Hell is a Harem

by Kim Faulks

  Hell is a Harem - Book Two

  Lick of Fire Series

  Kim Faulks

  Illustrated by

  Jacqueline Sweet

  Copyright © 2018 by Kim Faulks

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Book Cover Design by Jacqueline Sweet

  Warning: HOT reads ahead.

  Enter this supernatural world of fire and heat, magic and adventure, and get lost in everything DARK, delicious and FIRE.

  The Lick of Fire Series is a collection of 12 bestselling authors brining you a new story every week. With three books per author you'll have plenty to keep you busy!

  This must-read series is edgier, hungrier and action-packed with tales of Dragons, Phoenixes, Vampires, Berserker Dragons, Pyromancers and Hellhounds that will leave your heart pounding and your pulse racing.

  Click here to join Lick of Fire Reader Group

  For the readers. You blow me away…every single time.

  Contents

  Hell is a Harem Book 2

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  If you loved Hell is a Harem

  Hell is a Harem - Book Three

  Hell is a Harem Book 2

  Lucifer, the Lord of Hell, has reappeared into my life and he owes a shit ton of alimony.

  Twenty-five years worth to be exact, timed from the day he walked out on me and my mother and never looked back.And I plan on making his life a living Hell until he pays up.

  He just smiles, ruffles my hair and tells me I’m cute when I’m angry.

  But anger isn’t all that’s rising to the surface with this surprise reunion.

  The seal on my past has been broken and the skeletons in the closet are coming out to play.

  Dark secrets that involve my mother and the circumstances surrounding her death.

  Now I want truth…I demand justice—served cold, on a platter, alongside my father’s stony heart.

  But the past isn’t done with me, not by a long shot.

  It whispers a new name now…mine.

  And it won’t stop until the circle is complete, and I lie in an unmarked grave alongside my Mom at the hands of a powerful sect called The Nine.

  The men I love won’t let that happen.

  Inspector Titus Banks will risk his job.

  Rival, my Hellhound, will turn his back on the Lord of Hell himself.

  The Archangel Gabriel will bleed.

  And they’ll do it all for love.

  I’m holding on with all I have, adrift in the darkness of the past.

  Only I can’t hold on much longer.

  I need my Harem…and I need them now.

  Chapter One

  Lorn

  “This…what the hell is this?” Director Alistair Horton leaned over and slid the eight by ten black and white images across The Circle’s boardroom desk toward me.

  I didn’t have to look…but they were a little hard to miss.

  “Well?” He snapped, his face growing redder by the second.

  I wasn’t sure if the rosy color in his cheeks was from anger, or what the images displayed.

  “Answer me,” he hissed.

  I drew in a breath and leaned over. Bare skin looked glorious in black and white. Whoever the private investigator was, he took some damn fine shots.

  I wondered if I should hit him up? Maybe a family portrait instead—a few stills with good ol’ dad?

  A smile threatened to carve my face. Wouldn’t that be a barrel of fucking laughs. “Looks vaguely like a reverse cowboy to me with a…no, wait…I see dick…and balls, yeah that’s definitely dick and balls aaannnddd a feather right there, yep, definitely a feather. Too hard to tell who’s who from this angle, except for Gabriel. Now if there were more images, maybe I could put together a collage and give you a blow by blow—”

  “Fucking bitch…” he spluttered. I raised my gaze. Yep, definitely getting redder. Jesus what shade was that?

  It took all my damn strength not to laugh in his face. But as much as it pained me not to wind Alistair up, there were things that were more important.

  I glanced at the black and whites, then shook my head. “Look, we can sit here and rub each other raw all damn day, or we can come to a compromise, and I’m here…willing to do just that—compromise.”

  A nerve pulsed at the edge of his temple. Thin, bloodless lips smashed together tightly as he glanced at the images and finally lifted those beady fucking eyes. “Speak your piece…and then get the hell out.”

  I clenched my jaw until there was a crack and forced myself to speak. It didn’t matter, either way, this was going to sting. “All I want is what’s rightfully mine. I want a cut of the profits.”

  The tiny twitch of his lips said it all. He tried to hide the gleam in his eyes. “A cut of the profits?”

  “Yes, The Circle’s profits. The hunters keep their bounty, no one touches that. But I want my share of everything else.”

  There was a catch of his breath, and his eyes widened until the whites glistened all the way around. I could see the panic seeping in as I leaned forward. “And, seeing as how this company is legally fifty percent my Grandmother’s…fifty-one, actually, I’m thinking that’s a good start.”

  “What?” He jerked when he answered. “What’s a good start?”

  I gave him a smile. “Fifty-one percent.”

