Genesis Queen (The Road to Hell Series) (7 page)

Madison couldn’t justify her actions, so she remained mute. Nix stalked across the room, hands fisted at his sides. He reached the exit and she expected him to slam out of the study. Instead, he kicked the door and struck the wood with the flat of his hand.

Madison focused on the other men. Kur stroked his jaw while Zen rested his forearms on his thighs and looked like he counted his fingers.

“How close did you come to completing the ceremony with the Kings?” Petra removed the lollipop from her mouth long enough to ask the question.

“Only Micah remained to anchor me to Hell.”

“What does that mean?” Nix rotated to face her. He leaned against the door with his arms crossed over his chest. If he clenched his jaw any tighter, teeth were in danger of cracking.

“I couldn’t see it all.” Her son perched on the edge of his chair. “And I’m not scared to go to Hell. I know how to get out.”

“You’re not going to Hell. Not if I can stop it. Got it?” He nodded and Madison continued. “Short version of the ceremony: I was to consume all of their blood. What would have happened after that, only they can say. Unless Petra knows more?”

As an answer, Petra shook her head.

“It doesn’t bother you that they weren’t forthcoming of what it means to be anchored to Hell?”

Even though Nix asked the question, Madison swept them all with a gaze. “I told all of you, with the exception of Amos, that I wanted to remain in Hell. So why should it bother me, Nix? I didn’t care what he wanted. Micah was alive. I was happy to see him. What does that say about me? Or my relationship with you?” She clenched her fingers around the edge of the desktop.
What does that say about me
? It’d be so easy to break down or to give up, but when she looked at her son without his father’s influence, her perceptions were so much clearer. “I asked for a point-blank answer about our roles in their plans. They refused to provide an explanation. But I got the feeling it was more than a new Trinity as Petra explained. All the Kings are involved somehow, not just Micah.”

“I have no idea how to react.” Kur laced his hands together over his stomach and slumped into the chair again.

“I know all their angelic names.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. We can work with that.” Nix came away from the door.

“What’d you do for them to entrust you with those?” Petra gaped, the candy suspended midair near her mouth. “I don’t even know Daddy’s name.”

“They have my demon name.” She looked at the immortal, aware Nix drew closer. “You’re quiet, Zen.”

“Processing.” His dark hair fell over his forehead. He made no move to swipe it off.

“I can’t speak their names aloud or they’ll know I gave them to you. But I’ll write them down. A spell should be cast to protect Amos from any of their nefarious intentions.”

Nix gripped the back of her child’s chair. “He’ll come for you.”

“I suspect he will.” She met his gaze directly. “And I’ll fall to his whims.”

His hold tightened, his fingertips going white. “Why are you so certain of that?”

“Because of the way I acted in Hell.”

“Amos should leave the room before this conversation progresses.” Nix gave the boy a pointed look and nodded toward the door.

“I’m tired of being kicked out.” Her son jumped to his feet. “I know more than y’all think I do. Momma’s hiding something I couldn’t see in Hell.”

“Pouting is beneath you, Amos.” That type of comment, coming from Zen, usually had its desired effect. Not today.

“By the look on Momma’s face, I’m guessing she wants you to do something none of us would ever in a million years agree with. I think that’s worthy of a temper tantrum and not just a pout.”

The gravel in Nix’s tone indicated his seriousness. “Even think it, Zenny, and you and I go to war.” The immortal turned his head to peer at him. “It’s not an option.”

“Agreed,” Zen clipped out. “Threats from you, however, mean little to me. Recall how quickly I neutralized you when you would’ve returned to Hell to help her. Remember that, Ark.”

Nix laughed, but it sounded desperate. “Don’t think I won’t reunite with Micah again either. I will not—”

“Enough!” Both men looked at her as she slashed her hand through the air. “I need resolutions and action taken, not two of the men I’m depending on the most throwing a testosterone war. I’ve screwed up. Again. I need Amos protected. All of you have some supernatural talent. Together you must exceed Micah’s limitations. I’m counting on you.” She left the safety of her perch to go to her child and placed her palms on his shoulders. “What I’m hiding from you, Amos, is how far I fell. I won’t share that with you. I can’t. I’m ashamed of my actions.”

