CHAOS
Michael’s question echoed in my ears, prompting one of the humans’ favorite quotes to float to the surface of my mind.Better the devil you know...
Lucifer could not be our ally. By his nature, he wasn’t loyal to anyone other than himself. But now he was here, mated to Merri, and therefore joined with all of us. Even if we didn’t want him.
I still couldn’t figure out how he’d successfully tricked her into mating him. That’s why I’d come down here. I needed to get answers only he could provide.
Possessive fury rolled through me like thunder. He didn’t deserve her. She was ours. He was the enemy. The one we were charged to protect her against. How the hell were we supposed to protect her from one of her mates? And there was no universe in which Lucifer Morningstar would be willing to serve the greater good if it didn’t serve him first.
The air pressure shifted as the angels vanished from the room, leaving Lucifer unsupervised. He hadn’t realized I was just outside the cell, and I observed him for a moment, taking in his unassuming pretty-boy facade. He might look like a lean anddashing movie star with no real strength behind his physique, but underneath the beautiful veneer, there was devastating power.
“I’m going to start charging by the minute if you don’t stop leering at me.”
I jolted, fully caught off guard. So much for not knowing I was here.
“I wasn’t leering.”
“Drooling, then?”
“More like studying.”
Lucifer smirked, pushing off the wall and taking a step toward the doorway. He let out a huff of annoyance when the chains stopped him feet away from the exit.
“You won’t be able to keep me from her, horseman. She’ll come to me.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t change the situation we currently find ourselves in.”
“Which is what, exactly?”
If I were a weaker man, I’d have punched him so hard his face would have gone concave. Instead, I stepped inside the cell and leaned against the wall opposite him. “We all have a vested interest in Merri. None of us are going to give her up. That means we have to figure out a way to coexist.”
“You can visit her once a year. How’s that?”
“I’m not the one locked up.”
“Easily remedied.”
“I fucking dare you to try. Please. Give me a reason to let go of the very fragile thread of restraint I possess.”
He let out a mocking laugh. “Oh, Chaos. You are such a simple creature. Try all you like, you won’t kill me. And no matter the state I’m in physically, there’s nothing you can do to keep me from slipping into her dreams and fucking her senseless.”
A growl tore free of me, and rubble dropped from the ceiling as a pulse of my violence went with it.
Lucifer’s grin turned smug. “Someone feeling a little inferior?”
“You aren’t as untouchable as you think you are.”
“Sure about that?”
He was getting to me. The fucker was trying and succeeding at rage-baiting me.
“Even if she doesn’t choose you? She doesn’t want you like she wants us. You tricked her into bonding with you. The rest of us are fated to her.”
A flash of real anger lit in his eyes for just a moment before he schooled his expression. “Did she tell you that? She begged me to come inside her, Chaos. Clawed at my back until I was bleeding. Cried my name. Not yours. I hate to burst your bubble. Well, no, actually, I’m quite enjoying myself, but there was no trickery. She was chosen by fate forme.”
There was no way to know whether he was lying. But just the visual was enough to set me off. Before I could stop it, a rush of power escaped me, and the stone floor cracked from end to end.
Lucifer chuckled. “Careful. You’re slipping, Spartan.”