  He paled to the color of old, cold oatmeal. “That’ll cripple the company. No,” the shake of his head was fierce, and demanding. “No, no goddamn way. I won’t do it. I won’t allow myself to be pushed around by some…some…” I shuddered under his slimy gaze as he skimmed my body and then turned to the glossy images, “whore.”

  I never flinched, never cared…words were just that…words. “Now, I might look as dumb as a two-by-four, but I’d stake my life that you’ve escaped every human tax you could find…after all, a little digging and this was what I found.”

  I reached into my pocket and slid the printout across the table. The list of accounts and balances was staggering. The sonofabitch had squirreled millions away in offshore accounts all over the damn world, carefully hidden under the guise of supernatural law.

  He could hide from human law…but he couldn’t hide from me—not anymore. Not with the contract sent to me three days earlier by the original founder, my Grandmother, outlining my percentage of the company. Now I had what was rightfully mine…Horton’s balls in my fucking fist.

  His eyes almost bugged out of his head as he stared at the list and then lifted his head. Spittle flew from his mouth as he spluttered. “W-where the hell did you get this?”

  He clawed the paper, folding it not once, but three damn times, before stuffing it into his pocket, as though that could hide the damn lies.

  “Keep it,” I muttered. “I’ve got plenty more where that came from.”

  And there was that choked, vein-popping, cherry-red color once more.

  He turned his head toward the doo
r to the conference room and snarled. “That bitch. I should’ve fired Betty when I had the chance. She’s going to be out on her ass and penniless when I’m done with her.”

  Heat lashed my palm and the damn burn raced all the way along my arm. To threaten me was one thing, but come after those I love…yeah, he had my goddamn attention.

  I leaned forward, holding his gaze. “Now, I’m only going to say this once…I want you to really listen to what I’m saying. Not just ’cause you’re two cans short of a six- pack, but because I want you to know exactly where you and I stand. As of right now, I own fifty-one percent of everything, according to Alma’s contract. A contract you signed when she handed you the reins twenty years ago. But I’m willing to forgo that…I’m willing to take the contract she signed with you and have her tear it up…gone poof, just like that…”

  He froze. There was no rise of his chest, no blink of his fucking eyes. Panic flared, and, for a second, I thought…I killed him…killed the piece of shit cold, until, with a slow turn of his head, he whispered, “Whatever you want, it’s yours.”

  “I want a new system. A fairer system for everyone. Where all the jobs are paid equally, no matter if it’s a rogue shifter or the Unseelie Prince himself. I get to keep my job for as long as I want it, that part of the contract can never be cancelled. But everything else…the money and the power—it’s all yours.”

  “Why?” He blurted. “Why would you give up something like that?”

  I leaned close, so close I could smell the freak behind those beady fucking eyes. For some desperate reason, I needed him to see what he could never see before. The real me. “Because I never wanted anything more than I deserved. I worked every pathetic red-carded job you handed me and, even though I was seething with the injustice of it all, the only thing that kept me going was, if not me…then who? Who else was waiting in line to get all the scraps you deemed worthy? So, that’s my deal, take it or leave it. The wheel stops here and now. All jobs are paid one standard rate. And all jobs are divided equally. There’s no top of the ladder anymore. There’s not even a fucking ladder.”

  He sat backwards and exhaled hard. I could see that little mind of his ticking, working overtime—trying to find the loopholes, searching for some way he could exploit those I was fighting to protect.

  “And in my stead, I’ll be assigning a proxy to oversee all of this. The old contract will become null and void whenever the new conditions are met.” I leaned closer, draping so low I stared right into his non-existent soul. “But if I even feel a glare my way, or my proxy’s way, or if I hear a goddamn whisper that you’re looking for a way to burn this, I’ll come after you with all the fucking power I possess…and then some. You feel me, Director?”

  Horton swallowed hard and gave a quick nod.

  I shoved off the desk and straightened my shoulders. “And you’ll be covering my proxy’s wage. Keeping an eye on you is going to be damn expensive, Director. But the alternative…,” I couldn’t help but fucking smirk, “the alternative will see your ass out on the street.”

  My heart gave a tiny patter as my breaths slowed. I’d said all I came here to say and looking at his bulging eyes and pasty skin was turning my gut. “I’m done here, Director. You’ll find the new contract on your desk in the morning.” I had to stop myself from running for the damn door as I turned. “And FYI, Betty is the only thing that stands between you, and me taking you for every goddamn cent you have. So, you might wanna treat her with some respect.”

  Break the wheel. The words haunted every step as I made for the door. I gripped the handle and pushed. Glass glinted like the honed edge of a blade as I stepped through and closed the door behind me.

  Betty stood from behind her desk as I lifted my gaze. It was all I wanted—fairness, and not just for me… for everyone. She gave a nervous glance behind me.

