The Darkest Torment (Lords of the Underworld 12)

That’s our woman!

“Take out his eyes then his throat!” Baden shouted, his voice layered, the beast just as determined to save her.

She managed to claw out one of Hades’s eyes before he was able to bat her away. She only came back for more. He batted her away again and again, but she always came back. He couldn’t get rid of her. She came in high, clawing and biting his face and neck, and she came in low, clawing and biting his ankles and calves in a nearly successful attempt to hobble him. Her ferocity staggered Baden.

“Pledge your life to me,” Hades demanded, “before I decide to end you for good.”

“No!” Baden shouted. “Don’t do it.” The hellhounds would hate her, and she would never forgive herself.

Snarling, she jumped on Hades and tore off his ear—with her teeth.

Shadows began to rise from the male, and Baden knew they would destroy her. Not even the hounds could defeat them.

No. No, no, no. Can’t let her die. Can’t. “Don’t let the shadows near you, Rina.”

Baden put every bit of his remaining strength in breaking free. He would rather die than lose his Katarina. He would rather suffer eternally. Would rather cease to exist.

Love for her consumed him, his desire to help her completely superseding the bond he shared with Hades. The bands on his arms began to heat...and heat...burning his skin...singeing and blistering. Sinking inside him. Branding him.

The pain! His flesh cooking! Smoke wafted from him, but finally, blessedly, the bands disappeared, leaving only the tattoos behind, and he began to cool.

Suddenly Hades threw back his head and roared to the rafters, as if he’d just had an organ removed. Or had a new one sewn inside him.

Katarina used his distraction to her advantage, tearing out his throat yet again. Hades fell, the shadows disappearing, and Baden threw himself between the two combatants.

His glamour girl tried to shove him out of the way, still snapping and snarling at Hades, who leaped to his feet, his throat already on the mend.

Baden’s first thought: I’m still tangible.

His second: Finish this.

“You might be able to kill me,” Katarina spat at Hades, still trying to get through Baden, “but I’m going to take you with me.”

The two were cut and bleeding, clothes tattered and stained. Both were panting.

“No more,” Baden said, cupping the back of Katarina’s neck and drawing her into his side. As Destruction mewled, glad to have her near, he petted her hair and whispered words of praise in her ear.

Gradually she relaxed against him.

The dogs lined up at his sides, glaring at Hades, perhaps even preventing him from making another move against her.

“Do you trust me?” Baden asked Katarina.

Her gaze, now filled with a wealth of vulnerabilities, met his. “You know I do.”

Someone had to win the war with Lucifer, and he would rather it be Hades. “If Hades agrees to our terms, will you allow him to live?” He wanted to kill the man—and still might—but better to err on the side of caution today. They could always kill him later.

She drew in a breath, slowly released it. She nodded.

Baden kissed her on the forehead before facing the king. “I’m no longer yours to command, but I’ll continue to be your ally in the war against Lucifer. In return, you won’t harm Katarina or the hounds. You won’t pressure them to aid your cause. If they forgive you for what transpired this day—and in the past—they forgive you. If not, it’s your loss. The choice belongs to them. You won’t get me any other way.”

Hades looked Baden over with...pride?

If he liked that, wait until he heard the rest. “You fought my woman, and I will punish you.” It would be bloody, and it would be violent. Hades had much to answer for. But it would happen after the war, when a worse enemy had been dealt with. “No bond matters more than the one I share with Katarina.”

“Yo, Baden,” Pandora called. “I want in on this.”

He couldn’t help with her bands. She had to find the strength to overcome them on her own. But he could give her something. “Pandora will be given a kingdom of her own to rule.” It was what she’d wanted, what she’d hoped for.

Hades shocked him to the depths of his soul by nodding. “All shall be as you’ve asked. Your strength has proven your worth...my son.”

* * *

What happened next happened quickly. Katarina could taste the tang of copper in her mouth, could hazily recall what she’d done and how she’d viciously attacked and bitten Hades, so she was a little unprepared for the smile he leveled on her.