Damned and Desirable (Eternally Yours Book 2) (9 page)

I pushed her back, gripping her shoulders. “We have to get out, now!”

She shook her head, lips trembling as she spoke. “I’m scared. I can’t swim.”

Without hesitation, I ripped her heavy skirt from her waist and told her to tie up her long hair and remove her boots. I knew the weight of her clothes could mean the difference between life and death. Surprisingly, she followed my orders without argument.

Just then the house tipped, leaning so far to the left, the bed slid across the floor, slamming into the opposite wall. I fell as Katherine tumbled into my arms. The house had been ripped from its foundation. We had seconds before the structure crumbled.

Katherine screamed, digging her nails into my arm, but I shook her away as I would fend off a rabid cat. “Calm yourself!”

The house veered the other direction so that the floor was almost level. I shut our bedroom door and then kicked at the hinges. Once, twice, and it fell just before the roof spilled into the ocean.

I wedged Katherine on the door, pressing my weight on top of her. “Hold on,” I screamed into her ear, “and don’t let go.”

“I don’t want to die, Aedan,” she sobbed. “I haven’t even begun to live.”

My chest tightened, and my heart sank, feeling as if it, too, were drowning. She cared only for herself and her pleasures, no remorse for the lives her folly had destroyed.

“Then pray for mercy, Katherine,” I said in a hoarse whisper, though I knew she couldn’t hear me. The walls cracked wide, and we were thrown into the tempest.

I sat up in bed with a start. I must have drifted off, fatigued after a long day. I smoothed a hand down my face and groaned as I recalled the nightmare that had caused me to wake. I hadn’t dreamt of Katherine in ages. Why now? Why was I thinking of my cursed wife and her sister when they’d been out of my mind for decades?

At least I tried to keep them out of my mind. Maybe they were in my forethoughts. Maybe. But of one thing I was certain, they were both out of my heart, although I doubted Ash would believe it.

I looked at the clock. It was half past nine. Ash usually crawled into bed with me around ten. She wouldn’t share my bed this night, maybe not any other night again. All because I’d called her Mar and then was stupid enough to lie about it.

I could tell by that look in her eyes, like a wounded animal who’d been kicked one too many times, she was contemplating ending our relationship. And how could I blame her? My foolish lie had probably not been my best moment, and I felt like a sack of dirt for my behavior. Why hadn’t I come clean? Why hadn’t I told her about Mar from the start? That she was a woman I’d once loved, whose scorn had driven me away.

But the real question I kept asking myself was why I’d called Ash by my former fiancé’s name. I hadn’t spoken to Mar in over twenty years, not since her last visit ended in harsh words and scarred hearts. Her bitterness toward me vacillated between hurt at me marrying her sister to anger for not saving Katherine from eternal damnation. As if it had been my fault my spoiled, selfish wife was also unfaithful.

I’d tried my best that night to save Katherine. After the floods had come, sweeping our possessions into the torrent, I’d rescued her from our crumbling house and helped her into a sturdy oak. How was I supposed to know every island snake had found sanctuary in that same tree? I had been swept up by debris just after I’d pushed Katherine onto a solid branch.

My last dying thought as the current pushed me under wasn’t for my new bride or my lost love. It had been for my brother. I was crushed that I’d never had the chance to tell my twin all had been forgiven. For though I knew what Callum had done was wrong, I did not have it in me to hate him forever.

Maybe if I had forgiven Callum, God would have, too.

A knock at the door pulled me from my melancholy. Perhaps Ash had come to talk. If so, I would beg her forgiveness and convince her I loved no other. Even though I had yet to profess my love to her, I knew it was time. Back in my day, love came before marriage and certainly before sex. Today things were all turned-around. Well, it was time I turned things back. Ash had to know how much she meant to me. I couldn’t risk losing her.

My shoulders stiffened when I opened the door revealing Boner, the unkempt friend of Ash’s from the Delta Squad with shaggy reddish hair and clothes that looked like they’d been slept in. The only welcome sight was Ash’s canine, Jack, who whimpered by Boner’s side. He was obviously full on cookies and anxious to get back to Ash.

“S-sorry to disturb you, Mr. Grim, sir.” The man shuffled from foot to foot, his cheeks reddening as he stumbled over each word. “But have you seen Ash?”

“She should be in her room,” I said and then proceeded to shut the door.

Jack’s ear-splitting howl made me pause.

I peered through a crack in the door at Boner, the bulging whites of his eyes set in panic mode. “She’s not there, sir.”

I leaned down, stroking Jack on the neck. “What’s wrong, buddy?”

He pranced backward, trying to jerk out of the leash as Boner pulled against him.

“Mr. Grim.” Boner’s voice cracked, and he coughed into his fist. “I don’t know if Ash told you about our psychic Basil, but she had a vision.”

A chill whispered across my spine as I slowly stood, glaring at Boner and waiting for him to finish.

Boner averted his gaze, his cheeks coloring even more. “It was pretty far out there, and I hope it’s not true, but she saw Ash in Hell with Shadow.”

Shards of ice solidified in my veins as I gaped at him. “What?” I asked, but already my mind was racing for a plan, because I’d known this would happen. I’d known it, and fool that I was, I hadn’t done enough to prevent it.

He scratched the back of his neck and half-heartedly shrugged. “We had the day off, but Shadow put our house on lockdown a few hours ago, and then Basil had that vision.”

The sound of uneven heavy boots thudded down the hall, matching the pace of the pounding in my chest. It was the soldier, Sarge, the one who had eyes for Ash. After I’d gone into Ash’s room and saw them pulling apart, I realized she may have eyes for him, too.

