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“No.” Shade’s face hardened. “They stay here to watch you.”
“I wasn’t the one who was stabbed the last time we were in hell.” She didn’t want to play dirty, but she would feel much better if he took Xerxes and Cronus—as much as she would miss them.
“But you were abducted.” Shade crossed his arms. “The hounds stay, or I don’t go.”
“Ugh!” He could be so frustrating when he got his hell prince face on. “I have Sophia here to watch over me and Dee and Daniel.”
Shade merely stared at her.
“You’re saying you won’t go unless the hounds stay here?”
He nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Then I could go and check on my father.” Dee was back. The theatre would be fine without her.
“You’re not going to hell.” He glowered at her. “Need I remind you what happened last time you did?”
“We could go together.”
He didn’t move.
“You’re such an asshole.”
Not a twitch.
“I don’t want you to go and get hurt.”
His face softened, and he walked back to her and slid his hand to her nape. “Eddie, I will be fine. I can move faster without you, and I am on my guard now. I won’t be caught out again.”
The image of Shade after he’d escaped hell with a mortal wound flashed in front of her. “I take it back; I’ll call for Wrath and see how he is.”
“Let me go.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “It will be quicker, and I can check my demesne and my seal while I’m there. And keep the hounds here because I will be distracted with worry if they’re not with you.” His eyes twinkled. “And if I get distracted, I might get hurt.”
That was him playing dirty, and she glared at him. “That’s not fair.”
“Maybe not.” He straightened away from her and dropped his hand. “But that’s the way it’s going to be.”
He strolled away from her into the night and suddenly it hit her that he wouldn’t be around tomorrow. “How long will you be gone?”
Turning, he walked backwards as he said, “A day or two at most. Will you miss me?”
“Maybe.”
He grinned. “That’s a definite improvement. I’ll take it.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The impact of his weakening seal hit Shade as he crossed through the hell gate into his demesne. Lust pounded through his system like a steady heartbeat reminding him he needed to find a way to stabilize the seal.
The jungle lay quiet around him, and he sent his senses out to detect any demons. There was nothing around, and he unleashed his wings. It occurred to him that he was relying on Wrath’s goodwill not to have him shot out of the sky as he crossed into that demesne. For all he knew, Wrath’s horde could still be instructed to shoot him from the sky.
By air, he could take a direct route, and it was about half of those hours that Eddie counted so obsessively before he crossed into Wrath’s demesne.
No demon rose to challenge him. No bolts shot from the ground to bring him down.
All good thus far.
Part of him had to laugh at what he was doing. He was willingly entering the territory of his archenemy to make sure said enemy was okay because the Nephilim he loved to distraction had asked it of him. The truth was humbling. He would do this and so much more just to make her smile.
