She tsks under her breath. “Does the big bad King of Men not have a clue what’s going on?” She waggles a finger at him and he draws closer, the need to know impeding his self-preservation. “I’m the warrior you forged in fire, I’m the wind that will be your downfall, I’m the ocean that shall drown your evil, and I’m the earth that will be left standing on your ashes,” she whispers.
He reels back as his jaw goes slack. “Pandora,” he mumbles. He shakes his head, capturing my gaze. “Well played, Archan,” he says, then disappears along with Hell’s warriors.
Natia spins to look at me, her wings knocking the last of the glasses off the table. She stumbles to the left and plants her ass on the floor. “Fucking wings,” she mutters.
“At least he left before your epic fall,” Jed says as I offer her a hand. She grasps it and pulls herself up. An intense look of concentration crosses her face, then the wings disappear.
“True, and it was a pretty fucking awesome introduction I gave him,” she says as I pull her onto my lap. “So Zeus is already here? At level two? How?” she asks.
“He’s coming out along the tunnel they’ve barreled through the dimension to get to Tartarus. He’s just following it back out,” Lucifer states.
“And he’s just the welcome party. The nasties are crawling their way along the same path as we speak,” Jed adds.
“How did you get on with Lysa?” Duncan asks.
Natia winces. “She gave my blood to some queen bitch named The Duchess. Who the fuck names themselves The Duchess? Wait until I fucking get my hands on her. The bitch better cough up my blood or she’ll be coughing up a lung.” I press my lips together. Natia frowns. “What?”
“You’ve already met her,” Lucifer says, covering his mouth. “She was the skank squirming all over Archan’s lap when you tried your right hook.”
Natia blinks. Then gives me a hell of a temple punch that would kill a man. Good thing I’m not a man.
14
Chapter Fourteen
Natia
Taurus: A stubborn bull, horns like a devil, eyes like an angel, and a mouth like both.
Archan’s head snaps to the left. My new goddess status helps to pack one hell of a punch. But the asshole shakes it off like I’m a child.
“You just let the bitch go. You could have killed her and made our lives easier,” I holler as anger fires through every vein and every nerve in my body.
He glares at me. “One, I didn’t know Zeus had sent her to retrieve your blood. Two, I can’t kill her. She’s a goddess and therefore subject to the same laws that now bind you. The main one being you can’t murder another god.”
I scramble out of his lap and run my hands through my hair. My body burns from his touch despite my anger. All I want to do is straddle his lap and rub my naked body against his. Fucking hormones. It’s like being a horny teenager, but with adult thoughts and desires. I turn away from him and drag in some deep breaths. A chair scrapes across the hardwood floor. Warm arms wrap around me from behind, surrounding me with his delicious, sinful scent.
“I don’t feel like me,” I whisper. “I have more control over my actions than this.”
“These emotions only run skin deep, Natia,” Archan rumbles in my ear. “But our love could set the night on fire. I will make you see everything your heart needs to know. Trust that.”
Nodding, I lean back into him for a brief second as my volatile emotions simmer beneath the surface. I glance around and stare in disbelief. I was so focused on killing the bitch who was using my man as a pogo stick, I failed to digest the scene happening around us.
“What the actual fuck is going on?” I say as I scan the flesh writhing in every nook and cranny of the circular room. I tilt my head back and stare at Archan, whose entire focus is on me, like there isn’t a porn show in front of him.
“Second level is Lust,” Lucifer says from behind Archan. “Don’t engage with anyone, you will lose yourself to the souls of the damned and be trapped here for an eternity.”
I step away from Archan and swing around to face everyone. Lucifer leans back in his chair and flicks a piece of imaginary lint off his suit. Zee’s focus is on a group of girls. I’m not sure where one ends and another starts. Duncan’s face is tense whilst Jed looks bored. Zac is staring at a pair of redheaded twins who keep sweeping past the alcove we are tucked in. “No sex with strangers, got it.”
Archan smirks. “As if another male would get within a meter of you with sexual intent and not be incinerated by my fury.”
I huff. “Your caveman is showing again.” I lock eyes with Lucifer. “So we, what? Just walk through, don’t engage in any hanky panky and exit this level and go to level three?”
Lucifer snorts as he rises from his chair and shoves his hand in his trouser pocket. “Hanky panky?”
I shrug and step forward. “If we take the lust out of the language, it’s less likely to have an impact. Which way to Gluttony?”
Lucifer points to the right and we form a line of gods and powerful beings that prowl down through the realm of Lust. I dodge several errant limbs. Most of the residents are oblivious to our presence.
