A Lost Paige (Hidden Kingdom Trilogy Book 2)

by L. Rose

  The devil was real.

  Hell was real… I guessed.

  Of course it was all real, or else Lucifer wouldn’t be waiting on the phone for me. But how did they get reception down there?

  My mind and world had been blown wide open, and I wasn’t sure I was ready for more things like this. Although, at least it would keep my mind off the gaping hole in my chest over losing Ezra for a while.

  We entered my office—it had been the former queen’s, but I’d taken it over just last week. Yasmin had been in and decorated it to what she thought I would like. She hadn’t done too bad, except for the painting of, well, to me, it looked like two dogs going at it, but she swore it was some abstract art piece.

  I made my way around the desk, and with a shaky hand, I picked up the phone and placed it against my ear. When I nodded at Felnick, he pressed the button.

  Shit. How was I supposed to greet the Prince of Darkness?

  A cool hand touched the back of my neck, and calmness spread through me. I glanced at Asher with an appreciative smile. “Paige Alice speaking.”

  “Ah, Paige Alice, the new ghoul queen. It’s a pleasure to hear your voice.” His voice was smooth and soft, almost like a purr in my ear.

  “I’m presuming this is… Lucifer?”

  “You presume right, my dear.” I could hear the humor in his voice.

  “What can I do for you, Lucifer?” My lips twitched. Either this was some elaborate prank, or I was actually speaking with the devil.

  “It’s what I can do for you, my dear.”

  “And that would be?”

  “It’s not something to speak of over the phone. I shall be in your area in a couple of weeks. Please prepare some rooms for me and a few of my people.”

  I dipped my brows in confusion and pressed my lips together in annoyance. “You could have passed this message on to my guard Felnick. I was in the middle of something.” I gasped at my own words. Did people talk to Satan like that? Would he smite me and send me to burn in Hell for the rest of my existence?

  Lucifer snorted. “And what could have been so important that you would have missed my call?”

  “Ripping someone’s head off because he and his lover took someone from me.” My voice darkened toward the end. “No one kills someone I love.”

  When laughter sounded on the other end, I wanted to slide my hand through the receiver and tear out his vocal cords. Instead, I hung the damn phone up with a slam.

  My heart beat frantically, already worried, and that was even before my brain could register what I’d just done.

  “You hung up on Lucifer,” Alex croaked while pointing at the phone.

  My hand shook as I ran it over my face, probably smearing blood everywhere. I shrugged off Asher’s hand and placed both hands to the desk, leaning into it. What did I do? He could come here and kill us all, probably with a thought. Fear churned my stomach. Fear for everyone around me, not myself.

  “My queen, would you like me to call him back and beg forgiveness?” Felnick offered. His whole body trembled.

  “No,” I said, yet I was unsure. After a moment’s consideration, I voiced my thoughts. “I can’t show weakness. He may be Lucifer, but he needs to know I won’t be messed with.” I glanced at my men. Alex seemed worried by the way he chewed on his bottom lip. Nate looked bored. It was Asher’s and Thorn’s smiles that eased the anguish in my belly.

  I straightened and then jolted when my phone rang again. I waited a couple of beats before I answered it on speakerphone. “Paige Alice.”

  “Do you know no one has hung up on me before?” His voice was hard and cold. Eerily so.

  “First time for everything,” I blurted.

  Lucifer hummed under his breath. “I think I like you, Paige Alice. Very much so.”

  The men, all except Felnick, grumbled or growled low. But my ears also picked up another snarl from the phone, then Lucifer cursed before he said, “I shall contact you before we arrive, Paige.”

  “How many should we expect?” I asked.

  “Six.”

  “Very well.”

  “Until then,” he replied with a smile in his voice, and then I got dial tone.

  I ended the call and glanced around. Asher, Thorn, and Nate now all wore frowns. Felnick looked nervous by the way he shuffled from one foot to the other. Only Alex offered me a soft smile since the situation was over.

  “I don’t fucking like this,” Nate announced gruffly.

