Carnage (Hell Hounds MC, #1) (3 page)

The big guy smirked as she lashed out with her knife again, swatting her hand away as if he was dealing with an annoying fly and not six inches of razor-sharp steel. “I don’t need to tie up my women, sweet cheeks. But sometimes I like to.”

She snarled and ducked an incoming punch, trying to ignore the effect his words were having on her. She loved to fight; she was born for it, but whatever they were doing felt more like flirting...or foreplay. “That’s more than I need to know, thanks.”

His next blow caught her in the midsection, knocking the air from her lungs and making her see stars. Leta doubled over, fighting to refill her lungs while her ears rang and the ground tried to slide out from under her. She couldn’t do more than stagger a few steps, but she managed to put a little distance between them as she fought to stay on her feet.

It was a losing battle.

Before she could regroup, something huge and hairy crashed into her, slamming her to the ground and forcing all of the air out of her body for the second time in thirty seconds.

What the fuck hit me and where did it come from?

She raised her hand to stab whatever or whoever was still on top of her, but the moment she moved, a deep, ominous growl filled the air and a set of sharp, pointy teeth closed around her throat, stopping a micro away from drawing blood.

She froze and waited until she had breath enough to speak again. “Call off your pet, asshole, before I fillet it.”

C
ar wanted to laugh but he couldn’t, not in his current form. Instead, he let out a soft chuff and released his grip on Leta’s throat to lick her soft cheek. Fuck, she tasted as good as she smelled.

Another low growl rolled up from his throat, and he had an almost irresistible urge to bite her, to taste her blood on his tongue and sink his dick into the heat of her body—what the fuck was wrong with him?

“Ew! No licking, that’s disgusting,” Leta complained. “Get off me, you ugly mutt. And what is with the sulfur breath? Does your master feed you rotten eggs or something?”

Car was enjoying himself far too much to move yet, and he was amazed at the casual way she was treating him. Usually, his hound form reduced even the most fearsome of creatures to whimpers. Instead, she was treating him like he was a damned lapdog she caught chewing her favorite shoes.

“Off!” she snapped, and this time, she sent a blast of fire from her hands to reinforce her demand.

Heat washed over him, and the entire parking lot lit up with a cheerful glow, but that was all that happened. Lucifer knew that a Hound’s career path meant regular fights with supernatural creatures—or even the occasional rogue fallen—and so he had gifted his hunters with certain abilities, including an invulnerability to fire.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. A fireproof pooch? Nice pet, asshole...” she trailed off as she looked around and realized they were alone.

“Oh, fuck, no.” Her eyes widened, and she stared up at him with horror. “Asshole, is that you?”

Car licked her face again.

“Ugh! Stop that.” She swiped at her cheek with the sleeve of her jacket and then shoved at him. “You’re a fucking Hell Hound, aren’t you? You have to be, because that’s the only thing in existence that can turn into...” she waved her hands at him. “This. Either that or they need to stop feeding the local strays toxic waste. Are those
spikes
running down your back? What are you, one-part dog, two-parts nightmare?”

He nodded his big head and gave her the canine version of a grin, certain she would understand. He was glad she knew what he was. It should make things easier.

“So, what does the Devil want with me? I’m a nobody, and I sure as hell haven’t done anything to warrant a visit from one of his Hounds.” She shoved at his chest. “And for fuck's sake, will you get
off
of me already? You weigh a ton.”

Car had to admit, he was curious as to what Luc wanted with the sexy minx he had called an abomination. The thought of her being punished in Hell simply for being born didn’t sit well with Car. Not at all.

He got to his feet and bounded to one side, shifting back into human form as he did so. Being close to her was fucking with his head enough already, a little space might help him get his shit together. He reminded himself that he was a bounty hunter, not a nursemaid. His job was to deliver his targets. What happened to them afterward wasn’t his concern.

Leta watched in fascination as the massive hound with teeth the length of her index finger and eyes that glowed a demonic orange transformed back into the sexy, arrogant son of a bitch she had fought with earlier. Even his clothes reappeared, a fact she found both intriguing and disappointing. If she were going to die soon, a little full frontal nudity would have been a nice image to go out on. And if the Devil had sent a Hell Hound after her, then her death was likely coming very soon indeed.

