Wrath Read online

  “Cupid owes me a favor,” Azrael said, holding up a hand. “I can get him to point us in the right direction if it comes to that, or maybe even shoot a few arrows himself.”

  “Cupid is a douchbag,” Harley said, refilling the shot glasses as Az took the last one.

  “True, but he knows his shit.” Az shrugged and pulled out his cell phone to check a text.

  Cupid did know his shit, but Luc wasn’t fond of the asshole. The last time he saw the little freak he tried to set him up with a woman who had two vaginas and a penchant for reptiles. Okay, so he’d had some fun with her, but that wasn’t what Luc was looking for now. He’d had his fill of just fun.

  He needed more.

  Luc grabbed one of the shot glasses off the bar before Az could finish them all and tipped it back. “What have I got to lose?”

  “Only the next seven months… and really, that’s like the blink of an eye to an immortal fallen angel like you.” Harley snorted.

  “You make me sound so ordinary.”

  “You’re the ruler of the underworld, Lucifer Morningstar. There is nothing ordinary about you.” Harley bowed her head and smiled.

  Maybe her plan could work. She did know him better than anyone living or dead, including his idiot brothers. So if there was anyone who could pick some potential mates for him, it was certainly her. And like she’d said, if it didn’t work out, all he would have wasted was seven months. Seven months was nothing to Luc. Not that he was sold on the idea. He wasn’t, but he was definitely intrigued.

  “Great, so it’s settled.” Harley pushed the empty glasses into a bin and wiped over the bar with a clean towel. “We are going to find your true love.”

  Harley was more interested in the game aspect than the idea of Luc finding love. He could see it in her face and hear it in her voice, but he was okay with it. She didn’t have to like, or understand, what he was doing. She would come around in time, and if she didn’t, well too bad for her. He was the devil after all. If he wanted to find his soul mate, then that’s what he would do.

  And like he’d said, what did he have to lose?

  Chapter Two

  “Of course that’s a good idea for a tattoo, Gracie. I think you should even consider getting it across your whole lower back, not just the small patch in the middle.” Luc slipped his fingers further up her soft thigh and she glanced down at his hand. Her heartbeat increased, but he smiled, calming her just enough with his powers.

  Being the devil certainly had its perks.

  Gracie was a pretty girl, with a sweet innocence about her. The natural light blond of her hair brought out her crystal blues eyes that were the size of saucers. Luc figured she was originally from some small mid-western town that was known for miles of corn and town-destroying tornadoes.

  Poor Gracie was out of her league where she was. The city, the club, even her current company, all too much for the sweet girl who just wanted to make something of herself, and was too naive to know what that took. Luc doubted she had the right spark that she needed to get far, but he’d seen people with much less make it a whole lot farther. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t that interested, one way or another.

  Even for a Friday night, there were a lot of people in his club, Satan’s Playpen. Bodies pressed against one another, both stranger and known, as they moved together on the dance floor as one connected unit. They were too absorbed in the music, the feelings, the alcohol, to pay much attention to what was going on with two people sitting at the bar. Even if they had, most knew that Luc owned the place, or at least that he wasn’t someone to mess with. Which certainly helped when he wanted to get away with feeling up the female patrons in plain sight. Well, he could get away with that anyway, since he was the King of Hell. He could pretty much do as he pleased, whenever and wherever, but even free reign on Earth got old after so long. Where were the challenges? The prizes worth winning? The damn surprises?

  Gracie was still talking despite the fact that Luc had tuned out minutes before. He pulled his attention back to her sweet voice and tried to feign interest. Luc knew how to be a gentleman, when he wanted to be.

  “You don’t think it’s a little slutty?” Still going on about the tattoo apparently, Gracie parted her thighs just enough to allow him access in the crowded bar, and her mind willed him to continue. Luc compared her actions to her words in his mind and smiled to himself.

