Page 3 of Hellfire to Come (Infernal Regions for the Unprepared #5)

Chapter Three

brOOKLYN

“None of this was my idea.” Chester stood up and backed off from the table with both hands up in the air like that would’ve saved the demon if I wanted to end his life. “I swear it,” he added earnestly, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed thickly.

“I swear I don’t understand how someone hasn’t killed you by now.” Echo groaned where she sat next to him, covering her face with both hands, her braided hair falling over her shoulder with the movement. “You are an embarrassment to all demonkind.”

“Some of us have pretty strong self-preservation skills, I’ll have you know.” The demon rubbed his bald head while throwing nervous glances in my direction where I lay cradled against Dominic’s chest. “I’ll take your mockery over her fangs in my throat any day of the week.”

I had a lot to say to those two, but my words turned to ash in my mouth when my gaze landed on the third person in the room—sitting at the head of the table, shoulders hunched like his body was trying to fold in on itself.

Samir lifted his head very slowly, the motion laborious and seemingly painful.

When his sunken, red-rimmed eyes locked on mine all the anger drained from me immediately.

“She’s still alive.” Samir words came slow and deliberate, his eyes fixed on mine—as if it were just the two of us in the room. “I can feel she is still alive but cannot track her.”

Taken aback by how much Alice meant to Samir, I wiggled in Dominic’s hold so he would put me down. “You and Dominic trusted the witch.” I didn’t mean to sound so accusatory, but I didn’t regret my words. Not even when Dominic flinched under their weight. “I should’ve known he would betray us.”

“He didn’t betray us,” my mate muttered, reluctantly releasing his hold on me, although he shifted his stance so the back of his hand brushed mine as we stood shoulder to shoulder.

“They took him along with Alice. I truly believe that.” His unblinking gaze conveyed the conviction he clung to, and when I glanced sideways at him, I saw the truth he believed written all over his face.

My eyes drifted back to Samir. He sat frozen, staring at his clasped hands, as though the answers were etched into his skin, visible only to him.

I expected rage, accusations, threats about what we’d do when we got our hands-on Rowan.

Anything would’ve settled my nerves better than the hollow, disconnected way he sat there, eyes fixed and unmoving.

Watching him, a nagging feeling inside me told me he knew more than he was letting on.

Unwanted memories coiled through my mind, dragging me backward—to another time, another version of this room. We were sitting around this same table. Rowen cooking, Alice buzzing with excitement over her experiments with demon magic.

“We should hit at the cages. I doubt that they had enough time to fix all the damage we did when you got me out. I kept them busy enough with my bloodlust to make sure that they don’t have the time to rebuild it. That’s where we should hit. That’s their weak spot,” I remembered saying.

“I agree with you.” Samir stood up and leaned on the table to bring himself closer to my face and look me in the eyes.

“I don’t know what we are going to find there, Brooklyn.

And I shall hope you will not hold it against me, whatever it is.

I made a promise that you would live. I never made a promise to be a good and kind male.

To keep our word, one must do atrocious things sometimes.

I am not proud of it. Any of it. I do not regret it, however.

And let us not forget. I am an Atua. I do what my nature demands. ”

“Yeah, okay, we get it. You’re an asshole.

We knew this so there’s no need for additional demonstrations.

” Alice grabbed his shoulder and shoved him away from me with surprising ease.

“Can you get out of her face now? Dear God, are you all this theatrical, all the time? Everything must have drama and suspense with you guys. We agree we need to attack tonight. Let’s get dressed, and let’s go.

We can discuss Samir’s shortcomings when we come back and there is cheesecake. ”

Was there more to Samir’s words that night that I didn’t examine closely?

Was he trying to warn me of what was to come and I dumbly ignored it, chalking it down to Samir being his usual self?

Was it truth instead of arrogance coming from the ancient Atua?

Nausea made the room spin for the longest moment, and I had to breathe deeply through my nose so I didn’t drop like a rock.

That uneasy feeling redoubled its efforts, bringing bile to burn the back of my throat.

“Do you agree with Dominic, Samir?” My attention stayed locked on him, even when I moved to the far end of the table where Echo pulled out a chair for me.

The female was too aware of me at all times—which would’ve put me on alert at any other time.

I was grateful for it at the moment though.

Because the longer I thought about that day when we planned the attack, the weaker my knees became, and I had to sit down before I crumbled at Dominic’s feet.

“Thank you.” I squeezed Echo’s hand in gratitude, noticing how warm her skin was compared to the clammy feeling of my palms.

She noticed too because she threw me a worried glance that no one but me noticed.

“Don’t mention it,” she murmured but continued to peek at me worriedly.

“I do not know what the witch did or did not do.” His tone came off too defensive to remove my doubts or apprehension. “All I know is we need to find the human before it’s too late.”

Frantically searching for Alice and drowning in guilt for not preventing the Council from taking her didn’t leave me much space to think about who was to blame.

Rowen took Alice and carried her to Frederick which automatically placed him as the number one suspect and the person I needed to blame and kill.

But was he to blame or was he just making sure one of us stayed with Alice to help her until the rest arrived for a rescue?

From the corner of my eye, I watch Echo narrow her gaze on Samir as well.

She’d picked up on the defensive tone too, it seemed.

