Page 160 of Hell Bound

“You deserve this,” I told her.

I reached up to remove the collar, but the gold buckle was inimical to my touch. No matter how tightly I tried to grasp it, touching it was like dunking my fingers in acid.

But I’d broken the chains. Now I would break this.

I wrapped my fingers around the leather band. The barbed interior bit into my fingertips, but this pain was tolerable. Especially when it meant getting to Lilith.

I pulled, my shoulders straining as I struggled with it, until a loud ripping noise filled the room.

The collar dropped from my throat. Fresh blood streaked me from where the barbs had bitten into my skin.

But it was useless now. Nothing more than a length of leather, its magic broken.

I tossed the remnants onto Sameera’s body, leaving her there with the knowledge that she had failed.

No matter how hard she tried, she would not break me again.

Nor would Asmodeus.

I turned on my heel, striding from her quarters as I shifted. The wolf that entered the hallway breathed the air, looking for the one thing that mattered.

My mate.

And she needed me now.

Chapter39

Lilith

Ishould have known it would be here.

My stomach lurched when the two guards led me out into the garden that housed my graves. I clung to my anger, but it was still utterly unsettling to be among the many corpses.

A precursor to joining them?

Given Asmodeus’s fury, my gut screamed, “Duh, stupid!”

The guards had stopped at the door, one of them giving me a harder than necessary push into the overgrown space. Just barely managing to right myself before I went sprawling for the second time that night, I shot a filthy glare over my shoulder.

One guard stared into the distance, as though he didn’t even notice I was there. The other’s eyes were glued to my chest, his orangey eyes gleaming in the red-tinged moonlight.

I was betting he’d done the pushing.

Dick.

Turning from them, I focused on what was important. Namely, getting the fuck out of there before Asmodeus finished smoothing ruffled feathers in the grand ballroom.

Escape was beyond unlikely, but what else could I do? Stand there and wait to die?

Not fucking happening.

Gladly moving away from the guards, I skirted a row of graves and moved closer to a large tree. It was almost like a weeping willow, but like the trees in the forest, the bark and leaves were black—and what looked like an old wind chime of bones dangled above me.

I knew that was no wind chime. It was me, possibly from centuries ago, still hanging there to rot.

My gut clenched at the horrific sight that urged me to flee, but when I stepped around the other side of the tree, I gave in to the urge to lean against it and catch my breath.

Everything had spiraled out of control. I’d been supposed to keep my head down and wait for Lucifer to free us from the king’s control.

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