  “Oh it’s a whole lot slutty, sweetheart, but that’s why I like it. They don’t call it a tramp stamp for nothing.” Luc slid his hand further up her silky flesh, letting it disappear under her short skirt until she gasped.

  She shifted and swallowed hard as he went all in, parting her lips with two fingers and using his thumb to circle her clit in bored circles.

  “I um… don’t really think we should…” Gracie’s mind went blank and her head lolled to the side. Her concern for their surroundings was wavering. Fast.

  After he slipped two fingers inside her, she opened her eyes all the way and glanced around. “Shouldn’t we go somewhere else?”

  “Why?” Luc pumped her with his fingers in a slow rhythm, still circling her clit with his thumb. Her hand came down to rest over his wrist, but she made no move to stop him. The faster her breathing came, the faster he moved in and out of her. Her ability to still form coherent sentences at that point was actually quite impressive.

  “Someone will see.” She slid her ass to the edge of the barstool and leaned into his shoulder to hide her face.

  “That’s what makes it so much fun, Gracie. Now, stop hiding your pretty face. I want to watch you come for me.”

  The girl was too far gone, unable to comprehend even simple commands. Luc pushed her off his shoulder and spun her, so her back was leaning into the bar, keeping her from falling over backwards. She leaned her head up to the ceiling and moaned, suddenly oblivious to her surroundings.

  So much for being shy.

  “That’s it, focus on the pleasure.” Luc winked at the guy sitting next to Gracie. He’d just realized what they were doing, and was blatantly staring, craning his neck to get a better view.

  At least someone was excited.

  Besides Gracie, of course.

  Luc looked at the girl in front of him. She was lost in the moment, overcome by dangerous excitement. Luc strained his memory to recall the last time he’d felt even close to that way. He’d lost interest in just about everything, including Gracie. He could just walk away right then, but that was bad manners. Even the Devil had to have a few moral guidelines.

  After a few more expert circles of his thumb, Gracie was panting and crying out her orgasm without a care to who saw. A few of the other bar patrons turned to look and watched her lose herself in the moment. When she opened her eyes, and noticed the small group around her, her face turned scarlet and she clamped her legs together.

  “Oh my God.”

  “He had nothing to do with it.” Luc licked Gracie’s juices off his fingers with a shrug and motioned to the bartender to get him another drink.

  Gracie straightened her clothes and tried to hide her face until the group of gawkers dispersed. It wasn’t like any of them were too shocked at the spectacle they just witnessed. The regulars knew to expect just about anything. In a club owned by the devil and staffed by demons, not to mention visited by angels, just about anything could happen.

  Especially when Lucifer was around.

  “Maybe we could go into the back, or something, and I can return the favor?” She glanced down at his crotch and held her eyes there for a long moment.

  That should have gotten his attention. She was a beautiful girl with a hot body. Any guy in the bar would fall over themselves to take her in the back room. So why was he more interested in getting away from her?

  Luc was semi-hard and slightly interested in her proposal, at least physically. He could easily convince her to blow him in the back room, and he got the impression that she would be good at it, but he wasn’t in the mood for a backroom bj. It
was even likely that he could convince her to give him a handy right there at the bar, but he was already growing tired of the whole situation.

  “I think I’m going to pass, Gracie.”

  The girl furrowed her brow and looked at him as if she wasn’t sure she’d actually heard him right. “You don’t want me to—”

  “No thank you.” He downed his drink and spun around to leave. Gracie protested, following behind him, but he was already on his way across the room to Harley before she had a chance to change his mind.

  “Done with your little show?” She snorted and flipped her head in a nod toward Gracie, who had followed him halfway over, but stopped in the middle and looked at him like she wasn’t sure what to do next. She tugged on the hem of her dress and glanced around the room.

  Luc flopped down next to Harley on the overstuffed couch that lined the VIP section and crossed one leg over the other. “I suppose.” He sighed dramatically for attention, but Harley ignored him.

