Knight's Redemption (Knights of Hell Book 1)

  Knight’s Redemption

  Knights of Hell, Book 1

  Sherilee Gray

  Copyright © 2018 by Sherilee Gray

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Design by Cover Couture

  bookcovercouture.com

  Editor: Andrea McKay

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Knight’s Redemption - Sherilee Gray - 1st ed

  Visit my website at: www.sherileegray.com

  Contents

  About this book

  Follow me!

  Also by Sherilee Gray

  Prologue

  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

  Epilogue

  Coming Next…

  About the Author

  Also by Sherilee Gray

  About this book

  With one fatal mistake, immortal demon hunter Lazarus started a chain reaction that set him and his five brothers on a collision course straight to Hell.

  There’s only one way to save them all—claim his mate, a sweet beauty he doesn’t deserve and will only end up hurting. But immortals fall hard, and walking away from her when it’s over is going to be near-impossible.

  When bookstore owner Eve Taylor starts hearing the thoughts of others, she is certain she’s losing her mind. Until the day a wickedly seductive and dangerous warrior appears and introduces her to a terrifying new world—one she has been part of her whole life and never knew.

  Now, with a traitor consumed by darkness and driven by revenge hunting them, they have one chance at survival. But they must give into the scorching desire that, if they let it, could destroy them both.

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  www.sherileegray.com

  Also by Sherilee Gray

  Lawless Kings:

  Shattered King

  Broken Rebel

  Beautiful Killer

  Ruthless Protector

  Glorious Sinner

  The Smith Brothers:

  Mountain Man

  Wild Man

  Boosted Hearts:

  Swerve

  Spin

  Slide

  Axle Alley Vipers:

  Crashed

  Revved

  Wrecked

  Black Hills Pack:

  Lone Wolf’s Captive

  A Wolf’s Deception

  Stand Alone Novels:

  Breaking Him

  Prologue

  Lazarus looked up as Scarlet and Tobias walked into the control room.

  “You flying or riding?” he said to Scarlet.

  Lazarus’s retrievals went a whole hell of a lot smoother now that Scarlet partnered with him. She had a calming effect on people, an ability Lazarus lacked and then some.

  She screwed her face up in the same way she’d been doing since she was young. He couldn’t help but grin.

  “Man, I’d love to take my bike out, but I think I’d be cutting it fine,” she said, looking disappointed.

  Tobias tugged his mate into his side. “We’ll take the bikes out when you get back.”

  Scarlet wrapped her arms around Tobias’s waist. “Sounds perfect.”

  T leaned in…

  “I don’t need to see that,” Lazarus said, more out of habit than anything else. He’d accepted his best friend had mated and completely fallen for Scarlet a long time ago.

  Tobias smirked at him. “Jesus, you’re uptight. No wonder you’re still unmated.”

  “I’m uptight? You’re the one with a stick permanently lodged up your…”

  “Okay,” Scarlet said. “That’s enough, you two.”

  “Tell him there’s nothing lodged anywhere, baby,” Tobias said, eyes dancing. He turned to Lazarus. “I mean, she’d know.”

  Scarlet groaned and rolled her eyes.

  Lazarus flipped his friend off. “It’s like you want me to kick your ass again.” He grinned at his friend’s scowl then turned back to Scarlet. “Come on then, kid. We better make a move.”

  He strode out the double doors to the balcony, and Scarlet joined him a moment later, her eyes sparkling with humor, with Tobias right behind her. “How old do I have to get before you stop calling me that?”

  Lazarus shrugged.

  “I’m far from a kid.”

  He dragged off his shirt and tucked it into the waistband of his jeans. “You’ll always be my kid, doesn’t matter how old you get.” He glanced at T. “Or how long you’re mated.”

  She smiled at him. It was teasing, but her eyes were brighter. “Love you too, Daaad.”

  Scarlet liked to tease him, but he liked when she called him that. She knew it, too.

  She turned to her mate and kissed him goodbye then started toward Lazarus, but T tugged her back. He buried his face in her hair at the crook of her neck and breathed her in before kissing her again. Something he always did.

  “I’ll have the bikes warmed up when you get back,” he said as Lazarus scooped her up in his arms and unfurled his wings.

