I forced myself to hold his gaze and tried to make him hear me, to make him stop this. “Yes, we had some fun, but that’s as far as I’m willing to take it. You need to respect that, and you need to back off. Now.”
His eyes switched between gold and red, repeatedly, before finally settling back to normal. He flashed his teeth, or maybe he was gritting them, then he released the railing and stepped back. “If that’s what you really want,” he said, his voice pure grit.
“It is.” Hounds were protective of females, to the extreme, and not only the females they knew. I’d just used that to my advantage. It was the only arsenal I had at my disposal when it came to him. The wind whipped through me, and forked lightning streaked through the sky above us. I hugged myself. “We’re getting closer to land. We need to prepare for our arrival. The Outer Realm’s still going through changes after Nox and Death’s fight. Anything could be waiting for us there.”
Lothar dipped his chin, and the muscle at the side of his jaw pulsed. “I’ll go check on Beelzebub.”
He turned and strode away, heading below deck, and I gripped the railing again as I finally caught a glimpse of land. I would get through this. It was almost over. I just had to hold on a little longer.
It had almost killed me, but I’d survived losing him once. Closing my eyes now, I prayed to the gods with everything I had that I could do it again.
The wind tore through us, and I hung on to the mast as rain pelted down. “We’re headed straight for the rocks.”
“We’re gonna have to jump,” Lothar roared over the storm.
“What about Beelzebub?”
Lothar’s eyes lit with fury. “The fucker can drown.”
That was a pointless thing to say since B was immortal. Sinking to the bottom of the ocean wouldn’t kill him, and Lothar knew it. He’d been in a foul mood since our earlier conversation.
The roar of the storm suddenly silenced, and the ship seemed to come to a complete stop. The sound of the huge anchor chain rattling came a moment before the heavy iron plunged into the sea.
I spun around. “Are you seeing this?” The storm still raged, I could see it, but it was outside of a four-yard radius around the entire vessel.
Something thudded against the side of the ship, and I peered over the side. A dinghy bobbed in the water, waiting. “Looks like Drake thought of everything.”
Lothar grunted. “I’ll get Beelzebub,” he muttered, then strode off.
There was a rope ladder attached to the railing, conveniently positioned right where we needed it, and I shoved it over the side. It unraveled, stopping just above the dinghy.
Lothar appeared a moment later, muscles bulging, as he dragged the huge lord of Hell across the deck with one hand and carried our bags in the other.
“Guess we better go see what waits for us on land,” I said when he reached me.
Lothar grunted, dropped the bags at my feet, hefted Beelzebub off the ground and, without hesitation, tossed him over the side of the ship. The sound of his large body landing in the much smaller boat bobbing below in the water made me wince. I quickly looked over the edge, expecting to see both the dinghy and B being swallowed by the sea. Instead Beelzebub stared up at Lothar with hatred, the little boat miraculously still in one piece.
Lothar was still pissed off. Hopefully he got over it quickly, though it definitely made it easier to resist him. If he was angry with me, he wouldn’t be trying to get me to change my mind.
Sliding on my bag, I descended the rope ladder and jumped down into the boat. Lothar made his way down next, grabbed the oars, and we headed toward the shore. We were no longer protected from the storm now, though, and it raged around us, drenching us with the driving rain. The small boat bobbed around, threatening to capsize, but Lothar sliced the oars through the thrashing sea, powering through, muscles bulging from the strain.
It didn’t take long before we reached the shore. The sandy ocean floor scraped the bottom of the boat, and Loth jumped out into the frigid water and dragged the dinghy in the rest of the way.
I quickly got out and scanned our surroundings. The sky was dark with gunmetal clouds, and the thunder and lightning was a constant now, but at least the rain had stopped. The next flash of lightning lit up the sky—and the huge, glossy black tower we needed to head toward.
“This way,” I called over the wind, pointing to it.
“What is it?”
“Accommodation for travelers.”
The tower jutted up, imposing and incredibly tall. The top was obscured by low clouds, but light burned at the top, glowing behind them, making it serve a dual purpose of lighthouse as well.
“We’re close to Limbo. We should keep moving,” Lothar said.
“It’s dark here all the time, but worse at night, and if any of Nox’s creatures are still out here, this is when they’ll be more active. Better to wait until morning before we travel.”
Lothar nodded, then reached into the boat, grabbed the shackles between Beelzebub’s ankles, yanked him from the dinghy and started dragging him across the rocky ground. Beelzebub roared behind his gag, flailing and fighting, eyes blazing. Lothar ignored him and kept walking.