  “You do realize you’re going to have to give up this kind of behavior during the game, right?”

  “I think I can manage.” Luc grabbed Harley’s bourbon off the glass table and gulped down the remains. He wasn’t even sure why he’d just done all that. It wasn’t like he’d gotten anything from it.

  “Are you sure about that? Because from the way you've been behaving, I'm not convinced.”

  “Don't worry, mom. I can handle it. Now when do I get to see who the little vixen is that you’ve chosen?”

  “Soon. I’ve narrowed down your choices for the first sin.”

  “Which sin is first?” Luc sat up straight, shrugging off his apathy.

  “Wrath.”

  “Really?” Luc scrunched his nose up. “Why that one?”

  “Why not that one? Anyway, angry chicks are my weakness.”

  “Remember that one… oh, what was her name… Amber, Brittany… the one who slit your neighbors throat?”

  “Christine, and yes, of course I remember her. Frigging psycho killed my cat, too. What a bloody mess.”

  “It's not like you had to clean it. And I seem to recall you complaining a lot about that neighbor. And the cat. I'm surprised you didn't off the woman yourself.”

  “I hated the bitch. That's why she did it. Some sort of love tribute or something, but that's not the point. Do you know how hard it is to sell your house when the neighbor was gruesomely murdered? I was stuck with that place for years. And I really liked that stupid cat.”

  “She was hot though.”

  “True. Next time we go back to the underworld, I should look her up.”

  Luc raised one eyebrow. “Are you sure you want to do that? I feel like as your friend, I should try to discourage self-destructive behavior.”

  “Why start now?”

  Luc shrugged. “I suppose you're right. So who are the potentials for the first round?”

  “I’ve narrowed it down to two, so you can take a peek and see if one seems better than the other. I really couldn’t decide between them.” Harley stood and motioned for Luc to follow her through the club into the apartment in back where he lived lately.

  “Did Azrael see the picks?” Luc asked, walking up to a large ornate mirror and waving one hand over it. It came alive, almost as if it was made of water, rippling back a reflection that cleared into a split scene of two different women. Luc ran one finger through the mirror, swirling the faces, and stepped back.

  “No. He’s impossible. He might have it all going on with the body, but there’s not much in the brains department.” Harley leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her skimpy top.

  “Don’t let him hear you say that. He thinks he's brilliant and he holds a grudge.” Luc looked over the two girls. One was blond, about twenty, with an innocent sparkle to her blue eyes. He wasn’t fooled by her sweet demeanor. Luc knew some of the world’s worst evil hid behind pretty packaging.

  And damn did she have some nice packaging.

  The other was a brunette, with dark eyes, and a certain weariness about her. She had blue streaks in her hair and her left arm was covered in tattoos. If Luc were picking a fuck partner, he’d without a doubt, go for the blond. Not that the brunette wasn’t equally fuckable, but there was something about the blond that screamed easy good time.

  The brunette didn't look nearly as easy. She looked like trouble, mystery, and more work than Luc was used to putting into women.

  But having fun and screwing wasn’t what this was about. Granted, he would need a partner who enjoyed his lifestyle, which most certainly included a lot of naked fun time, but there had to be more.

  “You want me to pick one of them?” Luc turned to look at Harley. She was smiling the way she did when she was plotting something. It was tempting to use his angel powers to look into her head and see what she was thinking, but he refrained. He knew she hated when he did that, and she was his best friend, after all.

  “I can’t promise I’ll go with your choice, but yeah, I want you to tell me which one you think we should choose, and why.” She held back a smile and Luc got the feeling that he was being tested. It didn’t matter though. He would give her his honest opinion, because whether she realized it or not, he was determined to put in the effort.

  Luc pinched his chin between his thumb and forefinger. This was a matter of picking the woman who might be his true love. As ridiculous as he felt thinking it, and as much shit as Azrael and his other siblings would give him over it, he was ready to take it seriously and find a bit of his own happiness. Their father may have condemned Luc to rule over the underworld, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be happy while he did it.