Needless to say, I didn’t like him.

The soldier’s neck and spine were rigid, his eyes hard as granite. He sized me up, and I matched his stare with one of my own. Now was not the time for a dog fight, but the pup had to be put in his place.

He broke contact first, as I knew he would. “She’s not in the common room, and the other Alphas haven’t seen her or Shadow in hours.”

Jack strained against his leash, whimpering as he tried to twist out of his collar.

I raced back into my room and grabbed my emergency satchel, the bag I’d packed for if and when Ash ever found herself in trouble.

“Take him off the leash,” I said to Boner.

We followed Jack upstairs to the third floor, where the senior Alphas kept their suites. I had no idea how, but Jack knew what had happened to Ash. I could sense it in the churning in my gut.

We came to a heavy oak door at the end of a long hall. My heart hammered and then heaved like a powerful locomotive coming to a standstill.

I’d studied the Alpha House blueprints and had gone on a detailed tour of the house the first day I moved in. Knowing where to find my team’s leader had been my top priority, though I’d always envisioned myself coming to his door for a different reason. How could I have been so blind?

“Where are we?” Sarge asked.

I ran my tongue across the bridge of my mouth, which had gone drier than dust. “This is Shadow’s room.”

Boner cast a furtive glance over his shoulder before whispering. “That guy gives me the creeps.”

Me, too,
I thought,
and now we know why.

Jack started scratching on the door, frantically, as his whimpers increased.

Something was wrong, and I wasn’t about to wait to find out what. I retrieved my scythe from my pocket and flipped it open. “Stand back,” I warned.

Boner pulled a reluctant Jack back as I sliced off the knob with the sharp blade and then busted open the door with the blunt end of the weapon.

I looked past the silk drapes and fancy furnishings, drawn to an elevator door at the far end of the room.

I rushed across the plush carpet, everyone else trailing behind me, and then hit the down button.

“Where does this elevator go?” Sarge asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I didn’t know he had one.” The blueprints had made no mention of an elevator in Shadow’s room. There was just the one in the common room.

Whatever was going on, it was not good, and I refused to put anyone else in danger. I exhaled a deep breath, turning to Sarge and Boner. “You guys stay here.”

Sarge folded his arms across his chest, glaring. “Not on your soul. Ash is in trouble, and I’m going, too.”

Well, heck. Look who wanted to be Ash’s knight in shining armor. If I’d been a spiteful man, I would have held my ground and refused his help. But now was not the time to be spiteful.

I nodded. “I’d sure appreciate your help, as long as you’re aware of the dangers.”

“I’m aware,” he said gruffly.

Though I’d never left the safety of a Hell-bound elevator, I’d seen the trappings enough times to know what awaited me down there. A lone Grim wandering the fire and brimstone was a sure target. Demons didn’t exactly care for Grims. After all, we were the ones who’d delivered them to eternal damnation. It would be nice to know an experienced combat veteran had my back, even if he planned on stabbing me in it later.

“What about me, Sarge?” Boner asked in a voice that sounded oddly small. The guy was practically quaking in his flip-flops. Sarge and I shared knowing looks. Good. At least we were on the same page. Someone like Boner could be a detriment to our mission, and we’d probably spend more time keeping him out of trouble than searching for Ash.

Sarge grasped him by the shoulder. “Go tell Crow what happened. He’ll know what to do. Don’t say a word to the Alphas. We don’t know who we can trust.”

“Okay.” His lower lip quivered, his eyes glistening with moisture. “Sarge, if you don’t make it back-”

“I’m making it back,” Sarge said, the finality of his statement leaving no room for doubt. Maybe I’d misjudged him earlier. He may have been a young pup, but here was a man who could stand his ground.

Boner nodded and turned away, sniffling loudly before tugging Jack’s leash. The dog dug his nails into the floor, ripping up the plush carpet as Boner dragged him. There was a longing in his big brown eyes, a powerful awareness that caused a chill to steal up my spine. And that’s when I knew. How hadn’t I realized it before? All these years he’d waited in Purgatory for Ash now made sense. Jack was more than just a pet to her.

“Hold on,” I called.

He turned, his eyes red-rimmed and brimming with tears. “What?”

I nodded to Jack, who’d shredded a long trail in the carpet. “The dog goes with us.”

Boner’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy?”

“We have a lot better chance at finding Ash with Jack.”

Sarge shook his head. “If something happens to her dog, she’ll never forgive us.”

I walked over to Jack, bent down, and looked into his eyes to be sure the awareness was still there. It was. Those were not a dog’s eyes gazing back at me. The understanding I saw beneath the façade of the cute puppy stare was far more. I stood, holding out my hand for the leash. “Jack’s not just Ash’s dog. He’s her guardian angel.”

Ash

My head still hurt, only now the pain was more localized, twin migraines on the left and right sides of my skull. I moved my head side to side, and I could have sworn I felt something up there, as if Shadow had drilled nails into my cranium. I wouldn’t have put it past the sick bastard. He’d definitely done something to my spine, too. The flesh on my back felt swollen and exposed. I had to get out of here before he came up with more torture techniques.

I closed my eyes, focusing my energy into the restraints around my hands. My eyes shot open when I felt the first tear. It was working! But the strange thing was, the energy surging from my palms felt different, almost electric.

Unfortunately, Sasquatch Demon was still staring into my cage, licking his furry lips and rubbing his hands together, his eyes glued to my tits. I knew he was wishing for some chicken rub and a carving knife. Somehow, I got the feeling he wasn’t taking Shadow’s threat seriously, and I’d be missing a chunk of breast meat before Shadow came back.