But why?
Pamala ran beside him. Now they would die too. Luc’s gentle mate had forfeited his life.
Dex would die here and see his beloved parents sooner than he ever should have.
Like a snapping bowstring, Luc launched into the air. He flew to Dex and scooped him up. “My dear. My love. What are you doing?”
Dex clung to him. “Helping you. I couldn’t stay behind. It was like a nightmare. Not coming with you was wrong. I know it.”
With a blinding jolt, everything clicked into place, hitting Luc like lightning to the heart. His sob turned into a laugh. “You’re right. You’ve just saved us all.”
30
LUCIFER
Luc carried Dex to the front line, where everyone stood frozen, watching them approach with everything from horrified expressions to indifference.
“What the fuck?” Onyx snarled, fear cutting his delicate face. “Dex,no.”
“How could you?” Dante yelled at Pamala.
“Who is this?” Malachi’s voice boomed, drowning out everyone else. His cutting tone stung Luc’s frayed nerves.
He set Dex on his feet and grabbed his hand. “Malachi, Mother, Father—I see you recovered—may I present to you my mate, Dex Colt. My unbonded, human mate. My living, mortal mate.”
Luc smiled like the villain he’d been, fangs down, a hysterical triumph setting his fire roaring so fiercely he could almost hear it.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Onyx hissed, but Luc’s attention was fixed on the three council members.
At last, the penny dropped.
Malachi hissed, lips curling back. He threw Hollis—whohe’d still had pinned by the throat—to the ground. Isabella gripped Cenric so hard his arm cracked, and he grunted.
Onyx sputtered incoherently. Luc might as well spell it out. His brother was clearly too stressed to think clearly, and he deserved to know they’d been saved.
Besides, Luc couldn’t deny his smug, vindictive side.
He loved sticking it to authority. Dramatically.
“You can slaughter us to try and stop what we know from getting through, but a crime like that must be covered up. No witnesses. It could have been done. We demons and the Eternals you deemed traitors would have ceased to exist. No one in the Eternal Realm would have asked where I’d gone when they hadn’t seen me in thousands of years. You could easily fabricate an explanation for the missing guards. The witch and vampires would have gone to Hell. There would have been no one to expose you for so grossly breaking the ultimate rule. It would have been a perfect crime. Except, along came Dex. The man who saw the truth of the universe and enlightened me. The source of truth, if you will. Kill him, and he’ll go straight to the Eternal Realm to ruin you all.”
There was a beat of silence.
Onyx cackled, worthy of a villain. “Checkmate, motherfuckers.”
“Wait!” Dex tugged on Luc’s arm. “You were about to bekilled?”
Luc smiled, no longer feral, but soft. “It’s all right, Dex. The danger is gone. You saved us.”
Dex trembled, and Luc pulled him close. Over Dex’s shoulder, Luc’s attention landed on his parents and Malachi, who all appeared shell-shocked.
“Shall we make a deal? It’s the only way for you to save face. You didn’t actually commit mass murder—merely considered it—so your eternal lives are safe, but you don’t want to beshunned once everyone hears about this. Maybe you should let witches and vampires in. At least then you can say you did something right.”
Cenric gave his head a tiny shake, like he was trying to dislodge something irritating. “You’re asking us to restructure the universe. That isn’t… We can’t…”
“This battle is lost.” Malachi drowned out Cenric’s stammering, his eyes flaring bright before going out and revealing golden irises. He cleared his throat, his stance shifting from aggressive to authoritative. “We didn’t know magic and mortality could coexist. It simply wasn’t the way. The Realm of the Damnedhadto be created. But now that we know better, we are correcting our mistake. The Realm of the Damned will be abolished and all souls welcomed into the Eternal Realm.”
His spin on the story curled Luc’s lip, but he let it go. If the council wanted to pretend they hadn’t known it was all a lie, fine. Some of them probably hadn’t been aware. Luc wasn’t even sure if Malachi had known, or if his violent reaction was as much shock as it was an instinct to cling to power. It didn’t matter anymore. Not when things were being put right.