  Even Satan deserved true love, didn’t he?

  “Okay, so the blond, she’s smoking hot and that mouth is perfect for—”

  “Lucifer, take this seriously. Any girl can give a blow job. You want someone you can love.” Harley clenched her fists at her sides.

  “You didn’t let me finish.” Luc put one finger up to Harley’s lips and shushed her. “But, that’s about all I see to her. I’m thinking the brunette is probably the better choice.”

  Harley flicked her hand at the mirror and the images faded out. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. I guess you are taking this seriously.”

  “That was a test?” He was stating the obvious, but clearly she hadn’t considered the fact that he might have already figured that out.

  “Obviously.” She rolled her eyes and with a few flicks of her wrist, the mirror showed the brunette in a boxing cage, pummeling the shit out of a redhead twice her size.

  The redhead stumbled and the brunette wasted no time taking advantage of the brief opportunity. She slammed her against the cage they were fighting in and jabbed her fists into the redheads side. Over and over, her smaller fists pounded the larger woman until she slumped forward, only held up by the arms slamming into her.

  “Damn. I like this girl already.” A small stirring spread through Luc as he watched her in the mirror. There was definitely something about her.

  “Her name is Ronnie Falcon. She’s a twenty-three year old college drop out. During the day, she is in… childcare, and at night, she beats the crap out of people for money.” Harley chuckled. “She used to be a party girl, but now she’s just angry. Well, to be honest, she’s always had anger issues, but now more than ever. So, perfect for wrath.”

  Luc stepped closer to the mirror and watched Ronnie take two good shots to the ribs. She winced, but shook it off. Scrappy little thing she was. She definitely had Luc’s attention. He wasn’t sure if she was right for him, but he promised Harley he’d give her game an honest try. And even though he was the prince of darkness, he was a man of his word.

  “What exactly did you mean that she is in childcare?”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t give too much away up front.”

  “And maybe you should just tell me everything I need to know now. I could just check myself, you know.”

  Harley flicked her wr
ist over the mirror again and the scene changed to Ronnie sitting at a table with three younger kids sitting around her.

  “Fine. Those kids are her siblings. There was an accident six months ago and their parents were killed. So now she is playing the mother role. Built in family. You did say you weren’t opposed to children, right?”

  He'd never said any such thing.

  Luc watched the kids tossing cereal at each other and arguing. Love he was ready for, but three half grown kids? That was a whole other story. Could he really take on such responsibility? Did he even want to try?

  “I’m not sure about this.”

  “Look, she might not even be right for you.”

  “Then why would you pick her?” Luc cringed as the smaller girl threw a buttered bagel into the bigger one’s hair and ran.

  “Because she might be right for you.” Harley sighed. “Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but give her a chance. I really think you might like this one. I didn't just pick her on a whim. There was a lot of research put into this.”

  Harley switched the scene back to Ronnie in a fight. This time she was showing off her skills, kicking the shit out of her opponent. Harley knew it would distract Luc from the whole children thing and she was right.

  “She’s not bad. But are you sure this qualifies as wrath?”

  “You don’t think so?” Harley raised an eyebrow and watched as Ronnie slammed her elbow into the other girl’s throat.

  “When you said we were basing this on the seven deadly sins, I thought you were going to pick extreme examples. Not just an angry kid who likes to fight.”

  One corner of Harley’s mouth curved down and her eyes glowed red for a flash. “You don’t trust my judgment?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Would you prefer I find you a serial killer or sociopath as a potential mate?”

  “Well, no.” Luc wasn’t looking for sweet and innocent, but he didn’t want batshit crazy either. He just wanted someone with a personality of her own, who could stand by his side, and accept him exactly as he was. She had to love him, but still be the kind of woman who could respect that fact that her mate was the devil.