Genesis Queen (The Road to Hell Series) (35 page)

“You’re fucking perfect and don’t allow anyone to tell you different.” Fingers swiped through the illusion centered in their son’s palm. The tiny butterfly with droopy wings scattered into puffs of fizzling magic. “Again, Amos. It’s got to appear real enough someone can touch it without it dispersing.”

Confused, Madison looked back at the dragon her child had drawn. Bright yellow underbelly, royal blue wings with light purple skull heads on them. A long, forked tail corkscrewed across the page. She traced the image with a fingertip. The detail was phenomenal. Scales etched into the body, surprising her when they didn’t slice her flesh from the wispy fondle.

Does Micah really think I’m perfect
? Of course he had designed her and mentored—

Madison sat a little straighter and forced her thoughts back to the picture.

Ridges across the bridge of the dragon’s snout reminded her of a crocodile and…well, and the real-life dragons she commanded. Upper teeth longer than the jaw protruded over into icepick-sharp tips. The yellow eyes were speckled in a blue and light purple star-like pattern. The image was so realistic, she could almost envision the sketch coming to life and—

“
Oh, fuck
!”

Madison shoved away from the desk. Her chair caught on the rug and rocked backward. Somehow she managed to contort her body at the correct angle to hit the floor on her side, rather than ride the chair to the hardwood. The clatter of her seat against the floorboards whipped the guys about.

She felt Micah tense more than saw his disquiet. Shoving to her feet, she held her arm toward Amos. “Stay.”

The dragon photo had come to life in a carbon-copy replica. The creature squawked and hopped across the sheet of paper toward her.

“Take it,” Micah instructed in a no-nonsense tone.

Madison shook her head hard enough her ponytail slapped her face.

Rapid footsteps and then his fingers were curling around her upper arm. “You gave it life. Doesn’t matter if it was by accident.” He jerked her toward the table. “Take. It.”

The mini-dragon wasn’t more than a foot in length—if she didn’t count the tail. At least a three-foot wingspan flapped as it screeched and two-stepped across the desk, ogling her like an obsessed stalker.

“It recognizes you as mother. Either nurture it or kill it.”

She flinched. “I cannot kill it.” But neither did she know how to take care of it.

“I’ll help you figure out what it needs to survive,” he said as if he read her mind.

“Momma, that’s so cool.” Amos shifted from one foot to the next, his wide-eyed gaze honed on the upset creature.

Not cool at all, but she disregarded his enthusiasm. Madison extracted herself from her husband’s grasp and took the final step to the dragon. A moment of hesitation, then she held her hand toward the dragon. The reptile tucked its wings and leapt onto her arm. Scampered up to her shoulder, where its little body curled along her neck, his tail draping over her opposite shoulder like a shawl.

Madison stroked the frigid head that reclined against her collarbone. A purring as loud as a Harley startled her. Who knew such a tiny creation could make so much noise? She laughed until she met Micah’s intense gaze.

“You’re strong, Madison. More than I realized.” His fingertips skimmed her cheek. Pride and something she couldn’t identify made his eyes glow demon-like. “What were you thinking when it came to life?”

“He.”

“Pardon?”

“When
he
came to life, not ‘it,’” she corrected. “I don’t know how I know, but the dragon is male.”

“May I?” His fingers shifted off her face to hover over the dragon’s head.

She removed her touch and nodded. As he stroked her creation, the purring softened, but continued. Madison cleared her throat. “I don’t want to do this again.”

“What were you thinking right before you breathed life into the drawing?”

“That Amos’s photo was lifelike.”

“I’m impressed, Momma.”

She wished she was.

“I’m impressed, too, kitten.” His gaze said something else entirely. Like he wanted to shove her to the floor and fuck her until she cried uncle.

I so want that
, her succubus chimed in, purring a little, too.

“What else were you thinking?” His stare bored into hers.

Nothing she wished to confide. She shook her head.

“You are a conduit for magic when your emotions are rattled, Madison. Something else was on your mind or you would’ve been aware of your actions.”

Nibbling on her bottom lip, she eyed her son to get her focus off Micah and what she’d really been thinking. Because no way in hell would she admit what’d been on her mind.

