Anael was worried. He was used to Raziel having visions, but this was the first time he’d seen him used as a conduit. He wanted to jump up, find some water for his friend or do something, but then Darren decided to find his voice and he stayed where he was.
“Sir, Lord, whoever you are. What am I doing here? Who are these people? Who does your special effects? I’m being held against my will.” He lifted his arms to show the manacles on his wrists. “I demand to go home.”
“Darren Fortinger,” Lucifer didn’t look or sound impressed. “Fraudster, embezzler, gambler and pimp. How wonderful to make your acquaintance.” His bow was mocking. “I’m Lucifer, Lord of the Underworld, Prince of Darkness, Ruler of Demons and your worst nightmare. What do you know of the lady you’re chained to?”
“Z? Why, nothing. She just….”
“Seduced you over a card table,” Lucifer interrupted, “whispering how her presence would bring you luck. You won ten thousand dollars that night and then she took you to an orgy that left you naked and broke by morning with no recollection of where you’d been. That’s demons for you, can’t trust them.”
“Demons?” Darren gulped and moved as far away from Zoltus as his chains would allow.
“Yes, get with the program, man. Do you think that guy’s horns are for show, or those angel wings are stuck on? Sheesh. No one believes anymore.” Lucifer started playing with one of his braids. “How much did she pay you for Anael’s phone number?”
“Anael? Who’s Anael? I’ve never heard of….”
“My work name was Troy,” Anael jumped in. A sick feeling in the pit of his stomach let him know he wasn’t going to like the outcome of this tribunal and he wanted it over as fast as possible. Zagan didn’t seem concerned, but then he’d probably witnessed a thousand of these cases.
“You…he….” Darren finally looked at him closely. “But you’ve got wings.”
“Nothing gets past you, does it?” Lucifer huffed. “Answer the question. How did Zoltus get Troy’s phone number?”
“I needed him to work,” Darren babbled. “I’ve got debts and men after me and he was my greatest earner. Crowds would come for miles if they knew he was dancing. Z said she could persuade him to come back. I just wanted him dancing for me again. That’s all.”
“While you, Jared Manning wanted his ass; just like you lusted after and broke a dozen men before Troy.”
“You can’t know that.” Jared said looking around wildly. “You’ve got no proof. No one ever said anything, those men came after me. He came after me.” He pointed a shaky finger at Anael.
Lucifer’s laughter bounced off the stone walls. “I can see every sin you’ve ever committed from the moment you broke your sister’s nose and told your mother she fell when you were six.”
“And you, Mark,” Lucifer pointed at the wolf shifter. “You did plan to kill an angel. You didn’t intend on Anael surviving. I can see the hatred you have for all our kind pulsing through your veins. You were using Zoltus to get at your pack and you’d didn’t care who you hurt so long as you got your own way.”
“She told me to.” Mark pointed at Zoltus.
Anael’s eyes closed as a wave of hatred hit him. He could see the bonds tying the four prisoners together. Evil black snakes that wormed their way into a person’s body, poisoning their thoughts, and tainting their soul. Resting his hand on Zagan’s shoulder, Anael stood and yelled, “Enough!”
“Are you okay, precious?” Zagan asked anxiously.
“No, I’m not okay.” Anael turned to Lucifer. “Please. I can’t stay and watch this. It’s pointless. All four of your prisoners are tied together with lust, greed, envy and hate. They’ll all blame each other to save their own skin. I know they need to be punished. They’re all evil to the core. But please don’t make me sit and watch this farce any further.”
“You’re weak,” Zoltus sneered. “Weak and feeble-minded. You haven’t got the stomach for anything real in this world. Your mating to Zagan is a joke, a travesty, a plague on our kind.”
“I have love, something you will never know,” Anael said, inhaling deeply. “My demon loves me, and he’ll hold my heart till the end of days. You have nothing. Your marriage bonds are tarnished and frayed, hanging on by a thread that thins with every word that falls from your mouth. That bond was the only light in your pitiful soul. I saved your husband’s life, but it means nothing to you, because he means nothing to you. I don’t need to see you punished for what you tried to do to me or King Zagan. I wouldn’t wish your empty heart on my worst enemy and yet you’ll live with it for as long as you’re breathing. You’ve punished yourself and the same goes for the rest of you three. By your actions, you banished love which is the guiding light in any being’s soul. I pity you and for what it’s worth I forgive you.”
