“Did you need a change in scenery that badly?” Lucifer asked, his voice dry.
“Better than Yomi, and better than guarding a door day and night.” Haru’s smile faded as he parried a series of blows from Luck’s daggers. “I promise not to snack too much.”
“You won’t snack at all here unless the food is already dead,” I said sternly. “While I’m gone, whatever Vyra says, goes.”
“Vyra.” Haru said her name with a caress in his voice, then swung his sword low, forcing Luck to stumble. He flickered in and out of sight, appearing behind the stunned fighter, and placed his blade at Luck’s throat. “Yield or die. That’s a lovely name.”
He didn’t sound winded at all.
“Yield,” Luck gasped.
Haru smiled and wiped the blade of his sword with careful deliberation before sheathing it in a lacquered case. “Ah, I won my first fight. I suppose I’m now sworn to you, Lady Wrath?”
I eyed him suspiciously but found no reason to kick him out. I’d taken in Lady Savage and Blind Luck, after all. “If you’d like to be. I don’t need to warn you what will happen if you disregard our rules.”
“Not at all.” He tossed a sheet of auburn hair over his shoulders. “I’m at your service. Mister Celamentum asked me to pass on his regards.”
We stared at each other, but Haru broke into a sly grin, seemingly incapable of being serious.
“Welcome to the arena, then.”
I moved to go up the stairs, but Haru flickered again and was suddenly blocking them, leaning insouciantly against the rail. “Where are you going? Perhaps you should consider an extra sword.” His tails waved behind him as he spoke.
“Nowhere that’s any business of yours,” I growled, unable to push aside my initial dislike for the smirking kitsune. There was no way I could possibly like anyone who looked at me like I was food. “If you want to make yourself useful, help Vyra keep these fighters under control. I don’t want to come back and find my arena reduced to rubble.”
Haru held out an arm to lead the way. “Then on with you, Lady Wrath. I’ll put all my considerable talent to helping your Vyra.”
Lucifer and Tascius strode past, but I paused when I was just level with Haru’s eyes, several steps above him. “And you keep your hands off her. Understand? Unless she explicitly asks you, she’s not to be touched.”
Haru touched his chest, his smile never faltering. “You have my word.”
I caught up with Lucifer, who was already in my room, tossing clothes on the bed. “Can we trust him?”
“Haru?” Lucifer held up one of my Azazel-gifted leather corsets. “Yes. Celamentum, unlike most demons, has a reputation to uphold and does extensive background checks on his employees. He wouldn’t have given him a recommendation unless he strongly approved of him.”
He handed me the corset and grabbed a pair of boots. “Besides, it might be helpful to have him around. He’s the sneakiest bastard I’ve ever had the fortune- or possibly misfortune- of meeting.”
I laid out my clothes and sat at my small desk, pausing with my pen over a piece of parchment. What could I tell Belial that didn’t sound like I was running away from him or avoiding him at all?
After nearly half an hour of staring at a blank page, I laid down the pen.
I wasn’t going to write him a note. I’d tell him in person, the way he deserved.
Tascius and Lucifer had packed several bags of necessities when I turned around. Then I realized it was the three of us, alone in my room, and that they were giving each other death-glares.
“Um… why are you staring at each other like that?”
Tascius’s arms were crossed over his chest. “We’re settling which one of us gets to shower with you.”
My eyes flicked between the two of them, unable to linger on only one. They were both shirtless, showing off the admirable ridges of their chests and abs, streaked with sand and dirt that I was dying to wash off with my own hands.
“Well, this might sound like a wild and crazy idea, but… how about both of you. At the same time.”
My mouth went dry when they both looked at me.
Then Lucifer cast a narrow-eyed glance at Tacius. “We both wear her feathers.”
“That’s true.” Tascius glanced back.
“One way or another, we’ll need to learn to share.”
“Agreed.”
“The lady has a point.”
“That she does.”
They stood and deliberated for a moment. Lucifer finally nodded, and his shoulders relaxed. “We’ll give your wild and crazy idea a try, Melisande.”
They both came towards me at once, and I found myself being stripped down by multiple hands that seemed to work in unison, like they were reading each others’ minds.
Tascius picked me up, and Lucifer’s mouth twitched, but he let the Nephilim carry me into the large bathroom and pull the chain. A waterfall of steaming water crashed down on our heads.
Lucifer slid his pants down and stepped out of them, kicking them aside and wading into the shower to take me from Tascius so the Nephilim could lose his clothes, too.
When they were both totally nude, every muscle on display, I realized the drumming in my skull and chest wasn’t the water pouring down on me, but my heart in my throat, threatening to burst free from my ribs.
There was so much naked male in here at once, I had no idea what to do with myself.
“I’m not really sure what to do with my hands,” I said, sounding a lot smaller than I felt.
Tascius ran his over my hips, his cock pressing against my ass. “You put them wherever you want.”
“Everywhere you want,” Lucifer purred, cupping my face, then slid his fingers down over my collar bone, to my peaked nipples, and lower.
I was sure my heart was galloping so hard it was actually going to implode.
His fingers delved between my legs, stroking my slick folds and clit. I wobbled, but