  “Me neither,” Asher said.

  “At least he sounded okay after Paige hung up on him,” Alex offered. I gave him a grin. He was always quick to see the best in situations to ease my fears, even when worried. I loved him for it.

  Nate shook his head. “It’s Lucifer. He shouldn’t have been okay with it.”

  Thorn nodded. “He’s up to something.”

  “But what?” Asher put in. The room fell silent.

  “Maybe I should call him back and tell him not to come,” I thought aloud.

  Felnick whimpered. I knew he was a hardass, since he was one who’d fought and killed to protect my family, yet it seemed when it came to the devil, he wanted to meld with the floor.

  He shook his head again and again. “Not unless we want to die.”

  “He handled my hanging up on him well. I’m sure he’d be okay with me telling him he’s not welcome.”

  “Question is, do we need to know what he wants to say?” Nate said.

  I bit my bottom lip as I thought about it. Whatever he wanted to tell me couldn’t be said over the phone. But if Lucifer came here, I was more worried about my men and people. Yet, if I did tell him no, it could mean we’d be worse off.

  Groaning, I slapped the desk. “He’ll have to come, and whatever he has to say or do, we’ll need to be ready,” I said.

  Nate snorted. “There’s no getting ready for Lucifer. He could kill with a blink of his eyes.”

  “I meant the castle.” I hadn’t, but it made me sound like I knew what I was saying. Ignoring Nate’s obnoxious snort, I glanced at Felnick. “Speak with Gregory. Let him, and only him for now, know who will be coming and how many he’s bringing with him.”

  He bowed, saying, “Yes, my queen.” Then he rushed out the door, closing it behind him.

  “Have any of you dealt with Lucifer before?”

  “Never,” Thorn said.

  Alex shook his head.

  Asher glanced at Nate, who sighed. “Neither of us have met him personally, but we’ve heard stories about him.”

  “Like what?” I asked, pulling out the chair at my desk and sitting in it. Alex took a chair opposite me. Nate leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. When Thorn sat on the corner of my desk, my eyes didn’t stray from his butt… only it wasn’t the time to admire or want to see it naked. Asher moved around my desk and sat in the chair beside Alex. His knowing look said I’d been caught checking out Thorn. Even Alex was blushing and smiling slightly. Nate rolled his eyes at me, but I caught his lips twitching. However, he thinned them and gave me a pointed look.

  Right. It wasn’t the time.

  Just as my eyes strayed toward Thorn’s rump, Nate sighed. I swung my gaze back to him as he started speaking. “We’ve heard tales of Lucifer never wanting to venture far from the underworld, yet he’s willing to because he wants to meet you. We know he’s a hard ruler, but like in all domains, people like to test things. He’s ruthless, a womanizer, and you wouldn’t want to be on his bad side.”

  Asher added, “He’s feared by many. Even the council.”

  “Do you think he was the one who sent the demons after me in the first place?”

  Thorn shook his head. “We can’t be certain, but it’s something we need to consider, especially with him coming here.”

  His cell phone rang. He quickly answered while I asked, “But wouldn’t he have authority over all of them? So, it has to be him.”

  “There are millions of demons,” Asher said, and I shuddered at th
e thought, “and being so many, there are ones who will do as they please. Lucifer is one man, after all. He can’t keep an eye on everything. Demons are corrupt beings; they would do anything to gain power. So many seek more power to try and overthrow Lucifer.”

  “It would be good to believe Satan can be an ally,” Alex murmured.

  “There’s nothing we can do about it now,” Thorn said, ending the call he’d been on. “All we can do is wait. We have other matters to deal with for now.”

  I hated when he was right. “Selma. No one’s found her yet?”

  Thorn shook his head, his lips pressing into a thin line of worry. “That call was from my brethren. Unfortunately, she’s disappeared.”

  “But can they tell if she’s left the community altogether?” I asked.

  His brows dipped, and I already knew it was more bad news. “They followed her trail. She’s out of our area.”

  Dammit. I wanted a different answer.