  Scarlet grinned and waved as Lazarus took flight, not looking away from Tobias until he was out of sight.

  Lazarus strode across the kitchen, locking eyes with the demi-demon they’d come for.

  The guy stumbled back a step. “Stay away from me.”

  Scarlet instantly reached for the guy, but he reared back out of her reach.

  “Don’t touch me, you crazy bitch.”

  It was obvious no amount of talking would get through to this guy, and they didn’t have time to wait for Scarlet to do her thing, so Lazarus went for him before he threw himself through the window to get away.

  Scarlet cursed. “Give me a few more minutes, Laz.”

  “There’s no time.”

  The demi swung, his fist barely missing Scarlet. Little shit didn’t know what was good for him. Lazarus took him down to the kitchen floor, immobilizing him.

  Scarlet yanked on the back of Lazarus’s shirt. “This isn’t helping.”

  The guy bucked and kicked then spat in Lazarus’s face. “Get the fuck off me,” he shrieked.

  Lazarus’s temper flared and before he realized what he was doing, he’d pinned the demi to the ground by his throat. “We’re trying to help you,” he gritted out.

  Scarlet growled and yanked harder on his shirt. “Jesus, calm the h
ell down and get up off the—” Her words were cut off with a startled hiss.

  Lazarus spun around. Her hold on his biceps was so tight her fingernails cut into his skin.

  Her eyes were wide. “Laz…”

  Crimson bloomed in the center of her chest, like petals unfurling in a sickening rush.

  Her legs gave out and she crumpled to the floor. He dove for her, dragged her into his arms, and did his best to staunch the blood pumping from the gaping wound.

  The Orthon demon responsible didn’t hesitate. It went straight for its target, the demi cowering on the floor behind them, and dragged him screaming from the room.

  Lazarus let them go.

  All that mattered was Scarlet.

  He brushed her wild red curls away from her precious face. “You’re all right, Scar. You’re going to be all right.” He’d never lied to her before, but he knew he was then.

  The striking gold flecks in her soft brown eyes dimmed, muted by pain.

  “Don’t leave me, sweet girl. I need you here with me. Tobias needs you.” Her mouth opened and blood bubbled up between her lips, cutting off whatever she was trying to say. He held her to him. “No. Please, God, no.”

  She rattled out her last breath, and then she was gone.

  Lazarus scooped her up. He was taking her home. He needed to take her home.

  He landed on the balcony a short time later with Scarlet’s lifeless body clutched in his arms, and pushed through the doors into the control room.

  Tobias stood on the other side, pale and shaking so hard his teeth chattered. He’d felt it, her loss, like all mates did. God, he’d felt it. T stumbled forward and took her from Lazarus.

  His friend’s knees gave out then and Lazarus stood, tears streaming down his face, feeling fucking broken, helpless, as T rocked his mate in his arms, a sound coming from the male that shook Lazarus to his core.

  Tobias looked up at him, the desolation in his eyes hard to look at. “This is your fault,” he said. “You were supposed to look after her. You promised me you’d keep her safe.”

  Lazarus stumbled back a step, but he knew it was true. Scarlet was dead because of him, because of his loss of control.

  The agony in Tobias’s eyes turned to hatred. “I’ll never forgive you for this.” He stood, still holding Scarlet, and shifted to his demon form, his clothes falling in tatters at his feet.

  Then he strode from the room, diving off the balcony and taking flight.

  Chapter 1

  Lazarus sensed the demon before he saw it, could smell the toxic shit coming off it, could feel it prickling over his skin like a chemical spill.

  The wind picked up speed, whipping at his hair and face and pulling at his wings. He rode it, gliding above the busy Roxburgh streets, scanning the humans moving below, swarming like ants, in a hurry to get to their next destination. Unaware of what moved among them, of the danger they were in.

  There.

  The demon had chosen his camouflage well. A human male, small in stature, plain clothing. He looked unthreatening, unassuming. He was anything but, and at that moment the woman it tailed was in serious danger.

  Flying lower, he tucked his wings into his back and dropped the last ten feet to an alley floor. His boots crunched on broken glass and other shit littering the ground. His wings vanished when he tucked them into his back, and he grabbed the shirt he’d shoved into the back pocket of his jeans and yanked it on. The acrid scent was more intense at street level. There was definitely more than one.

