Page 28 of Hell Gate

“Get out of bed, Lily,” he rasps. “Now. Before I—”

“Fine. I have to pee anyway.” He continues caging me for another beat before backing off. Huffing, I fling the covers away, tugging my sleep shirt down from where it rode up to my soft waist. I use the excuse to fly through the motel room, pushing past a smirking Matthias into the bathroom. Locking myself in, I brace against the door. “What is wrong with me?”

Crap, I’ll have to walk back out there in just a t-shirt. I ditched the leggings on the floor between the beds when I crashed.

A knock sounds on the door.

“I brought your bag in from the car. I’m leaving it here,” Matthias says. “Alder went out for breakfast.”

“It better not be another human,” I mutter through the crack in the door when I open it. “If any of you assholes try to kill someone, I’ll stop you.”

“Donuts and coffee.”

I press my lips together. Begrudgingly, I admit to myself that while Valerian is still an asshole, Alder and Matthias are tolerable. Sometimes. It’s hard to hate someone that brings you donuts.

“Fine. How do any of you have money to pay for the motel and food?”

His face appears in the small opening as I grab my bag. His attention flicks down like he’s trying to see if I’m naked yet. I glare and he holds his hands up with an amused tilt to his mouth. “I told you. I love coming topside. A human I met a long time ago insisted on investments being the way to go. He opened a bank account for me and now I apparently have a lot of money.”

I shower in record time under ice cold water that makes me groan in relief from how overheated my body is. I resist the urge to play with my hardened nipples and relieve the thrumming pulse in my clit. No way in hell will I touch myself while thinking of Valerian’s sharp jaw, piercing blue eyes, or his demanding accent whispering filthy things to me with his fangs grazing my skin. Nope, nope, nope.

The harder I try not to think about it, the more my mind drifts down a dangerous road contemplating if demon dicks are different. Am I getting into the tentacle porn arena? A delirious laugh bubbles out of me. These demons make themselves appear human-like, yet I’ve seen their claws, their fangs. I’ve felt their forked tongues.

Pushing my face into the frigid spray, I shudder, my hand gliding down my torso, slipping between my thighs. At the first touch, my eyes fall shut. I bite my lip hard to keep silent while I indulge my fantasies.

By the time I dress in a killer pair of red leather shorts I found at a secondhand shop and a black cropped bleach-dyed t-shirt, Alder has returned with food. Matthias pushes the box of donuts across the small table we congregate around, his gaze intent, almost as if he can somehow see what I did in the shower written all over me. I avoid his smoldering stare and dig in.

“What’s the game plan?” I ask once I’ve downed two sugar dusted donuts and half a cup of coffee.

“We’ll stay on the move for now in case scout groups are tracking us.” Valerian props a shoulder against the wall, folding his arms. The black button down shirt he changed into stretches taut against the curve of his biceps and defined forearms, his abstract tattoos peeking out from the collar and sleeves. “Once you’re finished, Alder found an alley we can use to test you.”

“I didn’t know there’d be a test,” I deadpan. “I didn’t study.”

The corner of Matthias’ mouth hitches up. “Not that kind of test, lost girl.”

“Quit it,” I grumble. “I’m sick of you calling me that.”

It hits too close to home, picking at all my insecurities of being rejected and left alone. Their theory that I’m not even human exacerbates those feelings. I don’t want to think about having powers because then it validates every horrible thing ever said about me.Sink or swim.

“Do you prefer pretty girl instead?” He chuckles at my blush.

“We talked while you bathed. We believe the reason you smell so damn g—” Alder cuts off and clears his throat gruffly. “Your scent could be different because you truly belong to the underworld. A demon trapped inside a human body. It’s the only thing that fits. These instincts to protect you wouldn’t be triggered otherwise.”

He doesn’t mention the way the three of them nearly fought over me the first time they caught my scent and circled me in the graveyard, or bring up what happened with Matthias and Valerian in the alley, assuming he knows. Protecting me isn’t the only thing they’re interested in.

We’re not talking about it. The thing that happens whenever they’re too close to me, like earlier with Valerian, or when one of them touches me for too long. The invisible pull that I don’t understand. A force that defies logic and overrides any hatred we harbor for each other, almost like fate forcing us together. I shut down the ridiculous thought. It’s an off-limits topic and I’m happy to keep it that way.

I purse my lips to the side. “I’ve lived here in the—the mortal realm my whole life. I didn’t even know all this supernatural stuff was real outside of the books I like to read.”

There’s the strange things that happen when my emotions are out of control. The buzz of energy beneath my skin. The inexplicable incidents. Everything I’ve ignored and run from.

“I think there’s some kind of seal blocking you to make you and everyone you encounter believe that. Both your power that is seeping through the cracks and possibly your memories.” Valerian surveys me, stroking his chin in thought. “If there is one, I want to know why. We’ll break it to see if it gives us an answer to what you are.”

“Great,” I say dully around a mouthful of a third donut. The burst of sugar on my tongue is the only thing keeping me from going insane at this conversation. After licking the remnants of sugar from my fingers, I wiggle them at the guys. “Let’s get this over with so you can let go of the idea of me with powers now.”

Three sets of otherworldly, luminous eyes are trained on my mouth.

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