She never expected to live a long life, but she always assumed she would go down fighting and take a few of her attackers with her. She never figured on meeting up with a Hell Hound. The Hounds were the stuff of nightmares and dark legends. Unstoppable. Damned near unkillable. Once they had their target’s scent, they could track them across the world and even into Hell, or Heaven, and nothing would deter them. There was no point in fighting with something she couldn’t defeat or escape. All she had was the slim hope that whatever the Devil wanted, it wasn’t her life. And if it were, she would fight so long as there was breath in her body, even if it meant going after the Devil himself. Her life was no bed of roses, but she wasn’t going to simply give it up without a fight.

Why can’t they just leave me alone?

“Up you get. You’ve got an appointment with the King of Hell, and he’s not known for his patience.”

The big man offered her his hand, and she found herself reaching up to take it despite her reservations. The need to touch him overrode all other instincts. The second their hands made contact a shimmer of heat danced up her arm, making her gasp. What the hell? Now was not the time to lose her damned mind. Weirder still, he seemed to feel something too, because he was staring at his arm with a frown that somehow didn’t make him look any less gorgeous.

“Now that we’re done dancing, will you give me your name and maybe some kind of explanation as to why you’re here?” Once he let her go, she dusted herself off and did a quick assessment of the damage. She was bruised and battered, and she still felt a lingering headache that came on every time she used any of the abilities from her father’s side...like blasting someone with fire.

“Carnage,” he said, taking hold of her hand again. Before she could pull away, he fastened a silver manacle around her wrist.

“Hey! What’s with the jewelry?” she demanded, snatching her hand out of his reach and trying to ignore the zing of desire that passed over her skin at his touch. “And what’s Carnage? Your name or the reason you’re here?”

The smug asshole smirked at her. “It’s my name. I’m here because Luc sent me to fetch you.”

“Luc? You call the Devil by his first name? Well, isn’t that cozy.” She held up her wrist. “And this? Are we engaged now?”

He lifted his arm, and she noticed the twin to the manacle she wore was around his wrist, the two of them linked by a section of finely forged chain. “The jewelry is to make sure you don’t wander off on me. It’s teleportation-proof, so don’t bother trying.” He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. “As for the engagement offer, I’m not looking for a wife, but if you’re looking for someone to share your bed, sweet cheeks, I’d be happy to volunteer for the night.”

His words made her pussy cream as she imagined what he would be like in bed. He would be a beast, no doubt about it. If the whispered and dark stories were to be believed, the Hell Hounds all had the stamina of a god and an appetite for pleasure that rivaled Lucifer himself. A hundred lurid images danced through her head, each more arousing that the last. There was something about him that had her totally off her game, and it was getting worse the longer she was near him. She needed to put some space between them, which wasn’t going to be easy now that they were chained together. Forcing herself to focus, she opted to channel her unexpected sexual tension into something more useful. Anger.

“Are you hitting on me? I thought you were in a hurry. Something about your bosom buddy
Luc
not being patient.”

“There are some things in life worth a little pain and punishment.” Carnage heard the words coming out of his mouth, but he hadn’t meant to say them. Shit, he hadn’t even meant to
think
them. It was like he was possessed, most likely by the throbbing hard-on trapped in his pants. No woman had ever affected him this way, not in life or in all the centuries that followed.

“I’m worth a whole lot of pain and punishment. Not that you’re ever going to find out.” She glowered at him, her blue eyes gleaming with an inner light he found mesmerizing.

He yanked on the chain binding them, hard enough to bring her into his arms. “I’m starting to think you might even be worth dying for.”

Centuries of ironclad control shattered in seconds as he slanted his lips across hers. She tasted of chocolate, sweet and sticky, a dessert he wanted to devour. He crushed her body against his, feeling the lean lines of her body fit seamlessly against his own. The beast in his soul howled in triumph as he laid claim to her mouth.