“That’s all for today, Amos.”

“I’m gonna go show my illusions to Petra.” Their child flung himself against Micah and hugged him. “Thank you so much, Daddy.”

Madison’s heart clenched at her son’s expressive emotions.

Micah ruffled his hair and squeezed Amos’s shoulder. “Tomorrow, we’ll practice more.”

“’Kay.” Their son took off at a dead run, the Hellhounds scrambling to follow. The door slammed behind them.

Fingers shoved hair behind an ear and her husband leaned against the desk. Ankles crossed, his hands flattened palm-down on his thighs, he leveled her with a stare. His wedding ring glinted on his left hand. That piece of metal eroded her commitment to Nix. That bothered her.

“Spill it.”

The slight quirk to his lips and the way his eyebrows danced with his hairline, she suspected he knew what she’d been thinking. “No. My thoughts are my own.”

“They were about me.” Smug certainty made his voice sound like velvet being dragged over her skin. Arousing her in the most wickedly clandestine sort of way.

“You’re conceited.” Open book to him from the get-go. Just once she craved to be a hard read.

“I label it self-realism.”

“Arrogance is not sexy on a man.”
Lie much more and
—Madison shut down her demon chat. It wasn’t a lie; at least she didn’t find it sexy on
other
men. Just on Micah, it was lethal to her libido.

He rerouted the subject back on topic. “Specifically your thoughts are of us naked and me inside you.”

Again, not a question, but a statement. And so close to the truth, she wouldn’t engage additional conversation.

Madison spun on her heels and stalked toward the door.

The soft confidence of his voice whipped over her as decadent as she imagined his tongue would across her skin. “It’s natural to think of your husband that way.”

As if slamming into an invisible brick wall, she drew up short and executed a half-turn to face him. “You’re
not
my husband. I divorced you and I have the papers to prove it. I also divorced you where it counts. In my heart.” Damn, that hurt to say, thanks to the strange burning in her throat. She’d ask him about that, but she worried what his answer would be.

“Liar.”

She frowned. “Which part is a lie?”

“The divorcing me in your heart bullshit.”

Haha
…
he has
so
got your number
. Madison might never speak to her succubus again at this rate. They were supposed to be on the same damn side!

“I understand your ego is so huge you cannot see the truth right in front—” She squealed as he suddenly appeared directly in front of her. His warp speed had him across the room and nose to nose with her.

“I can smell your arousal.” Gee, nothing embarrassing about that. “I’ve been around long enough to recognize the looks you’ve been tossing me.” He circled her, eyeing her like a succubus he owned and could have anytime of his choosing. “They’re fuck-me looks.”

So got your number
.

Was she really giving
those
looks to him? “Dream on. I only give Nix fuck-me looks.”

From behind his lips pressed against her ear. “There is no codex in existence that says you cannot love two men at once.” The rough glide of his tongue along her lobe had her breath catching in her lungs. Heat swirled in her belly and stretched downward.
Oh
,
God
. “Only the pretentious Christian that raised you would lament such hypocrisy.” A blow against her ear scattered goose bumps along her flesh and liquid pooled between her thighs. “Leave before I follow my impulse and bestow your secret desires upon you.”

Self-preservation dogged her as she fled.

With a hand on the door, his mild tone stopped her in her tracks. “My guess is you’re good and wet.”

Her spine snapped straight, but she refused to face him.

“Go to Phoenix to relieve your ache and you won’t like my reaction.”

How dare he threaten me
! Madison whipped around, ready to fillet epidermis off him one layer at a time. The flames in his eyes, proof of his hellish principals, stunned her into silence. She’d not seen them directed toward her since Hell.

“I can tolerate the Ark fucking you, but not when the arousal is for me.” His walk was full of pride, supremacy and superiority. A damn shame he could back up the swagger. A finger beneath her chin and he tipped her head back to meet his passionate stare. “I grant you many liberties. This is
not
one of them.”

She knocked his hand aside. The dragon hissed. “Your
self
-
realism
is on my last nerve, Micah.”

