Page 114 of Reluctant Rebel

Sabre rolled her eyes. Lucifer was beginning to sound like a drag. “It’s just one hellhound.”

“Itstartswith one hellhound,” Lucifer corrected her. “But the next thing you know, a human wants out of Hell before theirsoul is ready. Or a vampire wants their body back for more O Negative snackies. And before you know it, I have a bunch of souls at my door wanting to cut the line.”

“Before their soul is ready? Cutting what line?” Sabre didn’t understand. Wasn’t Hell supposed to be a place of eternal torment?

“Hell isn’t eternal,” Lucifer said, seeming to read her mind. “Soulsare eternal. At least, they’re supposed to be. When a megalomaniac isn’t determined to murder all of the ancestors of the founding fathers and fuck up the very fabric of the cosmos, that is. But now that Z is very dead, we don’t need to worry about that anymore. Good job with that, by the way.”

Sabre nodded, pointing out, “Jinx deserves the accolades more than any of us.”

“Very true. That woman is fine with a capitalF,” Lucifer said, rubbing his hands together.

“That woman is taken,” Sabre stated blandly. “By the King.”

Lucifer shrugged. “Meh. You win some, you lose some. How lucky was it that you had someone on your team who could resist Z’s mind-control legacy?”

“Right … lucky,” Sabre said slowly. That unexpected little gem needed further dissecting. Jinx’s only power was shapeshifting into a tiger.

Lucifer winked at her. “Ask Jinx. She already knows why. But we digress. The fact of the matter is, my job is important, Sabre. Just as yours is.”

Sabre closed her mouth with a snap. She mulled over her options for a moment before deciding to go big. “Excuse me,” she said, brushing past him. “I need to go and tell a very pregnant hellhound that her old master doesn’t love her anymore and is glad she got lost.”

Lucifer gasped, clutching at his chest. “You wouldn’t!”

“Oh, I would,” Sabre promised him darkly. “And while I’m at it, I’ll be sure to tell her that her old master has the power to bring back her mate but refuses to do it because he wants to see her and her hell-pups suffer for all eternity.”

Lucifer’s face darkened, and he growled at her. Literally growled. Sabre watched as he paced back and forth angrily, muttering to himself in a language she didn’t understand. She let him have his man-tantrum as her heart pounded wildly in her chest. She knew this was her last shot to get Styx back.

Lucifer stopped abruptly, thrusting an indignant pointer finger in Sabre’s face. “Fine! You win this time, Sabre. But one day, there will be a time when you won’t be able to blackmail or threaten or bribe your way out of a situation.”

Sabre snorted, knocking his hand away. “Then I’ll maim or murder my way out of it.” Luca rolled his eyes, his lips twitching, and she knew their friendship would prevail. Her triumphant smile fell, and she cleared her throat. “But for real, Luca. I know I can’t solve everything with violence. I fell in love, remember? There was no way to exorcise my feelings for Brax. Trust me. I tried.”

Lucifer threw an arm around her shoulders. “You didn’t try very hard.”

Sabre pushed him away with a scowl. “Just for that, you’re going to have to share custody of the pups with Brax. For all his bitching about having hell-pups, he’s already in love with them.”

Lucifer groaned, dropping his chin to his chest. “Great. Shared custody with Purgatory’s goofy ex-King and General of the Demon Horde.”

“Perfect, huh?” Sabre chirped cheerfully.

“A dream come true,” Lucifer muttered.

Sabre laughed out loud. Considering she’d been fighting an evil enemy just minutes before, she felt really damn good.

45

“Styx!” Jinx gasped when the hellhound lifted his head and licked the back of Brax’s hand.

Sabre immediately appeared beside them, and Brax shouted, “Thank you! Sabre, thank you! You did it!”

“Ah, yeah. Not so much,” Sabre muttered.

Jinx could tell Brax didn’t hear her. He was too busy loving on his resurrected hound. “What happened?”

“I happened,” Lucifer intoned from behind them. “Sabre doesn’t have the power to bring beasts back. Styx’s second life is all my doing.”

Jinx immediately hugged him, kissing him on the cheek. “Thanks, Luca.”

“Yeah, yeah, thank you. What do you want, a medal?” Mikhail snapped sarcastically.

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