  Selma, a vampire who looked all of sixteen but was probably thousands of years old, had been on the Barrett-Odin bandwagon and, like them, hadn’t wanted change to happen within the community. Somehow she’d escaped. Perhaps she’d been smart enough to know they would give her up, so she’d gone into hiding before I could get my hands on her. I had no doubt her involvement meant she played a big part in the attack on Ezra.

  And all because they didn’t want people to love who they wanted and, of course, they didn’t approve that my mates were not of my own kind. They looked down on shifters especially, thought of them as lowly beings. It came as no surprise that they despised me making a shifter my adviser or how I intended to let different races work together.

  They were old, I was new, and the change had to happen.

  I wasn’t the only one who thought my decision would be for the better.

  Alma, the former queen’s seer, and now mine, had seen how my bringing in these changes would better our community. I believed it also.

  Of course, not a day went by that I didn’t freak out about being thrust into the role of queen.

  Even right then I felt like a fraud.

  I would have given so much to be back in my small apartment with Ezra at my side. I’d work, see my family, hunt… all with Ezra.

  But then I wouldn’t have my men.

  I wouldn’t have bossy and scary Asher, my vampire. Angry and annoying Nate, my shifter. Sweet and smart Alex, my mage. Cunning and fierce Thorn, my ghoul.

  My life wouldn’t have been complete without them in it.

  Even when loss still stung me.

  Love rolled over me, causing my fears and worries to recede inside me. I glanced up to Thorn as he stood from the desk and walked my way. When I scooted my chair back, he took my hand and dragged me up, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

  “Things will get easier,” he promised.

  Hands touched my waist, and a chest pressed into my back. Asher. “Eventually, you’ll be too bored with nothing happening.”

  Resting my head on Thorn’s shoulder, I shook it. “I doubt I could ever be bored.” I couldn’t ever be, not when I had my mates. They grounded me. I glanced at my glowering Nate and to my softly smiling Alex.

  “She gets into too much trouble for things to be easy,” Nate commented.

  I shot him the middle finger.

  It had been a few days since we’d found out Lucifer would be paying us a visit, and in that time, Paige’s moods had been depleting. My gaze didn’t stray from her as she sat reading on the couch with papers scattered around her. They were appeals from the people in the community. I’d told her we could all go through them, but she’d said she needed a distraction.

  I understood she’d cared for her hellhound deeply, but I hadn’t understood how strong their connection had been. Even though she had her emotions locked, there was still a tiny amount of heartache that seeped through. I hated to see her sad, but there wasn’t a thing I could do. Maybe Asher and I had been right when we’d discussed Ezra being more than just a hellhound. The way he’d been with Paige was different from any other hellhound we’d previously encountered. Usually they were crazed beasts doing their master’s bidding by destroying or killing. Ezra had expressions, had character, and I was pretty damn sure he’d had a soul.

  He’d been different.

  I glanced over Paige’s head to see Asher at the desk going through his own work, but his attention was on Paige. He was worried about her as much as I was.

  There was an abrupt knock on the door before it opened and Nate strode in, leaving the door ajar for two women—one a ghoul, the other human—and a shifter male to roll in trays of refreshments. Alex entered after them. Paige looked up as they bowed. “My queen.”

  She offered them a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She saved those for us when we were all alone, but it also seemed we were the only ones who got her to fully smile, as well as her family.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Asher stood and came around the desk. It was bad timing because he got close to one of the women and she smiled up at him with adoration while moving around the cart and happened to brush against him.

  Power filled the room. I snapped my eyes to Paige as she jumped up, crouching on the couch. Her eyes changed, her claws grew, and a snarl dripped from between her lips. “Mine.”

  Her hands went to the back of the couch, and I could read her purpose—she was about to attack the woman. I flew out of my chair just as Nate raced at Paige. We circled her, holding her, yet with her power, she managed to take a few steps toward the screaming woman.

  “Alex, get them out,” Nate yelled. Alex’s eyes bled to purple, and more power filled the room. A bubble popped up around the women and man, and slowly they floated out of the room. Asher flashed in front of Paige while Alex followed the floating people out.

