Infernal God (Claimed By Lucifer Book 3) by Elizabeth Briggs (summer reads TXT) 📕

Something stopped me from ending her. And worst of all, she knew it.

Instead of screaming in fear and running away, she stepped closer, so close I could smell her. Flowers, vanilla, and something else, something primal and all feminine that made my cock harden.

"Lucifer, put the sword away," she said. "Remember who you are. Remember me."

"I know exactly who I am," I growled. "And you will die."

"No, I won't. You can't kill me." She put her hands on my shoulders, and the sword I held vanished like smoke. "You won't."

I wrapped my hand around her throat, but my fingers wouldn't tighten. Instead my grip became more of a caress, and she sighed and closed her eyes. As if she liked it. How could she possibly crave my touch? And the more important question—why did I crave hers even more?

"Who are you, woman?"

She reached up and stroked my face tenderly, as she looked at me with something I didn't understand. Her touch was a bolt of electricity that stormed through me, lighting me up in a way the anger and the hatred didn’t. "I'm Hannah, your mate. Your queen. From the dawn of time, we've been bound together by fate. You sacrificed your memories of me when you became War, but I know, deep down, the man I love is still in there."

She was wrong. I was Lucifer and War and there was no room for love in my wrathful heart. Especially not for an angel. Yet her touch stirred something in me, and my hand slid from her neck down to her breasts, while I watched her lips part with a soft gasp. At the sound, my other hand grabbed her hip possessively and pulled her against me, before I realized what I was doing.

Then she was in my arms and my mouth was on hers, my lips rough and demanding, crushing hers as I stole her breath. My tongue stroked the warm, wet softness of her mouth as I deepened the kiss further, backing her against the wall, one arm wrapped around her, one hand resting on her hip. Everything about kissing this woman felt right, and I couldn't get enough of her. From the way she kissed me back and clung to my shoulders, she felt it too. How?

I didn’t know. Didn't care. I had to have her. My cock demanded to be sheathed inside of her, and I would pound her hard until I had answers. I nudged her legs wide, sliding a hand between her thighs, finding her wet and ready. She gasped and arched against me, and I let out a low hum of satisfaction. Soon I'd make her scream my name.

I ripped her loose dress down the front, exposing her bra and panties, but then I saw the fullness of her belly and paused.

Fuck. The woman was pregnant.

My hand came to rest across her abdomen and I felt the life growing inside of her. It called out to me, filling me with an unmistakable truth.

Mine.

The woman carried a life. And not just any child, but one my blood recognized as its own.

Impossible.

I stumbled back, forcing my eyes up to her face. "How?"

She looked almost sad as she stared back at me. "It's yours, Lucifer. But you know that, don't you?"

"It can't be. I would never breed with a filthy angel!"

She sighed and reached for me again, but I drew away. I couldn’t trust her. I didn’t know her. She was nothing to me. Yet somehow she carried my child within her. What. The. Fuck.

"You can fight this," she said, stepping closer to me. "Fight it for me. For your daughter. For us."

Daughter? I didn't know what she was talking about, but something wasn't right about this. Conflicting thoughts and emotions warred for control in me, making me unable to tell what was true or not. She had tricked me somehow, confusing my thoughts, and I had to get away to make sense of it all.

My wings snapped out and I let the familiar anger and hatred fill me. Yes, that was better. That was real. That was me.

Without another glance, I launched myself out through the broken windows, the taste of her still on my lips. I couldn't kill the woman, not while she carried my child.

But I would return.

5

Hannah

Damn, I almost got through to Lucifer.

I stared through the shattered windows where his red glowing wings had carried him into the night. He'd come here to kill me, I had no doubt about that, but he couldn't do it. Even though he didn't remember me, he'd felt the mate bond thrumming between us, pulling him toward me until it was impossible to resist. When he kissed me, I felt my Lucifer shining through, and I knew he wasn't all lost. He could still be saved—but I had to do it quickly before he started another war between angels and demons, or something worse, something I couldn't even fathom.

There was only one way—I'd have to use Famine to take War down.

The penthouse door burst open and Theo ran inside, followed by the other gargoyles in my guard. I hastily grabbed my ripped dress and tried to cover myself up, but my hands trembled and my heart pounded so loudly I could barely hear Theo's words.

“My queen, are you all right?” Theo had his sword out and he gripped my elbow protectively, ready to guard my body with his own while his gargoyles scoured the penthouse and took to the skies to search for the threat.

“I’m okay,” I said, trying to pull myself together as I looked down at the glass all over the floor. Those poor windows had been replaced more times than I could count at this point. “I'm not injured. Just shaken, that's all."

"Who did this?" he asked.

I hesitated, but there was no hiding this from Theo or anyone else in my inner circle. "It was Lucifer."

Theo swore