CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Tracking the roar, Viper looked to see the queen shrugging through the strix circling her. Apparently, she'd finally conceded to herself that he wouldn't take the bait.

A bloodthirsty glee curving its mouth, his entity snaked closer to the surface, not wanting to miss a single detail of the pain she was about to endure.

Pinning Viper with a baleful glare, she contracted her fingers like claws. "This ends now." She bent her legs slightly and leaped toward him.

His eyes on her rapidly descending body, he pelted her with a hail of ultraviolet orbs that knocked her balance and fucked up her trajectory, sending her sailing slightly to the left.

She landed awkwardly and rolled once, tumbling into a bed of overgrown grass.

He could have taken her out with a mere archangelic blast, could have ended it right there. But no—he was gonna make this bitch suffer.

Viper waited for her to get to her feet and then launched several orbs of unholy fire her way. Two she dodged. The third caught her hip while the fourth smacked the side of her face, burning it badly.

She hissed her rage, squeezing one eye shut. "Bastard." She sprinted at him, fingers contracted again.

He telekinetically punched her blistering cheek, making her head whip to the side and her pace falter.

Those red eyes once more lasering in on him, she conjured a ball of flames. A ball that winked out of sight as her shoulder flinched, clipped by a golden orb of holy fire that brought with it the scent of clean rain. The smell swept through the air, cleansing it of other scents such as acid, blood, and Sulphur.

More golden orbs sailed her way, all coming from up above. Dodging most, she leaped onto a small shed and then launched herself at Viper.

He moved back, but didn't manage to get fully out of her reach. Nails caught his shoulder, carving deep grooves, as she swiped out her arm. His entity snarled at her triumphant laugh.

Viper went to hurl an orb but— too slow . She shifted into mist before he had the chance.

The clump of mist darted backwards, evading—

A biting cold wind gusted down and sent the mist whooshing and twisting and rolling. A wind he knew had come from a hard flap of Larkin's wings.

The queen shifted again as she landed hard on the ash-laden gravel road, grimacing as the stuff stuck to her. To add insult to injury, a vine wacked her right over the head, making his entity snicker.

"You're not looking too good over there," he taunted.

Her eyes boring into him, she bolted upright, and lashed out with a whip of black fire that looped around his calf. Before he knew it, he'd been yanked off his feet and was skidding along the ground toward her. Fuck.

Viper slammed the badly burned side of her face with an ultraviolet orb, coming to an abrupt halt as the whip disintegrated and she cried out in pained fury.

She scampered behind a pile of debris, taking cover. A garden gnome came flying at his head. Then a flower pot. Then a tire.

Three hellfire orbs dropped down on the queen's head. Larkin again.

While the queen screeched up at the harpy, distracted, he telekinetically scooped the strix up and threw her aside, sending her colliding into a mobile home.

Again and again he telekinetically picked her up and tossed her around. First into a power pole, then a mailbox, then the garbage pile, then an old tarp-covered truck. On and on it went, until she was panting and bleeding and swaying.

Just as she weakly climbed her way off a clump of tires, he telekinetically hefted up a ladder and tossed it like a frisbee. It smacked into her hard, sending her crashing backwards into one of her brethren.

With an angry roar that held a tinge of humiliation, she again struggled to her feet … at which point he telekinetically scooped her up, shoved her up high and then dropped her down so hard on a trailer roof she went right through it.

He heard coughs. Curses. An enraged hiss. Then a swirl of molecules zoomed through the broken roof and rushed at Viper, reshaping themselves fast. The queen snarled and lunged at him. He reared back to avoid a swipe of razor-sharp nails and slipped on loose gravel.

She took advantage, pouncing on him. He hit the ground hard, her atop him. He snapped his hand around her wrist when she went to dig her long nails right into his throat.

She bared her teeth. "I will kill—"

Viper wacked her temple with a telekinetic punch, dazing her, just before a vine snagged her by the neck and dragged her away from him.

He fluidly rose to his feet, watching as the long, thick vine curled around her like an anaconda, pinning her limbs to her sides. It bashed her against the gravel road again and again and again.

Working alongside Ella's magick, he hit the queen's head with one orb of unholy fire after another, until her face was a mass of blisters, burns, black patches, and broken teeth.

A defeated rage blotting her gaze, the queen curled back her split upper lip as she glared at him, her breathing labored, her eyes bloodshot.

