Page 27 of True Sacrifice
Laughter echoed back at me. “I like my books like I like my life, plenty of spice.”
“Back to this multiple guy thing.”Why was she so fucking perfect? It just made me more and more angry every time I saw her. She was the sweet you just wanted to lick down to the very center. This multiple guy thing, which meant she was likely into some other kinks. She was literally made to be perfect for me and she’s the one thing I can’t have. Frustration and anger boiled over in me.
I was about to look for another end table to smash when her voice fluttered back through my head, stopping me in my tracks. “Every hole, that’s the goal.”
“What?”I blurted back. I flopped back down on my bed.
Her laughter surrounded me again, and it felt like being in the middle of a windstorm. It would pick me up and carry me to her, drag me if needed. I had to stop fucking talking to her, especially like this. But I already knew I couldn’t quit. I needed to visit my father tomorrow. Just to sit and talk a little, I could get a feel for how Hell was reacting to our mating.
“It’s a joke, well I mean, I like the idea of it, but I have definitely not tried anything like that.”Her voice still sounded mildly nervous.
“I’ve never shared a woman with another.”I needed to stop talking to her like this.
“Never have or never would?”She filled her tone with a dare. I fought every instinct I had to proclaim hermine.
“Yours? I thought you didn’t want me, Jax.”The way my name sounded in her voice made every part of me want to go to her.
“I said I will not be a mate to you,”I ground out in response. “The mate bond will make me want to get closer to you. But I cannot be your mate.”
“Why?”
I couldn’t tell her why. The one thing she continued to ask for. That ultimate unanswered question she asked me. The answer she would never get.“Because that is the way things have to be.”
I forced my mind shut, even to her. It took far more energy than I expected, as if this one bond was meant to always be open. I needed to figure out exactly how fucked we all were, and it couldn’t wait.
I got up and left quickly, striding with all the confidence of the prince I was. I headed out to the royal leisure room of the palace. They all liked to sit and chat with each other during the day, drinking, feasting, and fucking every night. None of them had a pack. They were the original sins personified, created by Lucifer himself. Of course, the sins were just a byproduct of the Hell realm magic that flows through everything. The sins translated into powers, powers that the demons could use to collect the souls.
My father is Beelzebub, Sin of Gluttony. In Hell, the most valuable thing in a land where everything is provided; is power. Power is relatively stable in Hell. You cannot get more than you were born with, and each generation has less than the predecessor. Now, having offspring with two powerful demons will produce a higher-powered demon than with a higher and a lower-powered demon. Because of this, none of the sins produce children with each other. I was his first-born son. Born from a reputable demon mother from one of the lessor branches of demons. I was as good as I could get on the genetic power side. The only other variable would be spells. This was a whole subset of magic that could draw on your powers.
My father always wanted me to be the superior prince. It overjoyed him when I packed with two other princes. The politics of Hell are rather stable, other than constant bickering, but my father wanted to be prepared. If he got the chance, he would take over another throne, and he wouldn’t hesitate to use me to do it. Nothing was ever enough.
I easily spotted my father lounging on a sofa, eating grapes out of a fucking bowl. Are you kidding me? What century does he think he still lives in? Low-powered demons were feeding him the grapes and massaging him. It’s some of the only work they can do since they are not powerful enough to hunt ghosts. They enjoy getting to hear the gossip from the elite and it gives them something to do. Eternity gets pretty boring after a while, and the non-stop drama our parents provided equaled a good deal of entertainment.
“Father,”I announced as I stood before him.
He opened his eyes and stood with a grin. “My boy! I’m so glad you came to chat for a while.”He laughed in a way that made my stomach curl.“So, what brings you by so soon? Not trouble in paradise, I hope.”He winked and nudged the air.
I made myself stop from rolling my eyes. He would notice. Even though he wouldn’t do or say anything here. Next time he got me alone, no matter how old I was, he would remind me he is my superior. “Actually, father I was just wondering how the news of the mating is being taken by the public.”
“Oh, shockingly, well, actually. Mating’s are just so rare, and it gave a lot of them hope they could find a mate one day.”He smiled at me, clapping a hand on to my shoulder, and I closed my eyes and breathed in deep through my nose. “Seems like you lucked out on this one, boy. No thoughts from me about harm coming to your beautiful little mate. If she has all three of your powers, I bet she could birth an heir even more powerful than you,”he whispered in my ear.
“You cannot touch her. She’s mated,” I growled back straight into his mind. He never kept shields up because he was powerful enough not to. Standing up straighter to meet my father’s eyes, my lips curled up to reveal the sharp points of my fangs.
He smiled at me, and everything just felt so wrong.“I heard even old Luci has heard about your pack.”
I ripped myself free from my father, though he held my shirt in his grasp for a moment before I was finally free. I backed away from him before turning and heading back to my wing. If Lucifer was interested, then we really needed to get her trained in some sort of basic defense. Lucifer was a wild card; you never really knew which mood you would get from him for the day. The guys needed to know.
CHAPTER12
MORRIGAN
That first day of training was absolutely nothing like the grueling pace that followed for the rest of the week. Four days in a row of early wakeups from a grumpy Jasper. He still smiled at me, but he was a lot more intense and was always looking around when we had to travel through Hell. Him being on edge all the time put me on edge.
Our training had also severely ratcheted up. Guess the beautiful demonstrations and getting off task with cute fire pets were day one only treats. There was still some banter between us, and I will admit, I learned a lot more about controlling the fire. By that I mean, I usually still needed to change my clothes after each round of training, but I could call to the fire when I needed it and I could put it out. Mostly.
Justice’s trainings were by far my favorite part of the day. They always came directly after sitting in the war room where Jasper tried to make me eat more for lunch each day.
“The food helps you replenish your power faster. You need all you can get so we can train all day long,” he would grumble.
