Page 165 of Hell Bound

No matter what, I’ll find a way to kill him.

Chapter40

Lucifer

Where is she?

My mental roar was flung out to my entire pack as I raced down the hall.

Not towards the ballroom; I needed time to find her, not to draw Asmodeus’s attention.

Because he would certainly wonder where my ‘handler’ was, along with the collar he’d gifted to her.

New power flooded me as I raced towards pack quarters.

Since I’d managed to throw off my chains without dying, the weakness from the bloodletting slowly receded. I wasn’t in perfect form yet, but the wolf had finally chosen to show me his full strength.

Now we worked together, a complete, single entity hellbent on a mission.

I felt the pack’s deep concern, the low-grade fear of something gone wrong.

He hasn’t brought her back, Jovran reported.He took her to the lake.

I immediately turned, heading down another hall. The quickest way to the lake was through the training courtyard.

I need a distraction. When I have Lilith, we’re not coming back.

Their mental gasps filled my head as I rammed the door to the courtyard open, not bothering to shift.

Pyp and I have got this. Deasley’s mental voice was grim but determined.We distract, you run.

Outside, the packed stones of the courtyard were torn up by my claws as I raced past.

The blood lake abutted the palace, its scarlet water licking at the stones. The soft slosh of the waves seemed to belie that Lilith was out here somewhere…

Please be alive, please be alive…

I didn’t realize I’d sent that to my pack until I felt a soft chorus of agreement. Then Pypentha and Deasley went dark.

Distraction is underway. Jovran felt close, much closer than he had before.

By the light of nothing but red-tinged stars, I saw something pale on the dark shore.

I shifted mere feet from her, splashing into knee-deep water.

She floated like a corpse, so pale she was the color of snow, limbs vanishing into the depths of the red water.

“Lilith,” I breathed. I grabbed her, hauling her out of the bloodied water to the stony shore.

Her dark hair lay over her face in a tangle. I pushed it aside, hands shaking, feeling desperately for anything—a heartbeat, a breath, the flutter of lashes.

My body worked as though I were a puppet, and someone else was controlling the strings. I seemed to watch from a distance as my hands laced over her chest, compressing over and over again, my lips spilling curses without my knowledge…

After what felt like an eternity, she coughed. Choked.

I turned her on her side and bloody water erupted from her, splashing over the ground, soaking into the soil only to be covered by a fresh wave moments later.

Her breathing was horrible, almost bubbling as she coughed out the last of it.

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