Chapter 2

Chapter Two

RELIC

Warrick’s phone chimed, and our alpha frowned down at the screen.

“What’s going on?”

“Lucifer.” Warrick glanced up, running a hand down his beard. “He wants to meet, says he’ll come to us.”

That wasn’t normal. Lucifer didn’t leave Hell often, not after his son had locked him out a while back, trying to overthrow him.

“I’ll contact Maddox. He might know what this is about,” Warrick said.

Maddox commanded our brothers in Hell for our alpha. War made regular visits, keeping an eye on things, but we’d left in Lucifer’s absence, refusing to serve his twisted son. After spending my entire life in Hell, it turned out I liked it up here a whole lot more, and so did my brothers. War had made a deal with the king of Hell; some new hounds were created, and we’d hung around, training them up so there were enough of us to keep the demons there under control. Now, we took shifts, ensuring we always had several of us older hounds in Hell to make sure nothing went tits up below ground.

I planted my hands on my hips. “He say when he’s coming?”

“Tonight,” War said, still frowning.

Jagger, Warrick’s lieutenant, leaned against the wall. “I’ll make sure everyone’s here and spread the word that the clubhouse is off-limits to everyone else.”

I grabbed my phone when it vibrated in my pocket. A text from Zinnia. The witch was a good friend and family since she was cousin to Warrick’s mate, Willow.

Zinny: Hey, so I need to swing by the demon part of town and wondered if you wanted to tag along.

No fucking way would I let her go to Seventh Circle on her own. It wasn’t safe for any female, especially a witch.

Relic: When?

Zinny: Now, if you’re free?

Relic: I’ll text when I’m there.

Zinny: Awesome, thanks.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket, striding out of the clubhouse and to the line of bikes parked just outside.

We’d been living in Linville, just out of Roxburgh, New York, for long enough that the locals had gotten used to us. The people here thought we were a human motorcycle club, and that suited us just fine. They mainly gave us a wide berth, and we were free to live the way we wanted.

Swinging my leg over my bike, I kicked up the stand and started the engine. It roared to life, vibrating through my chest and echoing around the parking lot. Riding was nowhere near as good as going hound and running free, but it was a pretty close fucking second. I quickly tied my hair out of the way, walked my bike back, and opened her up, speeding out onto the street.

It took thirty minutes to reach the city. I parked and fired off a text to Zinnia, telling her where I was. Humans naturally avoided Seventh Circle. It was swarming with demons, and their flight instincts tended to keep them away without any extra help.

Ten minutes later, Zinny was striding down the street. The witch was beautiful, tough, loyal, and currently dealing with some seriously fucked-up shit. So, if she needed me, I was there.

Hounds had limited emotions, yes—some of us more than others—but when it came to females, we all had the same endless protective streak, probably because all hellhounds were male.

“Just couldn’t stay away from me?” I said to her when she stopped in front of me.

Her familiar—a tiny rat named Hemlock—poked his head out of her bag, and I gave him a scratch.

Zinny snorted. “You wish.”

“You have no idea. But since sex is off the table, I’m happy to display my superior fighting abilities and protect a damsel in distress.”

“I’m not a damsel.”

No, she wasn’t. She’d proven herself a warrior time and again.

Instead of agreeing though, I planted a hand on top of her head and mussed her hair. “Whatever you say, princess.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’ve been going to Willow’s movie nights, huh?”

I laughed. She was perceptive. “Of course. Can’t you see how evolved I’ve become? My emotional education is coming along nicely. I’m almost like a real boy. ”

Humor came more naturally to me than my brothers, but they’d been learning since we’d left Hell. Lucifer gave us the ability to understand emotions, but having them ourselves wasn’t necessary. Tender emotions were considered a hindrance. And because most hounds were created full-grown, we didn’t have the same familial connections as some beings.

“So, what are we doing here?”

“I need some ingredients for a job I’m doing today.” She quickly looked away, avoiding making eye contact.

Yeah, she was full of shit and up to something. I could literally smell the lies.

Still, it fucking pleased me that she recognized my strength and that I was her first choice when she required protection, even if she wasn’t ready to share what this was really about. Lucifer had given us a deeper knowledge of loyalty—along with anger and lust—and I was glad she not only saw that loyalty, but also accepted it from me.

