Someone there might know where Caspian is, and it isn’t a place the alpha would look for me, I don’t think. At the bottom of the advertisement is a small map of Hell with a star over where the bounty hunting trials are. I rip it off and take a deep breath before setting off to find the only wolf in Hell who can help me.
Chapter 5
Lilith Thornblood
“Derek, if that’s you back without my fucking demon—” Caspian pauses mid-sentence, slowly dropping his deep caramel eyes down onto me.
I didn’t think the tip I got from a man outside the large fenced-off area for the demon-hunting trials was right when he said Caspian lived here. Mostly because the man appeared drunk, and it was too lucky that the first person I asked actually knew Caspian at all.
Turns out the long shot was bang on.
Caspian’s six-foot, built-as-hell frame towers over me. I forgot how intimidating his stare is.
“Who the fuck are you and what do you want?”
I’m speechless for a second too long. With unseeable speed, he whips a silver dagger out from his back and places the tip under my chin. Fury burns in his eyes, and two black marks that run down from his forehead and around his eyes to his cheeks glow a vibrant red. “You might be fucking drop-dead beautiful but you won’t trick me into whatever you’re selling. Get the fuck out of here before you regret it.”
He lowers the dagger and walks back into his house.
“I’m Leo’s sister!” I shout seconds before the door shuts in my face.
But then it swiftly swings open again, and Caspian rests his shoulder against the doorframe. This time, he pauses to look at me from head to toe, and I do the same to him.
Caspian Hardling has changed since he was eighteen.
He’s still as breathtakingly handsome as he was then but he is more now. So much more.
Beefy shoulders fill out his white button-down shirt, which is tucked into black leather trousers with laces at the front of his narrow but toned waist. The trousers showcase his thick thighs and other areas. His soft, silky blond hair is tipped white and falls to just below his ears. His ears are spiked at the top, a reminder of his demon blood, and I’ve always thought they suit him. All demons have tipped ears in human form, but it’s more complicated for half-demon, half-wolves like Caspian.
He is rare. Few half-borns survive childhood.
“You grew up, songbird.”
I narrow my eyes at his stupid nickname for me. The memory of it comes back like a hammer. How did I have a crush on this guy? Oh, right. Wine, teenage hormones, and one sexy-ass half-wolf.
Apparently, I sing as well as demon songbirds, which for the record, screech all night and can make human men go deaf. They are popular for torture.
“Clearly you haven’t,” I say, crossing my arms.
“Did you come all the way to Hell to insult me? Or did you miss my pretty face?”
Swallowing my pride, what is left of it, I tell him the truth. “Neither. I need your help because I’m in danger.”
Something changes in his eyes, the playfulness disappearing as he straightens. “I can’t help you. You need to go.”
“Wait!” I stop his door closing in my face this time.
He sighs.
“My brother said you owed him. A life debt, if I’m not mistaken.”
He arches a pierced brow. “And?”
“This will make you even. Help me, for my brother, for the debt if nothing else,” I reply, hoping this will work. I’m sure Leo will go along with the plan if I had any way to safely get in touch with him.
Caspian stares down at me once more, and slowly he steps back, waving me into his house. “Get the fuck in, songbird.”
“My name is Lilith, in case you’ve forgotten,” I respond. I walk into the spacious yet empty room. There is a generic kitchen with four counters, a fridge, and a small bathroom behind a screen on the other side. A double bed is in the middle, with a couch at the end and a big orange rug in front of it. A wardrobe is near the bed, with two hooks on either side and countless weapons hanging off the large hook.
Other than that, there is nothing else here. Nothing personal to be seen.
Caspian slams the door shut behind me and walks around me to the fridge. “Do you drink yet? How old are you again?”
I drop down onto his leather sofa. “Old enough.”
“Good, because we need vodka for this conversation where you blackmail me into saving you from whatever the fuck you have done.”
Caspian brings over a half-drunk bottle of vodka and two shot glasses, chucking one at me. I hold it up, and he pours me a shot. I down it, keeping my eyes on him, and he raises an eyebrow at me before taking his own shot.
He downs another one and then pours himself a third. “Talk.”
“My mum and dad were killed by the Stormfire alpha. He wants me dead, and I need to hide,” I blurt out in one long rush.
Caspian coughs on the shot and smacks his fist against his chest a few times, staring at me with wide eyes.
“Then you’re dead already. I can’t help you fight him,” he replies, still looking shell-shocked.
I get the impression not much surprises this guy.
Rolling my eyes, I glance away. “I know that and I need somewhere to hide in the city. Permanently.”
“Does the alpha know you’re here?”
“Maybe,” I respond, clasping my hands together. “I don’t know for sure. So can I hide here?”
“Minor problem, I’m leaving here tomorrow.” He rubs the back of his neck and tilts his head at me. “The demon hunter trials begin tomorrow, and I’m joining them.”
“Shit,” I mutter. “Do you know anyone who could hide me? Someone you trust?”
He scoffs. “I don’t trust anyone in Hell, and you shouldn’t either, songbird.”
He sits on the sofa next to me, only a few inches between us, and I try not to look at the gorgeous fucker who is clearly going to ditch me.
“I’m sorry about your parents. Really, I am,” he eventually says. “More your mum though. Your dad was a dick.”
“Technically, he wasn’t my dad,” I counter, trying to make light of it with some dark humour.
Caspian chuckles low. “Lucky you.”
We drift into silence once more before Caspian lets out a long sigh. “I’m going fucking mad because I have an idea. It’s crazy, but it just might work if you don’t fuck it up.”
My heart thrashes. “I’m willing to go for crazy right now.”
Caspian’s gaze trails over me, the marks on his cheeks almost glowing red for a second, and I wonder what that means. When he was in Caeli, his marks never glowed, and I overheard him telling Leo that they were from his father’s demon side, not his wolf’s.
“I could get you into the demon hunter trials under a fake name,” he says slowly, “and I doubt the alpha would search for you there. The faces of all contestants are kept a secret, so they can move around the city freely. The alpha gives his protection to each of the ten winners. If you could win, which I highly doubt, by the way, you could gain the alpha’s protection. Then he won’t be able to kill you without breaking his vow.”