Chapter Six

Nix hung back while everyone departed. Zen went off to do some research. Kur committed to keeping both Locks fresh so there was no possibility of them eroding. None of them would tolerate Amos being handed over to Hell without a fight. Petra and her brother agreed to bring his family up to speed. He figured the boy and Georgie would have a little powwow, also, sharing psychic experiences.

Mads watched him, her expression unreadable, as he shut the door. But he could feel her tension. She turned, snatched up pen and paper, and began to write. The blade strapped to her thigh amused him. But he discovered an armed woman—his woman to be precise—was very provocative.

She offered the sheet of paper to him as he neared. He glanced at what she’d written. The names of the Kings. He refused the list. “Give it to one of the others. I know their names.” He just hadn’t had a moment to think of using the knowledge against them. He’d barely had more than a couple of hours sleep.

Mads tossed the slip on the desk. He had no idea what to think, what to say, but they had to work past the apprehension between them. “I’m sorry.”

Her gaze jerked to him. Surprise created creases at the corners of her eyes. “For what?”

Every fucking thing, even the things he couldn’t be blamed for. Sorry she had the life she did instead of the normal one she wanted and deserved. He’d give her a normal one if he could, even if it meant he’d never have met her. “For starters, sorry for taking you that way against the wall.”

Only a slight blush hit her cheeks and she surveyed him through her lashes. “It was good, Nix. I hadn’t imagined such a position possible, but maybe next time we could try it a little slower?”

“Still, I should’ve asked instead of just taking you.”

“I could’ve stopped you had I wanted.”

True enough. She went to touch him, but pulled back. He despised her uncertainty. He grabbed her hand and laced their fingers.

“I’m sorry for reacting the way I did when you told me you loved me afterward.”

“I do love you. Maybe you misread my expression. You’re not a mistake, but I fear I’ll be yours.”

“You won’t be.” Of that he was certain.

No argument surfaced from her, but by the way she chewed on her bottom lip, he knew she wasn’t convinced.

“I was jealous. Am jealous.”

She squeezed his hand, but her face offered little comfort. “I wish I could alleviate your fears. I really do. But I won’t lie to you. I refuse to start another relationship built upon lies.”

He respected that stance. “Tell me what happened in Hell.”

“Will knowing make you feel better?”

“Probably not. But I need to know.”

Mads looked down and away. She extracted her fingers from his. Nix allowed her to distance herself because he believed she needed that small disconnection. Maybe because she anticipated he’d turn away from her, but that type of relationship was all she knew. Hers and the King of Hell’s had been founded upon what he wanted and needed without any concern for her wishes.

She cleared her throat. “They each gave me their blood. The power in it….” Her eyes clouded with memory.

“Micah told you while we were in Hell there was power in blood. Especially the soul’s blood. It’s why I created that pool in your honor.”

“Right.” She nodded. The hesitancy in her eyes when she met his gaze made him want to wrap her in his arms, provide comfort regardless of what she’d done. “Micah was going to fuck me on a ceremonial slab while I consumed his blood to complete the anchoring. His brothers were watching. We’d already gotten underway with some foreplay when I was pulled out.”

It felt like she’d slapped him. But it could’ve been worse. He had expected worse. He hoped he kept the hurt off his face. “Did all of them touch you intimately when you took their blood?”

“No. Just Micah.” She blinked several times and took a deep breath. Tears darkened her lashes. “I wanted him.” A slow exhale and more confessions followed. “Like I told you in the bathroom, he got me….” Pink hit her cheeks and she looked away.

“Wet?” A darker blush was his answer. He slid his knuckles across her cheek and buried his fingers in her hair. “A part of me thrills at the idea of watching you with him.”

Her mouth parted in shock, and her eyes rounded as her stare whiplashed to him.

“I get aroused thinking of both of us taking you simultaneously. He and I working together in tandem to make you climax for us.”

“I—I have no idea what to say to that.”

The things he could imagine. One of them licking her pussy as she sucked the other’s dick…that was only one of many scenarios he could conjure. Hearing her scream as they both got her off, not just priceless, but something he’d fantasized about in Hell. And so not his Southern belle, regardless of the flash of excitement in her gaze. “Because part of you is stimulated by the idea.”

