Page 61 of Hell Bound

Pyp was doing an awkward two-step in the corner while Jovran sat silently on the couch of what looked to be the communal room of the world’s messiest frat house.

Seeing so many human commodities scattered around Deasley’s clubhouse, it actually felt like home, just for a minute.

A minute I desperately needed.

“Okay, Pyp!” I called out over the music. “You’re gonna want to stand on the balls of your feet.”

Chapter14

Lucifer

My paws ached as I slowed to a lope near the Infernal Palace. Running half the length of the Infernal Court’s lands every morning for the last two days hadn’t actually done much to work off the irritation boiling under my skin.

It was really my own fault for believing against all odds and evidence to the contrary that if the spell had failed to keep Lilith hidden in the mortal world, then maybe the memory loss aspect of it would’ve failed eventually, too.

The hope that had flared within me when she responded to me like she always had, not just leaning into my touch but dragging me to her, had been almost painful.

She had been my Lily again, the last two decades falling away like mountains off my shoulders.

And then she’d called meCommander. Just like my pack.

That hope had imploded like a dying star.

I remembered the hitch in her voice when she’d said it, snarled, and started running again. Another lap towards the forest should do it.

MyFire Lily had always called me Angel. I had been her angel, and hers alone.

I needed no more evidence: she was Lilith, but she wasn’tmine.

And the worst part?

As much as I liked this new Lilith, full of fire and open about her feelings, it felt like a betrayal of my Lily, who had needed me the most when she was broken.

I wasn’t sure this Lilith needed me at all.

I turned at the edge of the forest, my claws ripping up huge swathes of dirt, and turned back toward the Palace. There was no point in avoiding her any longer; it wasn’t her fault those memories were lost to her forever.

It was purely mine, and I needed to own it.

I needed to keep her as safe as I could, and I needed to make sure she was fed. My rage at dinner had boiled over when she’d been forced to sit on the floor next to Asmodeus like a dog, her food served in a metal bowl, and I’d run off the overpowering emotion in the forest after Hana had escorted her out.

There had to be something else. Another means of freeing the both of us—along with my most loyal wolves—from Asmodeus’s hold. Magic had failed, as had a brute force attack after Lilith had died.

All that was left was the most unlikely plan of all: true escape into the other courts of Hell.

But other demons, even the rulers, wouldn’t be lining up to shelter Asmodeus’s runaway queen. Not when he held the reins of the Infernal Court’s power and was intent on expanding his kingdom inch by inch.

Their only hope for sovereignty was forging alliances with the tyrant.

Only when Asmodeus finally made his true play for power would they realize he’d always intended to bring the rest of Hell to its knees.

Sweat dripped down my forehead when I shifted back, walking into the palace in my demon form. Since that night, I had to be careful not to think of Lilith while not in wolf form, or I was guaranteed to start stiffening.

Not a good thing to be in a place with a lot of sharp objects and enemies found in close proximity to one another.

I headed towards pack quarters, wiping my arm across my forehead, and picked up a faint, familiar giggle. My footsteps stopped dead in front of the door.

Iknewthat giggle. How many times had I drawn it out of her myself?

---