I caught a scent on the air, and my Loup rose up and filled me, tightening my limbs as it worked to heal my wound.
Heat bloomed at my solar plexus, and the scent of the vista filled my nostrils.
“Hunter?”
He appeared like a dark saviour, bloody and scraped. His gaze roved over me before locking on mine. His mouth worked then he shook his head and gathered me to him, arms solid bands around me, breath warm against the curve of my neck.
“I almost lost you,” he said. “I can’t lose you.”
A siren blared. Three long bursts.
“Fee!” Cora tugged me away from Hunter. “Something’s going on.”
Around us the liveried demons, Lilith’s army, were backing off. Cheers rose up from Mammon’s minions.
Oh no.
No.
“We have to go!” Samael was beside me. “Mammon has taken the Keep. We need to retreat.”
Oh fuck.
Chapter Forty-Two
Fee
Retreat.
Failure.
We were all thinking it.
But at least we were safe…for now. Lilith, the savvy queen, had a hideout in a mountain several miles from Imperium, accessible only to her and Samael.
It was a vast cavern, hewn into the mountain and kitted out with neat metal bunkers. Several fire pits were dotted about, and a waterfall made up the back of the cavern, pooling into a stream that cut around the outside of the cavern and filtered away into the rock face. It was enough to accommodate the rag tag dregs of a decimated army.
“Is this all that’s left?” Grayson asked.
“Yeah,” Hunter said. “Azazel took a headcount and less than a hundred demons made it here. The rest were either captured or killed by Mammon’s army.”
He was sitting beside me, his arm brushing mine. He’d stayed close ever since he found me on the battlefield. He’d carried me most of the way here while my broken tibia healed.
His scent lingered in my nostrils, comforting, familiar, exciting. I still couldn’t believe he and Grayson were here. They’d come to be with me, to help me and warn me about Cain.
Fucking Cain.
My head ached from the fighting, and the loss, and the potential shit that was still waiting to hit the fan.
Mammon had the Keep and Cain was coming.
“What are we going to do?” Cora asked the question on everyone’s mind.
We were huddled around one of the firepits, but no one had even attempted to start a fire. The atmosphere was one of dejection, and most demons had a glazed look in their eyes as they staggered to and fro like aimless zombies waiting for a whiff of live human.
Across the cavern, Lilith and Samael were in conversation with Azazel, Mal, and Conah. Keon and Uri administered to some wounded close by. Uri’s healing power wasn’t as strong here, but he did what he could, and Keon did the rest. They made a good team, working side by side.
I was lucky the people I loved were safe, but how long would they stay that way while they were here with me?
I covered my face with my hands. “We can’t fight Mammon without an army, and Cain…I need to warn Samael about Cain.
I pushed to my feet and wound my way over to the fallen. Samael looked up as I approached and his face broke into a warm smile.
“How is your leg now, blossom?” he asked.
“Healed.” I hadn’t had a chance to thank him for saving me. “If you hadn’t intervened when you did… Thank you for saving my life.”
His brows pinched. “You’re my daughter. I will not allow any harm to come to you.”
A lump formed in my throat. “And I can’t allow any to come to you, either.”
He tilted his head to the side. “What is it?”
“Cain is on his way here. We believe he wants to kill you. Uri spoke to the Oracle in the Beyond who told him that if Cain succeeded, a world would fall. Is it true that the Underealm is linked to you? That the toxic air from the pit will spread and kill everything?”
Samael closed his eyes with a sigh.
Lilith looked sharply at Samael. “Cain’s alive?”
Samael sighed. “It’s a long story, love, and I will explain it all to you later,” He focused on me. “Yes, the story is true. But I’m not so easily killed. Even if Cain does come to the Underealm, he doesn’t possess the power to end my existence. I am the first. I am the divine’s chosen.”
I wanted to be soothed by his confidence, but unease niggled at the back of my mind, and then it hit me. “I think Cain ate the Dread that were trapped on Earth.”
Samael went very still. “What did you say?”
Lilith made a strangled sound. “Samael, the Dread are one of the first armies of the divine.”
Samael’s mouth tightened. “If he comes then I will speak with him. He is my son, and I will make peace with him. But right now, we must focus on Mammon and find a way to claim back the Keep.”
But there was more he needed to know. “It’s not just him that’ll be coming. He’s bringing vamps that carry the reaper virus.”
Silence greeted my statement before Lilith broke it.
“Outliers can’t enter the Underealm,” she said haughtily.
The rules were only rules until someone found a way to break them. “My Loup mates managed to get here, and I’m sure these vamps have been modified to allow them to withstand the Underealm’s atmosphere.”
Conah cursed softly. “With the attack on the Keep, I was unable to get a message to the labs to continue work on the vaccine.”
The flare of fire drew my attention to a nearby pit. It looked like someone had decided we needed heat, and I could already feel the warmth beating against my skin.
“Enough,” Samael said. “We can’t focus on Cain. We must focus on Mammon. The longer he maintains control of the Keep, the more time he has to fortify and forge alliances.”
“We have no army,” Mal reminded him.
I scanned the battle-scarred and battle-weary troops. “And the ones we have aren’t in great shape.”
