Page 29 of Hell Bound

I cleared a fallen tree, darting around Lilith and herding her away.

For once, she didn’t seem inclined to fight me; leaves and twigs were tangled in her long hair, and she was shaking.

The scent of blood was thick now, numerous cuts and injuries covering her bare skin as she followed.

The Beast had fallen completely silent, still staring at Killian. Jovran, Deasley, and Pypentha veered away, following us silently and containing Lilith in a protected circle.

I nudged against Lilith as she walked, directing her towards the palace.

Or so I told myself. My own terror for her was still right at the surface. I just wished she’d reach down and burrow her fingers into my fur, but no such touch was forthcoming.

I only glanced back once. The Beast was quiescent, so still he had once again become a towering tree.

Killian would come back when he was ready. He always found his way home.

As soon as they were out of sight, I let myself shift back into my human form. The others followed suit, and Deasley let out a long sigh, running his fingers through his already-wild hair. “That was fun.”

I was going to strangle him. Slowly.

And now that Lilith was safe, the anger I’d suppressed came roaring right back to life. I was ready to open my mouth and tell her just how stupid a decision that was when Jovran did it for me.

“That was also incredibly stupid,” he informed her, and Deasley slapped the back of his head.

I decided that Deasley’s strangulation could wait until after Jovran’s. He deserved that much.

I turned to face her and found that she was trying to back away, even though she’d just come face to face with a single one of the myriad dangers littering the landscape of Hell.

Fortunately, I was quick enough to grab her before she could squirm past Deasley and start sprinting.

She wriggled in my grasp, kicking my shins and letting out what would’ve been adorable growls under other circumstances.

“Why don’t you scream?” I asked, not bothering to wait for an answer to the rhetorical question. “Oh, that’s right. Because you don’t want to call down the Beast that would’ve crushed you underfoot without so much as a second thought.”

Lilith kicked once more with feeling, then went full deadweight in my grasp.

I kept a grip on her bicep, forcing her to her feet and pushing her slightly ahead of me.

“Did I not warn you?” I whispered in her ear. “If you escape, only death awaits you.”

And even that wouldn’t be a release, although I hesitated to voice that harsh truth just yet.

Her pretty lips twisted in a sneer. Speckles of the beheaded courtier’s blood had dried across her cheek in a fine spray. “Oh, you’re right,LordMorningstar. I’ll just head back to the castle and get people killed because I said hello to them!”

A tinge of hysteria entered her voice by the end, and I felt the smallest twinge of sympathy.

“I told you that if you follow the rules, you’ll make your life a lot easier. I won’t have to risk my pack’s lives if you stay put.”

As though to make me a liar, the sound of panting reached my ears. Killian joined us a moment later, wearing a leaf hat and wagging like he’d gone on a nice stroll.

Lilith eyeballed him and gave me a skeptical look.

I held back a sigh. “I understand that you despise the palace. I understand that Asmodeus is…”

“A prolapsed butthole,” Deasley said with relish.

“A tyrant.” I glared at him. “But you don’t remember all the dangers here, and—“

I cut myself off. I didn’t want this new Lilith I didn’t know to be privy to my innermost thoughts.

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