Pandora's Box
Page 32
Madison flinched, glanced away. The frankness of what the other woman meant hurt worse than a smoldering coal placed against her tender abdomen. She knew Nix was a randy soul; his indiscretions shouldn’t bother her, and she’d been able to overlook them before. She couldn’t deny something shifted inside her after the hotel room.
Alessa talked on as if she failed to notice Madison’s discomfort, but Madison sensed the woman missed none of her reaction. “He swore everything was fine. He seemed distracted, kind of lost. I guess he was already bound to this deal by then?”
Madison nodded. She couldn’t meet the other woman’s eyes, knowing she’d made love to Nix. She settled for watching a ranch hand lead a horse by the reins. She knew nothing about horses, but this one looked like a pricey breed. “He’s been in Hell a month now.” She kicked at a rock with the toe of her sandal; she couldn’t think about the things Micah might’ve already done to Nix. She shut down any speculation about what Micah wanted from Nix. Whatever he wanted wouldn’t be for mankind’s benefit. If she allowed herself to go there, she’d go crazy, desperate to get him out, and most likely do something foolish.
“You love Nix.”
Madison’s attention snapped to Alessa. “Of course,” she said, surprised by the statement. “He is my best friend.” She wouldn’t say ‘was’ because she would save him from Micah’s sadistic clutches. She slapped a mental hand over the voice in her head whispering he meant much more to her than a mere friend. “He tried to help me when no one else could. That alone garners my devotion.”
“Yeah.” Alessa stared unblinking, a lopsided grin hitting her mouth.
They stared at one another for a long time. In those tense minutes, Amos giggled and the dog yipped, probably trying to coax her dog whisperer child into playing. Zen said nothing, just observed everything like always, his awareness as tangible as the humid days of summer. Petra smacked her gum, popping intermittent bubbles. Stable hands chatted and laughed, other sounds she couldn’t identify flitted around. A horse fly buzzed around her head, but she didn’t swat it away.
“You here for a reason?”
“Yeah.” Madison ran her palm across the back of her neck. “Nix’s lucky charm.”
Alessa laughed, a soft peal of genuine amusement. “We should talk privately.” The horsewoman glanced at Zen and Amos, who was throwing a stick for the sheep dog to fetch. “Why don’t your friends go inside, cool off, and get something to drink.”
“Can I play with the dog?” Amos asked.
She nodded. “Her name’s Lasso.”
Lasso trotted back with the stick and growled as she and Amos played tug of war with the twig.
“I’m good right here,” Petra said. Madison knew there would be no separating the demon from Amos. She took it as her personal responsibility to protect him.
“I’ll meditate,” Zen said, crossed his arms, leaned against the hood of the Land Rover, and closed his eyes.
“He going to do the meditating there? It’s cooler inside.” Alessa arched an incredulous eyebrow.
“He can meditate anywhere.” She knew the truth. Zen wouldn’t let her out of his sight. Protecting the balance of power was no longer his only interest. Protecting her and controlling the Pandora power came higher on his priority list. “The heat doesn’t bother him, anyway.”
“Whatever licks his wounds.” Alessa led the way across the yard to a wooden bench.
Nix’s old flame motioned for her to sit, but she shook her head. “I’d rather stand if you don’t mind.”
Tapping her thigh with her crop, Alessa shrugged and sat, her back ramrod straight. Madison guessed her position formed the perfect riding stance, not that she knew for sure.
“You know I don’t believe the bullshit you said back there, right?”
Madison knew exactly what “bullshit” Alessa didn’t believe. What Alessa believed mattered little to her as long as she understood her position. She stared the horsewoman in the eyes and said, “I don’t care what you believe or don’t believe. I’ll try to be—”
“You sleep with him?” Alessa interrupted.
“What?” She frowned. What’d that have to do with anything? “Not that it’s any of your business, no. Our relationship didn’t stray to the….” Madison shook her head, breaking off before she uttered a complete lie. “Our relationship obviously wasn’t like yours. Ours stayed more platonic.” Mostly.
“You keep telling yourself that lie, and maybe you’ll eventually believe it because I’m not buying it.”
Madison gaped openmouthed at the other woman. Obviously, Alessa and Nix held more in common than just sexual attraction. She might be as outspoken as Nix, too. No sense trying to convince her. She let the comment slide.
“Your relationship with Nix might have been platonic, but it wasn’t monogamous, Mads.”
Madison didn’t remember giving the woman permission to call her by Nix’s nickname. Neither did she follow her line of reasoning. “We are friends, Alessa, nothing more.”
“Nix talked about you a lot.” She hoped not in bed or during the aftermath of sex. Alessa spoke over Madison’s thought. “Your relationship might not have been physical, but in his heart there wasn’t anything chaste about it.”
Stumped by her statement, Madison could think of nothing to say.
“Lasting relationships aren’t built on just sex. That’s shaky ground. There’s got to be more. Respect and a genuine like always helps. Nix felt that way toward you.”
“He feels the same way about you,” Madison said.
“Nix and I are great in bed.” The way Alessa rolled the word “great” on her tongue, like a seductive growl, embarrassed Madison. She studied the landscape, wishing the other woman would just drop it. “Out of bed, we’re oil and water, both too headstrong, both too forthright. We mix because we don’t expect anything more than sex and friendship from each other.” Someone should tell her Southerners discussed mundane stuff, and the intimate details of one’s life were totally off-limits. “The best relationship I ever had was built on a platonic beginning.”
