Page 111 of Demon's Heart

“Hey, wait.”

Pamala turned to face him. She was very close. Her eyes glowed, immaculately done lips stretching in a wide smile. “Come with me,” she purred.

Ollie fell back into step with her. He had to go. Certainty burned within him. This was important. He couldn’t leave Pamala’s side, no matter what.

Pamala opened a door at the end of the hall and Ollie followed her into the service stairwell.

Everything went black.

30

DANTE

Hot fire burnedthrough Dante’s blood. He launched himself at Lucifer, with Ash and Onyx at his wingtips.

Brothers?How dare Lucifer utter that word like it meant anything to him.

“Wait!” The Devil stumbled back from the open window.

Dante crashed into him and closed his hands around Lucifer’s throat. Wind rushed in Dante’s ears, or maybe it was the blood roaring through his veins. He didn’t see Luc before him. All he saw was Ollie, bloody and lifeless.

A roar ripped from his lungs. Dante’s fingers sunk into Lucifer’s throat, and he clawed at him. Blood sprayed, coating his hands, the smell hitting hard. Dante choked. Luc deserved this. He deserved worse. But the hot, sticky feeling made Dante’s skin crawl.

“You have to pay,” Dante screamed in Lucifer’s face. “You hurt him, and now you pay.”

“Y-yes,” Luc gurgled, blood leaking from his mouth even as his mangled neck healed.

Dante’s hands stilled, his breath heaving. Luc wasn’t moving. He wasn’t fighting. The Devil lay there giving theimpression he’d let Dante rip his head clean off without so much as lifting a finger in self-defense.

Dante blinked, his pulse drumming impossibly faster. “Fight me, you piece of shit.”

Luc’s eyes turned a dull brown, completely devoid of fire or emotion. “For what?”

“For what?” Dante bashed Luc’s head into the floor. There was a crack, and Luc’s gaze slid out of focus before his magic healed the damage to his brain. “For nearly killing my mate.”

Luc blinked. “And why would I fight you for that? It’s your motivation, not mine.”

Dante roared. He couldn’t take Lucifer’s mind games.

The damned traitor didn’t move. Dante’s fire burned until his skin felt like it might start smoking, but the urge to rip and destroy faded.

A hand landed on Dante’s shoulder. Ash pulled him up, glowing orange with protective fire. Onyx glowed blue beside him. Dante hadn’t even protected himself. He wasn’t thinking. Not that it mattered. Lucifer lay on the ground as if he’d accepted defeat.

Except Lucifer would never accept defeat.

“What are you up to?” Dante snarled.

Luc’s lip curled. “Letting you purge the anger from your system. Get it out.”

“My anger will never be purged. He is my mate, Luc. How could you?”

“I didn’t believe you,” Lucifer growled, pushing to a sitting position, grotesque splatters of blood marring his chest, face, and healed throat. “You had to be lying. Taunting me. I thought…”

“So you tested him with attempted murder?” Ash growled, his own anger rising. “You nearly strangled Harper.”

“There’s no excuse, Luc,” Onyx said more calmly, but not without emotion.

Lucifer turned his attention to his brother. “Did I say anything about an excuse? Don’t put words in my mouth. I didn’t believe Ash or Dante. That’s the reason I did what I did, nothing more. What was a human life in the face of confirming the lie? The boy would have reincarnated.”