“Why is that important right now?” I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“The love thing? Could you please not steal all the romance from those soul-touching moments?” Paca asks in a dry tone.

I glance around, wondering if she realizes this is the motherfucking Black Heart. It unnerves me how gravely she can lower the bar for what’s considered ‘romance.’

“Ideal setting for a makeout session and this pointless conversation,” I tell them with a smartass smile and a thumb’s up.

Paca loses interest in us when Kai whispers something against her ear that makes her smile so wide it has to hurt.

“Unbelievable. I got her for a minute before she went to battle and then got stuck tending Jude. Leave it to Kai, that fucker, to steal my time in the spotlight before I even get to savor it,” Ezekiel grumbles as he stalks toward them.

“You do realize we’re supposed to be getting stronger, right? We have a game plan.” I run a hand through my hair in frustration. “This is really not the time or place to be working toward a tag-team,” I add when Ezekiel presses in from behind her.

“She gets stronger every time one of us surrenders,” Gage says quietly to only me, confusing me for a moment as I cut my eyes toward him. “What if you’re now the only thing holding her back?”

I look him over, because he’s off his rocker.

“What are you talking about?” I ask him.

He levels me with his change in expression, as though a storm of emotion is brewing beneath his usual icy exterior.

“She started out as a lovesick ghost who wanted romance and a lot of sex,” he says in that same nearly muted tone. “Now she’s taking beatings to get stronger, and we’re just the men she cares for and wants to protect. What if we pissed all over the old Paca’s plan because she overestimated herself, believing it so easy for the four of us to fall for her, even with a new set of circumstances that built us this time?”

He doesn’t give me a moment to process that bullshit, because he turns and strides toward the trio, leaving me to groan in frustration.

Just how much harder is she to resist when you’ve fully given in? They act like this is not a nightmarish place for life and death, but a playground for them to enjoy her. We’ve literally been tormented for ages by the past memories of the hellish place this truly is.

Right before Gage makes it to the three fools with horrible attention spans, the ground quakes, and a deadly roar rips through the air. It’s so loud that it seems to tear through my eardrums, and I stagger as a loud ringing echoes through my ears.

I’m forced to one knee, slamming my scythe into the ground, as the wind starts funneling toward us at outrageous speeds. When my feet are blown out from under me, only the scythe that’s stuck in the ground keeps me from being swept away into the black hole behind us.

Gage slams his sword into the ground beside me, barely managing to stop from being sucked in after being blown back this far. We both gape at the growing vacuum hole behind us.

Fire blazes between us, as Kai and Ezekiel manage to slam their weapons into the ground next to us before they get sucked in as well. I watch, wishing I wasn’t so mesmerized, as the flames spiral into the portal-like hole that sounds alive when it screams.

It quickly turns into a thunderous T-Rex imposter when that scream turns into a vicious roar, and my ears ring again as the vacuum gets stronger. My scythe starts to drag through the ground, inching me closer to the swirling vortex of what is likely death.

The chakrams zip by me, and they attack the hole so rapidly from so many different angle that it’s dizzying to try to keep up with the motions.

The vacuum stops as abruptly as it started, and the hole vanishes, as the four of us drop to the ground. I grunt as pain lances up my side, and I sigh heavily as I stare up at the changing scenery around me.

Paca pokes her head over mine, a disapproving look in her eyes.

“How did the four of you ever survive in here these past few weeks without me?” she asks as though she expects an answer.

Shoving up to my feet, I narrow my eyes over at her.

“With you here, they get lazy and irresponsibly distracted,” I growl, stepping into her.

She idly glances down at her purple nails, as she drags a finger up my chest with her other hand. I ignore the throbbing that is immediately in my pants, because at least one of us needs self-control and a clear head.

The unnatural way my body always responds to her touch has proven to be just as maddening as the things that come out of her mouth.

Though I admit, it’s all I can do not to tremble when she flicks her gaze up at me, blinking all innocently, even though she’s so far from innocent it’s laughable.

