Chapter 707: Demon Marriage

Hell might be a kingdom, but it was a wasteland, and the last place Micah ever wanted Adele to be. This possibility had never crossed his mind. After all, who would have thought a creature like him would ever get a matebond?

Moreover, none of them had ever cared about him before. And now suddenly, Rivere was all over his case.

Prince Rivere. Asmodeus’s favorite son, or at least, he strutted around as though he were. Demons didn’t show parental concern the way mortals did, but Rivere had always been the one Asmodeus called upon, always the one entrusted with the affairs of the Court of Hunger. No wonder Rivere viewed himself as their father’s rightful heir.

Micah, on the other hand, had always steered clear of the endless political games played by the millions of Asmodeus’s spawn. Which is why Rivere’s sudden interest in him was still a shock.

Rivere chuckled wickedly and said, "We’ll test just how much this mate of yours loves you."

Almost immediately, the hall echoed with colorful jeering. The next thing Micah knew, Adele was being dragged toward the dais, flanked by two demons who held her tight.

Before Rivere stole her, she had been wearing Micah’s shirt after their lovemaking. It was gone now. In its place, Adele wore a red wrap binding her breasts, the two strips crossing diagonally and hooking at the back of her neck. Her midsection was bare, and a matching skirt clung to her hips, split high enough that her thighs flashed with every forced step.

Her hair was curled, her lips painted a deep blood-red, and there was powder on her face. Adele looked ravishing like a temptress and that was the problem.

A deep, animalistic growl rumbled from Micah’s chest. The idea that another male—Rivere, of all creatures—had touched her, let alone dressed her, pushed him to the brink of madness.

Micah didn’t have a wolf, but like every mate out there, he would die before he let someone stain her honor.

Rivere’s eyes widened slightly in surprise when Micah suddenly grabbed his ankle and began to lift. There was nothing but pure, lethal fury in Micah’s eyes as he forced Rivere’s leg upward, muscles shaking with rage. He pushed hard enough to break free from Rivere’s pinning hold.

The moment he was free, Micah surged to his feet and lunged at the bastard but two demons tackled him from behind, slamming him back to the ground. Micah bellowed and thrashed like a feral animal, veins bulging, but the demons used their combined strength to crush him down.

"Micah!" Adele screamed, fighting against her captors with everything she had. But they didn’t budge. They were too strong.

"Adele!" Micah roared back, heaving, struggling against the hands restraining him.

Rivere smirked, pleased with himself. "Aren’t you two adorable?"

He turned toward the gathered audience, the demons who had been indulging in their sinful revelry were now utterly enraptured by the unfolding drama.

Rivere raised his arms as though presenting a show.

"Aren’t they adorable?" he gloated.

The hall was suddenly filled with mocking laughter. Demons cackled, hooted, and some even moaned as though deriving pleasure from their distress.

All the while Micah rage only grew. He didn’t care about the consequences but Rivere was dead once he got his hands on him.

With taunting steps, Rivere walked over to Adele, the entire hall watching with hungry anticipation. He stopped in front of Adele, who stood tense between the two demons restraining her, and reached out to grab her chin. He tilted her face left, then right, inspecting her as if she were some exotic artifact.

"Not bad," he murmured.

Adele snapped her teeth at his finger hard enough that if she had connected, he’d have bled. Except she missed by inches.

Rivere only laughed. "A feisty one."

But the amusement drained from his eyes in an instant, replaced by a dark look. His grip on her chin tightened until her jaw ached.

"Do you know," he muttered, voice low enough to vibrate through her bones, "that demons don’t get Matebonds? We are designed to be evil and incapable of love. And yet he gets one." His eyes flicked briefly to Micah with venomous disgust. "A Matebond that grants enormous sexual-energy power to creatures like us."

Adele bared her teeth at him. "So that’s why you’re jealous. Micah suddenly has more potential than you. Is that it? And now you want to steal the one thing that matters to him by killing me?"

Rivere’s lips curled into a knowing smirk. "You’re right. I

envy

him."

