Authors: Eve Langlais
Bullshit really. No one could ever truly atone for all their sins.
That part didn’t matter. The rule was, no killing mortals.
She pouted. “Well then, what do you suggest? I don’t think these plants will hide us for long.”
Fingers spread, he palmed the wall. “I wish that damned portal had lasted a few more minutes.”
At his words, a tingling hum filled the air, and her skin pimpled.
Magic. But by who?
Valaska took a step back from the wall that now shimmered.
Not so Dex, who let his fingers dance over the surface. “It’s a portal.”
“No kidding.” She could tell by the way it sizzled with energy. “But where does it go?”
A hand reached out from the portal and grabbed Dex. Valaska only had a moment to latch onto him, too, before they were both pulled into a chilly vortex that spit them out onto a black-and-white checkered floor.
Valaska sprang to her feet, prepared to face the next threat. And, boy, was it a doozy.
“Hi, Mom, I’m home.” And while still lying on the floor, Dex said, “Is that cookies I smell?”
“You will never be good enough for my son.” Printed on the T-shirt his mom wore.
Springing to his feet, Adexios didn’t have to feign pleasure at seeing his mother. Nothing wrong with being a mama’s boy, especially since it meant he got to lick the bowl when she baked.
The problem, though, with his mother loving him so much was that she really didn’t like other women encroaching on her son’s affections.
So it wasn’t any wonder that, once his mother released him from a crushing hug, and he stepped back, it was to find Valaska and his mother eyeing each other.
“So you are that Amazon girl Lucifer sent my baby boy off with.” Translation.
You’re the slut that’s been spending time with my son.
“Yup.”
Yup. And he liked it.
“I don’t like you.” Trust his mother to not even pretend.
“The feeling is mutual, and I’m sure it will grow stronger over time as we fight for the affection of your son. I will ultimately win. I am, after all, the one screwing him, but I look forward to our future sparring.”
Wow, so much to absorb in there. Amidst the subtle taunting and threats, was it him or had Valaska said she was sticking with him?
Judging by his mother’s eyes, narrowed with shrewd calculation, yes, she had. “Are you planning to make an honest man of my boy?”
“Mom!” Adexios couldn’t help but blush at her direct query—even as he wondered at the answer.
“An honest man in Hell? I would never dare to blaspheme that way.” A slow and mischievous grin crossed Valaska’s face. “As a matter of fact, it occurred to me that Dex and I should try living in sin for a while.”
Yes, that definitely sounded as if she was moving in. Which meant sleeping together. Mental fist pump, revealed only in a push of his glasses atop his nose.
Forget sleeping arrangements. Adexios planned for his funeral when his mother dropped her next bombshell.
“I don’t suppose you’d be open to having an out-of-wedlock pregnancy.”
“Mom!” Adexios reached a new level of embarrassment.
“What’s wrong, baby? You sound upset,” his mother said, perusing him with false innocence. “If I’m going to have to tolerate you taking up with a heathen, then I should know what shenanigans you’re getting into so I can properly brag to my woman’s group. Do you know how jealous Bettina is going to be when she hears about this? You do a mother proud,” his mom said, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with her apron.
Anxious to divert the conversation, Adexios asked, “So, where’s Dad?”
“At work. Where else? He’s sailing the new Wildling Sea.”
“Wildling? Is that what they’re calling it?” It seemed apt. Sounded like fun, too. Who knew what lay on the other side, but the question was, would the sea remain long enough to find out, or would Lucifer find a way to drain it?
“While you were gallivanting about with your
lady friend
”—his mother sniffed, looking so delighted at the snub insult—“things have happened. First, the sea levels have stopped rising.”
“Probably because we destroyed the portal draining the water from the mortal plane onto this one.”
His mother planted her hands on her hips. “Are you getting too big for your britches with me? I was talking, and there you are interrupting me. So rude. I love it!” She cackled, a gleeful, evil sound, and given she was part sorceress, she did it quite chillingly.
“Mom, since you’re loving the new me, then love the fact that I am going to ditch you right now and take Valaska back to my place.”
“But you haven’t had cookies yet.” His mother gestured to the oven that glared with baleful red eyes as it heated the dough. “And what about reporting to your father?”
