Page 44 of Hell Bound

Forcing high-ranking members of different courts to work together under the bonds of a curse was… difficult.

Years of pain, years of torture, years of running every inch of the Infernal Court with our own paws.

I’d spent that time pushing and nudging, placing the wolves where they worked best.

It had given me something to focus on during the long years without Lilith: creating a cohesive unit that could work together despite the division that still existed within our ranks was no small task.

Deasley had been sent to the human world to hunt for the queen—a decision I’d made as much as Asmodeus.

He was a good kid, but he wasn’t suited for a life of hunting down the king’s enemies and making them suffer. Sending him after Lilith was as much a favor for him as for us.

Pypentha had given me trouble in the beginning. Once a princess of Tainted, her arrogance had carried over into the pack dynamics.

Fortunately for her, she was a quick learner. She still had a few scars from when my teeth had put her in her place, but she’d been trained as a fighter from birth. She’d learned fast how to utilize her wolf in a fight alongside the skills she already possessed.

Faster than Jovran, who resisted the power of the wolf for years. He was staring at me across the courtyard, brow in a deep furrow.

The rune stones carved from his brother’s bones caught the red sunlight and winked like the accusations he’d made last night.

You two have caused nothing but pain and destruction for those around you.

I clenched my jaw and turned back to my own target, shredding through it in a matter of seconds.

Once upon a time, a sword had been the only weapon I needed. Now my claws and teeth filled in where a blade couldn’t reach.

Jovran was wiping sweat off his forehead when I approached him. “You usually work faster than this,” I said quietly. His movements were half-hearted at best.

If he was still pissed over yesterday, we needed to clear the air now. We had enough working against us without grudges causing more division.

Jovran scowled, shoving blond dreads over his broad shoulders. “Travan’s bones are unsettled,” he finally said, jabbing his sword through the target and leaving it there.

We all knew better than to disregard the feelings Jovran got from the bones.

Cursed in wolf form, he had no access to his native Ossean magic, but on occasion the rune stones would warn him of vague impending disasters.

I stretched, using the movement as an opportunity to look around. The walls of the Infernal Palace rose around the courtyard like an obsidian monolith, but there were no signs of life in any of the windows.

“We watch each other’s backs,” I finally said.

Jovran’s blue eyes met mine for a moment, and I remembered our first few bloody years together as wolves. Several times, still hurting from his brother’s death, he’d challenged me for the right to lead and lost.

It wasn’t until Odragir made a play to regain the position of Commander that Jovran gave up the fight and fell in behind me, unwilling to let the Spectral Court’s rejected heir take the position.

“It’s been happening since she came back.” Jovran blew out his lips in a sigh. “I’m sorry, Commander, but she should’ve been left to the mortal world.”

That had been the plan,I wanted to say, bitterness welling up inside me.

I just had time to see Jovran’s eyes narrow with hatred before I turned as an unwelcome voice rang through the courtyard.

“What is this pathetic mess?”

Odragir strolled into the courtyard, his thumbs hooked in his belt, peering down his nose at Deasley and Pypentha. Vibek and Arand arrayed themselves around him, each wearing the same smug expression of superiority.

“Look at this. A useless incubus pretending he can sword fight, and a Tainted slut.”

Pypentha glared at him and bared her sharp teeth. Her nails were already extending into claws.

Odragir looked over at me, smirking. “You have a stunning collection of riff-raff, I’ll give that to you, Morningstar.”

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