I turned away from him, again, watching Seraphina and Beelzebub being carried ahead of us like ancient gods in their palanquin. The wooden box had velvet curtains, and it rested on the shoulders of four muscle-bound demons forced to bear their weight as they traipsed over uneven terrain. Several more heavily armed demons walked alongside our little party, including my old friend hog face, supposedly protecting us from the creatures with fangs who lived here in the Outer Realm. Though, by my count we’d already lost at least two along the way.
“Lucifer, he suppressed my instincts, my knowledge that you were my mate?” Lothar asked, and I jumped. He’d been quiet now for over an hour. “And you both kept it from me for centuries?”
His beast-roughened voice grated across my skin. It had always been deep and rough, but not like this. In these short cogent times, his voice didn’t seem to have time to go back to normal.
“Yes,” I said without looking back at him. He’d already asked the same question several times. I didn’t know if he forgot that he’d asked between those lucid moments or if he was just so fucking stunned that we’d done it to him, that he was hoping for a different answer.
He snarled. “Why?”
“It was for the best,” I answered, giving him the same answer I had several times now. The truth wouldn’t help him. Knowing what he had done could only hurt him, and I’d hurt him enough already.
“It was for the best?” he bit out. “Did you think it was for the best when I was driven to…to…” He swallowed audibly and hissed.
“Stop.” I turned to him. “You didn’t do anything wro?—”
“The beast took hold of me, forced me to shove you against that cell wall and…and force you…” He groaned in agony, then panted as if he were trying to stop himself from throwing up.
“You didn’t force me, Lothar, and you didn’t hurt me. Please, I’m okay. I let you?—”
“You let me?” His gaze dropped to where his bite was, to the mark a male gave his mate, and he bared his teeth. “I gave you no fucking choice.”
My shirt covered how big and jagged it was. Something else that would cause him distress when he finally got a good look at it.
But that would not be now, because like the last time his emotions got the better of him, his eyes flashed red and the beast returned, taking over and pushing Lothar back. His hand shot out, and he grabbed my arm and pulled me over to him. I didn’t resist, I let him plaster me to his side, if that helped him somehow. The beast sniffed my hair and pressed his lips to the bite he’d given me. His tongue swiped over the part that was exposed before he wrapped a huge arm around me and held me there, his chest vibrating with a low growl of warning as he stared at the demons around us.
Over the next hour, he snarled a lot, sometimes punching the side of his own head before his hold on me would tighten. No doubt Lothar was in there telling him to let me go. I took his hand and tried to soothe them both, not sure what else to do.
Lothar knew that Lucifer had hidden what we were to each other, yes, but that’s all he seemed to know, and that’s the way it needed to stay. If he hadn’t remembered everything else yet, I could only pray to the gods that meant those memories were gone for good. The truth would serve no purpose now but to hurt him. Too much time had passed, and he’d paid more than enough of a price without knowing all the awful details.
Sera shoved back the curtain on her palanquin and called down to one of the demons carrying her and Beelzebub. They stopped instantly and lowered the box to the ground. The demons carrying our cage stopped as well. Another demon rolled out a carpet so Sera didn’t dirty her precious little feet, and she disembarked and strode toward us.
Lothar snarled at her and tightened his hold on me.
“Now, now,” she said. “We used to be such good friends, Lothar, and despite all your growling, I have a feeling we will be again, but until then.” She held up a collar. “This will have to do.”
No fucking way.
“Take it,” she snapped at me.
“Fuck off,” I said. “And shove that bullshit up the wind tunnel between your legs.”
Her hand shot up, her fingers curling into a fist. I grabbed at my throat, instantly choking. It was as if she had an invisible grip around my neck and was squeezing tight. Lothar’s beast roared, confused. He grabbed at me and shook me, so hard he almost broke my spine in his attempt to save me.
Sera eased off, and I gasped for air. The blessed silver had weakened me so much more than the torture had. Anything Heaven touched did that, and I had no way of protecting myself or Lothar from this evil fucking bitch.
“Put it on him now or he spends the night with this lodged between his ribs.” She held up several short spikes.
They were made from the same silver, a couple inches long and pointed at both ends. They’d burn into his flesh, eventually making their way through muscle, then bone. They wouldn’t kill him, but they’d do a lot of damage and cause horrific pain, but that would be nothing compared to the agony of extracting them.
“Okay,” I said, because she would do it, and she’d love every moment of my distress. I slid my hand through the bars and took it from her, then turned to Lothar. “I need to put this on you, okay?”
I lifted it to his neck, but he snatched it away and tossed it through the bars and onto the ground.
“I thought we might have an issue,” Sera said and waved her hand.
Demons swarmed forward and grabbed Lothar’s arms through the bars and held him there. He fought and roared as his skin sizzled, burning against the silver. Sera handed me another collar.
“Put yours on first, so he understands.” I had no choice but to do as she said, the silver could kill him.
