The Darkest Torment
Page 22
“William isn’t the be all and end all,” Paris said. “No matter what happens, you belong with us. And we were on Hades’s side, anyway. Lucy would have come for us sooner or later.”
“Now, at least, we know beyond a doubt we’re on the right side,” Torin said.
Yes. While Baden had already lost his grudge against Hades—for the most part—he’d still resented some of the man’s darker tasks. No longer. Now he would do everything with a sense of urgency and eagerness.
Lucifer would pay for what had happened this day. He would pay greatly. His utmost weakness was the Morning Star, the main reason he wanted to possess it. The death of the Lords was just a bonus.
For Baden, finding it had never been more important.
“Shout for me if anything changes.” He strode through another door, entering the medical ward, where the others had congregated.
Ashlyn reclined on a gurney, a gash on her cheek. Most likely it would scar. The twins were clutched to her chest, both covered with bumps and bruises.
Gwen was conscious, now sucking on Sabin’s carotid as if it was a juice box. Harpies, like vampires, needed blood to heal; Sabin’s must have been potent, because it had already worked magic. His wife’s cheeks were bright with color.
Scarlet, the keeper of Nightmares and Gideon’s pregnant wife, had her left leg propped on a mound of pillows. She had a compound fracture, her tibia peeking through her skin, blood seeping from the wound.
Gideon was beside the bed, hunched over and vomiting into a bucket.
He must have spoken a word of truth sometime during the chaos, allowing the demon to sicken him.
Evil always pounced on the chance to hurt—even with its host.
The blue-haired warrior wiped his mouth with a shaky hand and kicked the barf bucket a few feet away. “Not sorry,” he rasped to his wife. “Love seeing you like this.” He had a gash that stretched from his hairline to his jaw, cutting through one of his eyes and practically splitting his nose in two.
“I’ve had worse,” she told him. “And don’t take this the wrong way, darling, but you’re hideous. Go lie down. Lucien and Anya are the doctors du jour and they can—”
Gideon gave an adamant shake of his head. “Yeah, you’re fine. I’m leaving.”
“I can set her leg,” Baden interjected. “I have field training.” He’d had to doctor himself in the realm of the dead. “I can help.” He needed to help.
Relief bathed Gideon’s features. “No way and no thanks.”
Baden gathered everything he required and got to work. Scarlet refused an ambrosia-laced whiskey for the sake of the baby. A mother’s love was something Baden had never known. Not in life, and certainly not in the beast’s memory.
Gideon held Scarlet’s hand while Baden fit the bones back together, but it wasn’t until he stitched the wound closed that Scarlet began to snarl at him, the pain too much to bear.
Between one blink and the next, he saw spiders crawling all over the room. An illusion brought about by her demon. The bastard specialized in bringing people’s worst fears to life. Today, the fear happened to spring from Gideon, who stumbled backward, patting at his arms and cursing.
The spiders avoided Baden altogether, as if they feared him.
“This game is fun,” Gideon bellowed.
“Sorry, so sorry.” Scarlet closed her eyes, her brow furrowing, and the illusion began to recede.
When Baden finished his task, the woman sagged against the mattress with a sigh of relief.
“No thanks, man.” Gideon patted his shoulder, the contact irritating Baden’s skin, despite the shirt he wore. He turned to his wife. “I hate you. I hate you so much.”
“I hate you, too.”
A tender, poignant moment between two people who would die for each other.
A pang in his chest, Baden washed his hands and checked on the other patients. Most were already patched up and on the mend.
Strike now. No resistance means total victory.
Threaten them again and I’ll find a way to end you.
The beast sputtered, surprised and...hurt?
A guy could only take so much. Baden had been pushed past his limit. He—everyone—had been unprepared for the battle today, and it was his fault. He’d known Lucifer would send someone after him. He’d been warned. But he’d foolishly thought he could handle it. Bastard will have to get through me. Well, the bastard had. Quite easily.
Lucifer would send another assassin, and soon.
As Hades’s trusted enforcer, Baden was a greater hazard to Lucifer than his friends. He would leave, hopefully removing the target on them, giving them time to heal from their injuries.
He would take Katarina with him, despite the danger. If ever she helped Aleksander, hurting the men, women and children Baden adored...
His friends would protest his decision. Loudly. Look how Torin and Paris had reacted at the mere thought of his departure.
At the very least, the warriors would insist someone go with him. Only Cameo and Galen were mate-free, which meant they were the only two Baden would willingly accept, but he didn’t want to put Cameo at unnecessary risk. Galen—Baden shrugged. He would put the warrior at unnecessary risk, no problem. There were ways to ensure the deceitful prick remained faithful.
He searched the makeshift triage area and found Galen leaning against the far wall, studying the occupants with a bored expression.
As the keeper of Jealousy and False Hope, Galen tended to cause trouble everywhere he went. Had he known the assassin was on the way and that’s why he’d left the fortress hours earlier?
Betrayer!
Destruction drove Baden straight to the male. He wrapped a hand around Galen’s throat, lifting him off his feet.