Shocker—she’d managed that sentence without the typical burn on her tongue.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Nix gaped at the billiards table as Zen’s remaining six balls rolled into their pockets. “No fucking way!” Arms tensing to wrap his pool stick around the immortal’s head, he forced his body to relax. “Goddamn cheater!”

“No.” Zenny smirked.

“Bullshit. You’re mind-bending those motherfuckers somehow.”

“No. Right-side pocket.” He took aim; the tip of the stick struck the cue ball, and it ricocheted off three walls before lining up and bee-lining diagonally across the table straight for the right-side pocket.

Showoff
.

“I’m exceptional,” Zenny said as the black ball continued to rotate closer and closer to its resting spot. He wouldn’t have been surprised if the immortal blew on his nails and buffed them on his shirt, he preened so fucking much. The globe plunked in its intended receptacle and a half-grin tilted the side of Zen’s mouth. “I win. Again.”

Won eight games in a row. Unbelievable. “Does Mads know you’re a trickster?”

“Would you fancy I went easy on you? Would your pride suffer less?”

“Rematch.” He slammed the rack on the table.

“Beating you is becoming tedious, Phoenix.” Mads’s crystal genie plucked the balls from their pockets and shot them down the felt-lined slab toward Nix. “I anticipated you’d be a better loser than this.”

Better loser?
Better loser
! That was it. He threw the ball down, determined on flattening the uptight, self-assured egomaniac.

“You do not want to act on those thoughts, Phoenix.” The crystal genie scraped the tip of the pool stick with blue chalk, reminding him of a lazy cat that could go feral in point-zero-one seconds.

“Get the fuck out of my head.”

“You’re angry at your circumstances.” Dead calm from the immortal swindler. Thank God they hadn’t been betting on each game. “Aggression against me will encompass dreadful results for you.”

Warning noted. He’d take his chances. One step toward the immortal and a squawk halted his stride. Lucky for Zenny, Mads stood in the doorway with a…
is that a miniature dragon
?

“Care to explain that dragon on your shoulder, Madison?”

Yep, apparently it
was
a dragon.

Zenny came up to stand beside Nix, and he noted the feral had just ignited beneath Zen’s skin.

Mads lifted a hand to rub her fingers along the creature’s head. Its distraught screeching shifted into a soothing purr that’d browbeat a mountain lion into immediate submission. How the hell did she tolerate the racket so close to her ear?

“I gave it life by accident.” Her voice shook as she rushed through the rest of the details, including how she’d discovered she could manipulate nature. “I couldn’t bring anything dead back to life. Thank God, only Nix and Micah are capable of that feat. I don’t want that type of responsibility.”

Neither did he, but as of yet, none of the higher players inquired about his preferences.

“What was Micah’s reaction?” Zen asked as Nix went to her and gripped her hand in silent support. He’d prefer to put his arm around her, but the newly acquired pet hogged that prime location.

“He was impressed.” Bland words, but something in the slight shiver of her body suggested her husband had been highly aroused by her talent.

“Knew I shouldn’t have left you alone with him.” He released her hand and slid his arm around her waist. The dragon hissed. “Too bad, buddy. You’ll have to share her.”

A slight twitch to her lips, but she made no comment about his quarrel to the animal reclining on her shoulders.

“Amos was impressed, too, but he thinks everything is cool.” Mads grimaced.

The child was smart and knew not everything was exciting. But getting a chance to finagle his power, Nix understood the clout that could hold over a person. He’d been there and loved every fucking minute of discovering the limits of his monster.

“It’s Lynx magic.” Zenny hip-reclined against the pool table. “Not to be used frivolously.”

“You think I don’t know that? I’d get rid of this ability if I could.” A minute pause. “
Can
you freeze it or something, Zen?”

“That is not one of my gifts.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.” Mads shifted against Nix’s side and wrapped her arms around his waist.

The dragon emitted a low growl that sounded a lot like thunder. Its yellow, blue and purple eyes locked on Nix. Possessive little monster, but with teeth like that, the fiend could back up the threat.

“Hush it.” Mads snapped and flicked a finger against the animal’s neck. “He’s mine. Just like you. Deal with it or find a new…mommy.”