Gena Showalter - [Lords of the Underworld 13] (37 page)

BOOK: Gena Showalter - [Lords of the Underworld 13]
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“Yet you still rush to save
her,” Zacharel said.

Yeah. He was as big a moron as
the fallen who frequented this place. Whatever. He
knew.
Didn’t care.
“Look, I don’t answer to you. I don’t have to explain myself. And what’s
with all the questions? You said you only had one more.”

“I have asked only the one. The
rest have been observations, and I have one more of those to offer.”
Zacharel leaned into him and whispered, “I think, if you continue on this
destructive path, you will lose everything you have come to
love.”

“Is that a threat?” Paris fisted
the collar of the angel’s robe. “Go ahead and try something, winger. See
what—”

Air. He was fisting and yelling
at air.

Little growls sprang from his
throat as he lowered his arm to his side. The only reason he knew Zacharel
had been here was the temperature of his hands. They were practically
frostbitten.

“Uh, who were you talking to?”
the bartender asked, faux casual as he cleaned an already clean
counter.

If an angel didn’t want to be
seen, an angel wouldn’t be seen. Not even by his brethren, fallen or
otherwise. So only Paris had seen Zacharel this go-round. Great. “Myself
apparently, and we prefer to chat without an audience.”

Was Zacharel still here? Paris
wondered. Or had he materialized somewhere else? And what was the purpose of
all that talk of Paris needing to stay away from Sienna? The angel shouldn’t
care.

Paris dropped the rag and turned
the rest of the way to face the crowd. Several warriors were scowling in his
direction—why?—dangerously close to ruining the room’s elegance with the
blood they were tempting Paris to spatter. He massaged the back of his neck,
forcing thoughts of Zacharel and his threat into hiding. He had bigger and
badder to deal with. He was here for Viola, the minor goddess of the
Afterlife and keeper of the demon of Narcissism. She should have popped in
already.

Maybe she’d heard he was coming
and bailed, and if that was the case he couldn’t blame her. He and his
friends had once stolen and opened Pandora’s box, unleashing the evil from
inside. As punishment, they were cursed to host the demons they’d released
within themselves. Unfortunately, there’d been more demons than naughty boys
and girls to contain them, and when the box had disappeared in the chaos,
the leftover evil spirits had needed homes. What better recipients for the
Greeks to select than the unlucky, unable-to-run inmates of
Olympus’s—
Titania’s
—immortal prison, Tartarus?

So, yeah, Paris was partly
responsible for Viola’s dark side. She’d been one of those unlucky
prisoners. He wasn’t entirely responsible, though, considering the girl was
a criminal once considered dangerous enough to be forcibly kept away from
the very gods and goddesses who were often praised in mythology books for
their most vicious deeds.

What crime Viola had committed,
he didn’t know and didn’t care. She could slash him to ribbons, as long as
she gave up the information he craved. The final puzzle piece needed to at
last save Sienna.

According to the Hunters he’d
slain just this morning, Viola came here every Friday night to hustle
immortals at pool and rave about her awesomeness over a few beers.
Apparently, said Hunters had been watching her, intent on nabbing her and
“persuading” her to join their ranks. So, in a way, she kinda owed
him.

Where the hell is she?
he wondered again, searching for the telltale long
blond hair, eyes the color of cinnamon and a killer body that
could—

Appear in a puff of white
smoke.

There, in front of the bar’s
only entrance, stood a luscious woman with long blond hair and eyes the
color of cinnamon. Paris straightened, his nerve endings zinging with
anticipation. Just like that. Prey located. Target acquired.

ISBN: 9781460316498

Copyright © 2013 by Gena Showalter

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,
now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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BOOK: Gena Showalter - [Lords of the Underworld 13]
2.06Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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