Lucien

"Easy," Devon said lifting his hands to the both of them.

"Why is everybody fighting?" Seth said sleepily, popping in next to Devon.

Lucien felt his face heat up. "Great. Now the brat's awake."

Seth leveled his pale blue eyes at Lucien, curled his lip back, and snarled, a few tiger's stripes appearing on his arms and bare torso. The kid was thirteen and still short for his age, but Lucien had seen him transform into his tiger and knew the little shit was going to be a bruiser when he finally started growing into a man.

"Listen here, kitty-cat, get back to bed with your teddy bear and butt out of grown men's conversations."

Seth's eyes widened and he looked down at Anniel. His nose twitched and Lucien's face flamed further when he realized that the weretigre would not mistake the scent of hard, long, rough fucking.

"Dev, for fuck's sake, get that kid outta here."

"Hey, I know plenty about copulation, and I'm not a kid," Seth protested.

"How about I pull you over my knee and prove to you how wrong you are," Lucien threatened.

The stripes faded and he took a step closer to Devon who put a reassuring arm around him. "No he won't, kiddo," Dev shook his head trying to get the kid to relax.

Lucien grinned. Oh yes he would. Seth was a boy. He had no problem spanking naughty little boys.

"All right," Rowie huffed grabbing the pillow out from Lucien's head when she suddenly teleported into Anniel's already crowded bedroom. "Everybody out."

Devon leaned over to kiss the top of Seth's platinum locks. They vanished before his lips left the whelp's head.

Zak leaned over and kissed Annie's cheek, looking up at Rowie challengingly.

"Out, Blondie," she hissed.

He took his time rising out of the bed, making Lucien scowl as he flexed his muscles in a blatant display.

Show-off.

He was gone with a flash of golden fire.

The sound of Rowie's tapping foot had Lucien looking back at her.

He scowled up at her. "Im staying."

One perfectly sculpted brow rose. "No. You're not."

Lucien stood abruptly, looking down at her with his famous panty dropping stare. She didn't even flinch. Instead, she fixed him with those bottomless black eyes that made funny things flutter in his belly.

Rowie had this flawless porcelain skin, sinfully thick, jet-black hair that fell in a riot of glossy curls to her waist, and the reddest plumpest little mouth that tempted a saint to sin. She was just this little lithe—totally—dominant female. They liked teasing each other, who would end up in who's manacles, but he was hard pressed to make a move on her. She'd been just a kid when he and Devon had found her running the streets in New York. In just two years and she'd bloomed into a sexy little vixen, but she was pretty cold when she wanted to be.

Leaning down, because she came up to the middle of his chest, he lowered his mouth closer to hers. Her eyes widened and her nostrils flared

She liked him. Problem was she wanted to tie him up and he had problems with that scenario.

Her lashes lowered and a fine little tremor ran through her when he let his breath caress her lips. Bypassing them, he clamped his teeth on her chin and froze when he felt her grip his balls. Her eyes were narrowed now, and he knew she meant business.

He released his hold on her chin and took a step back from her grip. Last thing he wanted was to spend the night icing his bruised balls.

"You're mean," he crooned.

She smiled. "So I've been told."

Lucien snorted and then just teleported back into his room.

With a dejected sigh, he padded into his hygiene unit. The blue rays swept over his bare body, leaving his skin and scalp tingling.

Walking out, he headed for where he had his clothes stored. The glossy grey drawers revealed his reflection like a mirror. His blond hair shimmered, a sleek fall with gently curling ends that almost reached his waist. He'd thought about going shorter, but was loath to reveal the scars marring his back. Whitish lash marks marred the right side of his torso, and shiny little round burn marks the inside of his thighs. He had similar marks just beneath his scrotum. Mr. Black had loved hearing him scream. He closed his eyes willing the horrid memories away, but opened them in terror when he heard deep masculine chuckling mere inches from his face.

Lucien sprang back, willing his sword into his hand and held it pointed to the creature before him.

The devil's skin was blacker than pitch, his teeth stark-white jagged points. He stared at Lucien with enormous yellow eyes and slit pupils like a cat.

Samael licked his lips with his deep, dark red tongue and tapped against the mirror-like surface of the drawers with a claw. "Are you going to bash your furniture now?"

Lucien frowned. The freaky fuck was still on the other side of the reflective surface.

"What do you want?"

Samael's eyes narrowed. "Your brother. When?"

Lucien frowned. "He's hard to shake. I need more time."

Samael scoffed. "He loves these pathetic children he's surrounded himself with. Just kill one of them and he'll turn."

Lucien recoiled. He wasn't going to kill anyone aboard Alpha 7.

Samael snorted in disdain. "You've grown attached to them as well. You stupid fool." The devil stepped up to the reflective surface, staring at Lucien with its fiery eyes. "I am losing patience. The dark god is also losing patience."

"Just give me more time. I've already devised a plan. I just need to get in touch with the right people. These things can't be rushed."

The devil narrowed his eyes. "You'd better hurry up. When Master gets angry, the demons get angry. And when the demons get angry, they make my fucking life pure hell."

With that, the image of the devil on the other side of the reflective wall of drawers vanished.

Lucien backed away from the drawers and sat at the edge of his bed, clutching Lucifer's sword in his hands. Pressing the tip of the mighty blade to the floor, he leaned his forehead on the hilt.

He didn't want t kill anyone aboard Alpha 7. Sometimes...sometimes he almost didn't want to kill his brother either.

He'd planned on having the others captured in suspended animation orbs, but he needed Lillique to lure Devon away for a few days to accomplish that.

Once Zak, Anniel, Rowie, and Seth disappeared, Devon would flip—he'd freak. He'd turn.

Lucien had talked to Devon about how close they all were, like family.

"I'd never really had family. It's kind of scary," Lucien had mused digging his toes into the white sand at the banks of the lake in the envirolevel one afternoon.

Devon had frowned and lifted his head from the perch of his drawn up knees. "Why scary? Why would having a family scare you?"

Lucien had shrugged and thrown a pebble across the surface of the pristine lake. "I don't know. What if...what if something were to happen to them? What if we lose them in a fight? You know? Defending the solar system can get pretty dangerous at—"

It was then that Lucien noticed how Devon's veins grew dark beneath his milky white skin, his lips turning almost purple. Even his eyes were ablaze, as if the fires of hell burned within their glowing blue depths.

Devon shook his head slowly and his voice came out deep, demonic, laden with death. "Never. That can never happen. They're mine."

It was the first time Lucien had ever seen a glimpse of Devon's darker nature. And it had been some pretty scary-assed shit. Devon had spooked the crap out of him for a few days after that.

Lucien sat up straighter and willed Lucifer's sword away before he was caught with it. His plan was brilliant, he just needed to find a few insane Utuduodian hunters to agree with it.

Once he got rid of his brother, he'd release the others and make them think Devon had gone insane. They wouldn't hate him. No. They would love him for having saved them and the rest of the galaxy. He'd be the new dark prince. Samael had promised he could have whatever he wanted. He'd ask for the safety of his family. Maybe they'd let him rule over a solar system. He'd have a palace built for them all. Maybe then Annie would forget the stupid fuck that got her pregnant and become his queen.

Turning he slid into his cold empty bed and hugged himself. Soon...soon he'd have them all to himself. They would be his, not Devon's. He deserved to be loved now.