Page 157 of Hell Bound

Sameera shoved open the door to her quarters, practically ripping me inside after her.

“Get out,” she snapped at the lone handmaiden. The girl quivered and vanished quickly before Sameera could turn her anger on her.

The princess tore her ruby crown from her hair, tossing it on the dresser. A bottle of perfume broke on impact, filling the hot, humid space with the cloying scent of jasmine.

It was impossible to tell what had set her off… perhaps that Lilith, even naked and filthy, had stolen the princess’s limelight.

Before I could cut it off, a chuckle escaped me. In my wolf form, it came out as a rasping huff, but the meaning behind the sound was clear.

Sameera turned in place slowly, her crimson eyes blazing. “Is something amusing to you, Lucifer?”

Nothing should have been amusing to me at that moment.

I’d bled for Sameera for days.

I’d been forced to wear the collar, to endure her touch.

To serve her on bended knee.

But now… I couldn’t help but laugh.

You’re pathetic, I thought at her, and even though she could not hear the voices of the wolves, an enraged flush rose on her cheekbones.

“Very well. Let’s give you something to beamusedabout, shall we?”

Sameera reached behind her neck, digging through her white curls to pull at the string that tied her dress.

In a silky whoosh, the sheer crimson material was puddled around her feet. She stepped out of it gracefully, and as she moved, her skin began to change.

Pale, ghost-white scales emerged from her flesh, coating her arms, legs, and belly in a smooth layer. Her nails lengthened, as did her teeth, becoming too thin, too sharp.

Strong Tainted demons had always possessed the ability to raise the dragon beneath their demonic skins, to take on scales, claws, and horns.

Since she wasn’t starved like Pypentha, Sameera’s attributes had developed further. The last time I’d seen her like this, the scales had barely covered her shoulders.

Now her entire body shimmered with them, almost snake-like as she stepped towards me.

“Shift, Lucifer,” she commanded, her forked tongue sliding out and tasting the air.

I fought it, but the chains won.

When the wolf had vanished, I was on my knees. I raised my head, standing up and towering over her.

Sameera raised the end of the leash, whipping it across my thighs. Raw, stinging red welts covered my skin as she took her anger out on me, but I was distant, removed.

I felt none of it because the interior pain took all of my focus. She could rage until she burned out, but my mind was on Lilith.

“I’ve never understood your obsession with her.” Sameera was panting, the leash dangling from her grasp. “Not when you had the whole world in your grasp…”

She held up one clawed hand, snapping it shut into a clawed fist.

“And you chose to throw it all away.”

Sameera circled me, the leash swaying with her movements, brushing my bloodied skin. Droplets of scarlet had been sprayed across the floor.

“By all rights, you are a failure and the shame of demons everywhere.” She dragged a claw across my chest as she passed in front of me, opening a new cut. “And yet you make for such good entertainment.”

The princess stopped, smiling up at me.

---