Smiling—smiling?—Galen swung up his legs around Baden’s neck. The position bent his arms in ways they weren’t supposed to bend, forcing his grip to loosen, and though Galen’s wings had been cut off months ago, they were now growing back and big enough to anchor him—he hovered in the air while Baden stumbled back.
Galen maneuvered his feet to Baden’s shoulders and pushed, increasing the distance between them. Baden could no longer maintain any kind of grip or even his balance. He released Galen, who dropped to the floor in a crouch.
Blue eyes peered through hanks of pale hair, his grin only growing wider. “Want to talk about your problem or continue your ass-whooping?”
“Where were you during the attack?” Baden demanded.
A flicker of unease, quickly hidden. “Out.”
Out? “Doing what?”
“My thang.”
“And what is your thang?”
“Something that’s not your business,” Galen replied.
“Everything that endangers my friends is my business.”
“Really?” One golden brow arched. “Did you feel the same four thousand years ago, when you allowed my man to take your head?”
The words were a dagger to the chest. Galen had once been leader of the Hunters, a faction of humans determined to rid the world of “evil” immortals. Humans who hadn’t realized an immortal led them.
“Did you aid Lucifer’s assassin?” Baden demanded.
“Fuck you. I may be rotten to the core, but I’m not stupid.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Good, because it wasn’t meant to be.”
“I don’t trust you. I’ll never trust you.”
With an exaggerated frown, Galen placed a hand over his heart. “Am I crying? I’m certain I’m crying.”
Destruction snarled.
“Months ago you told us Cronus locked you up in the Realm of Blood and Tears. Guess what?” Baden spread his arms. “Cronus was dead at the time of your incarceration.”
“So?”
“So. You’ve been caught in a lie.”
“Or what you think is a lie.” Defiant, Galen said, “I don’t know how, but Cronus was the one who locked me up. The other possessed warriors, too. Cameron, Winter and Puck. Ask Keeley.”
“I can’t ask her. She’s too busy fighting for her life.”
Concern caused lines of tension to branch from the warrior’s eyes, as if he truly cared. “For all we know, Cronus has a twin.”
“And this is the first we’re hearing about him? No.”
“An alternate reality? Time travel? Anything’s possible.”
“You won’t convince me—”
Delighted feminine laughter stopped him cold. Or hot. Baden turned to see Katarina squatting beside Ashlyn’s bed, shaking hands with Biscuit. She’d taught the stray a trick already?
Beautiful, cunning bitch. She’d probably lied about the death of her dogs in a bid for sympathy.
Could she really fake that kind of pain?
The children cheered. Completely won over.
Like I once was. So gullible...
“You should work on that,” Galen said, his tone dry. “Staring at your girl like a creeper will only get you a restraining order. And maybe a blade across your carotid. Because yes, I could have killed you five times over since you started watching her.” He hiked his wide shoulders in a shrug. “Who knows? I still might.”
“She’s not my girl,” he muttered.
“Out of everything I said, that’s what you focus on?” Galen rolled his eyes. “You’re worse off than I thought. As bad as the rest of them.”
Maybe, because Baden continued to watch her, unable to look away, his gaze held captive. There was no denying the desire he still felt for her. Fool! He wanted her in his arms, and in his bed. And he would have her, he decided. He didn’t have to trust her to enjoy her delectable little body.
First things first. Finding a new home base and convincing Galen to join him. With the right incentive, the prick might even guard Katarina whenever Baden had a new mission.
If he betrays me...
I’ll make sure the incentive properly motivates him to behave.
Baden thought for a moment, nodded with cold determination. He knew just the thing.
* * *
Katarina avoided Baden’s general direction as she checked on the people who’d checked on her while she’d mourned her dogs. Some had fared better than others, but wow. Immortals could be wounded just as badly as humans. Who knew?
“I recognize the look in Baden’s eyes.” Maddox had parked himself on his wife’s gurney, his daughter curled on his lap, his son stretched out beside Ashlyn. “He’s leaving us again.”
Katarina’s heart kicked into a too-swift rhythm. As she petted the dogs, she told the warrior, “If he wants to go, don’t try to keep him here.”
Maddox focused on her, and she would have sworn a faint skeletal mask covered his features. “Who are you to him? To us? You calmed him once. You don’t have a say in how we treat him.”
Ouch. Way to put her in her place.
Ashlyn batted at his arm. “Rude!”
“You didn’t marry me for my kind demeanor,” Maddox told her, nipping at her fingers.
Katarina flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t have to be anyone to Baden—or to you—to know steel bars aren’t the only thing capable of creating a cage. You love Baden, and you don’t want him to resent you. Therefore, you have to let him go.”
She had to let him go, too. She was ninety percent certain he would drop her off somewhere as soon as he finished here, and one hundred percent certain she was ready to return to her old life. Baden had heard her pledge to Alek and now believed she was a power-hungry whore. It hurt. It hurt bad. The man who’d held her in his arms and comforted her, who’d placed her on his lap and pleasured her, hadn’t given her the benefit of the doubt. He hadn’t even asked for her side of the story. Or, more accurately, ordered her to tell it. Now, she wasn’t going to explain a damn thing. Let him think the worst.