“He can wait.”
“This is dereliction of duty,” his mother said, whooping. “Merry Christmas to me. Wait until your father hears.”
Dad would go off on a fearsome rant of wooden staff and brimstone. It would prove epic, and probably end up on Hell Tube.
Adexios couldn’t wait. Just like he couldn’t wait to get back to his place. It thankfully wasn’t far, and Valaska didn’t mind running.
“Impatient?” she teased before she swung up the stairs to his place, giving him a nice view of her ass in those tiny gym shorts she’d grabbed earlier.
He couldn’t wait to shed the shorts caught between his cheeks in a major ass-wedgie. Hot pink was not his color. Although he did kind of like the T-shirt. But no self-respecting man would wear just a T-shirt to bed. Not even a geek. It was wrong. Just plain wrong. And that went for socks too.
Reaching his apartment, Valaska looked at the shut door, pulled a foot back, and kicked.
The door popped open before Adexios could say, “Um, I don’t keep it locked.”
Mostly because he didn’t have that much to steal. He tended to bank the coins he made ferrying souls. He had a fortune sitting in the Goblin’s Credit Union.
But Valaska didn’t care if he was rich. Or buff.
She just likes me, for me.
Liked with a fierce passion.
Clothing was shredded in their haste to strip.
He’d no sooner let air kiss his naked body than he found himself hitting the bed hard, but not bouncing, as Valaska followed with a pounce.
Their lips met in a clash of teeth and lips. Hot, panting breaths merged as they let loose the passion that constantly simmered between them.
The feel of her naked body against him proved electric. All that skin…
He let his mouth travel the length of her jaw, teasing his way down her neck. He grabbed her by the upper arms, intent on flipping them that he might explore further, but she broke free of his hold.
“Oh, no you don’t, Dex. I do believe I lost a wager.”
“What wager?”
He sucked in a breath as she reminded him, the fiery feel of her lips nipping and sucking their way down his chest, a tease on the way to her destination.
The headboard provided a perfect place to grip, and he grabbed it just in time, holding on for dear life—and control—as her mouth stopped, poised over the tip of him.
She gave no warning. No foreplay. Nothing.
Just placed her mouth over the head of his cock and swooped down his length, engulfing him in sweet, wet bliss.
“Fuck!” The word expelled from his lips as his hips jerked upwards, ramming his shaft deep into her mouth.
But she took it.
Every inch.
And then she slid back, leaving him wet, aching.
A gasp left him as she flicked the tip with her tongue. He also groaned as she nipped him with her teeth.
Tightly, she suctioned, pulling and sucking and sliding and driving him to the brink.
Then stopping.
He almost cried. He did protest. “Don’t stop.”
Opening his eyes, he saw her gazing down at him, her eyes bright and her grin wicked. “I’ve got this covered.”
Oh, how she did. She slammed her sex down onto him without mercy. His cock impaled her slick heat, and the headboard creaked as he gripped it with all his strength.
Moist heat pulsed around him. He pulsed within her.
Leaning forward, her lips brushed his as she began to rotate her hips. Grinding herself against him, driving him in so deep.
“Faster,” he ordered.
She slowed down, teasing him with a slow pump and swirl.
“Brat,” he growled against her lips before nipping the lower one.
“What are you going to do about it?” was her husky taunt back.
“Challenge accepted.” Dex flipped them, his powerful arms, and even stronger legs, propelling them so that she lay flat on her back, with him solidly buried in her.
He teased her. Dragging his cock from her sex slowly then ramming it back in. Out, a slow sensual pull. Thrust.
With each stroke, she cried out, and her body tightened, just as he felt his own pleasure coiling.
The exquisite torture saw him pumping faster. Faster. Her fingers clawed at his back. His sac pulled taut. They both reached that climactic edge, and together, they jumped.
He yelled. She yelled. They both came with a fierceness that didn’t just shake them both; it collapsed the bed.
The mishap was met with applause. “I dare say, bravo. Points for gusto.”
Being caught, ass still clenched, his hips thrust forward in one last push, was only part of the reason for the ruddy heat in Dex’s cheeks.