  “Clear their minds,” Nate called.

  “I know,” Alex snapped.

  Asher took the struggling Paige’s face in his hands and forced her gaze to latch on to his glowing green vampire eyes.

  “Paige, my love. Focus on me.” His voice threaded softly through the room. He ignored her growls and leaned in to press his lips against the corner of her mouth but moved back quickly to avoid her sharp teeth.

  “She needs to feed,” I told them.

  “She was about to eat,” Nate said.

  “No. She needs flesh. Fucking hell, I should have known earlier.”

  “Not your fault. Too much has been happening,” Asher said.

  “We need to clear her mind enough to get her into the kitchens,” I ordered.

  “Why can’t we just call up for food?” Nate asked.

  Asher shook his head. “It’s the easy way out. She will hate what’s happened, even feel weak and worthless for it. She needs to see how strong she can be. All she needs is a distraction to bring her back to us.” With that said, he stuck his hand into her pants. Her growls paused. She hissed and then froze. Slowly her power eased, her claws retracting, as did her teeth. Lastly, her eyes swirled back to dark blue.

  Nate snorted. He released his hold to cross his arms over his chest and seemed annoyed, but I noticed his eyes hadn’t moved away from Asher’s fingers teasing her under her clothes.

  “Asher,” she moaned.

  “There you are, my love.” He withdrew his fingers. She whimpered in protest before her face burned with the realization of her actions.

  “I would have killed her,” she whispered.

  “Let’s get you some food,” I said and started to lead her to the door. When I glanced back, I caught Asher licking his fingers. Nate watched him, his eyes darker than usual.

  “We’ll catch up,” Asher said. “I’m hungry myself, and Alex should be in soon.”

  The door opened and Alex stepped through. Paige wasn’t fully with it, or she would have wanted to stay around to watch Asher feed. However, she kept my pace to the door, mumbling about being the worst queen ever.

  Alex looked at us with concer
n. “I’ve got her,” I reassured him. “Meet us in the kitchens.”

  He gave me a sad smile and nodded. As he started to shut the door after us, I heard, “You feed off me,” Nate stated. “Not him today.”

  My lips tipped up. Nate was certainly more possessive of Alex since his wolf had claimed him—something Paige didn’t know about yet. But Asher and I could read the signs clearly the day after it had happened.

  I curled my arm tighter around Paige’s waist as we made our way down the stairs. She grumbled under her breath some more.

  “It’s not your fault, Paige,” I whispered into her ear.

  She huffed. “I would have killed her, Thorn.”

  “We had you, sweetheart.”

  She nodded. Yet, since she’d opened her emotions probably unintentionally from her hunger, I could still feel her disgust and fear.

  “We just need to make sure you feed more regularly.” If anything, I felt guilty for not seeing it sooner. Our queen was starved, but she hadn’t realized it.

  “Just… hold me tighter. I wish the others had come as well.”

  “You don’t trust I can handle you?” I teased, not letting my pride be wounded as I knew she was still scared.

  “That’s not it—”

  I kissed her temple. “I know, sweetheart,” I told her as we entered the deserted kitchens. The thing was, I knew she would hold herself together because of her people that lingered in the halls as we made our way to the kitchens. She hungered, but she forced it down, knowing her pains would settle shortly. “See, you made it. You’re strong, Paige.”

  She laughed without humor. “If Asher hadn’t stuck his hand in my pants, I would still be a growling psycho ready to kill things.”

  “Yet, you pulled it back in, walked out of there, made it downstairs and into the kitchens while people moved around, and kept your hunger from surfacing again. Sit here, sweetheart.” I pulled out a chair at the counter and kissed her neck. “The hunger didn’t win. You did. If she hadn’t have gotten close to Asher, nothing would have happened.”

  She watched me as I headed to the walk-in meat refrigerator, that contained the freshest meals, beside the huge freezer and asked, “I thought my possessiveness would settle once the bond was completed.”