Page 7 of Burn in Bliss

Using both hands, I yanked down to no avail until Orion had closed the distance between us and Asher. He paused just out of reach as his nostrils flared.

Something’s not right.

The dark shadows flickered as if angry around the incubus, making the air hiss like it was infested with snakes. Power flashed in his colorless eyes, warning Orion not to lay a hand on him.

I wasn’t sure what would happen if he did.

“What’s Lilith to you?” I asked, this time asking the question before Orion could. He glowered at me but didn’t reprimand me for asking.

Asher rolled his eyes skyward as if praying for patience, not that I thought the incubus ever prayed. “I said we had a mutual friend.” He swiped a hand over his face, then sighed. “Look, I could have hid in the shadows and worked you two up from the outside to accomplish my goal, but I decided to introduce myself. Do you know why?”

Orion and I both waited for his answer, all while I subtly shifted my weight, wrapping the chain around my forearm now that Orion had loosened it.

He seemed to mirror my movements, leaning away from me. The old Orion was still in there somewhere, and with the incubus drawing on our mate-bond connection, it only helped to bring it out.

Orion gave me a glance, one that said, Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

The chains I wore were magical in nature and designed to keep down a torturer of Purgatory.

Whatever Asher was, the chains should be strong enough to pin him down, too.

“Because I’m one of you, assholes. I’m one of Lily’s Virtues, too.”

That was definitely the wrong fucking thing to say.

ORION

Lily doesn’t need any more Virtues!

We are enough.

I am enough.

But was I, really? It wasn’t about being “enough.” It was about being what Lily needed.

And what did I know about that anymore? I wasn’t even with her.

The last time I had seen her, I’d knocked her unconscious so she wouldn’t have to watch me kill the men she loved.

So she wouldn’t hate me forever.

You did the right thing. Killing this asshole? That would definitely be the right thing to do.

My voice was shouting in my head, angry and furious at the words coming out of this idiot incubus’s mouth.

But my voice had been wrong. I wasn’t supposed to be listening to it.

Which meant…

Asher might be exactly what Lily needed to set things right. He could be the missing piece and the reason we had all failed up until now.

My dilemma was the only thing keeping me from ripping off the male’s head. With Samael’s help, we had wrapped the chain around his neck and our combined weight was enough to snap it taut in place.

Samael didn’t seem to be suffering an internal struggle like I was. He pulled, groaning as he flared his wings, attempting to take the male’s head clean off.

Asher grappled at the chain, sending sparks of magic flying in all directions as he worked through each link. Magic popped through the air as he delicately ripped through them one by one.

How was he breaking them?

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