He was more annoyed he didn’t get his afterglow. “Do you mind?” Adexios snapped. “I was kind of in the middle of something. Get out.”
“While you are definitely in something, you are both done. As to ordering me to leave, I have to say, I appreciate the disrespect. It makes a boss feel good to know that you’re working your minions hard enough they’re whining.”
“I don’t whine. I debate.”
“Just as bad.” Lucifer smiled, yet it never quite reached his eyes on account those were molten swirling pits with fire. “Enough chitchat. I’m a busy devil today what with uprisings to put down, wenches to rescue, and submarines to confiscate. I don’t have time to judge a repeat performance. So do us both a favor and just tell me what happened inside the hut.”
“I thought you were all seeing.”
“That’s my brother. Me, I have a life, and I prefer not to spend it in front of the monitoring screens for Hell. A man can only watch so much sin and fornication before he tires of it. I am a man of action.” Lucifer posed, a pose somewhat ruined by his mussed hair, unbuttoned jacket, and the hickeys on his neck.
“If I tell you what happened, will you go away?”
“Yes.”
“Are you lying?”
“Yes.”
“Are you just going to reply yes to anything I say in the hopes of getting caught in a lie?”
Lucifer beamed as he slicked his hair back with his hand. “Yes. Now, if you’re done asking questions, it’s my turn. What did you find inside the hut?”
Adexios quickly relayed their discovery of the portal devices, and the mysterious figure they’d chased but lost.
“Excellent work.” The devil slapped his thigh. “So a mysterious force is conniving against me. They have access to incredible technology and toys that I want!” He breathed a bit of smoke from the nose. “I need to do something about this.”
Given the devil would only leave when he was good and ready, Dex didn’t see any reason to not tell him his theory. “I have a feeling that volcano island might not have been the only lair.”
“You think they have a secret hideaway in Hell? No. No. No. That won’t do at all. This is my dirty pit, and I am not sharing.” Lucifer growled, pivoting on a bare foot that Adexios just noticed. “I need to mount a hunt.”
“If you’re going to look anywhere, then start past the shores of the ninth circle and farther even to the edge of the Darkling and Wildling Seas.”
“Send some explorers out into uncertainty, adventure, and possible death? What crazy person will volunteer for that?”
“I’m in.” Was Adexios as surprised as anyone else that he said it?
Lucifer’s brows rose high. “Did you just volunteer to go on a dangerous sea mission?”
“My Dex sure did.” Valaska beamed at him, not at all bothered she was lying beneath him naked, the dew of passion still glistening on her skin. “And I’m going with him.”
“But how will I explain it to his mother?”
*
A week or so later, on the
S.S. Loveshack
, named to horrify Adexios’ mom—and the best Mother’s Day present ever, according to her.
Dex saw the eyeball first, blinking at him within the waves. He clutched his oar tight. “Don’t you fucking dare,” he growled. “This oar is mine!”
The eyeball emerged on a stalk and was soon joined by a half-dozen others. These weren’t friends like Sweet. This bunch of sea monsters liked to toy with him.
Probably because he deliberately antagonized them, but with good reason.
The monster feinted at the oar. Adexios managed a quick twist to keep it out of reach. However, the waters were getting rough, so he pulled the paddle out of the water and held it across his chest. “You are not getting it,” he said with a huge smirk.
The monster blinked at the taunt. He could see it asking, “
What are you going to do to stop me?”
Do? Why, sic his brat after them. “Valaska, I need you. There’s another one of those monsters trying to steal my paddle.”
Some might claim he’d never earn mancard points for calling upon a woman to deal with a misbehaving sea monster. Those idiots had never seen his woman in a bikini. He should elaborate. It was a string bikini, and Valaska rocked it.
From the other end of the long boat, she darted toward him, stripping her short toga robe on the way. Slim, muscular perfection.
Shudder.
He never tired of seeing it.
Because of his need to have her by his side, even at work, the Ferryman’s Association had to mint a new title and position—Ferryman’s Exalted Huntress. This abuse of power allowed Adexios to bring a woman on board as part of the crew, a move that had many screaming about nepotism—a sin that earned him tickets to the Grand ol’ Screamer, currently featuring Hell’s most damned singing their repentance.