Viper gave her a reprimanding look. "You would have been better off not challenging my club."

She flashed him one chipped fang. "You would have hunted us anyway."

"True. But your death wouldn't have been half so painful if you hadn't turned your attention to my mate." He picked up a piece of an old metal antenna and used it to slice his palm.

She frowned. "What are you doing?"

Viper looked at Dice, who waited on his left. "Pry her jaw open."

The VP obliged, ignoring her efforts to avoid his hands.

Viper smiled at her. "Enjoy." He hung his injured palm above her mouth and let a few drops of his blood hit her tongue. Then he and Dice stood back and watched as her eyes widened, her mouth fell open in a silent scream, and she died in a sheer and delightful agony that made his entity feel all warm and fuzzy.

Uriel's psyche bumped his. So it's true , he telepathically said to Viper. When one of the Seven falls, they become a deadly sin and their blood turns acidic.

Viper looked over to see that all six archangels stood off to the side. Yeah, it's true.

And yet, you have no regrets?

Not one. "If you've come here for her—"

"We have not," Raphael assured him. "I still wish you had made a different choice, but I understand why you did not."

Raguel nodded. "We shouldn't have interfered."

"She is really pregnant?" asked Gabriel, tilting his head to the side.

Viper tensed. "Yes."

Azrael's lips thinned. "You know the Uppers will never allow the child to live."

"It's half demon," Viper pointed out. "So unless they want a war on their hands, they'll have to just let it go. The demon world will already be tremendously pissed when they hear that celestials targeted their own. If the Uppers want to make that worse, they can go ahead and do so. But then whether or not my child lives will be the least of their worries."

The six archangels exchanged looks.

"If I were them, I'd pull all Earth-bound angels back to the upper realm. You wouldn't want them getting hurt in lieu of the celestials who can't be reached so easily."

Jester sidled up to Viper, his gaze on the archangels. "Why did you fight at our side?"

Michael sighed. "We owed Samael. And whether he still considers us family or not, we still consider him family." He looked at Viper. "We will leave now. I would advise you to keep a close watch on the woman you claimed. You make a good point that the Uppers will hesitate in going after a child who is half demon, but the key word is ‘hesitate'."

"Perhaps they will leave it be, but likely not forever," said Raphael. "It could be years from now, even decades, but I would imagine they will eventually come for it."

"They'll die if they do—as will anyone else who thinks to harm my child."

"I believe you," said Michael. "Take care, Samael."

Viper gave a curt nod. "Same to all of you." His entity only stared at them blankly, still considering them the worst kind of traitors—their roundabout apologies meant nothing to it.

After they'd teleported away, he scanned his surroundings. His brothers had gathered around. They looked a little fatigued, but mostly amped up. The vines still writhed around in search of strix—reminding him that he'd need to bring Ella here in a moment.

The hellhorses had shifted back to their normal form and were pulling on jeans, their hounds at their sides; their ravens lazily circling their heads. Among the clan stood Larkin, who—no, scratch that. It wasn't Larkin behind the wheel. Her eyes were pure black, signaling that her inner demon had taken over.

That black gaze roamed over Viper's face, blank. "I like the shape of your skull."

Whipping up an arm, Teague crossed to the demon. "Uh, no, just no."

It gave him innocent eyes. "I did not say I would take his head—"

"You were considering it," Teague accused.

"But behold his bone structure, it is—"

"I said no."

Tucker smiled at her demon. "Let's not forget that Viper's unlikely to let you behead him."

The entity slid him a haughty look. "Quiet, small man."

At that, Saxon bust a gut laughing.

Flushing, Tucker burst out, "I'm not short."

Snuggling against Viper's naked front as they lay on their sides on the bed, Ella listened as he relayed the entire battle to her. He'd given her a bullet point version while they were at the trailer park when she destroyed the magickal vines, and he'd expanded a little while they showered afterward. But she wanted more deets. Her demon listened eagerly, hungry for every detail.

Relief had left her weak in the knees when he earlier teleported back to the clubhouse, alive and well. She'd had every confidence in his ability to protect and defend, but still she'd feared that something would go wrong; that he wouldn't return; that more Uppers might arrive or that the six archangels might turn on him.

