In the Arms of the Beast (Kings of Hell MC 5)

They’d removed the rest of the wood that covered the original floor, and when it became clear the sigil was carved out in a separate block in the middle, Beast had Shadow and Azog the gargoyle lift it. The thing was massive, and the trapper who’d started it all couldn’t have done it on his own, but once the boulder was out of its spot, the secret it had hidden for several centuries was out.

There was a deep shaft under their home. Not a natural crack in the rocks but a near-perfect circle the size of a dinner plate with walls so smooth they could have been created with advanced drills. Perfectly vertical, the hole ran so deep even the ray of the high-beam flashlight couldn’t reach the bottom of that endless pit, which in Shadow’s words ‘made the energy disappear’.

Which meant that this goddamn hidden drain that had been here all along was the physical passage to the Other Side.

The discovery caused frantic discussions, but it was Rev who’d had the spark of ‘genius’ of plugging the narrow well with concrete. Beast couldn’t explain anymore why, but the idea had made sense at the time of the vote. Following hours of near-constant pouring of building materials down the shaft and listening to the churning of the mixer, it no longer did. There was no end in sight for this. In fact, they couldn’t even hear any sound coming from the depths of the abyss, as if the well stretching deep under their feet consumed matter like a black hole.

Nobody had spoken up yet, but they were running out of concrete, and the plan they’d all agreed to try now seemed so inexplicably stupid it seemed nobody wanted to be the one to point it out.

The hurried footsteps coming from the corridor sounded nothing like Jake’s, but it was only when Beast heard Laurent calling for him that he nodded at Gray, sending him out to deal with the disturbance.

The chat he’d had with Laurent at the café had Beast thinking about the future of their relationship all day, but it had also strengthened his resolve to keep Laurent away from their blind attempts at stopping, or at least slowing down the progress of Baal’s plan.

Concrete, really? What the hell had they been thinking? How could a bit of concrete stop a demon capable of ripping the border between dimensions? Baal collected energy from a building partially built with concrete! Beast had been embarrassed to mention this to Magpie before they’d even started the process, and at this point he hoped none of his brothers would ever speak about this lapse in judgment to anyone.

“No, you don’t understand! I need to talk to him!” Laurent pleaded in the corridor, and the frantic shrill note in his voice was so unlike him, Beast made a step toward the door, alarmed and ready to intervene.

Gray’s voice was like cool water in comparison to Laurent’s fire. “We’re dealing with something important in there. Wait outside, and he’ll see you when he can.”

The sob that followed had Beast going rigid. A shudder ran down his spine, but he met Rev’s gaze, already walking toward the exit, lured by the worry clutching at his heart. “Take over for me.”

The first thing he saw when he walked into the corridor, his back hunched so he’d avoid hitting his head on the ceiling, were the damp streaks running down Laurent’s cheeks. He didn’t even know what had happened, but his body was already prepared to fight anyone who’d made Laurent so upset. “What’s going on?”

Laurent gasped for breath. “It’s Marcel. I’m a failure of a father. I do not deserve to be one.” Gray stepped back, rolling his eyes at the melodrama of the scene, but there was nothing artificial about the way Laurent clutched at Beast’s T-shirt, burying his damp face in the warmth of Beast’s chest.

Cold claws bit into Beast’s shoulders, and for the briefest moment his gaze went blurry. “What… did he…?”

Crack? Did he crack? Was the baby dead?

The sense of dull sadness wandered up Beast’s torso and clamped around his throat so unexpectedly, he couldn’t breathe. He’d had so many doubts about having a child, but the sole possibility that this human being, this baby made from their blood could be gone forever? Unthinkable. A black hole opened under his feet as if Baal had created another well into the Other Side.

He was falling into that darkness and grasped Laurent’s arms to get an answer.

Laurent’s damp eyes met his, but when he shook his head, relief was so great Beast’s entire body relaxed with warmth caressing his muscles. Laurent hadn’t said what was wrong yet, but Marcel wasn’t gone. That was all that mattered.

“I left him at work, Beast. You told me not to take him off the premises, but I thought I had it all figured out and left him there on my first day!”