Yes, Willy. Why? Every muscle clenched, he croaked, “She works for me. She’s my codebreaker. I protect her from my enemies.” I crave her. And it’s only getting worse.
He’d decided to maintain his distance until she finished decoding the book. But...he was still falling for her, wasn’t he? Still missing her the way he’d miss a limb.
“Tell me about the time before you met Hades,” Axel said.
No part of William wished to share details about the cannibals. Relive the worst days...weeks...years of his life? No, thanks. But he craved a relationship with this man, and sharing significant events from his past might be the only way to bond.
Before he could respond, a commotion in front of the palace kicked up; they went quiet. William peered through a pair of binoculars, magic allowing him to see past a thick cloud of smoke emitted by the array of firepits.
Spotting the reason for the commotion, he belted out a dark obscenity. “I can’t be seeing what I think I’m seeing.”
Axel had a pair of mystically enhanced binoculars, too. He placed them at his eyes and snickered.
Sunny, Pandora and Anya had entered the yard at top speed, slashing and hacking through demons. Severed limbs plopped to the ground. Blood spurted.
“Your Sunny decided to show off for you?” Axel asked with a laugh.
“She doesn’t know I’m here,” he grated, keeping the binoculars trained on her. His heart raced. He’d known she enjoyed fighting demons, but he’d never seen her wage war.
Despite fear for her safety, his chest puffed with pride. The woman had skill, boundless grace and lethal precision. She was an angel of death, wielding a spear, toppling demons three by three. Magnificent. Of course, he hardened at the sight of her.
Not just hardened. Burned. For the first time in centuries, William felt truly demonic. Watching his female lay waste to the enemy, his every savage instinct clambered for attention.
Sunny’s companions paused to cheer her on, and a glorious smile lit her face. Killing demons, having fun.
“What is she?” Axel asked, sounding awed.
What else? “My greatest torment.”
26
“I want what I want when I want it. Give it to me.”
Missed this so much. Sunny used her spear to stab, jab and kabab every soldier in her path, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. She laughed. Cleaning up Hell, one rapist, murderer and abuser at a time.
Since meeting William, she’d put her hobby on hold. And what had she gotten for her sacrifice? A domineering male who thought he could order her to stay put and stand down. A foolish male who held her captive.
A confusing male she’d wanted to kill only hours ago.
A POS male who let her worry about his whereabouts.
From now on, there would be no more tormenting him. No more bantering. No more make-out sessions.
Scalding demon blood poured down her arms and splattered her face, whisking her back to the present. A terrible odor saturated the air, a mix of sulfur, blood and char. There was no sun here, only blazing firepits and crackling torches.
Demons converged from all directions, accompanied by a cacophony of pain and anguish. Such lovely music. Her favorite battle soundtrack. They get what they deserve.
“I am judge. I am jury. I am executioner!” Pandora cried, brandishing two short swords.
“I am pretty, oh-so-pretty,” Anya sang as she felled two demons, stabbing one in the eye and the other in the belly.
Both women fought with masterful skill. The more opponents they killed, the brighter their smiles.
Adrenaline imbued Sunny with extra strength and incredible speed, her stamina unmatched. If ever William saw her like this, he would be so impressed, and sorry he’d pushed her away.
How could he temporarily activate the curse, then treat Sunny like garbage? Unless he hadn’t activated the curse at all. Maybe William hadn’t been able to fall in love until a codebreaker came along and broke through the magical barrier?
She sucked in a breath. Had she inadvertently aided Lilith?
Was William out in the world, falling in love with some nameless, faceless woman right now?
Ridiculous! You didn’t. He isn’t. Now, no more thinking about him.
Claws raked her side, and she hissed. She’d let herself get distracted, and it had cost her, burning pain shooting down her legs. She nearly toppled, only an iron will keeping her upright.
Twirling the spear, she slammed the end into the offender’s sternum, shattering the bone, then she faced her next challenger. Or tried to. Her body refused to obey.