My heart jumped in my throat when a wet nose bumped the back of my hand where I was clutching my knee under the table.

It was turning into a habit to physically hold myself together.

I pushed the chair back slightly so I could lean to the side to see the wolf staring at me with a million questions in his too wide eyes.

The damn thing should’ve shifted by now, knowing Alice was in danger, and not for the first time I thought this may not be the person I thought he was.

Was it a simple wolf I mistook for a shifter?

The desperation and the intelligence staring back at me from under the table said I was not wrong.

It was the damn shifter my friend decided to keep as a pet. And there he was, still a wolf.

“Great help you are.” I took him by the snout and shoved him away from me. “What good are you to Alice if you can’t help her when she needs you?”

“He’s been searching every night just like the rest of us.” Dominic jumped to his defense. “We had to patch him up a few times. Not sure if it was Atua or just street dogs he fought.”

The wolf just stared at me, despair clouding his too-round irises.

“This is what I wanted you to see.” My mate grabbed the wolf by the scruff and pulled him out from under the table. “Two days ago, we tended to this wound, but instead of healing, it’s getting worse. I thought it might give us an idea on where to look next for Alice.”

Upper lip curled in a snarl, the wolf glared at Dominic but didn’t try to bite him.

He allowed himself to be pulled like a stuffed toy so the bandage I hadn’t noticed until then could be removed.

I had to physically fight my reaction to the pungent stench coming from the ugly looking cut at the animal’s side the second the gauze was pulled away.

“Nasty,” Chester chirped from over my shoulder, leaning in to see what we were doing—only to let out a grunt of pain when Echo elbowed him out of the way. “What? It’s not like they don’t know it’s rancid. Their sniffers work better than mine,” he grumbled.

I couldn’t disagree with the demon. My eyes watered from the funky, acrid odor smacking me in the face.

Dominic pushed the fur as far as he could without hurting the wolf too much yet it must’ve been too painful anyway.

The creature whimper-growled, aware we were trying to help him but still hurting enough to not be able to stay quiet.

“That looks familiar.” My eyes locked on Dominic’s. I could see him remembering the wound I sustained from the poisoned dagger when they rescued me from the cages. The same poisoned dagger which turned me feral and crazed with bloodlust.

“You two want to share?” Echo was stretched over the table to see the wolf at my feet.

“I haven’t evolved enough yet to read minds and everyone in this house is too good at having mind conversations the rest of us are not privy to.

” She cocked her eyebrow at me. “I can’t help if I don’t know details. ”

She had a valid point, so on an exhale, I scrubbed a hand over my face and waved at the seeping wound with the other.

“He was cut with a dagger coated in poisoned blood.” Ghost pain throbbed on my own body with the memory.

“The same poisoned blood that pushed me into bloodlust not long ago.” I saw Dominic’s fist tighten in the fur he was holding.

Echo’s eyes widened and Chester whistled from behind me. “The wolf found them then?” The male demon started pacing, his footfalls even and purposeful. The tempo of his strides strangely calmed my racing heart.

“I don’t know if he found them,” my mate snapped, yanking on the fur in anger. “I told him to take me wherever he was injured like this and he won’t move a paw outside the damn house.”

As subtly as I could, I lifted my gaze to check on Samir who’d been suspiciously silent through all this.

The old Atua looked too pale as he stared at the wolf, his gaunt eyes too big for his face.

His words came slithering through my brain like vipers.

I made a promise that you would live. I never made a promise to be a good and kind male.

To keep our word, one must do atrocious things sometimes. I am not proud of it.

A wet nose bumped the back of my hand where I still clutched my knee in a white-knuckled grip. My eyes darted to the animal, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“You found where they are squatting,” I told him. Not a question but a statement. He watched me steadily. “You know I will do anything to get Alice back safely, don’t you?” That earned me one slow, tentative blink. “Will you take me there?”

For the longest time the wolf searched my face, debating whether he should trust me or not.

I would’ve thought he knew by now how much Alice meant to me, but if he was the shifter I was sent to kill, I couldn’t blame him for having his doubts.

I didn’t trust my own kind further than I could throw them either.

My gaze jumped to Samir again, just a quick glance to see him staring at us with a very peculiar expression on his face.

My chest tightened.

The wolf whimpered, snapping my focus away from the ancient Atua and pulling my full attention back to him.

Slowly, very slowly, he lowered his snout in a barely-there nod.

“You will lead me to them?” I asked again to make sure we understood each other. Adrenalin shot through me, warming my insides instantly.

Another nod, faster this time.

I rose from the chair, rolling my shoulders to release the tension bunching my muscles there. “I guess we have places to be, people to see.” Dominic was already on his feet, checking his weapons before I finished the sentence. You can join us if you like,” I said to the room in general.

“I thought you would never ask.” Chester clapped his hands gleefully, an evil grin spreading across his face.

Samir stared at me mutely, not standing from the chair.

I needed to find Alice. I’d deal with everything else later. Turning my back at him, I strode to the door, yanking it open with an ominous crack. I heard a chair scrape the floor behind me, but I didn’t turn. I took Dominic’s hand when he offered it and didn’t check to see if Samir followed.

I could always kill him after I had Alice safely home.