Fuck, it was getting hot now. I shrugged off my coat, and something dark fluttered to the ground.
Esmael’s feather.
Oh… Wait a donut-sucking moment. An idea formed in my mind, farfetched but a possible solution.
“What if I could get us an army?”
“How?” Lilith snapped, all dark-eyed derision.
I crouched to pick up the feather and then held it up for all to see. “With this.”
“A feather?” Samael looked confused, but Conah and Mal’s expressions cleared
“Fee,” Mal said. “This just might work.”
“Can someone please tell me what you’re talking about?” Azazel demanded.
But Lilith was staring at the feather with a mixture of awe and horror. She reached for it but decided against it, curling her fingers into her palm and dropping her hand.
“Seraphim,” she said softly.
“Yes. It’s a Seraphim feather. Conah, Mal, and I met one. We saved him, and he gave me this to call upon him if I needed. I think there are more, and I think I may be able to convince them to fight alongside us.”
“This can’t be,” Lilith said.
“Why? Because you had them hunted and killed?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You have no right to judge my actions.”
“Why not? Because you’re a queen and queens are always right? Like when they ask their sons to kill a whole bloodline because of jealousy and misinformation, or when they threaten to kill a woman because they don’t like her face, or maybe when they turn people they profess to love into puppets.”
Her eyes widened slightly at that, and her mouth compressed into a thin line. I held her gaze before sliding it toward Keon then back to her. Yeah. I know, bitch.
The blood drained from her face and her throat bobbed. “If the Seraphim fight with us then they have my word they will be pardoned. They will not be hunted again.”
I didn’t
even bother to hide my disgust. “I don’t think they give a shit what you think, but sure, I’ll pass that along.”
“It’s not safe right now,” Azazel said. “Mammon will have scouts looking for us.”
“Then I’ll wait till the early hours of the morning.”
Samael took my hand in both his, holding it as if it was a precious thing. “Whatever happens with the Seraphim, I’m proud of you for your foresight and fortitude.”
He pulled me in for a hug and the tension bled out of me.
“Take a bunker and rest,” he said as he released me. “You’ll want to travel several miles from here before you summon your friend. You’ll need to recharge.”
I nodded and turned away, but not before I caught the glint of malice in Lilith’s eyes.
The cavern wasn’t so warm anymore.
* * *
There were several small bunkers available, but Samael showed me to a larger one reserved for the Generals and the Dominus. Lilith had put serious effort into this cavern. It was its own self-contained eco system with running water, plumbing, and food stores.
The regular bunkers held beds, and communal washrooms could be found in a smaller chamber that ran off this larger one. But this elite bunker was kitted out with its own washroom and a double bed. The sheets weren’t fancy, and there was only one pillow, but fuck it felt good to take a load off.
I headed for the washroom, stripped off my battle bloody clothes, and stepped into the small shower cubicle. The water was tepid, and the bar of soap smelled of nothing, but it felt amazing sloughing off the dirt and blood from the battlefield. Shame I’d have to put the crusty clothes back on afterward.
I wrapped myself in the only towel I had and stepped back into the main part of the bunker to find Hunter standing by the bed.
“Hi.” I clutched the towel tighter. “Um…is everything okay?”
God, I sounded lame, but I wasn’t sure how to be with Hunter. His proximity always confused me, making my mind war with my body. I waited for the conflict, but this time it didn’t come.
Instead there was a calm and assurance that had been absent before. It thrummed between us, a part of our new, stronger connection.
“Hunter?”
His silence was unnerving.
“Is everything okay?”
“Can I hold you?” he asked.
I blinked at him in surprise. That was the last thing I was expecting him to say, but I found my feet carrying me across the room and into his arms. He held me like I was a fragile thing, like if he hugged me too tight, I might shatter.
“We started off so wrong,” he said. “Everything that’s happened between us so far has been twisted. I’m sorry. I need you to know it and believe it.”
There was an open sincerity in his tone. His guard was down, stripped bare. It was time.
“Not everything.” I pulled back slightly to look up at him. “You and I, we’re meant to be. The road’s been rough, but it’s the right road. I know that now.” I placed my palm to his chest, just over his heart. “Our connection is no longer turbulent and destructive. It’s calm, steady, and sure, just like I know you are.”
“You believe in me.” He looked surprised and guilt bit at my conscience.
I’d despised him for all the wrong reasons, not bothering to look beneath his arrogance for the insecurities. I hadn’t recognized the vulnerable heart beneath the tough exterior, but I did now. I knew who my mate was, and I knew what he needed.
I knew what I could give him.
I ran my fingers across his stubbled jaw and paused beneath his mouth. His gaze dropped to my lips in a question.
I touched his bottom lip lightly with my index finger. “Hunter, will you let me love you?”
His throat bobbed. “Fee?”
I pushed up on tiptoe and replaced my finger with my lips. He tasted like smoke and smelled like leather. I pulled back, seeing him properly for the first time. The handsome, chiseled, billionaire Loup was covered in grime and blood from the battlefield. He’d carried me for miles because we’d been unable to take to the air. He’d cradled me in his arms, and not even Grayson had dared take me from him.