Turning to Lucifer, Anael inclined his head. “Lord Lucifer, I trust you called Raziel and I here today to see that justice was done for the attacks on me and the threat to the human realm. I thank you for your consideration, but if you don’t mind, I’ll take my leave. I have complete faith that Raziel will see these prisoners’ punishments are carried out in accordance with Head Office regulations.”
Zagan growled, but stopped himself and Anael felt a shaft of guilt. He knew, as a demon, Zagan would love nothing more than to rip the heads off the prisoners and dance in their blood. Chances are, eighty percent of the audience gathered were expecting the same thing. But Anael couldn’t have those deaths on his conscience and he would not, could not, allow them to tarnish his mating. “Can you take me home, please?” He asked Zagan softly.
With a sweep of his giant black wings, Zagan did as he was asked.
/~/~/~/~/
This is going to take some getting used to, Zagan thought as he deposited a sleeping Anael on his crisp white sheets. When Anael said home, Zagan’s first thought was his tiny, neat apartment on earth. But Zagan was selfish and much preferred his custom-sized bed and lavish bathroom to Anael’s small place. Besides, isn’t home where the heart is?
Brushing back his mate’s curls, Zagan left the room. He needed a drink. A strong one. Stomping down to his well-appointed bar, he reached over the counter and found a bottle of his rum; the only drink that could render a demon or paranormal drunk. Eschewing a glass, he crossed the room and opened the French doors leading out to a massive balcony. The clear blue sky and white puffy clouds mocked his state of mind.
I should’ve just killed her while she waited in the cells, he thought, swigging absently from the bottle as he slumped on a lounger. Five minutes. That’s all it would take. Headless, her soul would be confined to the pits of hell forevermore. And as for those other three? Yeah, same fate, same time span. His agitation was the only reason he wasn’t cuddling his sleeping mate. Zagan was sure Anael would sense it somehow and he didn’t want his mate hurt.
But I can’t help who I am, any more than he can, Zagan reasoned with himself. Is this what my life’s going to be like from now on? Caving in on my desires and my ways of doing things, just so Anael will smile at me?
It was a sobering thought; one Zagan didn’t have an answer for. He leaned back against the chair, crossing his legs at the ankles, staring at the clouds while swigging his rum. His brain was a swirling mass of contradictions. On the one hand he was proud of how Anael had stood up for himself, proclaiming their love to everyone in the realm. His mate wasn’t wrong. Zagan had no doubts he held Anael’s heart in his hand and he believed in the love Anael had for him.
But is love enough? It was a fair enough thought, even if Zagan felt slightly guilty about it. He and Anael were as different as two beings could be. Demons were raised in a society where violence and sex were commonplace. It had nothing to do with the evil Anael claimed Zoltus felt. It was just, from the schoolyard upwards, demons found it easier to settle their disputes with fists, and rewards were often sex because money didn’t mean a lot in a realm where anything was available on Lucifer’s whim.
No one went hungry in the Underworld and everyone had a roof over their head. Lucifer was right to ask the question about the rewards demons received. They were many and plentiful because, as Anael said, they did an important job and the Underworld was crucial to the balance in all realms.
A slight noise behind him had Zagan looking over his shoulder. “I thought you were sleeping,” he said when he spotted Anael. Turning back to his view of manicured gardens and the forest and hills beyond, he took another swig of his rum.
“You’re disappointed in me,” Anael said, stepping out onto the balcony. Clad only in jeans, his curls gleamed in the sunlight. Crossing his legs, Anael sank into an elegant pile at his feet. “What can I do to make this right?”
Wasn’t that the question of the hour. “I don’t know,” Zagan said slowly, offering Anael his bottle. To his surprise, Anael took it, choking slightly as he took a huge mouthful and handed the bottle back. “We’re very different, you and I.”
“I’ve always thought that was a good thing,” Anael replied. “You help me be a stronger man and I like to think I do the same for you. I know you want to protect me and that gives me a sense of security I’d never had.”
“Argh!” Zagan jumped to his feet, the need to do something driving his boots across the balcony. “Then why did you cut off my balls by making it so clear I wasn’t allowed to harm Zoltus? Did you forget she wanted you dead? She wanted our mating broken.”
“I never said you couldn’t harm Lady Zoltus,” Anael said quietly. “I said I didn’t want to see it. My purpose has never been to fight or hurt others, even when I do see the negative connections so many people have with others. If you felt she needed to die by your hands for you to find closure in this, then that’s your choice. I can’t make that for you.”
“But then you’d be unhappy with me.” Zagan was ready to tear his hair out. He wasn’t nearly drunk enough for his agitation to ease and Anael’s calm and logical attitude wasn’t helping.
