Her Darkest Devils by Ginna Moran
Chapter 7
RAVEN
Hellish Expectations
FIVE DAYS. HOW could I have lost five days with Elias? It’s all been a blur. Leaving Hell and feeling like it stayed in my soul leaves my mind in a fog. Maybe it’s because of Andre and his venom. Dante’s never lasted this long, but no one seems to worry about me physically, but Micah, Kase, and Dante have all taken turns remaining by my side as they hunt for Lucian. For Elias.
I haven’t even heard from Zade.
“Come on, pretty soul. Please believe me when I say Elias is hanging in there for you. Lucian won’t kill him before his time. He enjoys the idea of someone suffering too much to end it so soon. He might even be doing this just to fuck with you. Don’t lose hope yet.” Dante massages his fingers into the tight muscles of my shoulders, loosening the tension the best he can. “Why don’t you let me dress you and take you out? You make great demon bait, and maybe someone can help point us in the coward’s direction. I mean, if you feel up to it.”
I slowly nod my head. “I’m getting used to the feeling of this hangover from Hell. I think getting some fresh air will help.”
Leaning over my shoulder, Dante smiles and kisses my cheek. “Maybe next time you take Andre’s king-sized cock, he might give you the proper amount of orgasms, so he can pull out.”
I groan and whack him, making him laugh. “You better not tease him about this. Neither of us knew and...I had fun.”
“Fun having a monster cock stuck in your pussy?” He lifts an eyebrow in question.
Heat blooms in my cheeks. “You won’t understand. His cock isn’t just big...I don’t know. It felt different.”
Dante spins me around and grasps my chin. “Keep describing how good another devil was and I’m going to want to fuck you until you forget. Replicate what you loved about it. I can be creative.”
I release an exasperated laugh. “Please don’t start. You getting envious over...knotting?” I pause, the memory returning fresh to the front of my mind. It wasn’t like it was bad. Just different and unexpected. Shocking. But now I know that I won’t be permanently attached to Andre by my vagina, I’d like to experience it again. I could tell when he was cumming, and the sensation...
“You dirty little pretty soul. Are you fantasizing about him now? If I reach under that dress, will you be wet?” Dante purses his lips, trying to hide his smile. “We’re never leaving if you are. I—”
I laugh and snatch his wrist, stopping him from even trying. The sound of my voice rings through the air as Dante does more than loosen the tenseness of my muscles. He lightens the heaviness suffocating my soul.
“Mmm I’ve missed that,” he says, grabbing my other hand. Pulling me into him, he lifts me off my feet, letting me hug him with my whole body. “Your laughter, I mean. Not your rejection of my affection.”
“Dante...”
“I know, I know. I’m just teasing. And horny as fuck. You’re not the only one who Andre’s kingdom got to. Feel this fucking thing.” Dante drops me a few inches until his hard-on presses through his pants between his legs. “I’ve given up with it after blowing at least twenty loads since being back.”
I crinkle my nose. “I’m surprised you haven’t just rubbed it off.”
“I may have shed a skin or two.”
Grimacing, I close my eyes and shudder at the thought. Dante’s laughter bellows through the air as he carries me to our balcony instead of taking me downstairs. The crisp late night air blows my tresses around, and Dante slides a hair tie from his wrist and puts my hair up for me. He’s the first man to ever hold my things, so I don’t ever need a pocket or purse. I don’t even know where he keeps most of the things. I thought I was jealous of the deep pockets of menswear, but damn it. Devilwear is even more accommodating.
“There. Now I can kiss your sweet neck while we fly,” he murmurs, adjusting me in his arms. “Also your lips too. I love your gloss but hate having to fight with your hair for access to your mouth.”
I laugh again and bat my hand to his shoulder. “You’re ridiculous.”
“You love it.” Bending his knees, Dante launches into the air, cutting off my response.
I snuggle my face into the crook of his neck, shielding my eyes from the icy wind. The soft whooshing of his wings helps calm my racing heart from his quick ascension, and I busy myself with exploring his skin, purposely leaving behind lip prints in his favorite shade of red.
Dante soars over the brightly lit city that sparkles below like the stars fallen to Earth. I peek over his shoulder, squeezing tightly with my thighs. I know he thinks about fucking me up here. I don’t have to ask because I’m thinking about it too, but damn it. We’re already descending, and I can’t spare another moment. We have shit to do that isn’t each other.
Like he reads my mind, Dante mutters, “I swear to fucking Hell that we’re going to fuck everywhere and on everything in the Mortal Realm when our kingdom is complete. You name it, we’ll fuck either on it, in it, or against it.”