He loved me.
Not just for the mate bond, but for me.
I allowed myself to crack my shields and was hit by a tumult of emotions: confusion, fear of rejection, and love. So much fucking love.
It was time to start a new chapter. I took his hand and drew him into the washroom.
He allowed me to undress him, dark eyes heating with every brush of my fingers against his bare skin. My hands trembled with the effort not to rush this. I trailed my fingers down his chest and tight abs to hover at the waistband of his pants.
He held his breath.
My gaze snapped up to claim his as I unbuckled him, and then I dropped to my knees, taking his pants with me.
He exhaled in a rush, fists clenching tight at his sides. His boxers strained with his arousal, and my heartbeat sped up as I hooked my fingers into the waistband and peeled them down.
He made a low sound, part groan, part sigh as I feasted my eyes on his naked form. Every dip and plane and hard ridge of muscle. Every velvet inch of him was perfection, and he was mine.
Mine.
My Loup surged to the surface, flooding me with the heat of an arousal that had an edge of pain to it. She wanted to rut. Now. I pushed her down. This wasn’t about fucking, or sex. This was about connecting emotionally.
I needed him to feel my soul. I turned on the shower and steered him into it, then dropped my towel.
His breathing grew shallow and fast as his gaze roved over me. He could have me, all of me. I wanted him to, but first…I picked up the soap and began to wash off the dregs of war from his skin. I soaped the rounded muscles of his shoulders, and then dragged my hands down to his chest, spanning his pecs and running over his washboard abs. He stood stock still, but his hungry eyes devoured me.
My Loup jumped beneath my skin, eager to be free. I ignored the throb between my thighs and focused on exploring every inch of him.
My hand drifted south, past the V at his waist and down to his arousal.
He growled, low and sexy. “Fee…”
I stepped closer, curling my fingers around him and locking gazes with him. “Yes?”
I began to pump him, slow and even, running my thumb over the slick head of his cock.
“Fuck.” He dropped his forehead to mine, shoulders heaving.
I worked him, pulse hammering, body tight and hungry for him as he swelled beneath my fingers. He was going to come.
“No.” He grabbed my wrist. “Not like this.”
He pinned me to the wall with his body, groin pressed to my abdomen, so his thick hot arousal pulsed against my wet skin.
“If I come, I come inside you,” he said.
Oh fuck.
The Loup broke free, surging up to take control and a low growl of need vibrated in my chest. Hunter claimed it with his mouth, breathing me in with a kiss that vibrated and tingled all the way to my toes.
I sank my fingers into his hair, molding my body to his as we devoured each other in tongue rasping kisses.
My skin heated at every point of contact and hunger ravaged my blood. He hauled me up, and I hooked my legs around his waist, gasping into his mouth as his arousal met mine, hard heat to pliable folds.
Oh shit, this wasn’t how it was meant to go. I pulled back, fighting the urge to rise up and take him inside me.
He grasped my jaw. “What is it? Do you want to stop?” Doubt flashed in his eyes.
“No, I just…I wanted to go slow. To make love to you.”
“Love…” He scanned my face. “You don’t love me, Fee…”
“I think I could if I allowed myself to. I know it. You deserve it. I’m so fucking sorry for not seeing that sooner.”
* * *
Hunter
No. It’s a lie.
She wants to love me.
No.
> She thinks I deserve it.
The voice is silent and for the first time in a long time there is silence in my head. Something inside me breaks and melts, and a surge of emotion washes through me.
The voice that has plagued me on and off for the longest time is suddenly, utterly silent, and all that matters is the woman in my arms.
Pliant, willing, and mine.
She’s mine.
“I wanted to show you how it could be between us,” she says tentatively.
Oh god, she doesn’t get it. The fire, the violent coupling, the heat, that is us. It’s our dynamic, and I feel it stirring in my loins now—a swirling heat that only she can assuage.
I claim her pouty mouth in a crushing kiss that elicits a ragged moan. “This is us,” I kiss her again, tongue deep. “This is how it should be.” I pull back and position myself at her entrance. “This is me making love to you.” I bury myself deep inside her and revel in the sound of her cry of satisfaction. My mouth hovers over hers as I remain locked in place, unmoving.
“Hunter, please…”
I lick the seam of her mouth and roll my hips against hers, pushing deeper.
“Fuck…” Her eyelids flutter closed.
“Look at me.”
She obeys, and my heart swells at what I see in her eyes. Not need, or desire, but want. She wants me. Not her Loup. Her.
I begin to move.
She sheaths me in tight, wet perfection as I thrust deep, over and over, mouth hovering over hers, stealing kiss after kiss as we join. I swallow her cries and her gasps and then she jerks against me, her eyes fluttering closed. Her scent is in my head, the taste of her skin, the texture, I want it all. I need it all. I’m ravenous, desperate. She meets my thrusts with her own, thighs tightening, ass flexing beneath my hands. Fuck. I can’t hold back for much longer. She comes with a drawn-out groan milking my release, so it melds with her own and we come together in a tongue tangling kiss.
Reaper Unleashed: Deadside Reapers: Book 7 Page 22