Page 27

27

HARPER

Harper screamed, the wind whipping against his face and terror scrambling his senses. He was going to die.

Strong arms wrapped around him and the consuming sensation of falling stopped. He jerked upward, his stomach heaving as he was hauled against a firm chest.

“Ash,” Harper choked, his throat so dry the word barely came out.

“Not quite.” The body behind him shook with laughter, and Harper’s blood went cold.

Slowly, he turned and looked at his rescuer’s face. It was the man from the rooftop. But how? He was human…

Not according to the large red wings flapping at his back.

Harper’s pulse pounded in his ears. The only other demon in the Human Realm was Lucifer. This was bad. So bad. They weren’t heading back to the roof either. Harper’s building disappeared as they soared away.

“W-where are we going?” Harper’s voice shook. He’d be okay. He would be. Ash could track him. He just had to realize something was wrong and start looking. Fuck, if only Harper could reach his phone, but his arms were trapped by the demon’s tight embrace.

Lucifer didn’t respond. He crushed Harper against his chest, nails digging into his skin, and flew on.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Harper called on his magic, but where his power usually hummed inside him, he felt nothing. It was like a wall had been erected in his mind. He couldn’t see past it. Was his power gone? It couldn’t be.

“Stop that,” Lucifer snapped, shaking Harper. Harper’s stomach dropped. “You aren’t accessing your magic. Not that it would do anything against me.”

Was Lucifer blocking Harper’s power? How was that possible? What the Hell was going on? Ash hadn’t even been sure if Lucifer was in the city, but he’d been lurking around Harper for weeks.

“What do you want?” Harper asked, desperately trying to find a way around the wall cutting off his magic.

Lucifer shook him again, arms loosening like he was about to let Harper fall. Harper screamed and grabbed onto the demon as best he could.

“Be quiet.” Lucifer picked up his pace, sweeping low and cutting between two buildings. He must have cast an illusion of invisibility because the people around took no notice.

Harper screamed for help, but no one reacted.

“They can’t hear you,” Lucifer growled, tone tight. “Now, shut up.”

The demon landed in a fenced-in lot full of old junk. He strode to a nearby building and kicked the door in, carrying Harper inside.

Fuck. This was bad. Nothing good ever happened in a deserted secondary location.

Harper struggled. He had to run. He had to let Ash know he was in trouble. But Lucifer’s grip was vice-like, and he couldn’t get free.

“What are we doing here?” Harper pushed against Lucifer’s chest, a sob of frustration sticking in his throat. He couldn’t be this helpless. Not again. Not after escaping his father and getting so close to kicking him out of his life for good.

Lucifer sighed and dropped him. Harper hit the cement floor, gasping as pain shot from his hip up his side.

Run . Harper struggled to his feet, refusing to let his aching hip slow him down, and lunged for the door.

Flames erupted in front of him, the heat knocking him back.

“Don’t try to leave.” Lucifer sounded amused.

Harper whirled around to face him. The Devil leered, baring his fangs. His horns curled on either side of his head like a ram’s, wine-red, matching his tail. His shirt hung in tatters around his shoulders, destroyed, no doubt from when he’d freed his wings before diving off the roof.

“Why am I here?” Harper straightened his spine. He could do this. He could figure this out and walk out alive. “What do you want?”

“I want to talk to you.” The fire at Harper’s back spread along the bare floor, encasing him and Lucifer in a large circle.

Sweat trickled down Harper’s spine.

“Okay, fine. What do you want to know?” Talking couldn’t be all Lucifer wanted, but buying time was good. It gave Ash a chance to figure out something was wrong and come find him.

“You’re agreeing to talk to me after I pushed you off a roof?” Lucifer cocked his head, handsome features twitching as if he were trying not to laugh.

Harper clenched his jaw. “Yes, now ask me something.”

Lucifer snorted. “Getting dicked down by a demon is giving you some seriously misplaced confidence.”

Harper’s face flamed. “W-what?”

“Oh, yes. I know Ash has been railing you. You didn’t think I was following you around, did you?” Lucifer’s amusement twisted into something meaner. “I don’t care about you, witch. But Ash, on the other hand, I’m fascinated by.”

“Ash hasn’t been railing me.” He shouldn’t bother defending himself. Who cared what the Devil thought? But he couldn’t stand referring to what he and Ash had done so crudely.

“No?” Lucifer smiled like he knew all of Harper’s secrets. “You’re not aching for his big demon cock?”

“Stop it,” Harper snapped, his gut twisting. “Are you seriously here to ask about my sex life?”

“No, it’s Ash’s sex life I’m interested in. Why is he so obsessed with you? I don’t get it.” Lucifer’s eyes raked over Harper as if he were mentally undressing him and found him lacking.

Harper crossed his arms over his chest. “Ash isn’t obsessed with me.”