I gasp with his freefalling a dozen feet, squeaking as his boots thud on the sidewalk outside of a bar and grill called Risqué. He sets me on my feet, and I smile up at him. “What about on—”
“Ray? No fucking way.” A familiar feminine voice echoes through the air. “Raven, what the actual fuck?”
Dante hisses under his breath but doesn’t spit venom as two slender arms engulf me from behind and my cousin Tamia rests her chin on my shoulder. “Thank God, you’re okay.”
“God? Pfft. God had nothing to do with her wellbeing.” Dante’s low words growl against my forehead.
“I went by Joel’s a couple weeks ago after I got your message. I thought something happened to you. The apartment manager said Joel stopped paying rent and when they checked, it was empty.” Tamia manages to spin me around, ignoring Dante like he’s not even here, but I know she sees him. Her eyes flick to look over my head and back to mine. “You better have a good fucking reason you haven’t called me back, and it better not be that you lost your phone. You know where I live.”
I rub my lips together, trying to think of a reasonable response. I can’t exactly tell her that Joel tried to murder me, and I was saved by the devils themselves.
“Raven has been living through Hell. I suggest you take a step back and control your anger. You are not concerned about her wellbeing. You act as if you’ve been through turmoil all because of her inability to contact you. What about when she called you and asked for help? What about when she needed you after she lost her job and found herself turning back to a monster of a man because you refused to return her calls?”
Damn. He really did listen to me when I told him about my life.
I touch my fingers to his lips, silencing his words. “Dante, it’s okay. She has every right to be mad.”
Tamia places her hands on her hips. “I’m not—”
“It’s about time you fucking showed up, you bastard.” Lucian’s smooth voice cuts my cousin off. “It’s been, what, a week?”
My blood cools at the sight of Lucian strutting from the side of the building and out of the shadows. How the fuck did he know we were here? Why show himself now? Whatever the reason, it can’t be fucking good.
“And who’s this?” Lucian has the nerve to give Tamia a long once-over, making her shift on her feet under his intensity. He offers his hand to her, and she automatically takes it, flushing in her cheeks. “You joining us for the night...Tamia? Beautiful Tamia. I’ve heard of you.”
Fuck me. What kind of game is the bastard playing?
I huff a breath and force my legs to work, stepping between the two of them. Dante grips my hand, turning my fingers numb, but he doesn’t loosen his hold. “No, she’s not. None of us are, you dick.”
Lucian’s eyes flash with hellfire, and he tightens his jaw. “Think carefully about how you treat me, Raven. It doesn’t take much to give a soul a little push into the pits of Hell.” Glancing over my shoulder, he smiles at my cousin. “I suggest you play nice and do as I ask. You don’t want to find out what happens if you misbehave again. If you thought a stroll through Wrath’s Kingdom was bad...” He lets his words trail off, words quiet enough that only me and Dante hear.
“There you fucking guys are. Come on. I got us a booth.” Kase stands in the opened door to the bar and remains expressionless.
Micah stands by his side, flexing his muscles and looking ready to explode into his devil form. His gaze remains locked on mine, and I try to force myself to smile. I have so many questions. How are they here too?
I twist and grab Tamia’s hand. “You don’t have to join us. We can catch up some other time.”
Her eyes shift from me and to each of the devils. She looks ready to run, but then Lucian offers her a handsome smile. One that could pass for angelic. “I have time. I work the afternoon shift tomorrow. I can stay a couple hours.”
Shit.
Lucian laughs and drapes his arm over her shoulders, guiding her away from me. In a moment she’d usually scowl and shrug out of a strange bastard’s bold infiltration of her personal space, she accepts his fake friendliness with ease and smiles, laughing at something he whispers.
It takes everything in me not to hop on Lucian’s back and start pummeling him with my fist. I love Tamia. I know we’ve had a rough last two years, but we were so close before my engagement with Joel. We moved out here together from across the country in our early twenties and even lived together. I know my decisions revolving around Joel hurt her now. At the time, I was so caught up in his manipulation, I thought she was jealous or something.
That time seems so long ago. My hurt feelings have healed or have been diminished by my current circumstances. Regardless of everything, it never affected how much I cared and still care for my cousin and her wellbeing. She shouldn’t be wrapped up in my devilish affairs. I’m afraid that if I don’t do something to stop Lucian, she will become collateral damage.
“Just take a breath. He’s trying to get to you, Raven,” Dante whispers, snaking his arm around my waist. “He can try his hardest to charm her, but we will intervene if he tries anything.”
I suck my bottom lip into my mouth, stopping it from trembling with worry. Lucian’s going to use this against me. I know it deep in my bones.
Kase and Micah surround me alongside Dante when we reach the entrance. I gaze around the place and notice a brightly painted slogan above the bar. Bottoms up for tops down? Classy. The clientele in the place scream skeevy, and I wonder why Tamia was even here.
