The Darkest Torment. Gena Showalter

what?

      Right now? You. Leave the girl or kill her. Your choice.

      There was one other option. Baden narrowed his focus on his chosen bedmate. “I won’t be spanking you, only fucking you. Strip, and bend over the bed facedown,” he repeated. “Please, and thank you.”

      Destruction hissed.

      “For you, gorgeous, I’ll do anything.” She unhooked her bra and shimmied out of the matching underwear. Both garments floated to the floor. As she moved, the ring she wore glinted, the multicolored stone catching in the light.

      Bang, bang, bang. The beast kicked Baden’s chest with so much force, the impact mimicked a heartbeat. Can you not see the danger right in front of you?

      The girl had no concept of his inner turmoil and slowly pivoted, revealing her backside. She bent over the mattress, as requested, and spread her legs to present him with a view he’d missed all these centuries.

      “Just so you know, I can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.” She looked over her shoulder, her smile returning. “Show me your worst.”

      She wouldn’t survive his worst.

      Destruction banged harder, hissed louder. Kill her before she kills us.

      “No,” he said through gritted teeth.

      “No?” she asked, incredulous. She gave her ass a firm slap, leaving a red palm print. “You’re going to walk away from this?”

      Jaw clenched, he replied, “I will have you.” And I will silence the beast.

      Relief bathed her features as he moved behind her. As he fought the impulses of his companion, sweat poured from him. Soon his clothes were sticking to his too-sensitive skin.

      Destruction grew even more frenzied. She’s the enemy. See! Know!

      All I see is a one-way ticket to paradise. It was time to nut up or shut up. No matter how agonizing. Risk...reward. Baden left his dampened shirt in place and merely unzipped his pants.

      She continued to watch him over her shoulder, unabashed. “You really are beautiful, you know.”

      “Only on the outside.”

      “Even better.”

      He wished he had experience with modern women. Did they actually like assholes?

      In four thousand years, the only other female he’d interacted with was Pandora, and she’d constantly tried to kill him. Now she was out in the wild, tangible because she, too, wore a pair of serpentine wreaths. She’d staked out the fortress and managed to sneak past security to ambush him. Twice! In both instances, they’d nearly killed each other.

      Was she dealing with her own version of Destruction?

      Fool! Already you’re distracted. Without me you’ll become a walking target.

      Hell, no. A lie from a desperate creature. Baden withdrew a condom from his pocket, not trusting the ones in the drawer. As he ripped the foil packet with his teeth, a strange red glow bathed the room. He palmed a dagger, looking around, Destruction suddenly—strangely—calm.

      The girl twisted to brace her weight on her elbows and face him fully. She gaped at him. “Your arms.”

      He glanced down and frowned. The wreaths were no longer black but crimson, and the brighter they glowed the more they singed his skin, little black rivers branching from underneath them, reminding him of the cracks in the foundation of his life—and his sanity.

      What the hell was going on? He zipped up his pants, intending to find William.

      His companion released a heavy sigh. “No wonder he wants you dead.” With no other warning, she swung her fist at him.

      Instincts honed on the bloodiest of battlefields spurred him into motion even before his mind processed what was happening. He caught her wrist before contact and twisted her arm behind her back, effectively pinning her down.

      Now kill her, Destruction said. Make her a cautionary tale for all who think to harm us.

      He would...not. “You said he wants me dead.” The words were snarled. “Who is he?” William?

      “Let me go!” She kicked at him to no avail. “It was nothing personal, okay? Not on my part. I only wanted the money.” She beat her free hand into the mattress. “I should have stuck to the plan and waited until you were weak from orgasm.”

      He wrenched her arm higher, and she shrieked in misery. The ring caught his attention. The stone had been discarded, revealing the needle underneath. She’d intended to poison him?

      Cautionary tale...

      Enemies had to die. Always.

      “William!” he bellowed, though he needn’t have bothered.

      The bedroom door burst open. William stomped inside, his narrowed gaze landing on the blonde. “Mistake, nymph. I would have been good to you.” Blood drenched him. “Now you’ll only experience my worst.”

      Tremors of fear rocked her.

      “She said he wants me dead,” Baden informed the warrior.

      A muscle ticked below his eye. “He. Lucifer. And don’t you dare refer to the male as my brother. I’ll never claim him.”

      Baden should have guessed. Lucifer was power-hungry. Greedy. An unrepentant rapist. A killer of innocents. The father of lies. There was no line he wouldn’t cross. No foul deed he wouldn’t commit against men, women and even children.

      William motioned to Baden’s glowing bands with a tilt of his chin. “Prepare yourself. Soon you’re going to face—”

      Baden was yanked through an invisible black hole...only to crash-land on the other side. He oriented his mind as a massive ballroom came into view. Tendrils of smoke wafted from multiple bonfires, hazing the air as they curled toward a domed ceiling made entirely of flame. There were only two exits. The one in back, manned by giants, and the one in front, manned by even bigger giants.

      A grandiose throne made from bronzed human skulls consumed the center of a long dais, and on that throne sat Hades himself. He was a large man, similar in size to Baden, with inky hair and eyes so black they had no beginning or end. He wore a pin-striped suit and Italian loafers, the elegance at odds with the stars tattooed on each of his knuckles.

      Urbane and yet uncivilized, Hades spread his arms. “Welcome to my humble abode. Love it before you hate it.”

      Baden ignored the nonsensical greeting. He’d interacted with the king only once before, when the male gifted him with the wreaths and freed him from Lucifer’s prison. “Why am I here?” The glow faded from the bands, the metal cooling, becoming dull and dark once again. Better question: “How am I here?”

      Hades smiled slowly, smugly. “Thanks to the wreaths, I’m your master, and you are my slave. I called, you came.”

      Baden fought the urge to attack. “You lie.” He was slave to no one, not even the king. The beast, however...might be. Realization stabbed him, and suddenly only one question mattered. “Who is Destruction?”

      The king was an expert strategist and donned a blank mask. “Perhaps a man I cursed. Perhaps a being I created.” His fingers formed a steeple in front of his mouth. “The only thing you need to know? He will always choose me over you.”

      The beast offered no response, a fact as annoying as it was baffling.

      “I will fight his compulsion to obey you,” Baden vowed.

      Hades winced with something akin to pity. “When I summon you again, you will come. When I give an order, you will obey. Let’s have a good old-fashioned demonstration, shall we?” He lifted his chin, the picture of a male who’d never known uncertainty. “Kneel.”

      Baden’s knees slammed into the floor with so much force