Sweet Revenge (Dueling with the Devil) (33 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

Banging on the door jolted Bell out of her sleep. She yanked on her jeans and tossed on Xavier’s t-shirt. The racket continued.
Somebody better be dead
. She retracted the idea quickly.

She jerked open the door
.“
What
?
”

Her father stood on the other side
.“
He’s awake
.
”

“
Laurent
?
”

“
Yes. Get dressed and come down
.
”

She shut the door. Giddy excitement buzzed through her. Jumping on Xavie
r,
she kissed him
.“
Bab
e,
get up. We got to go down. Laurent’s awake
.
”

“
Stop moving
.”
He held her by the arms
.“
Laurent’s better
?
”

Unable to contain hersel
f,
Bell bounced up and down
.“
Yep. Get up. I’m hopping in the shower and heading down. Don’t take two hours getting ready like you usually do
.
”

He let go of her and she sprinted to the bathroom.

t t t

Laurent sat up in the bed against the headboar
d,
most of the cuts and bruises healed. Natasha was perched beside hi
m,
pressing her hand to his chest. He smiled up at Bell when she came into the room. Marie and Bell’s father waited patiently at the side of the bed. A tray of tea balanced on the night stan
d,
probably Marie’s contribution. Angel and Jacque huddled in the leather arm chair. Bell breathed a sigh of relief. Her family was intact.

“
Hey Siss
y
,
”
Laurent croake
d,
his voice dry and cracked from lack of use.

Bell burst into tears and ran to her brothe
r,
kneeling at the side of the bed
.“
I’m so sorry
!
”

“
Hey. Hey. No need for crying. I’m okay
.”
He patted her head.

“
I didn’t mean to hurt you
.
”

“
Loo
k,
you didn’t do any of this. Your blast wore off in Ziz’s cave. Luc put some of his goons on me. They had some kind of silver injection
that shorted out my healing ability
.
”

“
Then how did you get better
?
”

“
I don’t know.
M
a
y
be it wore off or filtered through my system. Does it matter
?
”

“
N
o,
not really
.
”

“
Thank you. I heard you found me and zapped a shitload of
L
u
c
’
s
s
o
l
d
i
e
r
s to
g
e
t
us
b
ac
k
.
”

“
I guess. I lucked out in finding you. And thankfull
y,
I caught the right people on fire
.”
Bell laughed.

Laurent picked up his glass of wate
r,
raising a mock toast to
B
e
ll
.
“
Y
o
u always
w
e
r
e
a
b
a
d
a
ss
.
”

“
I’m just happy you’re okay. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost you
.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“
When the hell did you start crying
?”
Laurent teased.

“
When she thought she killed yo
u
,
”
Xavier answered from behind her.

She rose from the floor. Xavier kissed her cheek and wiped away her tears.

“
I guess I missed a lot while I was gone
.”
Laurent shook his hea
d,
while he sipped from his glass.

“
Wel
l,
you didn’t miss our wedding. Now that you’re back with u
s,
we can get married
.
”

Laurent spit water across the bedspread. Bell slapped his back to stop the choking
.“
What the hell? You’re getting
m
a
r
r
i
e
d
?
”

“
Yeah
.”
Bell pressed her lips into a thin line
.“
Is it so surprising that someone wants to marry me
?
”

“
No. Lots of guys want to marry yo
u,
but you’ve never wanted to marry them
.
”

“
Wel
l,
a female can change her mind. Rumor has it we do that a lot
.
”

“
I got swa
g,
man
.”
Xavier winked at Bell.

“
Mayb
e,
y’all can have a double wedding
.”
Laurent nodded over to Jacque and Angel.

“
Um…no. They already got marrie
d
,
”
Bell replied.

Laurent glanced around at the faces in the room
.“
How fucking long have I been out
?
”

“
Not that long. Things have been moving in warp speed around here latel
y
,
”
Jacque answered.

Etienne knocked on the door
.“
Excuse me. Has anyone seen the human from the New Orleans pack
?
”

“
I sent Charity home last nigh
t
,
”
Bell answered.

“
Apparentl
y,
she never showed u
p
,
”
Etienne said
.
“
I
h
a
v
e
a pack of angry wolves downstairs. They seem to think we’ve done something to her
.
”

“
Who is Charity
?”
Laurent questioned.

“
She’s a female from the New Orleans pac
k,
but hasn’t shifted yet. She has a crush on you
.”
Bell turned back to Etienne
.“
And why do they think we did something to her
?
”

Etienne scrunched his brows and twisted his hands nervously
.“
It seems she thinks Laurent is her mate
.
”

Laurent choked on his words this time
.“
I’m her what
?
”

“
She told her pack she found her mat
e,
and she planned to move in here with you
.
”

“
This can’t be goo
d
,
”
Xavier groaned.

Jacque stood
.“
Is that why she kept hanging around here
?
”

“
That girl is crazy.
I
f
s
h
e
d
i
d
n
’
t
go
b
ac
k
to
t
h
e
Wa
r
d,
w
h
e
r
e

the hell did she go
?”
Bell folded her arms across her chest
.“
I knew she was trouble from the time I whipped her ass at the
c
l
u
b
.
”

“
Shi
t,
Bell. No wonder her pack is downstairs. Why can’t you stay out of trouble
?”
Laurent poked.

“
Me? You’re the reason she was sniffing around here. Leave it to you to attract a wolf. Not even a wolf. A huma
n,
who wants to be a wolf
.
”

“
Enoug
h
,
”
Behemoth interrupted
.“
We need to help find her
.
”

“
How do we know where to look
?”
Bell asked her father
.“
We don’t even know her
.
”

Marie stepped up
.“
Lauren
t,
do you remember her being here when you woke up
?
”

“
Wasn’t Daddy here
?”
Bell asked.

“
There was some noise out in the hall. I stepped out for a minut
e,
when I returned he was awake
.
”

“
Think Laurent. Was anyone here
?”
Marie probed
.“
She has been in and out frequently
.”

Laurent hesitated before answering
.“
I thought it was a drea
m,
but I kind of remember a female with long dark hair and these big brown eyes. She was at my bedside with Lucifer. She kissed my forehead and whispered not to worry. I think she said I’d get better soon
.
”

“
Fuc
k
,
”
Xavier grumbled
.“
That’s her
.
”

“
What the hell is she doing with Lucifer
?”
Laurent pushed up on the pillows.

“
I think that’s my faul
t
,
”
Bell admitted
.“
I told her only Lucifer had the answer to healing Laurent. She must’ve gone to the source for help
.
”

“
This is ba
d
,
”
Angel interjected.

Bell paced the floor
.“
She’s still human. She won’t last long in Hell
.
”

“
She was with the New Orleans pac
k,
right? Why is a human hanging with them
?”
Laurent swung his legs off the side of the be
d,
sitting on the edge of the mattress. Behemoth held out a hand in case Laurent toppled over.

“
Something’s wrong with her. She can’t shift until she finds a mat
e
,
”
Bell mumbled.

“
Seriously
?”
Laurent stared at his sister
.“
And she thinks I’m the one
?
”