“Mr. Lucian, what an unpleasant surprise,” a man says, materializing a few feet in front of us. “Had I known you’d manage to get out of Hell, I’d have left town.”
“You fucking bastard. Come here.” Lucian surprises me by stepping forward and shaking the man’s hand. I clearly missed the guy’s teasing. “It’s been far too long.”
“Centuries,” the guy says, smiling to reveal perfectly straight teeth. “Not long enough.”
Tamia laughs in exasperation, her eyes darting to mine in confusion. She’s not the only one. Usually demons are bowing and throwing themselves at the devils or trying to test their power. This guy seems just so blasé about everything.
“That’s going to change. I’ve made some new arrangements.” Lucian cranes his neck and motions at my devils standing around me. “So why don’t you get us a booth and bottle service and let me show this stunning mortal on my arm what it’s like to catch the attention of a devil.”
Again, Tamia laughs and blushes.
This fucker. I can’t believe him.
“As you desire, my liege.” The man nods and smiles at Tamia, completely ignoring the rest of us.
He leads the way through the decently crowded bar of nothing but mortals. This isn’t a demonic hangout. This is probably the demon’s territory where he collects souls on behalf of Lucian.
“I always knew Bart was a fucking traitor,” Dante mutters under his breath. “He’s going to have fucking Hell to pay.”
“We’re going to have to re-evaluate our legions.” Kase’s voice remains low, ensuring that no one outside of the four of us hears. “I knew he’d come here and try to encroach on our territories.”
“I suppose what I’ve offered him isn’t good enough.” Micah tightens his jaw, speaking for what feels like the first time.
“Nothing ever is,” Dante replies, hissing and flicking his tongue.
I gobble up their conversation, unused to how they talk about their demonic affairs in front of me. They usually hide that part—except for Micah, who has let me in on what goes on—and it’s strange to grasp.
The demonic bar owner, Bart, stops at a corner booth and swipes a reservation card off the table and pockets it. Tamia follows Lucian into the booth, and my devils wait for me to join her, but I hesitate. I swear I see Lucian’s hellfire reflect in her eyes.
It sets me off.
Huffing a breath, I press my hand to Dante’s chest. “I can’t do this. I’m done with his bullshit. Just keep an eye on me, okay?”
Dante frowns. “Pretty soul, I—”
“Lucian, we need to fucking talk. Now.” The words snap from my mouth before Dante can talk me out of facing Lucian. Last time, I was thrown into Hell, but I know better. He’s never going to let up, and trying to mess with my family crosses the line.
Lucian offers me a cocky-bastard smile and nods, sliding back out of the booth. He has the nerve to touch Tamia’s chin and wink, sending her face flushing even more. Kase, Dante, and Micah tense, all of their muscles clearly flexing through their tight shirts, but none of them try to intervene.
Steeling myself from his darkness the best I can, I don’t fight as he laces his fingers around my arm, guiding me toward the back of the bar and into a hallway with the restrooms and another door to the employee-only section.
“We’re right here if you need us.” Micah’s thoughts trickle into my mind, giving me the reassurance I need to face the asshole before me.
Lucian guides me out of everyone’s line of sight, and purposefully corners me, pressing his palm against the wall, caging me in. Usually, I’d love this. Dante and Kase do this to me all the time to trap my attention. But with Lucian? I want to knee him in his cock. Too bad I’ve found out the hard way that he has balls of steel and a love of getting his junk manhandled. He’s both a sadist and masochist and a dickhead. I feel almost defenseless facing him alone, but at least now, he’s in his mortal form. It’s when he goes complete devil with his fire chains that really scares the fuck out of me.
“Lucian, backup a foot. This wasn’t an invitation to crowd my personal space.” I keep my voice low, stopping it from quivering. If only there was something I could do about my racing heart.
“Is that so? Your soul says otherwise, Ray...” His long inflection of the nickname my cousin uses prods at me. I wish he wouldn’t. I never liked being called Ray, because there was a jerk in high school by the same name, and he ruined it for me. Funny how something like that sticks with me.
“You obviously can’t really read my soul then. It hates you. I hate you. What you did to me—”
Lucian shoves his hand against my throat, stealing my breath away. Leaning in, his dark eyes blaze with hellfire as he searches my face. I still under his restraint, his fingers shifting to release the constraint on my airway but his strength doesn’t ease. He’s putting enough pressure on my arteries to slow the blood flow to my brain. I know this. I’ve learned a lot of kinky shit from Dante.
I open and close my mouth, my fear growing wild yet my body relaxing with the shadows edging my vision.
