out of her the moment Wrath turned his back. Her fingers tightened on the scimitar.
“Foremost, I am a Sin. Then, a warrior,” Wrath said, drawing her attention back to him. He leaned against the desk and stroked the lizard’s scaly head. A low, guttural rumble left the animal. “Keeping order in Stygia is what I do, especially in the nine levels of Hell so we are not overrun by damned souls, or by evil. To ensure your world is safe. Do you care about Réomer?”
The change in conversation made her head spin. “I care enough not to let him die!”
“Good.” He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression about as flexible as the black mountains. “He fights the wyverns because of you.”
She forgot her fear of Erogus. “Me?”
“They have your scent. Once tasted, they will hunt you down and harvest your insides, searching for the elusive light you carry while keeping you alive.”
“Light? What light?”
Wrath merely stared at her.
It clicked. Blood pounded in her ears. “You’re talking about my soul? Oh, Christ.”
“That name in my world won't help you,” he drawled. “Here, I am law. Now, Réomer can kill those monsters, as long as he concentrates. However, with you always where you shouldn’t be,”—the cold sarcasm made her jaw tighten—“he may end up dead far sooner.”
She tried to hang on to her fast-eroding temper. “How can you be so callous?”
“Sentiments are a waste of time. Réomer cares little for this world, but he cannot escape his destiny. On the day of his two-thousandth year, he will inherit part of my Sin—that’s in a few days. He cannot be in the mortal world when that happens, but he will risk it to get you back there safely. The transference is...a painful business. There will be casualties.” Wrath’s expression grew cold. Remote. “If Réomer unleashes his Sin, his wrath on unsuspecting mortals, those pious bodies, the archangels will end him.”
Saia shook her head, reading the truth in those eerie eyes. “No…”
Sins were only to be used on the damned as eternal punishment.
“Yes.” He strolled toward her. “It’s why we seldom leave our echelon. Watch, little mortal. See what happens when one like us loses control.”
He waved his hand. A haze stole into her mind, then images took shape…
A little boy of about six stood just outside the citadel. His gold-streaked brown hair hung in limp swathes around his thin shoulders. Tears glistened on his pale cheeks.
A small group of young boys around him jeered and chanted. “You are nothing. Debilis! A weakling. Get lost, runt.”
The boy stiffened at the names. His fingers balled into fists. His slender body vibrated with suppressed rage. His head angled in defiance, in a way that made her heart stutter. She knew that gesture. Saia stared into familiar green eyes.
They burned neon bright and seemed to consume his young face. Then his head dropped down, his little shoulders slumped as he walked past the other kids.
The boys’ teasing stopped. Their features distorted by fury, they started to beat the tar out of each other. Adults drew weapons and attacked, blood spilling. Mayhem ensued… The boy wavered and stumbled. A man with dark hair, one she didn't recognize, grabbed Riley as he collapsed on the blood-drenched ground…
The image disappeared. Saia slammed back into her body, frozen to the floor, too shocked to move.
“That was just the abilities he’d come into,” Wrath said. “To read and manipulate minds. He’d tapped into their hatred, and that was the result.” Those emotionless, python-green eyes pinned hers.
She blinked her hazy gaze and desperately tried to shake the images from her head.
“Since we are in accord, and you want him safe, it is time you returned to your world.”
What? He wanted her to leave? That’s why he’d stolen her from the crowd? And she’d so foolishly thought it was to protect her.
“Time fades. His fate lies in your hands.”
Despair overrode her panic. Leave and destroy their burgeoning relationship? One so new, they’d barely had time together. Riley would never forgive her for leaving. But to save his life? She rubbed her bare arms with shaky hands.
“Since you seem to be in a quandary, perhaps this will
make it easier for you? Réomer planned to have the mating bonds broken once he delivered you back to your realm.”
His words slammed into her stomach with the impact of a kick. She couldn’t breathe. “What?”
Wrath shrugged one massive shoulder. “It is easy to do; if one wants it badly enough.”
Riley wanted to break their mating bonds? He didn't want her? No, she refused to believe that. He cared about her.
“Is that what you really believe?” Wrath asked.
He was reading her mind again.
“You forget one fundamental truth of demon males. But I guess you need to see.” He captured her mind and drew her in again. Only this time, it wasn’t a blood-drenched street, but a dimly lit bar, one she was far too familiar with.
Women surrounded Riley where he was seated near the counter. Another stroked his hair. He rose to his feet, glanced at a pale-skinned blonde with that hooded stare Saia knew so well. The woman followed, and they disappeared into a darkened room. The door closed. Bodies moved. The woman unbuttoned his jeans. He pushed her against the wall, exactly like he had Saia earlier—
No! She reared back. Pulled out of the vision, unable to stop the flood of pain ripping through her.
“It is what a dark soul constantly demands.” Wrath’s cool voice sliced her heart open with lethal precision. “A need satiated only through the carnal act, which is why he would break the bonding for some sense of fairness. Seems you mortals have instilled that in him.”
Right then, she hated Wrath. Hated him for pulling her out of her short-lived haze of happiness. More, she hated Riley because she couldn’t be enough for him. Unable to swallow past the welling of unshed tears, she raised her chin and met Wrath’s direct stare. And nodded.
A knock sounded, the door opened. Ikaria entered. Relief raced across her face when she saw Saia, then she addressed Wrath. “My lord, you have need of me?”
“Go with her.” He set a small, flat, iridescent black stone on the desk. “Use this when it is time to return.”
Tangled Sin (A Dark Realm Novel) Page 22
