Ruler of the Righteous Read online

  Ruler of the Righteous

  Hell Hounds Harem

  Book 3 in the Third Trilogy

  Book 9 in the Series

  By Briana Michaels

  Copyright

  All names, characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to actual places, events, or real persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission, in writing, of the author.

  www.BrianaMichaels.com

  Copyright © 2020 Briana Michaels

  Contents

  Ruler of the Righteous

  Copyright

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  Other Books By This Author

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Manhattan was not one of Gabriel’s favorite places on earth, so he sure as shit never intended to die there – in the mouth of an alleyway, in the dark, cut off from everything but the link that connected him to the monster sucking him dry. But here he was and there was nothing he could do about it except try and hold on for dear fucking life.

  All those near-death experiences he faced before were nothing compared to this one. This time was different. This time, his life flashed before his eyes…

  He saw Constantine sitting at his desk. He was so young and fresh with his regal nose and dark hair, his profile highlighted by those beeswax candles they burned in their dorm. He dipped his quill in a well of ink, his fingers blackened and smudged because he never waited properly for that damned ink to dry. That Angel smudged more words than he would ever care to admit and never gave a shit. It was just another story, another chapter, another page. There would be more. Always. The smudges never mattered. Black stains on his hands gave him character. His eyes brightened over a new thought, and he bent over his small desk to start scribbling again. Gabriel tried to snatch the paper from him, playfully, and Constantine dumped the ink all over Gabe’s hands in retaliation. They laughed. Both covered in black ink that wasn’t going to wash off anytime soon, they smeared finger lines down there faces and called it war paint.

  Next, he saw Uriel out in a field. His bright, cloud-white wings spread wide open to catch the warmth of the sun. His sword in one hand, his other up to the sky, flipping the world the middle finger. Uriel’s hair had lightened to a paler blond than last year. Gabriel watched from the fringes, envying the freedom his brother had in that moment. Uri’s head tilted back, laughing loudly up at the sky like him and the Universe had some kind of running joke with each other no one else was in on. He barely had a single scar on him that day. Not compared to what he looked like now. Uriel turned and saw Gabriel. He smiled. Beckoned Gabriel to come join him out in the big wide-open space.

  Then his memory reel cut to Lucifer. The day Eve walked him on a leash and they went to the Lashing Beaches. The iron collar around his neck, the chain hanging heavily down his back, that metal clanking and catching the light of the moon and stars. Gabriel remembered with crystal clarity how Lucifer splashed in the ocean, closed his eyes and submerged his body completely. He watched in awe as Lucifer moved like those waves - all glide and ease and power. His hair was as dark as the deepest part of those waters no Angel had yet to reach. His eyes were just as bottomless. Lucifer went into that ocean an animal, and stepped out of it a God. On the Lashing Beaches, where Gabriel realized there was more to life than cages and commands… Lucifer stood proud with wings and hope.

  His last image was of Eve. Her flash of auburn hair put sunsets to shame. The way her eyes lit up whether she was happy as a lark or hell-goddamned pissed. She was sleeping in Uriel’s arms the night before the Battle of the Brotherhood and Gabriel admired the fire dancing across her face. Her lashes, thick and black, cast shadows on her cheeks. Her upturned nose, her plump lips, the way she lay on her side, curled in comfort, safe in the arms of a warrior. Those perfectly lovely dove gray wings of hers wrapped around her like a blanket and he wished he was those wings. He wanted to be her shield. He wanted to make her soar. He wanted to have her back this night, tomorrow night, and forever…

  And in one day, one war, one act, one chapter, Gabriel’s entire life turned upside-down and he’d been barely hanging onto the edges of it ever since.

  He’d spent every hour since those moments trying to claw his way back to his mates. And tonight, his world just spun in a new direction. He was no longer dangling on the edge of his life, trying to scale up the sides to reach his mates.

  Fuck that.

  Gabriel just dove into Hell on a mission to hit rock motherfucking bottom.

  It all happened so fast – Gabriel kissed Eve. Lucifer hung a left and charged down an alley like a hound on a scent trail. A wall of shadow sucked the very breath out of Gabriel’s lungs. Death loomed. The air crackled. His ears rang. He grabbed Eve to protect her. Light, burning and otherworldly, temporarily blinded Gabriel. His energy drained in one-swift pull. Lucifer roared. Eve ran. Bats and bugs separated them. Lucifer screamed in unholy fury, opened a Hell hole, grabbed the monster and then….

  They all fell into darkness, one-by-one.

  There was no time for him to process – only react. When Eve dove down that Hell hole to go after Lucifer and whoever the fuck that monster was, Gabriel jumped in too.

  Might as well swan dive into your fate head-fucking-first, right?

  In a Hell hole, there were no walls to hitch your fingers to, no purchase, no cliff, no ladder or rope. There was no slowing down, or landing in a net, or catching a gust of air. You just fell.

