Page 10 of Hell's Storm

Inarian’s jaw ticks and tightens as he places a hand on Asura. Her face calms, and steam raises in the air.

I snicker. “I feel like Inarian being pissed off helps him cool her down more.”

Ozias rolls his eyes but smirks. His parents had left, leaving all seven men downstairs with Asura. Maybe they got tired of the bickering or had more important things to attend to. “Did you guys really…”

I look up to see his black eyes on me. They weren’t hurt, but there’s a type of sadness I’ve only seen when a man loves a woman that doesn’t love him. “Have sex?” I finish before nodding. I half expect the room to explode and each one to hate us.

“How could you be thinking about that right now?” Ledger asks in a grumble like he hasn’t been trying to fight everyone over Asura since he found out about her and Jigsaw. I only found out because he snapped at Jigsaw when Hades and his wife went upstairs.

I shrug. “We weren’t. She asked me to help her not think.” I wanted to taunt him more. Ledger is so easy to piss off, but I bite my tongue from telling him how I got her to not think.

“So, you stuck your dick in her.” Khazon scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest.

I roll my eyes. “You can’t talk! All the Soul Reapers in the headquarters know what you did to her.”

His dark eyes narrow on me, brows pulling. “How?”

“Ask your girlfriend.” I taunt, cocking a brow.

Khazon groans. Grim’s daughter, Miya, told everyone about Khazon and Asura. I heard about their little fight and him treating her like she’s not the heir of the throne of Hell. He disrespected her, and that pissed me off.

“Let’s focus on the task at hand,” Hazen says.

“You’re okay with this… this pink freak touching our girl?” Ledger asks.

“Ourgirl is about to die, and all you care about is who is sleeping with her!” Hazen snaps. “Why is that? Is that all you care about? owning the girl?!”

“No!”

“Really?Then why are you picking fights with everyone?” Electricity fills the air for a moment, as well as silence. “I can’t eventouchmy girlfriend, and you aren’t even fucking worried about that! Fuck! You guys don’t fucking deserve her!” With that, Hazen is moving up the stairs with lightning bolts hitting the wall behind him.

I am the first to get up and actually follow him up the stairs. “Are you okay?”

After the basement door closes, Hazen takes a deep breath at the top of the stairs. “Peachy.Sorry… I—”

I shake my head. “Don’t be sorry. You are completely right. I would never have slept with her if I knew her life was in danger.”

Hazen pats my shoulder, shocking me a bit. He’s so soft. I almost forgot he’s a foot taller than me and a powerful hellhound. “Ledger is… deflecting. He doesn’t know who to blame and doesn’t want to be thinking about how, in a way, we failed Asura.”

Letting out a sigh, I shake my head. “You didn’t fail Asura. You have been by her side, and she knows you are there for her. I’m unsure what you could have done to stop what happened.”

“Just a lot is happening…”

“I know. My best team is trying to figure out what happened last night.” I nod.

Hazen nods. “Oh… That spell you used to touch her; can you use it on me? I want to be able to comfort her.”

A smile crawls over my lips. Whether she knows it or not, Asura picked a good hellhound and boyfriend. He was more kind and in touch with his feelings than those dummies downstairs. Not a single one even told Asura how they felt about her.

My skin prickles as I look towards the front door.There… I feel them.

I’ve been sitting in the dark for what felt like days, unable to escape. “Hello, child,” a voice says, and I twist around, finally able to see some light. Blinking away the stinging of the light, I see an old, tall, ivory-skinned lady. She looks and sounds familiar. “How are you? You were so tiny when I first saw you,” she says, crouching next to me. I avert my eyes. “I’m Agnus. I’m here to help you with your feelings.”

I scoff. “No.”

She slaps the back of my head. “Don’t give me an attitude. Your father was the exact same way.Rude.”

My hand rubs over the spot she hit as if it hurt. “You knew him when he got the Flame?”

---