“Did I ask you to make me happy?”
“What?” Unable to believe his ears, Zagan turned to see his mate watching him.
“Is my happiness your responsibility?” Anael shrugged. “Clearly, whatever’s tying your guts up in knots isn’t making you happy. Shouldn’t that be your first concern? Being true to yourself?”
“Are you really that thick?” Zagan regretted the words as soon as he saw the hurt on Anael’s face. Personal name calling was not okay. He gentled his voice, trying to explain. “I’ve always believed mating is about compromise; about taking the other person’s needs into consideration. Surely you understand that.”
“I do understand, and I believe in the same thing. But if you chose to do something to make me happy, like leaving Lady Zoltus’s punishment up to Lucifer rather than taking it into your own hands; then taking your resentment out on me afterwards because that wasn’t how you wanted things to go isn’t being considerate either.”
“Fuck.” Zagan leaned against the railing and swallowed another mouthful of rum. The angel’s right, you know it. And yes, Zagan did know it and now he felt like a jerk. “Look,” he said, trying to be reasonable. “Demons and angels clearly handle things like punishment differently. In my world, I look weak if I don’t take matters into my own hands.”
“And in my world, trusting in laws and forgiving your fellow man are normal for me. I’m not thick,” Zagan winced at the word, “I do understand why you feel the way you do about Zoltus, Jared and the others. They did try to kill me. But don’t you feel better knowing you can come to bed with me at night without blood on your hands?”
“NO!” Zagan felt a chuckle rise through his chest and he couldn’t help but let it out. “Look, my precious,” he said when he got his laughing under control, “I do get what you’re saying and when I’m not so angry at Zoltus, I probably will feel the same way you do. But at this point in time, I don’t. I feel as though you’ve taken a part of my manhood away. As my mate, it’s my job to protect you. I couldn’t at the time, but I could and would eliminate that threat later, so they never harmed you again. I really wanted to do that but because of you, I didn’t.”
Anael rose to his feet, his movements graceful and full of promise. Before he knew it, Anael was leaning on his chest and a warm hand was cupping his balls. “Sounds like I’d better check out that manhood of yours,” Anael’s voice was low and filled with sex. “I’d hate it if such a vital part of your existence didn’t work anymore just because you care about me.”
“Have we just had our first fight?” Tossing his rum bottle over his shoulder onto the lawn below, Zagan leaned down, licking across Anael’s lips. “I’ve heard make-up sex can be explosive.”
“Only one way to find out.” Anael winked as he dropped to his knees. Quickly doing away with the zipper and button, Zagan’s cock fell from the confines of the denim, only to be sucked into succulent heat of Anael’s mouth. Zagan would swear there was nothing more sinfully sensual than the sight of Anael’s full lips wrapped around his girth. Every upward slurp tugged at Zagan’s balls, which were already tightening. Determined to enjoy this for as long as he could, Zagan pushed his jeans down his legs and spread them slightly, giving his mate more room.
Soft moans reverberated up and down Zagan’s shaft. Anael’s tongue teased around the stretched foreskin, sucking at the precome Zagan knew he was spilling. Every nibble inflamed his senses, every stroke of Anael’s tongue resonated through his body. Zagan hung onto the railing with one hand, the other gently stroking through his mate’s soft curls. He had no wish to take control. Anael was anticipating his every oral wish and granting them in abundance.
A lightly sweeping hand over his balls added fuel to the fire. Zagan’s hand tightened briefly in Anael’s hair, his yearning to prolong the pleasure warring with his need to come. Need won out. A teasing finger brushing teasingly over the smooth skin behind his balls was more than Zagan could take. With a long moan, Zagan surrendered; his balls pumping and his sweet Anael swallowing every drop.
Pulling off with an obscene slurp, Anael grinned as he licked his lips. “Reckon you can go again? I’m sure with makeup sex both sides need to orgasm. In fact, I’m sure there’s a rule about it somewhere.”
At the sight of Anael’s happy face, and conscious of the bulge in his mate’s jeans, Zagan felt as though a sudden weight fell from his chest. Anael was his for all time and it was only natural that sometimes they would have their differences. But their chemistry was off the charts and Zagan knew he’d never be able to hold a grudge against his loving mate. His cock twitched as if to confirm its readiness for round two.
What were we fighting about again? Who the hell cares? Pulling Anael to his feet and holding his angel close, Zagan blinked them to his bedroom. An hour later, he concluded make-up sex was all it was cracked up to be, especially when both parties were wearing lazy smiles of blissful satisfaction.