  Then you smacked your body on the ground and hoped to fuck it didn’t shatter, because if it did, you were food. Malanum would pick their teeth with your bones and make you watch.

  Gabe’s wings vibrated from the force of his speed. “Take my hand!”

  Not listening, Eve angled her body like an arrow, head pointed towards her target – Lucifer – and the crazy bitch even pinned her arms to her side so she could torpedo faster towards him.

  Was the woman that fucking love-struck for the Devil, she’d forgotten she didn’t have her wings anymore? Falling was one thing, the landing was quite another. Nothing could slow her speed or break her fall except rock and malanum. As invincible as Eve thought she was, she
could still fucking die or break every bone in her body.

  “EVE!” Gabriel could only focus on her right now. Lucifer was too far down for him to catch up with. Eyes narrowed, he fought against the forces of nature pushing against them and was able to grab Eve’s ankle. With a tug, he managed to pull her against his chest and tuck her in tight.

  The Devil’s next cry shattered Gabriel’s eardrums. Or maybe that sound was coming from the fucked up ungodly looking creature in Lucifer’s clutches? Gabriel’s insides vibrated. His wings flared. Eve screamed.

  The bottom approached fast. Lucifer and his enemy were entwined in each other tight enough that Lucifer either could or would not let go.

  He’s going to die taking this thing down, Gabriel feared. Lucifer didn’t have wings to break his fall either. Fuck!

  Lucifer’s grip remained deadlocked on the Dark Angel whose ragged wings snapped out like two leathery sails and caught air. Those fetid wings flapped once, then twice. A putrid smell wafted into Gabriel’s nose and he almost wretched. Eve’s nails dug into Gabriel’s shoulders as she clutched him tighter. The decent into Hell was a long one. Gabriel flapped his wings to slow their fall while the floor seemed to rise up to greet them with a shuddering BOOM!

  Malanum and rocks blasted out of their way with the force of their landings. Wind and power whipped Gabriel’s wings. Lucifer and the Dark Angel had yet to let go of each other. Bees and locusts flew out of the Angel’s mouth and buzzed in a funnel around the four of them.

  Raphael. Gabriel recognized his brother even though he’d changed in a thousand terrifying ways. Twisted. Maimed. A rotted version of the glorious Angel he’d once been. This. Isn’t. Possible. Yet Lucifer recognized him too, and was screaming the fallen Angel’s name while fiercely trying to clamp Raphael’s mouth shut to stop the swarms.

  Lightning struck in various directions. The temperature shifted from freezing cold to blazing hot.

  Gabriel swayed when it felt like the bottom dropped out from under him again. This wasn’t an energy drain; it was a motherfucking robbery. In a matter of heartbeats, Gabriel couldn’t even hold his body up. There was no stopping or blocking the syphoning of his energy. No rope he could sever to keep Raphael from taking all he had left. No box he could stuff his power into and snap the lid shut and lock tight. Just being this close to Raphael, Gabriel was only a cup to drain dry. It was so violating and frightening.

  Uncontrollable.

  Everything was dead – his sight, his hearing, his heartbeat.

  Just like in the streets of Manhattan with the first energy drain, Gabriel’s life flashed before his eyes for a second time now. Same reel of memory. Same glorious details.

  Slamming to his knees, Gabe puked all over the stone. If felt like the walls of Hell’s prisons encroached and squeezed and closed him into a tight cave and he could barely move. Barely breathe. No matter how hard Gabriel tried to stop the connection, the drain, the spinning and darkness from suffocating him, he didn’t even get close to putting a dent in the power Raphael had over him.

  The last thing he saw before passing out was malanum crawling closer.

  The difference between the Divine and Damned was slight. All it took was a malicious action, one wrong decision, and it could tip someone off the ledge of grace and cause them to plummet into darkness.

  Raphael made a decision that told Lucifer everything he needed to know about the monster he just dragged into Hell.

  Raphael was savable.

  Had to be.

  Needed to be.

  Raphael’s breath made Lucifer’s stomach roil. Dripping in malice and death, he gripped Lucifer tightly and flapped his leathery bat-like wings to soften their landing.

  The power rolling off of Raphael was natural - Like a thunderstorm, he crackled and sizzled with lightning. Lucifer could taste ozone in the air. Felt the prick of hate on his skin like someone was driving nails into his fingertips.

  In the center of the prison, Lucifer barely had time to catch his breath before he realized they hadn’t fallen alone. Gabriel and Eve were there too.

  “Get her out!” he howled at Gabriel. Keeping his eyes locked on Raphael, Lucifer struggled to make sense of this. How was Raphael alive? How had they been at the exact spot at the exact time Raphael was there in the human world? How had he escaped Michael’s imprisonment?

  And how the flying fuck was Lucifer going to help him?

  He didn’t know what Raphael’s intentions were now that they were in Hell, but the Angel’s power was doing more harm than good. Already Hell was faltering, the walls crumbled in patches all around them, and Lucifer clamped his hand over Raphael’s mouth to stop more swarms.