Mads licked her bottom lip and curled her fingers in his shirt at his waist. “That small flare of arousal over the concept terrifies me, too.”

“Let me.” He touched her knees and she shifted, sliding onto the edge of the desk. Her legs parted and he moved into her personal space, supremely pleased she held no grudge about his irrational behavior in the bathroom. She anchored her arms around his neck. He circled her waist and pressed a hand to the small of her back. The other fingered the bands holding the knife strapped to her thigh. “Even at home you arm yourself?”

She played with the shorts strands of his hair. “With the right provocation, anyone can become my enemy.”

“It’s sexy secured to your thigh.”

A humorous grin tilted one corner of her mouth. “If you think that’s sexy, you’re not normal, Nix.”

“Thank God, or I’d never have met you.” Thumbing the leather tie, he released the fastening and unsheathed the blade. “You allow me to disarm you?”

“I trust you.”

He glanced at the knife. The one he’d given her for her birthday. God, that seemed like decades ago, but it’d been less than six months. “Do you know what I could do to you with it?”

He dragged the metal across her throat, and she tilted her head, exposing the main artery. Not just hollow words, but, also, through her actions, she offered him her faith.

“Cut my clothes off?”

Flabbergasted by her answer, he studied her. A teasing glint sparkled in her eyes. He chuckled. “I love the way you think, baby.”

“Did you have threesomes with Micah?”

“Yes.” Among other things, the threesomes were some of their tamer exploits.

“Tell me about them.”

“No.” He shook his head. No way would he give her those details. “I won’t discuss that with you.”

“Why?”

“There’s no reason you need to know how bad I was.” Or how much he’d relished the darkness. He’d gone to Hell for her and he wouldn’t risk her guilt for something he’d chosen.

“Was it fun?”

What was it with all the questions? “Was fucking me fun?”

“You know it was.”

“And Micah’s foreplay with you”—he could imagine what that’d entailed—“in front of his brother Kings, was that fun?”

“Yes,” she said, her tone breathy.

Did the memory reignite her excitement, or embarrassment?

Nix dragged the blade between her breasts. She shivered. He tossed it on the table and pulled her against him. “Then know this. If you desire to be the Queen of Hell, I’ll follow you. I’ll teach you each dark pleasure. Bliss so perverse you cannot conceive of it.” He nipped her bottom lip. “Just be prepared for your husband to join the adventure. We’ll take you together, penetrate you at the same time”—a flash of pink in her eyes—“and make you scream in pleasure and pain. We’ll make you beg for both, crawl for a chance at experiencing the erotic nature of our inner beasts. You’ve no understanding of Hell’s delights until you’re immersed in them so far you cannot drag yourself out of it.”

He highly doubted her husband would offer her up sexually to everyone, as he had him. A banquet of sexual exploits, an orgy to induct him into the dark realm of Hell after his Fall, he’d been feasted upon, and he’d gorged on those demons present, as well. Orgasms wrenched from him until he’d collapsed, unable to perform. Unsatisfied, the King had doused him with something dark and primitive—angel dust—reigniting his lust. The festivities had resumed and gone on for a long,
long
time, so lengthy, he’d had no scope of the passage of the clock. They could’ve transitioned through seasons and he would’ve been oblivious.

Mads circled his lips with the pads of her fingertips. “Dear God, you’d return.”

“With you at my side, hell yes.” He cupped her cheeks with both hands and tilted her head back. “It wasn’t all fun. Killing innocents, having to reconcile that some of them were children…that would stop me from going back. The guilt will rip your soul apart, Mads.” He wasn’t sure his soul would ever completely heal.

“Thank you.” She hugged him and buried her face against his chest.

Nix clenched a handful of hair, resisting the urge to strip her and take her on the desktop. “For what?”

“For letting me in and telling me your experience in Hell.” She looked up at him. “I want you to remain my Nix, the one I fell in love with. The one united with my husband was a little creepy.”

Charmed by her honesty, he lowered his head and claimed her lips in a kiss full of aggressive arousal.

Chapter Seven