“Listen, Raven. You were the one who started a fight you couldn’t finish. You cannot blame me for your failure.” Lucian bows even closer, his breath hot yet minty, and for that, I’m thankful. “All I’ve wanted this whole time was to show you your worth to be in my presence, and you’ve done nothing but fight me. Blame me. Think I’m the bad guy.”
I inhale slowly, afraid I’ll pass out. Still, I can’t find my words. He’s forcing me to listen to him while he ignores me.
“Things could be so easy, you know. Your soul calls to me.” Lucian finally loosens his grip on my throat, and I gasp, sharing my breath with him. “Don’t deny it.”
His stare breaks away from mine and flicks to my mouth. Something dark crosses his gaze, suppressing the flames glowing from his power. It sets me off, turning my knees weak, my heart ricocheting around my chest. It feels like our first encounter in Hell when he merged his soul with mine.
“I don’t give a fuck what you think my soul does,” I mutter, my chest heaving with my deep breathing and bumping into his. “I want you to stop trying to torment me. Leave my cousin alone and don’t get her involved.”
He smirks. “Why not? She’s seems so fun.”
I claw my nails into his chest, trying to break his skin through his shirt. “Stay away from her.”
“Perhaps if you give me something I want.” He moves closer, planting his feet between mine where I have to practically straddle his legs and stand on my tiptoes. Sliding his hand into my hair, he locks me in place and licks his lips. “Like I said. Things could be so easy, Ray. A lot of fun.”
I tighten my mouth, flaring my nostrils. “Fuck you. Touch my cousin—”
Growling, his hand shocks me by sending a burst of heat through my body. “If your cousin wants me, I’ll give her whatever her heart desires. I’ll fuck her how she enjoys. She wants me to bend her over and yank her hair. Choke her. She wants to join me in Hell for eternity. All it will take is one little phrase from her.”
“Lucian, please.” I hate that my anger fizzles out with my fear. I can already see that his wicked smile caught Tamia’s attention. I hate it. I want her far away from him. “Don’t do this. You’ve already stolen Elias from me.”
His smile widens as he leers. “He’s unworthy of one of Hell’s thrones. They all are.”
I don’t respond. I can’t.
“But with a little motivation and taking from them the one thing they want most...” Again, he turns his gaze to my mouth. “The choice is simple, Raven. You can either accept defeat and give in to your soul’s desire or find out exactly what it’s like to fuck with me.”
What kind of options are those?
“You know there is only one way any of this will end for you. Let me show you what giving in means. I promise your body and soul will enjoy it.” Lucian leans in, his determination to kiss me in a way he thinks will change my mind ignites my Hell strength.
I turn my head as he plants his lips to my cheek, the heat of his body shocking me to my soul. Shoving away from the wall, I push him away and swing my hand. The slap of my palm to his face rings through the air. Pain stings my hand, but I don’t attempt to grovel or apologize. I dodge away from him and bolt toward the employees-only door.
Lucian bangs his palms against the walls, sending strange sparks through the air. The world turns wavy around me as if heatwaves blur everything. It reminds me of when Micah would freeze the world. This isn’t much different, except I suddenly feel cut off from my devils. I don’t hear them. There is no way they didn’t hear this, even with the music. At least Micah would decipher my racing thoughts...
“Running is pointless,” Lucian calls from behind me. “We’re not done talking.”
“Take me back!” I call over my shoulder. “You broke your agreement with Kase and Dante. You were not allowed to kiss me without my permission. You’re a disgusting creep. I’ll never give in to you.”
“Raven!” he hollers, his voice deepening.
The ground shakes and something clatters behind me. I reach the back exit and silently pray the door isn’t locked. If it’s locked, I’m trapped. I’m already trapped. Fuck his Hell power. Fuck my need to confront him. I knew better. I should’ve listened to Dante, but I just am so tired of this bullshit and being pushed around.
I ram my palms against the door, and it flies open, the universe or whatever answering my prayer. Blinding light engulfs me as if night turns to day. I stumble and nearly eat shit on the asphalt outside the bar but manage to catch myself.
“Damn it, Raven. Stop! There are angels—” Lucian roars, his voice echoing through the night.
I crane my neck and glance over my shoulder, spotting Cassius touch down on the ground, blocking Lucian from my path. I don’t stop, only slowing, and crash into a muscular body that engulfs me in the sweet, gooey scent of roasted marshmallows.
“Get me out of here. Please,” I beg, jumping into Zade’s arms and hooking my legs around him, not really giving him a choice.
Light engulfs us, the sensation a mixture of pain and pleasure coursing through my very being, and the strange in-between world disappears along with Cassius and Lucian.
Zade flies me into the night and back to the front of the bar. Before I have a chance to say anything, he disappears.
Losing his sudden grace leaves me empty and confused.
What happens now?
