Page 17 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

"I don't have a mate," Kane said at length. He ignored all the burning thoughts that quickly filled his brain: flashbacks to a time he'd once spent locked in a kennel far below ground. Where he'd had long conversations with his brother deep into the night. . . .about the perfect female just for him.

"Do me a favor, will ya?" Zeke countered in that heavy southern drawl of his.

The alpha's question broke Kane out of his morbid reverie.

"Anything," he replied automatically.

Zeke wrapped a red ribbon around the parchment he'd been scribbling on and dropped it into Zeke's lap. It was wound tight and knotted. Whatever he'd been writing was for him?

"I need you to find the Relic of Souls. I believe it's in Hell territory. Demon land. There's instructions in that scroll on how to get in and out. Don't lose it. And come back alive. Your time's limited."

Kane stood to his full height. "Hell territory? But those realms have been closed fortenmillennia."

"Not any longer. It's already been opened."

Who had the kind of power and stupidity to open a portal to Hell—the kingdom of Demonarchies.

"Les the Revenant did," Zeke said, answering Kane's thoughts. "He's already been there. He's hunting for the Relic, but if he we get it first." Zeke whistled the famous witch's theme music from The Wizard of Oz. "Then we'll save everyone a blistering headache."

"You're aware I've never been to this Hell Territory. I'll be flying half-blind." At least not literal Hell, as there were many kinds, he did have the unfortunate to experience.

Zeke spared him a look, his silver eyes blazing with unmasked ferocity. His beast prowling to be freed. "I have and it's not nearly so dark as this place." A heavy moment passed and then the insanity seemed to creep back over his gaze, clouding his vision. "Your instructions are in the scroll. Memorize it well. Or you may never return. The magick in the scroll works thusly: read it once and the portal opens. But the parchment will burn immediately upon speaking the invocation. To return, you'll need to recite the memorized invocation at exactly the location you entered from." He tossed back his head and laughed as if he'd said something funny. "Good luck. You'll need it."

The sound sent chills down Kane's arms. As always, Kane rarely did anything out of just allegiance.

"What will I receive in return?"

Zeke grinned wickedly. "In return I'll grant you permission to claim your wife."

Fuck.

4

"Are you trying to starve me, Ezekial!" Olivia screamed up through the rafters.

Kane winced. They both had his sympathies as far as he was concerned.

"Tuna fish sandwich, coming right up, shnook'ums!"

Zeke removed a book from one of his shelves and pressed a hidden button stashed discretely behind it. The elevator below made a mechanical whirring sound and began to slide open to reveal a metal cage.

"Come along, Kane. I want you to meet the rest of your team."

At the mention of "team," Kane glanced at his alpha with surprise.

"You don't think I'd send you to hell alone, did ya?" He rolled his eyes. "Even I ain't that much of an asshole." Then, after the they were situated in the cage and he'd shoved a lever down and the cage ceiling slid shut, hiding them once again and the cage began to lower.

They jostled, Kane rocked on his feet and automatically reached to twine his fingers through the metallic netting of the cage.

"I usually work alone," he made a point to say.

Already his temple throbbed in annoyance. Teams? He'd literally never worked alongside anyone. In his whole life. Ever. The last "team" he'd had was his with his brother. And he knew how that had ended.

He'd never gotten over leaving his brother there to die. Like a lead weight continuously tugging his heart deeper and deeper into an endless ocean of pain there was no end in sight. He'd left his brother to die alone, and he could never forgive himself.

"And I know that. However, no one's seen a demon in ages and I need that relic more than your ego needs to prove something. For that reason, come meet your new team."

The lift shuddered to a stop in a screech of metal. Zeke cranked a different metal handle to the left and the door slid open.

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