He expected her to fight him. He was even looking forward to it, and she didn’t disappoint him. Her teeth closed on his lower lip with enough strength to draw blood. The taste of him on her lips sent his hound into a frenzy. He wanted this, wanted her marked with his scent, with his blood, so that everyone would know she belonged to him, and him alone.

“Mine,” the word came out in a low growl.

She tore her mouth from his, stomping on his foot hard enough he was thankful that his boots had steel toes. “What are you, a seagull from that fish movie? I’m not yours.”

He locked his arms around her and lifted her until her feet were dangling several inches off the ground. “You’re wrong. You
are
mine, Leta.”

“I’m not wrong. You’re insane. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I want you to take me to see Lucifer. Now!”

“No.” Car couldn’t think straight, couldn’t focus on anything but the woman in his arms. No one was taking her away from him, not even the Devil himself.

“Put. Me. Down,” she insisted and kicked him in the shin.

“Not doing that, either,” he told her, then lifted his head as the distant wail of sirens caught his attention. “Fuck.”

“Looks like we’re going to see the big guy whether you want to or not. We sure can’t stay here any longer. The nice lady in the diner must have called the cops when she saw the big, scary biker coming after one of her customers.”

“Or she saw her customer pull a knife on a total stranger and then try to set the place on fire. You’re not exactly innocent here, sweet cheeks. In case you’ve forgotten, I did invite you to come with me, nice and polite like. You’re the one who went all stabby-stabby.”

“Either way, we’re going to Hell now, right?”

“Wrong again.” Car whistled sharply, and his bike started on its own. With a throaty roar, it revved up then peeled out of the parking lot, headed for the open road.

“You’re fucking kidding me. Your bike is a robot?”

He chuckled. “Nope. My bike used to be a horse. I’ll introduce you to him another time. For now, he can lead the cops a merry chase while the two of us go somewhere we won’t be interrupted. And before you try to roast me again, keep in mind that I’m fireproof, and so is everything else where we’re going.”

“And where—”

He teleported away while she was still mid-sentence. There was only one place he could possibly take her. It was insane, but it was also the last place Luc would think to look for a bounty hunter that was supposed to be on a mission.

He would have to bring her to his home in Purgatory.

“—a
re we going?” Leta finished her sentence as they rematerialized. The words weren’t even out of her mouth before she knew wherever he’d taken her, it wasn’t anywhere on Earth. The light was strange for one thing, dim and cast in dingy hues of yellow and orange. Her skin itched as unfamiliar magicks buzzed at the edges of her mind and a deep sense of
wrongness
overcame her. This wasn’t her home plane, and it wasn’t anywhere she wanted to be.

A quick glance around didn’t offer any clues as to her location. They were in a room with dark wood paneling on the walls and dark stone floors under foot. Everywhere she looked were antique furnishings and shelves full of books, some of them so old they looked like they were bound with leather or cloth. Instead of overhead lights, oil lamps and candles burned, adding their flickering light to the dim glow from the windows.

“Where are we? Some kind of museum?” she asked as she took in her surroundings.

“We’re not in a museum,” he answered, and she could swear there was a note of insult in his tone.

“Then where the hell are we?”

“You just answered your own question. Welcome to Hell, sweet cheeks. Well, Purgatory anyway.” He swung her around so she could see that they were standing in what looked like a study, with hallways and doors leading off in several different directions. “This is my home.”

I’m literally in Hell. Fan-fucking-tastic.

“Hang on, I thought demons...I mean the fallen, lived in Hell proper. Isn’t Purgatory the halfway house for human souls that weren’t evil enough to be sent to Hell, but had screwed up too much to get into Heaven?”

“It is. I’m not one of the fallen, I just work for them.” He shrugged his massive shoulders and started walking down a dimly lit hall, dragging her with him.

Leta tried to wrap her head around the fact that the most fearsome creatures in Hell’s infernal army weren’t fallen angels at all. “You’re
human
?”

“I was, once.”

“You were human, but you let Lucifer turn you into something else. Who does that? What exactly are you, Carnage?”