His voice had an edge to it now. "Not only does Father create a creature like him, he dares to look down on the rest of us. To suppress his nature. To make us look like what? Evil, while he pretends to be light?"

He chuckled, low and chilling.

"No, little wolf. I won’t kill you."

Adele stiffened.

Rivere leaned closer, his breath brushing her cheek. "I’ll grant you the one fate he doesn’t want for you."

Micah thrashed violently against the demons holding him, a snarl ripping out of him. "RIVERE! Don’t you touch her—!"

Rivere ignored him. His voice shifted into a cruelly elegant tone

"Do you know how demons marry? They marry for power, not love." Rivere lifted one long finger. "And a union must be witnessed by a Prince..." He lifted another. "Sealed in blood..." A third one . "And consummated with magic."

His grin widened. "Once it’s done, each mate absorbs a piece of the other’s essence. Permanently."

Adele’s heart stuttered. That didn’t sound good.

Micah’s scream rent the hall.

"Don’t listen to him, Adele! If you agree to that you’ll be trapped in Hell with me for all eternity!"

Rivere laughed. "Is that such a bad thing? Once she dies, the two of them will be together forever." He glanced at Adele, taunting her. "After all, aren’t you two mated?"

Micah shook his head desperately, eyes locked on hers. "Adele, please. Don’t do this. You deserve better than this place."

Adele was suddenly under pressure as the demons watched with anticipation, waiting for her to respond.

She swallowed hard. "What happens if I don’t agree?"

Rivere’s smile was simply poisonous. "Then I’ll send you back to the human realm while he stays behind."

He tilted his head, savoring Micah’s expression. "I’ll torture him every day, every hour, and breath. Meanwhile you’ll be up there alone and I heard mates can’t stay apart for long. Perhaps that taste of life without him will convince you to crawl back here and accept a demon marriage willingly."

Adele’s stomach twisted. She knew Rivere was sick, twisted, and manipulative, and there was absolutely more to this story than the "lovely little union" he was pretending to offer. But what choice did she have? Micah was incapacitated, overwhelmed, and they were surrounded by thousands of demons. There was no fighting their way out of this.

Before Adele could open her mouth—whether to defy him or accept out of desperation—a thunderous voice cracked through the hall,

"What is going on here?"

Rivere froze, the smile sliding off his face like melting wax.

It was not just him. A shift swept through the Court as an invisible, suffocating pressure that made the air itself tremble washed over them. In an instant, every demon in the chamber collapsed to their knees. The two demons holding Micah and Adele dropped instantly. It was shocking but they were free at last.

Adele didn’t even waste the moment and sprinted to Micah.

Micah caught her immediately, pulling her into his arms and checking her frantically.

"Are you hurt? Adele, look at me, are you hurt? Did they do anything to you?"

She shook her head quickly, breath shaky. "I’m fine. Micah, what’s happening?"

He didn’t answer right away. His eyes were tracking the hall, widening with dread.

And then he whispered, "Asmodeus is here."

Adele’s heart stopped. The Prince of Lust. Micah’s creator.

She turned, having no idea what to expect.

A monster? A beast? Perhaps something with horns and a grotesque face.

What she saw instead was an enormous silhouette that rippled across the walls, radiating a predator’s aura that chilled her bones. The shape twisted and then stepped forward, becoming a man.

Asmodeus appeared out of nowhere, the shadows peeling off him like a cloak. Goddess above. Adele had never seen a man — if he could be called that — so devastatingly handsome.

But of course, that was supposed. He was the prince of lust after all.

His movements were fluid and unhurried, every step dripping with sensual power. His skin gleamed as though lit from within, and his irises shone with shifting colors, a living prism that saw through flesh, and soul. When he walked, the air itself seemed to bend around him.

Adele stood frozen as Asmodeus approached them, her heart pounding violently. He leaned in too close, breathing her in, his expression indescribable.

Then he straightened, gaze sweeping the court with the indifference of a god.

He thundered, "Who brought an undead creature into my court?"