I scanned our surroundings while we walked and talked. The demons on the street looked our way as we passed, but as soon as they got an eyeful of me, they quickly turned away.

Not surprising since, the only demons allowed to live openly in this part of the city had to be able to pass as human, and they also needed to know how to follow rules. If not, either the knights of Hell would take care of them, or the hounds would collect them and drag their asses below ground to answer to Lucifer and receive punishment for their crimes.

“Just up here.” Zinnia motioned to a store ahead.

Malicious Brew was painted on a sign above the door. I strode in and was instantly assaulted by so many different scents that my fucking skull was buzzing. I snarled, shaking my head, my beast rearing up inside me, as I scanned the room, then tilted back my head, forcing myself to scent the air.

“This shit is burning my fucking nostrils.” A growl built in my chest as a sensation I didn’t recognize rolled through me and had me curling my fingers into tight fists. “I don’t like this, Zinny. It’s too much. I can’t smell anything else. No nose, no idea what the fuck’s coming …”

A beaded curtain hung at the back of the shop, and I braced as it was drawn back.

A tiny female walked out, and I narrowed my eyes at her, wrestling control of the beast as it fucking leaped forward.

Demon.

She was short as fuck, curves for days, and had wavy blood-red hair that reached her round ass. Her face was humanoid but reminded me of a pixie or one of the fae with that upturned nose and those full pink lips.

She stopped abruptly. Her yellow-green eyes landed on me, and they widened. Her gaze shot to the Devil Dogs MC patch on my leather vest.

“I didn’t do anything,” she said. “Whatever they told you, I’m innocent.” She lifted her hands, backing up like she was ready to bolt. “I didn’t do anything. Don’t take me away, please … don’t …”

“Not here to take you to Hell, demon,” I said before she took off, and Zinnia was left empty-handed. “So, slow your roll and take a fucking breath.”

She blinked those wide eyes up at me. “You’re not?”

“Nope.” I subtly sniffed. There was something familiar in the air, but it was hard to place with all the other scents saturating the room.

“He’s just keeping me company,” Zinnia said quickly, obviously afraid the little demon would take off as well. “I’m here for a couple of ingredients—that’s all.”

The demon’s alarmed expression changed, and she scowled. “What the fuck is wrong with you, witch? You brought a freaking hellhound into my shop? I almost pissed myself.” She turned her scowl on me. “And you should know better.” She shook her head. “Hounds, man. Meatheads, the lot of you.”

My head jerked back at all that attitude and fire she was throwing at me. “What did you call me, demon?”

“You heard me.” She straightened, puffing up like a feisty little gerbil. “Lucifer didn’t send you for me. You can’t do shit, so save the intimidation bullshit for the next demon you drag to Hell.”

“Well, this has gotten off to a great start,” Zinnia said.

I ignored her and strode up to the ballsy female, still scowling at me. She tried to step back, but I grabbed her arm, stopping her retreat while she squirmed, trying to pull away. The familiar scent was stronger now that I was closer to her. I dipped lower and scented her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, mutt?” she yelled and flashed a set of fangs. They didn’t look like vampire, not really, but I still couldn’t place the demon breed. “Let me go.”

There was something else there. The demon blood was strong. She was an immortal—I could smell it on her. So, yeah, definitely demon dominant.

“You’re not just demon.” I scented her again.

Her fight stopped instantly, and she blinked up at me. “How do you know that?”

“I can smell it.” I curled my lips into a smirk. “Can’t quite make out what else you are, but looking at you, I’d say a gremlin or maybe a troll.”

She shrieked and slammed her knee up, aiming for my nuts, but was too short to get anywhere near them.

Zinnia said something, but I didn’t hear her because all my focus was on the squirming demon in front of me.

“Meathead,” she muttered again while she tapped her pink-tipped fingers against her thigh, one after the other, over and over again.

I wasn’t quite ready to let her go for some reason. “You couldn’t handle my meathead, gremlin.” I flashed my fangs, enjoying myself.

“So, do you have any white snakeroot?” Zinny asked.

“You do realize that gremlins don’t actually exist? They’re a myth,” the demon said.