Thank the good Lord she hadn’t slept with him! Any man who thought he was right all day every day and overlooked her wishes wasn’t worthy of her attention.
And yet, she was disappointed she wouldn’t have an opportunity to train him, certain she still wanted him but didn’t want to want him, saddened she wouldn’t have the chance to desensitize his skin and gutted that she wouldn’t see him again. Well, his loss! She would have rocked his world.
“She’s someone special to him,” Ashlyn said, “and you know it. We all know it. She has a say.”
Before this, Katarina might have been someone special. At least as a possible lover. Now they would never know. “No, Maddox is right. I don’t have a say with Baden. And I don’t want one. I’m going home. I’m going to miss you. I’m going to miss you all.” The ladies of the house were total sweethearts.
She wondered if she could keep them after the breakup. Baden could keep the men.
“Stay in touch,” she added, giving Ashlyn’s foot a gentle squeeze. “If you look up my name, you’ll find me.” To the kids, she said, “I’m taking the dogs with me. You can visit—”
“You’ll take the dogs over your dead body,” Urban snapped.
“Yeah.” Little Ever nodded, her golden curls bobbing at her temples. “Your dead body.”
“Children.” Ashlyn sighed. “What have I told you about intimidating others?”
“Make sure the situation really is life or death first,” Urban grumbled.
“That’s right.”
Katarina fought a grin—until she felt a familiar heat press against her backside. She stiffened, Baden’s scent teasing her nose, her nerve endings suddenly buzzing with sensation...with the need for more.
I’m furious with him. I shouldn’t crave him.
“I’ve spoken to Galen,” he announced to one and all. “He and I are leaving. For the safety of everyone I love,” he added as protests rang out.
“Not this again,” Lucien said.
“You need us,” Sabin said, “and we need you, too.”
Reyes, the keeper of Pain, glared at him. “We’re part of the war whether you’re with us or not.”
Baden remained unmoved. “You need time to heal, and I’m going to get it for you by keeping Lucifer busy, unable to spare a soldier to hunt you. I can flash into the underworld. You can’t. Even Lucien is blocked.” Amid the strained pause that followed his words, he said, “I know I don’t have the right to ask you to let me go—to accept this—but I’m asking, anyway. For me...for your women.”
Gradually, the warriors got on board. As stubborn as he was, they must have accepted what Katarina had known from the beginning. He would move heaven and earth to get his way.
He whispered in her ear, “You, krásavica, won’t be going home. You’ll be coming with me.”
What! His arm snaked around her waist, a hard band of heat and strength. A pleasure as much as a pain. “You are so wrong it’s laughable. I am going home.” And finally starting over.
“I once said I’d take you anywhere. But you picked me. Now you’ll face the consequences of your decision.”
She stiffened. “So I’m to be your captive again?”
“If that’s the way you want to play it.”
“I don’t want to play with you at all.”
“Well, I can’t have you running around, trying to help your precious husband, now, can I?”
“You’re an idiot. You know that, yes? If you lock me away, I’ll...I’ll...” What? She couldn’t rail at him for his violent ways one day, and threaten him with bloodshed the next.
Maddox jumped to his feet, red flickering in his gaze, reminding her of Alek and Baden at their worst. “You court Violence.”
First, he’d accused her of wrongdoing. Now he defended her? Confusing man!
As soon as Maddox backed down, Baden turned toward her. Glaring, he said quietly, “I might be an idiot, but you still desire me, so what does that make you?”
“I don’t—”
He bent down and grazed her earlobe with his teeth. “Your blood is rushing so fast I can hear it. Your nipples just hardened and the scent you’re giving off...” He trailed his nose along her neck, inhaling deeply, perhaps forgetting the pain he felt at skin-to-skin contact. “Delicious.”
Shivers betrayed her, arousal drenching her panties. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation here.” With witnesses. Or at all!
“Agreed.” To the others, he said, “I’ll text you often.”
The room disappeared, a new one taking its place. The walls were papered in lace and velvet, and portraits of a gorgeous blond—Galen—with massive wings hung here...there...everywhere. The warrior must have lost those white-feathered beauties at some point; they were basically nubs now. The furniture was a mix of polished wood, ivory and wrought iron while plush carpets led to a spectacular fireplace made of sapphire-veined marble; cherubs were carved along both sides, framing panels of stained glass.
Her new gilded cage?
She wrenched from Baden’s embrace. “How dare you leave my dogs—”
“They are yours now?” He strode to the wet bar and poured himself four fingers of what looked to be whiskey yet smelled much sweeter. “How quickly my female changes her mind.”
The dogs were hers. The way they’d stayed by her side during and after Pandora’s attack...the way they’d let Alek know in no uncertain terms they would defend her with their lives... Yeah, they were hers. And she was theirs. Not Baden’s, as he’d so baldly stated.
“I’ll fight you every day, every minute, until they’re returned to—”
“Sheath your claws, vixen. Galen is bringing the dogs.”
Oh. “If he hurts them—”
“He won’t. He’s been warned.” Baden poured himself another drink, drained the contents. He faced her, his eyelids hooded, his lashes practically fused together. “We need to get something settled between us.”