Fucking shit. This girl is both salvation and damnation, because I almost want to force her to the ground and take her, while the other three play lookout.

“Bwahahaha,” she says abruptly, snapping me out of the stupid train of thought.

I think…she’s…trying to mock some sort of laugh.

I’m torn between glaring and growing confused…

“Bahwahahah,” she goes on, making her voice deeper as I decide to go with confusion.

“Mwahahahahaha,” she goes on louder, leaning her head back so that the sound echoes.

“Did your settings break? Are you imploding? What the hell are you doing?” I snap.

She drops her head, looks up at me, and blinks all innocently again.

“Obviously I’m practicing my evil laugh,” she deadpans.

“Stop saying shit like that with a straight face,” I bite out.

She cracks a smartass grin and points at her lips. “Better?”

“How am I supposed to deal with this when I’m sober?” I ask, turning and staring at the fools, who are resisting the urge to smile over at her. “She’s ruined you. All of you,” I add, annoyed that I’m once again left to be the only voice of reason these days.

“Mwahahaha,” Paca carries on, this time putting a lot of theatrical has in there.

I palm my face, as she does a little dance in place.

“That’s it! That’s the evil laugh I’ll use the next time I level up. I wanted to try it this past time, but I was a little worried it wouldn’t have that evil gloating vibe I was going for. Also, there was a huge audience, and that was a tad bit intimidating, you know…if I’d messed up and sounded silly and all,” she adds as she tips her head back and makes that awful sound again.

Glaring at her anew, I slip my hand into her hair, leaning down to her lips, deciding there’s only one way to shut that mouth of hers when she’s this far off on a tangent. When I brush her lips with mine, she shivers against me in a way that has me working harder to preserve that self-control.

“Comoara trădătoare,” I murmur across her lips.

Chapter 15

PACA

Whenever Jude calls me a treacherous treasure in that thick Romanian accent he summons so effortlessly, it makes me want to throw my panties at him.

Mostly because I’ve learned that’s when he’s feeling weak and wants me but doesn’t want to want me. My evil laugh did it for him?

He’s an odd one.

I try to come back with something witty and fun to say, but just as I open my mouth to speak, his lips rush mine. A surprised sound escapes me as his bruising kiss gets all the more demanding, and he shoves his hand deeper into my hair, as the pole of his scythe pushes against me from behind, bringing me closer to his body.

I go all too willingly, even as my greatly improved hell-spawn senses tingle as though there’s a new threat close by.

“I thought this was what you didn’t want us doing,” Kai states from behind him.

Jude breaks the kiss, and he makes a frustrated sound, before he abruptly turns and stalks away like the angry boy he always is. I stumble forward a step in my stupor, but Kai catches me before I fall.

“He has a point,” Ezekiel says from behind me as he pushes my hair to the side and kisses a spot behind my ear. “You’re a grave distraction. We’ll never power up if you’re constantly stepping in to save us, while keeping all our attention on you. I get that you’re worried, but Lamar assured us we’re safe while in the Black Heart, and he’s waiting to escort us back to the room when we finish.”

Kai walks off, casting a smirk over his shoulder at me before mouthing, “Later.”

I really don’t think it’s fair to call me a distraction when they’re clearly the distracting ones. I also don’t tell them that I’m the reason Lamar is waiting to escort them back, because that would just show I planned this out.

Kai and Jude take on some roaring, oversized red-and-blue tiger with deadly spikes protruding from its neck.

I nod like I get it, since I honestly expected to be dismissed when I rode that ten-legged hippo out of the forest earlier…

I’m surprised they’ve tolerated my over-the-top antics this long. In truth, I think Jude’s the only one who struggles to tolerate my antics anymore.

Love really is blinding, it seems.

“Okay then. I’ll meet you back in my room,” I tell them as I go phantom and zap out.

I zap all the way to purgatory, where five agitated angels all turn a glare on me.

“You’re incredibly late,” Azrael bites out.