She pressed her hand against my chest and shoved. Something sizzled through me, lifting the hair on my arms and on the back of my neck.

“It’s pretty cringe that you don’t know that,” she added.

She shoved again, but I didn’t budge. No, I still wasn’t ready to back up just yet—I was enjoying myself too much—but I did release her.

I tilted my head to the side. “You have a very smart mouth for someone so small and annoying.”

Images filled my mind with all the ways I could occupy that smart, pouty mouth of hers.

“And you have a giant head and ridiculous … muscles.” She flushed. “You look like a deformed Sasquatch.”

She thought I was strong. The demon was admiring my muscles. I didn’t know why, but I liked that.

“Now, I’m embarrassed for you, Gremmy , if we’re talking about things that don’t exist,” I said, teasing her. Some females liked being teased, and I found I wanted to see those pretty eyes light with pleasure.

“Don’t call me Gremmy,” she fired at me, her pretty fingers still tapping against the side of her thigh.

“But it suits you”—I flashed her a grin, the one I knew females liked—“Gremmy.”

The demon crossed her arms, bristling. Cute.

“Leave,” she said, her unusual peridot-colored eyes darting around the room.

“I don’t think so.”

How was it that I was enjoying this interaction more than the one I’d had two nights ago, in the office of the Hellfire, when a female eagerly sucked my dick?

She looked down, her thick lashes fluttering rapidly, and then she drew in a breath through clenched teeth and looked back up. “I want you to leave, you giant pain in the ass,” she fired at me. “I want you to leave my shop now.”

I wanted to tweak that upturned nose. “If I were in your ass, Gremmy, I promise it would only hurt for a minute, and then I’d make it feel real good.”

She hissed, and my abs clenched. Those little fangs were doing things to me.

“Okay,” Zinny said. “If you could just get the ingredients I need, we’ll leave. Right, Relic?”

I winked down at the pissed-off demon in front of me. “Sure.”

She spun away, and I had to force myself to stay put and not grab her and pull her back or follow her as she rushed down one of the aisles crowded with ingredients.

She snatched something off the end, then strode up to Zinnia and shoved it into her hand. “Now, leave.”

Zinnia took money from her pocket. “I need to pay you.”

“I don’t care, just leave,” the demon said.

Zinny dropped a wad of cash on the counter, then grabbed my arm and tried to push me from the store. For some fucked-up reason, I was reluctant to leave, but she was persistent, so I let her have her way.

The sound of the bolt being thrown came as soon as we walked out. The demon stood behind the glass and quickly flipped the Open sign to Closed before she disappeared into the back of her store.

“What the hell was that ?” Zinnia said when we started walking.

“What?” I was still grinning. No, I hadn’t enjoyed myself like that in a very long time.

“You terrified that female, then sexually harassed her,” Zinny said.

The fuck? I stopped in my tracks and stared down at her. “No, I didn’t. That’s not what happened.”

“I’ve never heard you speak to a female that way.”

She couldn’t be serious?

I glanced back at the shop, then at Zinny. “No … she wasn’t afraid. She was—”

“She was shaking. You’re a hellhound, and she’s a demon. She was trying to hide it, but she was terrified. I thought she was actually going to cry for a moment.”

Nausea slammed into my gut.

“Cry?” My voice was like sandpaper. “No …” I looked back at the shop. “No,” I repeated, not wanting to believe it.

“Yes,” she said.

“Fuck.” That would not fucking do. No fucking way.

I started back toward the shop, but Zinny grabbed my arm, stopping me.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t make females cry. I don’t scare them, and I don’t”—the sick feeling in my gut increased—“sexually harass them.”

“Going back there now will only make it worse. She wants you gone, and you need to respect that,” Zinnia said.

She was serious. I’d known her a long time, and I knew what that looked like. I might be a little more evolved than the hounds that had come before me, but I wasn’t that fucking evolved. If Zinnia said I’d scared the little demon, I’d fucking scared her.

“Fuck,” I said again and let her tug me back toward my bike.

We parted ways, and I headed for the clubhouse to await Lucifer, but it was the last place I wanted to go. I wanted to head back to that store and demand that the little female hiding inside not be afraid of me. Which made no fucking sense whatsoever.

You need to stay the fuck away.

I should. But I didn’t think I could.