Daisy! The demon must have injected her with some kind of toxin. Her internal thermostat jacked up. Sweat beaded on her brow and upper lip, and trickled between her shoulders. Her limbs trembled. She swayed. Weakening?
Had she gone soft in her captivity and lost her touch? She might need to retreat and regroup.
A whirlwind of motion, Anya decapitated the demon responsible for Sunny’s injury. Pandora went low...lower...slicking her swords across his Achilles tendon.
Wheezing, dizzy, Sunny drew on a reservoir of strength and magic to force her body back into motion. She lifted the spear just in time, blocking a demon who hoped to use her neck as a snack pack.
The action brought a fresh wave of pain. Ignore! She had a mission—keep these bastards off her yard!—and she would complete it. Today.
This might be a hobby, but it was a beloved one. She gritted her teeth and jabbed a demon through the eye. Slice, straight across his neck. Rip, from navel to nose. Next!
A demon wrapped the end of his spiked tail around her calf and yanked, dragging her leg out from under her, breaking the bone in the process. Excruciating pain. Stars flashing before her eyes.
Other demons rushed over, surrounding her in seconds and quickly closing in... More claws raked her. Fangs and daggers, too. Hurting, Sunny rolled to her side. Though she poured blood into the char-laced ground at an alarming rate, she bucked and she kicked, doing as much harm to the demons as they did to her. The unicorn motto? Battle in public, hurt in private.
Vision darkening...
Pandora and Anya cut a swath through the growing crowd and made their way over. One claimed the spot at Sunny’s left while the other claimed the spot at her right, the two working together to protect her from further attack. Forget being prefriends. The girls moved up the ranks. Genuine friends, baby!
For some reason, the demons began dropping and writhing before the girls delivered the next strike. What was—ahhh. In the distance, William descended from the midnight sky, ginormous wings of smoke gliding up and down, blowing dark tendrils across the battleground. Lightning flashed beneath the surface of his skin, forking over his eye sockets, his cheekbones, down his neck and arms. Shirtless, his muscle-cut strength and tattoos were on mouthwatering display. Rips in his black leathers revealed bone-deep gashes. Mud and other things caked his combat boots.
Eyes glittering with menace, expression raw and brutal, he was the incarnation of war, the epitome of sex and the king of violence, savagery and carnality. A single glance threatened to ruin her for life. No other man could ever compare.
Sunny lumbered to her feet, or tried to. Come on, come on. She drew on her magic... Yes! Success. But right away, dizziness attempted to knock her down again. She breathed through it, in and out, in and out, and remained on her feet.
The demons continued to collapse.
“We’ve got this, Willy. Go before—” The smoke rising from his wings reached Pandora, and she dropped, as well. Only, she didn’t writhe in pain.
“William, don’t you dare—” Anya dropped.
The wing-smoke must be laced with a drug. Would it affect Sunny the same way? Surely not.
Movement to her left. She turned her head. Axel glided across the battleground, gripping a sword
of fire. Every time he came upon an unconscious demon, he swung, removing the head.
So...obviously William hadn’t been out there man-whoring around, as she’d originally suspected. He’d intended to spend the night getting to know his brother. But why not just tell her? Why leave her in suspense? Unless he’d wanted her to worry, which sucked on a whole new level.
Or maybe he’d feared he was falling in love with her, and she would try to kill him, so he’d hoped to put a little emotional distance between them? That, she would totally understand. Hadn’t she begun to do the same?
Heart fluttering, she met William’s narrowed gaze, and daisy! Awareness buzzed along her nerve endings, making her want to touch...kiss...freesia.
As he stalked closer—unable to stay away?—he perused her from head to tail. Her heart fluttered with more force. “Bag and tag the demons still breathing,” he called to Axel, never removing his gaze from Sunny. “We’ll ask our questions.” He took another step in her direction. “I hope your outing was fun, since you won’t be leaving the stable ever again.”
Ever? He thinks to imprison me for the rest of eternity?
