Page 9 of Hellfire to Come
“How about this one?” Chester called out, bouncing beside a dust-covered Bentley.
Brooklyn’s eyes gleamed with a wicked glint. “I’ll drive.”
“Whoop!” Chester pumped his fist victoriously, still clutching Echo’s hair like a trophy.
“Yeah… I think I’ll drive.” I darted toward the car, tugging my snickering mate behind me.
“She doesn’t know how to drive, so do not encourage her,” I growled at Chester, who wisely kept his mouth shut.
“Get in.” Brooklyn opened the rear door and ushered the wolf inside before sliding in after him.
Echo joined them, leaving Chester and me to take the front.
I looked across the hood at the demon. “I hope I can count on you to watch my mate’s back.”
Chester’s usual humor faded. “Our interests align, shifter. As long as they do, I’ll protect her with everything I’ve got. If they don’t…”
He left it there, but the message was clear. His loyalty had an expiration date.
I respected his honesty. I gave him a firm nod.
The car purred to life as I gunned it out of the garage.
In the rearview mirror, Brooklyn’s eyes met mine. She knew me too well. My subtle nod was returned with silent understanding. She’d heard everything. And she believed him too.
I just hoped I wouldn’t have to kill the demon any time soon.
He was starting to grow on me.
Chapter Five
ALICE
It was always cold here.
Not the kind of cold that made you shiver and rub your arms, but the kind that sank deeper—into your bones, into your thoughts. The kind that whispered you were alone, even with someone standing right in front of you.
I didn’t know how long I’d been here. Time didn’t move properly in this place. The light—or whatever passed for it—the constant, sickly flicker of muted green, never shifted. The walls stayed damp. The silence pressed in, patient and listening.
And I hated it.
Curled up as tight as I could fold my body, I hugged my knees to my chest fiercely to prevent the violent shaking racking my frame.
I think I was imagining things as well. Monsters lurking in dark tunnels. Men dragging me half conscious, bickering amongst each other that they had to take me somewhere before someone else came. Someone else meaning the Council.
The two remaining asshats that were left, that was.
A crazed snicker escaped me, and I had to press my trembling hands to my mouth to stifle it.
They thought they could break me.
And maybe, on some days, they got close.
Those days when I woke up screaming, soaked in a fear that didn’t belong to me. When the chains around my wrists burned even though they were cold. When I swore I heard Brooklyn’s voice in the dark, only to realize it was my own mind playing tricks on me. Yes, on those days, I thought maybe they’d done it, cracked something in me.
But I wasn’t shattered. Not yet.
Not while I still had my friend, my sister.
