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Atlan cleared his throat, and Kiran made an apologetic face. “We actuallycan’t. We’re both burnt out, and this isn’t our natural domain, so it’s a bit more complicated to portal out than it was to portal in.”
“Meaning?” Auren sighed, sounding exhausted by this information.
“Meaning they effectively used a slide to get in, but trying to getoutis like climbing it with socks on,” Reese deciphered, and the twins nodded begrudgingly.
Neo gave her a questioning look—likely, like me, wondering how she’d unraveled that so fast—and she rolled her eyes. “It’s really not that hard to understand, guys.”
I disagreed, but our resident human didn’t say anything else.
The twins reluctantly nodded their agreement. “It could be done, but not right now. We would need time to recuperate.”
Time that we didn’t have. As soon as Lucifer realized they were here, we would probablyallend up back in that same damn cage.
The thought made my skin prickle and spasm, my wolf growling somewhere within me. He wanted out, but my angel managed to wrangle in the beast’s anger before I even had to try.
Not our mate, friend.
My angel’s soft words were meant for the wolf, but they solidified what I had already decided. Lucifer would never have Aria while there was still air in my lungs.
Aria turned back to Barimuz, giving her very best puppy impression, and the demon snarled this time. “Donotask me to—”
“You hurt me,” he interrupted him, and he flinched like she’d struck him. “I told you to apologize again when the shapeshifting wore off completely, and I would hear you out, but we both know you can’t undothat. Prove to me we can rely on you when we need you, Barimuz; show me I wasn’t stupid to think you might ally with us, and we can consider all of this water under the bridge.”
“You devious,wickedcreature,” Barimuz spat like a curse, reaching up to rub at one of his horns as he rumbled low in his chest.
It was definitely unexpected that Aria would be trying to manipulate him like this, but if it got us out of Hell, I would take it.
The demon was vibrating with tension, weighing the pros and cons with a tilt of his head. After a moment, he let out a huff and glared at all of us in turn. “He did not order me to keep you here, so I will help you this time. Do not expect it again.”
I tried to ignore the way his gaze lingered on my mate for a moment before he slapped at the air in front of us. A smog of black cocooned all of us as he turned away, looking like he was preparing to go to war; I caught a glimpse of Lucifer appearing before it blocked out our vision entirely.
When we landed, we were in a heap andclearlynot in the Resistance camp. In fact, I had no idea where we were, and none of the others seemed to either.
Neo was the first to recover, looking me over with a critical eye, then nodding. “Good to have you back. I knew that bastard wasn’t you; he was the wrong kind of dickhead.”
I laughed, and that startled the angel, judging by the way his eyebrows shot up—which just made it funnier.
Laying back, I stared at the blue sky and laughed, arms spread out across the grass.
I’m free.
I felt Aria caressing the bond, obviously sensing my incoming breakdown.
You’re free,she agreed.
“Where are we?” Marilyn asked as we took in the park we had landed in. It was mostly abandoned sans a handful of teenagers climbing on the colorful playground equipment a few yards away, laughing with one another.
“No idea, but if we can find me a phone, I can get us somewhere to regroup,” Auren said.
Laughter was still bubbling out of me, though it had mostly withered to soft chuckles. Everyone else was standing now, taking in our surroundings, and I realized I needed to try and hold it together a little longer.
We were almost home free. Finally.
Pushing myself up, I stretched and twisted, relieved that nothing hurt anymore.
The twins still couldn’t portal us home, but they were more than happy to help us hunt for a phone store, and the resulting mayhem felt… well, it felt almost cartoonish.
Auren had them rob an ATM so that he could buy the latest smartphone, and when he’d handed the woman the total in cash at the checkout, she’d looked panicked for a moment. Luckily, no questions were asked, and we were all able to file out behind my brother like ducklings without Paras or Guardians kicking the doors in.