She inhaled deeply. “You can take your captivity and shove—” Her world went dark, her knees buckling. She tumbled back to the ground. No, she tumbled straight into William’s arms. He’d flashed to her, catching her before she ever crash-landed.
Just before she drifted off, a final thought drifted through her mind. No need to ponder our relationship status; we’re done.
* * *
For a seemingly endless span, Sunny drifted in and out of consciousness. The first couple of times, she felt as if she were floating on a cloud of velvet-draped steel that smelled of William. Then she lay on a bed of clouds, a kaleidoscope of sounds filling her ears. Moans of pain. Rattling chains. Screams. Gurgling. Whack, whack. A pop, pop, pop. Grunts. Pop, pop. More moans.
She thought she heard William laugh. “Where do you want my blade to go next? Your genitals or your eye? No, you know what? Don’t tell me. I’ll surprise you.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Axel admonished. “It’s my turn.”
Sunny blinked open her eyes. Through a dim haze, she spotted William, pacing before a wall, where four bloody, mutilated demons were chained. And what a glorious sight he was. Her heart nearly leaped from her chest. With his face and arms splattered with black blood, he looked like a warrior on the cusp of his next battle. Truthful advertising. Spiked brass knuckles adorned his claw-tipped fingers.
He was shirtless, his leathers torn, muscles on display.
Too bad I’m done with him. A stupid whimper brewed at the back of her stupid throat.
Axel crouched in front of one of the prisoners, his golden wings blocking the view. “I will give you one more chance to tell us what you’ve heard and seen inside Lucifer’s palace, then I start cutting. Spoiler alert. I plan to start with your testicles. I promised myself this will be the year I finally hang demon balls like Christmas ornaments.”
“Dibs on the left one,” William said.
Brothers who torture together stay together.
Why had William brought her here? Couldn’t bear to part with me? Or maybe he’d realized he could use her magic to ensure the prisoners told the truth. Not even demons could lie in her presence.
What a bluebell! She’d agreed to help him decode the book, and in return he’d agreed killed the poachers and collectors. No more, no less. Their deal had nothing to do with her lie detector ability. Now he owed her another boon. And I know just what I want. Freedom!
He would refuse, though, guaranteed. So, so done. I continue to aid him, and he can’t trust me enough to set me free?
She might have to bring back the punishments.
Sunny frowned as she drifted off once again...
However long later, she blinked open her eyes, memories assailing her. Pandora and Anya. The battle. William. His threat. Passing out. Demon torture. Daisy!
She scanned her surroundings. William had returned her back to the stable and redecorated while she’d slept, adding more potted fruit trees and rosebushes to sweeten the air. He’d hung three life-size portraits. Wait. They weren’t portraits. They were holograms.
In one, a naked William smiled and held a bottle of champagne in front of his penis. Like a GIF on a loop, he popped the cork and drank straight from the bottle before the image reset. In the next frame, a bikini-clad Sunny danced on a stripper pole. In the last one, she looked like a schoolteacher, her pink hair in a bun, glasses perched at the end of her nose. She wagged a finger at the viewer, as if she was in midscold for unseemly behavior.
With a chuckle, Sunny tried to sit up. Something yanked her back down. Confused, she looked left, then right, a scream brewing at the back of her throat. Rope bound her wrists and ankles to the bedposts.
Ropes for a little light bondage? Sign me up—with anyone other than William. Ropes for punishment? Someone’s gonna die!
Her body ached, but she had no visible wounds, the gashes she’d received on the battlefield already healed. Considering she had damp hair and wore clean underclothes—a blue bra and a pair of matching panties—she had to assume William bathed her.
Wait. Were the panties...a thong? “William,” she snarled. Should have killed him when I had the chance.
No! She couldn’t let herself think that way. What you focused on, you magnified. What you thought about, you empowered. Adding fuel to the curse’s fire was dumb.
So. Rephrase. Should have punched him when I had the chance.