  “Don’t worry, there’s no blood to clean up. Although I fully expect a few tears…if not now, then there will be soon.”

  “Oh, dear,” she whispered as her hand fluttered into the air.

  “And you just earned yourself a pay rise,” I murmured and held out my hand. “I have a new position for you. One I think you’ll enjoy immensely.”

  There was no one I trusted more. Betty was more than just a friend, she was the backbone of The Circle. I’d known her for as long as I could remember, sitting at her old wooden desk when The Circle was nothing more than a tiny office in the garage of a downtown building.

  They didn’t want us then. I remembered the graffitied attacks and the abuse. Humans spat on us, they hated us—they didn’t want us.

  Witch was thrown around as a dirty name. They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then the coming out of the supernatural community brought blacks and whites together in a unified front. They had a new enemy now…us.

  But there were a few that didn’t feel like that, and those perfect shining stars, like Betty, risked their lives and reputations by helping, which made this moment all the more bittersweet.

  I held out my hand and started talking, relaying the plan. She took it well, interjecting with, Oh dear…and, Oh my…

  In the end, she stumbled for a chair, sitting as I slid the slip of paper into her hand. She glanced at her new salary once…twice, and then stared for a very long time.

  But it wasn’t just about the money. It was the trust. Tears glistened in her eyes as she clenched her fist around the paper and reached for me. “I won’t let you down.”

  “Never thought for a second you would.”

  And the fighter burned in her eyes as she glanced toward the boardroom door. “I’ll nail him to the wall if he so much as looks your way.”

  I leaned close, puckered up, and kissed her forehead. “And that’s why I love you. Now, I got places to be. You know what to do?”

  She gave a militant nod and patted the back of my hand. “You go on now, and give my love to your grandmother.”

  I stifled the flinch, and then forced a smile. “I will. Have a wonderful night and give my love to Bill.”

  She beamed as I left her and the executive suites behind. Her words were wound tight, woven in and out of a strangled nerve. I stopped at the bank of elevators and punched the button.

  It’d been weeks since that night at Wicked…weeks since I met my father in a crack of lightning that froze time itself. And I felt the passing of these weeks. Felt it like the ticking of a bomb inside my head.

  The elevator doors opened with a whoosh and I lifted my gaze from the ground, and stiffened.

  Redemption stood with his back to the doors on the opposite side of the lift, staring at a mark on the ground. He lifted his head, and our gazes collided with the kind of hunger that made my knees shudder.

  The doors shook behind me and the motor moaned. I slapped my hand across the track as he flinched and looked away. “I can get out, if you prefer.”

  Something cracked inside me with those words. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to raise my pathetic fists and beat him bloody.

  I wanted to hurt him, just as he’d hurt me.

  But there was no sword in existence that could match the killing blow of betrayal. No punch I could land, no amount of rage I could summon.

  I dropped my hand and forced my feet to move, stepping inside and giving him my back.

  Words formed like stones in back of my throat. I swallowed that lump, forcing that shit down with all the other unspoken bullshit I’d accumulated over the past week, as the doors slid shut.

  Seconds felt like fucking hours as I stared at the gleam of the stainless steel.

  “You can’t even look at me, can you?”

  I closed my eyes and tried to still the shudder. I couldn’t…couldn’t face him, couldn’t relive that betrayal all over again.

  “I did it for you, Lorn. Everything…for you.”

  And the fighter in me reared, forcing me to spin and meet him face to face.

  “You did it for me…really? Please tell me how manipulating me for
years was for my benefit? Because any way you cut it, that’s what you did. You, and my grandmother, decided somewhere along the way that I wasn’t grownup enough to deal with Lucifer being my father. You stole years from me. Years I can never get back.”

  There was a tiny shake to his head, and I waited for him to spill all the demons he held inside. But all he murmured was… “And I paid for that.”

  And there it was—all about him…

  Him with those solemn fucking eyes, and those perfect lips.

  Him with that unseelie darkness that drew me in.

  Him with the kind of power I’d lusted for. We were magical once…we were so fucking magical—like a tornado born from hell and tainted with unseelie.

  An ache flared across my chest, like a wound that’d never healed. Redemption was a black hole in the middle of my universe. I still carried the scars of the last time I escaped…and I had a feeling—the next time, I wouldn’t be as lucky.

  The elevator gave a shudder and then pulled to a stop. The doors cracked open and the outside world rushed in. Voices, laughter, and the bustle of The Circle were deafening, and yet here, in this tiny space, there was just us.

  Redemption never moved, only held my gaze.

  It didn’t matter. All the hurt and the betrayal, it didn’t touch me anymore. That was all in the past—and that’s where it was going to stay.

  I drew in a hard breath and felt something dangerous claw through the air. Something so powerful, that, once you recognized who it was, their touch was unforgettable.