  Raphael’s black orbs locked on the Devil’s, his face straining in agony. The Angel’s body jerked but he didn’t fight back. Didn’t bite Lucifer’s hand either. Instead, he clamped his trembling lips shut and forced the swarms of stinging, biting bugs to stay in his mouth. Raphael’s muffled cry cracked Lucifer’s heart.

  How do I stop this from getting worse? Lucifer could feel the tightness in his chest that preluded another energy drain. He couldn’t afford to lose another drop of himself right now. He could barely stand up.

  “Raphael!” Eve called out. Her voice might as well have been a dinner bell for the malanum. They crawled out of their hidey-holes and broke apart from their groups and started to circle them. “Raphael!” Eve yelled again.

  “Get. Her. OUT!” The fuck is wrong with Gabriel?

  In slow motion, Gabriel dropped to his knees and projectile vomited. Fuck, he’s been drained! Lucifer watched Gabe fall, face-first, to the ground. It left Eve open to attack by the malanum inching their way closer.

  They were surrounded. Outnumbered. Out powered. And Lucifer was still trying to control a savage Angel that most definitely had enough power to destroy Hell and everyone in it. Better Hell than the world above.

  “RAPHAEL!” Lucifer’s booming, deep voice cracked. Lucifer had helped enough broken creatures to tell when someone was a lost cause or not. He clung to the hope that he wasn’t wrong about this Angel.

  The walls of Hell grew new fissures. Fuck! This can’t be happening!

  Eve ran forward and slammed her hands against Raphael’s back. Sparks of fire blazed where she touched him and his back arched. A high-pitched ringing burst Lucifer’s eardrums and his teeth clacked together.

  Raphael’s power blasted everyone away from him – malanum, Lucifer, Eve, and Gabe. The Devil flew backwards, smacking the back of his head on a wall.

  “No,” he grunted. Stars danced in his vision and he struggled to stand. Hounds and Gatekeepers raced into the prison. “No!” he put his hand out like that would stop them from getting any closer. “Get out!”

  Surrounded, threatened, and furious, Raphael roared a battle cry that shook Hell’s foundation and caused large chunks of rock to crumble around them, crushing malanum and burying Lucifer.

  Chapter 2

  Constantine bandaged Eve’s hands. The smell of her charred flesh made his stomach roil. Apparently, when she’d laid her hands upon Raphael, the contact resulted in their connection going up in flames and her usual untouchable armor went haywire.

  Though she trembled, he had a feeling it wasn’t from pain, but from adrenaline. He wanted so badly to heal Eve with his divine powers, but she refused to let him. Save it for Satan, she said over and over. “I wish you’d let me do more for you.”

  “It’s fine,” Eve pulled her hands out of Constantine’s grip. “I can heal myself. Now can we go?”

  “I don’t think you should just yet.” If Eve saw Lucifer right now, there was no telling how she’d react. “You’ve got a serious egg on your head and your leg is still broken, Eve. Not to mention the burns on your hands.” Did the woman have no pain receptors at all?

  “You can’t keep me away from him.”

  “He’s unstable.”

  “That’s no reason to keep me away.”

  “It’s the best reason,
” Con growled.

  “He’d never hurt me.”

  “Not saying he would, but right now, Lucifer needs to focus on himself. His healing is too slow and there are other issues that could arise. The connection he has with Raphael is strong.”

  And entirely Constantine’s fault.

  Never think a story can’t hold power. Every word Con ever wrote held enough truth in it to fuel the fires of faith and keep even the weakest of Angels alive over the years. The belief in the Four Horsemen, for instance, fed the Angels once known as The Scourge.

  At the time, it was the least Constantine could do for them. Jude, Nikolai, and Cassian had fallen off the grid the day Raphael syphoned their powers and took all their curses into himself, setting the three of them free… and imprisoning Raphael forever. After the Battle of the Brotherhood, the three ex-Scourge members took off and refused to be part of anything Angelic ever again.

  Con couldn’t imagine the level of regret and resentment that came with such a bold move.

  Fuck… Lucy. Had the Devil not, in some ways, done the same for Uriel, Constantine, and Gabriel? Deep down, did Lucifer resent them all for the things they’d done?

  “I want to see him, Connie.”

  He carefully brushed the hair out of Eve’s face, “And you will, when you’re healed enough.”

  If Lucifer saw Eve so busted up, he’d immediately try to heal her, and he couldn’t spare a flicker of his energy right now. He was nearly crushed to death back there when Raphael’s energy shook the very foundations of Hell.

  Every time Constantine closed his eyes, he could see the walls crumbling, the Hounds restraining Raphael, that mountain of ash and rubble and only Lucifer’s arm sticking out of the ruins. They almost hadn’t been able to dig him out with how quick the malanum attacked.

  Shit, now he felt nauseous. “He needs what little he has left to recover and heal. Give him a minute.”

  Eve’s eyes shined with unshed tears and her chin quivered.