She couldn’t ask that he release her or even bargain for it. She had no leverage, and she would only weaken herself in his eyes, as well as her own. So, she’d have to fight or trick her way free.
“Yes, sundae?” He materialized at the end of the bed, as if he’d been there all along, waiting for her summons. He, too, had bathed, his hair as damp as hers. A white towel was wrapped around his waist. “I apologize for the images on the wall. Anya arrived with two portraits bright and early this morning. I burned those, so she came back with these.”
“Why apologize? They’re amazing. She’s amazing. Unlike some people I know.” The sight of his tattooed skin and immense muscle mass made mincemeat of her wits, her body automatically burning for his.
Maybe she wasn’t done with him just yet.
Maybe she would use him for sex and ditch him at the first opportunity.
“I’d like to thank her with a basket of demon hearts,” Sunny added. “Or do you think she’d prefer their severed heads?”
He did his surprised blink, a reaction she’d come to love. Considering his age, she’d bet few things surprised him.
“How are the others?” she asked, working to keep her tone pleasant. Daisy! A hint of breathlessness might have escaped.
“They’re alive, thanks to me. After you passed out, a backup demon horde arrived, and Axel lost a hand in the ensuing battle. Pandora and Anya got banged up when I tossed them through a portal.”
A tsunami of guilt stormed through her. Had she resisted the urge to contact Pandora, both women and Axel would be safe and sound right now. “Where’s Dawn?”
“On a walk with Pandora.” Leaning against a bedpost, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Nothing to say about your current situation?”
Oh, she had plenty to say. And she would. With Dawn’s absence, Sunny could commit all the violence she wished without frightening her sweet little hound. “I’ll give you one chance to untie me.”
“Don’t worry, my sweet. I do plan to untie you...in time.” He raked his gaze over her, a hard-on already tenting the towel. “First, you have crimes to answer for.”
When he rubbed his palm along his length, she groaned, feeling as if their entire association was some kind of extended foreplay. Even when they argued, they lusted. “I have no idea what you mean. My crimes? Mine? No!”
The more she spoke, the angrier she became. “We’re talking about your crimes.”
“To start, you ignored my last text,” he continued. “Then you disobeyed a direct order, putting my sister, my friend and my codebreaker in danger and alerting Lucifer to your presence in Hell. No doubt he’ll know what you are. He’ll come for you, wanting you for his own.”
“So? Let him come. I want to fight him. Now, for your crimes. To start,” she said, mocking him, “you wanted space, I gave you space. But for some reason, you can’t you extend me the same courtesy and leave me the hellebore alone.”
A muscle jumped beneath his eye, and kept jumping. He remained silent.
“What’s your goal here, William? Getting an apology out of me? Hearing me beg for mercy you don’t have? Hearing me beg sexually?” Gaze glued on him, she pretended to writhe in pleasure. “Please, please, please put your fingers in...” Then she went still. “A wood chipper.”
He didn’t seem to note her words. His pupils flared, swallowing his irises. He scoured a hand over his face, taking an extra swipe at his mouth.
Such a sexy-hot action. In a snap, desire soaked her panties.
His nostrils flared. “You desire me, despite your bonds.”
Sage! Wanting to punish him, she said, “Mating season draws nigh, remember? I want everyone.” That had been true...in the past. Now she suspected no one else would do, that desire for William, and William alone, had turned her brain to mush.
“Everyone?” He traced his fingers over the upper edge of his towel. “Forget what Lucifer did to your pack. Do you know what he does to his female prisoners? Constant beatings and rapes. There’s not an ounce of good in him. Would you welcome him?”
“Only so I could chop off his head! So let me at him, coach. Cut me loose and put me in the game! If you keep me locked up, I will grow to hate you. I might be halfway there already.”
Fury pulsed from him, a spike against her skin. “You’re going to defeat Lucifer? You, the woman who just got clawed and poisoned by demons. You were at death’s door when I reached you, Sunny, and embarrassingly easy to knock out.”
The Darkest King Page 26