“He’s fucked you more than once. That’s an obsession by Ash’s standards. Plus, he’s been following you around.”

“He has?” A day ago, Harper would have freaked out about Ash stalking him, but he was Ash’s mate. Everything between them felt right, even this. No wonder Ash was at the port that day, exactly when Harper needed him.

“Yes, he has.” Lucifer frowned like he couldn’t make sense of the behavior. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

Surely the possibility Harper was Ash’s mate had crossed Lucifer’s mind, or had he given up on the idea of mates so absolutely that it hadn’t? Should he tell Lucifer he was Ash’s mate?

Harper needed to text Ash. Even a mash of characters would be something. He discreetly reached for his pocket. Lucifer’s gaze caught the motion and his eyes flashed red in warning, the fire around them flaring.

Fuck.

Harper needed Lucifer distracted. Hell, he needed answers. This was all so fucking weird. “So, what? You’ve been following Ash around?”

Why hadn’t Lucifer attacked Ash and the others if he’d found them? He’d tricked everyone into thinking he wasn’t in the city. Wasn’t he trying to drag the other demons back to Hell? Why bother with Harper when he could have caught the other demons completely off guard?

“Yes, I’ve been following him.” Lucifer shrugged. “He’s been more interesting than the others.”

“Others?” Harper asked like he didn’t know what Lucifer meant.

Lucifer curled his lip. “You’ve met Dante and Onyx, so don’t play dumb. It’s never as cute as men like you think it is.”

Harper glared. “I don’t play dumb.”

“Whatever. I don’t care.” Lucifer took a step toward him. “Tell me why Ash is so obsessed with you, or I’ll slit your throat.”

Harper blanched, his stomach heaving.

“There you go,” Lucifer sneered. “You finally remembered who you’re talking to. So, explain. Now.”

“Will you kill me after I tell you?” Fuck, why even ask? It wasn’t like Lucifer was going to be honest. He’d only give the answer that suited him.

Lucifer stalked closer, wings outstretched so they curved around Harper, brushing his back in an unwelcome embrace, trapping him. “If the next thing out of your mouth isn’t an explanation, I’ll kill you, so it really doesn’t matter what I’ll do after you tell me, does it?”

Harper swallowed, his throat parched. He almost choked. Sweat broke out on his palms and forehead. He tried his magic again, hoping for any kind of shield, but came up empty .

Fuck this. Harper hadn’t survived his miserable life for it to end this way.

“Ash will kill you if you hurt me,” he said barely above a whisper, his tone harsh despite the low volume.

Lucifer snarled, grabbing Harper around the throat and squeezing. He raised his opposite hand, the nails lengthening into deadly points. “That wasn’t an explanation.”

Lucifer struck Harper, slicing his cheek. Harper cried out, his voice strangled, but the sound died as Lucifer placed his deadly claws at Harper’s throat like a knife.

Harper’s vision swam, his heart beating a desperate rhythm against his ribcage. “I’m his mate,” he croaked as Lucifer’s other hand squeezed him tight. “I’m Ash’s mate. He’s not obsessed with me. It’s the mate connection.”

Lucifer wouldn’t kill him if he was Ash’s mate. Right? Not when he’d once been as desperate to find his mate as Ash had been.

The Devil narrowed his eyes. “Bullshit.” He loosened the hand crushing Harper’s throat, but didn’t retract his claws. “Ash is telling you fairytales to get you to bend over.”

Harper shook his head as best he could. “He isn’t. I’ve felt it. We have a connection. I didn’t understand until he told me what was happening, but it’s been there since I first saw him.”

“ Liar ,” Lucifer growled, spit flying from his mouth and landing on Harper’s cheeks. “There are no mates for the Fallen.” His eyes burned red. He shook Harper, his hand squeezing, crushing Harper’s windpipe. “Liar,” he hissed again, heat flaring around them like it was linked to his anger.

No. Fuck.

Harper clawed at Lucifer’s hand, gulping in air that wouldn’t come. Lucifer’s grip was too tight, relentless, and as hard as stone. Shit . Harper kicked. His chest tightened, lungs burning. He clawed at Lucifer’s face, going for his eyes, but the Devil didn’t even flinch.

He needed air. No, no, no. It burned. His lungs, his head. His throat pulsed, blood fighting past Lucifer’s deadly grip.

Harper’s vision flickered, darkening around the edges. The tunnel closed in and Harper’s hands slipped from Lucifer’s face, falling limp. He tried to scream. This couldn’t be the end.

Feeling like he was weighed down with sandbags, he clawed at Lucifer’s hands but his fingers were weak, barely moving where he wanted them to.

He couldn’t see.

Spots of white appeared in Harper’s blacked-out vision. He screamed for Ash within his mind, but there was no answer.

It was over. His world went black and nothingness took over.