Good for her. “Whatever,” Madison said, glancing over her shoulder to check on Amos. She couldn’t hear what he said. It sounded like he was teaching the dog tricks. His uncanny ability with animals would have the sheep dog doing flips before they left.
She turned back to Nix’s flame.
“Yeah, whatever is right,” Alessa said. “You’re not hiding anything from me, Mads.”
Good thing she never intended to make a living playing poker because she couldn’t hide anything from Zen, either. At least he kept his opinions to himself…sometimes.
“I didn’t come here to talk about emotions or be psychoanalyzed, Alessa. I already have a Zennyo Ryuo acting as my personal shrink.” Whether I want it or not. Alessa opened her mouth, and Madison cut her off, “Don’t ask, a Zennyo Ryuo isn’t important at the moment, and I don’t have time for sappy bullshit when Nix’s soul is at stake. Realistically, I know the chances of me coming out of Hell are slim, so anything you think I might feel for Nix other than friendship won’t matter in the end.”
“Do you want to explain that?” Alessa brushed her long black hair over her shoulder and used the tip of the riding crop to swat at a horse fly.
“Nix accepted an alliance with my husband.” The riding crop froze midair. “My husband is one of the Four Kings of Hell. Not a demon a mortal man can defeat.”
“A King of Hell is your husband?” She lowered the riding crop to her lap.
“Yes. He’s Amos’s father. And I’m half-demon as well. Succubus, to be precise.”
Alessa whistled through her teeth. “Wow. Follow Nix’s sage advice and keep an open mind, Alessandra.”
With the other woman finally silenced, Madison went on, “If I come out of Hell, it’ll be a miracle, nothing short of pie in the sky aspirations.”
“You want my help with this?”
“No. Like I said, I came for something of Nix’s. His
lucky charm. I need it with me when I go into Hell to get Nix out.”
“I’m Nix’s lucky charm,” Alessa said, straight-faced. Stunned, Madison stared at the woman. “Half the time he called me ‘Lucky’. It was our private joke. He called me his lucky charm, because when he escaped here, nothing bad ever happened.”
Dear God. Madison walked a few steps away and pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes. According to Amos, she needed Nix’s ‘lucky charm’ in order to get him out of Hell. Without it or rather the woman her mission would fail. All of them had thought it an object; no one guessed it might be a person.
“So, what do you need from me?”
“Nothing.” Madison shook her head and turned to face Nix’s lover. A month wasted locating Nix’s lucky charm, and now they needed to regroup and figure out another way.
“You obviously need me, or you wouldn’t have come all this way. In case you missed the state sign, you’re not in Alabama any longer.”
Great, a smartass, just like Nix. The female version of Nix. “He wouldn’t want you involved.”
“Nix wouldn’t want you involved either, especially not after making this pact to save you, along with Gage and Zoe.” She wedged the riding crop inside her boot and rubbed it back and forth. “You don’t get the privilege of coming here, telling me I’m instrumental in saving Nix from Hell, and then refuse my aid when I don’t meet your requirements.” Madison opened her mouth to argue, but Alessa talked over her. “I owe him more than you know. Ranching gets old, and I need some excitement in my life right now. Besides, it’s unfair for you to have all the glory, when I’m his girl, too.”
She considered the woman a long time. “You gotta know it’s a suicide mission.”
“No wonder Nix likes ya, you’re straightforward.” Just like Alessa was. “I don’t think gorgeous and sexy hurts either.” The comment came from nowhere, and Madison frowned. “FYI, you’re terrible at selling this mission.”
Madison remained silent. She came here for an object, not a woman, saving Nix her sole ambition. Damning another person was not on her agenda. She wouldn’t “sell” a mission to receive her aid. The horsewoman’s decision should be made with all relevant facts.
The crop tapped a thoughtful rat-tat-tat against her boot. Alessa nodded her head slowly, thoughtfully. “You got a plan for us to get in Hell? Some pie in the sky bullshit that’ll give us a fighting chance to survive the plunge?”
No plan to get herself out, just Nix. Factoring in the safety of another human being never hit her radar. “No.”
“Sold!” Alessa said dramatically, with a roll of her eyes.
“Nix won’t like this.” Madison wondered what she got herself into by hitching another life to the rescue mission.
Alessa shrugged. “Seems to me Nix doesn’t get an opinion while he’s a resident of Hell.”
Madison met the other woman’s eyes. “I don’t like this.”
“I promise to be a good girl.”
No way could Alessa keep her promise. “No, you won’t, you’re too much like Nix.”
Alessa pursed her lips as if she considered her statement. “Okay, I promise to try and be good.”
Madison believed she’d try. “We have bigger problems than your behavior. I only know of one way to get a living person into Hell with any hope of coming out alive.”
“How?”
“You won’t like it,” Madison said. Alessa shrugged. “You’ll have to sell me your soul.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
~About the Author~
Gracen is a hopeless daydreamer masquerading as a "normal" person in southern society. When not writing, she's a full-time karate/football/guitar mom for her two sons and a devoted wife to her real-life hero-husband. She's addicted to writing, paranormal romance novels and movies, Alabama football and coffee…addictions are not necessarily in order of priority. She is convinced coffee is nectar from the gods and blending coffee and writing together generates the perfect creative merger. Many of her creative worlds are spawned from coffee highs.
To learn more about Gracen or to leave her a comment, visit her website at:
www.gracenmiller.com
Table of Contents
Title page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
~About the Author~