Both she and her demon had hated not having his back during battle. But they had understood why he'd wished for Ella to remain at the clubhouse. And, honestly, it was for the best that she had. Neither her pride nor her craving for vengeance were anywhere near as important as ensuring the safety of her child. Even her demon conceded that.

Joe hadn't woken until after Mia took him home. Remembering all he'd done, finally understanding how he'd been manipulated by Ophaniel, the guy was devastated and had apologized profusely. Which hopefully meant he was done being a jerk.

As Viper right then fell silent, Ella blew out a breath. "I have to admit, it delights both me and my demon to hear that the queen suffered like that. It's just a shame that the deaths of Ophaniel, Maxine, and Freddie were so quick. They deserved worse."

He wove his fingers through her hair. "Agreed."

"Knox is going to be pissed when he learns about Maxine's family business. Every relative she has who's part of it will meet a real sticky end. As for the rest of them, they'll never be fully trusted by their lair regardless."

"Your aunt will probably feel guilty for allowing Maxine to befriend her. Be prepared for that." He paused, drawing his teeth over his bottom lip. "A part of me feels responsible for what the rest of the Seven did to you in your past life; feels that I shouldn't have trusted them to not come for you."

Ella felt her brow furrow. "It wasn't your fault."

"I know that. I'm just saying that emotions aren't always rational."

No, they weren't. And neither were her family, which was why … "I don't look forward to telling my mom, Jocelyn, and Luka about the battle. But I can't really hide it, since Joe knows."

Thankfully, having been unconscious, Joe hadn't actually heard any of what Ophaniel revealed. Viper would have otherwise stolen the memories from Joe's head.

"They'll be upset, but they'll be mostly relieved that you're safe and well," Viper assured her, dragging his fingers down her spine. "Their anger will be mainly directed at the Uppers, not so much me and my brothers. To wish that you hadn't gotten involved with me would be to wish away Peanut's existence—they'll never do that."

"Speaking of Peanut … I was not expecting the shield."

A slight shrug. "Archangels can create shields and containment forcefields."

"Even in the womb?"

"Oh, yeah. My mother once told me a story of how I didn't like people touching her swollen belly all the time, so I put a containment field around us that lasted quite a few hours."

Whoa. "Peanut's power display won't have caused it any harm, will it?"

"No," he instantly swore. "Peanut will sleep awhile but be fine."

She let out a relieved breath. "We'll soon have to tell everyone about the pregnancy. More celestials could come." Her demon's eyes narrowed at the thought.

"Or they'll listen to the point I made to the archangels earlier and leave Peanut alone to avoid a war."

"One can but hope." She idly doodled patterns along his collarbone. "I know the archangels helped you, but do you think their words were genuine?"

"Yes. I think they came to realize that, since I'd fallen anyway, their actions toward you were pointless. All they'd done was delay my fall, and in the process they'd betrayed me. They don't feel good about it."

"So you don't think they'd come for the baby? Even if the Uppers requested it of them?"

"If the Uppers had trusted that any of the six would harm me or mine, they would have sent them after us. They didn't."

True enough. "I noticed that Ophaniel and the six archangels have wings. Did you ever have any?"

"Who says I don't anymore?"

She blinked. "Well, I would think they were visible, and I don't see any."

"An archangel's wings can be ‘tucked away', as we call it."

"So you can still call on them?"

He smoothed his hand up her back. "Yes."

"Can I see them?"

He twisted his mouth and then teleported to the side of the bed, his back to her.

Propping herself up on one elbow, Ella watched as a set of glowing-white wings appeared out of nowhere. He fanned them out and, damn , he had one hell of a wingspan. "Oh, wow. Do you ever fly?"

Tucking them away again, he teleported back to the bed and was once more lying on his side next to her. "Can't."

"You can't?"

"It's part of the curse. You get to keep your wings, but they won't work."

Grimacing, she leaned into him, resting a hand on his chest. "That sucks. I hate that curse so much."

He trailed a fingertip down the side of her face. "I'd rather have you than a pair of damn wings."

Maybe, but it didn't alter the fact that … "You gave up a lot for me."

"I was drowning, Ella. Drowning in darkness. You pulled me out of it. There's nothing I wouldn't have given up to be with you."

Oh, there he went hitting her in the feels again. "I love you."

His face went all soft and warm. "I love you, too, baby. More than you'll ever know."