  The thud of two of his brothers dropping down behind him came next and he turned toward Chaos and Gunner as the warriors approached.

  Kryos and Rocco were back at the compound and fuck knew where Zenon was. The male preferred to keep his own company. But the three of them were more than capable of putting out the trash.

  As Knights of Hell, they’d been created to keep evil off these New York streets. And Chaos was the poor bastard they’d chosen to lead them. The male tucked in his pale gray wings and jerked on his own shirt as he strode forward. The streetlights glinted off the tattooed side of his head, and there was a sneer on his lips. “My guess, at least half a dozen.”

  Gunner rubbed a hand over his buzz cut, the scowl twisting his mouth emphasizing the deep scar through his upper lip. “That shit isn’t normal.”

  It wasn’t. The only times demons tended to travel in packs were when they made their escape from Hell. After that they tended to scatter, making them harder to find.

  Lazarus led the way out of the alley and onto the street. People rushed past, clearing a path for them like they always did, their flight instincts well and truly kicking in, their subconscious knowing a predator when it sensed one.

  Ignoring the stares and gasps of the people around them, they followed the trail, the pungent stench of demon. It took them away from the busy streets, which was not surprising. No one, not even the demons invading Earth, wanted their existence to become public knowledge, not yet anyway. It was an unwritten rule, and the only thing Heaven and Hell agreed on.

  The scent grew unbearably strong as they approached a parking garage. A woman’s cry echoed off the concrete walls.

  They moved in, not wasting another minute, and jumped the stairwell to the lower level.

  Standing in a circle were six Sitri demons, laughing as they surrounded the human female. Sitri were known as mischief makers, lovers of disorder and mayhem. In Hell they moved in packs; on Earth they were forced to stay apart, but it looked like these assholes had formed a support group and decided on a night out on the town.

  They turned as the knights walked in, instantly baring their teeth and crouching into fighting stances. The woman didn’t wait for an invite; as soon as the demons turned their backs she bolted for the exit. Psychos that these particular demons were, they didn’t do the same and run for their lives. They grinned…then they ran at them.

  Chaos drew his sword and Gunner palmed his Glock. Lazarus let one of his knives fly, the blade burying in a demon’s shoulders. Chaos and Gunner were now cutting through the others as Lazarus strode toward the bastard screeching on his knees.

  He reached for the knife still buried in the demon…

  Fuck.

  Lazarus dropped to his knees when what felt like three thousand volts shot up his spine and hammered him in the back of the skull. The demon in front of him took the chance he’d been given, yanked the blade from his own shoulder, and buried it in Lazarus’s stomach.

  Lazarus hissed and fell forward as that same force nailed the base of his spine a second time. He dropped like a sack of rocks, his face making nice with the asphalt. He tried to get up. But nope, moving wasn’t an option just yet. His spine torqued as the next wave came, attacking every nerve ending, lighting him up like he’d just taken a seat in an electric chair.

  The demon came at him again, but was pulled off him by Chaos. Its shriek echoed off the walls a moment before it was cut off by a wet gurgling and the thump of its body hitting the ground.

  Lazarus had no choice but to lay there in shock, blinking at the blue Corolla parked beside him while blood leaked from him like a sieve.

  Somehow he knew exactly what had just hit him, the thing that had dropped him to his knees, and he didn’t mean the blade that had been buried in his gut.

  The powerful instinct couldn’t be denied.

  He didn’t fucking want it. He sucked in a rough breath and tried to sit up. Nope, moving was still a no-go.

  This can’t be happening.

  But it was.

  He’d prayed, he’d bargained, he’d wished on a fucking shooting star that this day would never come. Turned out no one gave a fuck what he wanted, and the fates had decided to give him a mate anyway.

  And she’d just unknowingly sent him a message.

  Now he had no choice but to go get her.

  “Let me the hell in!”

  Eve peeked around the turquoise and white polka-dot curtain covering the window. Her ex-boyfriend,
Eric, was standing there, scowling at her front door, and Eve winced when he kicked it.

  Her car was out front, which meant he knew she was home. Hiding wasn’t going to work.

  She cursed under her breath. “Just leave.”

  He shouted her name and thumped on the heavy wood for the millionth time. “I’m not going anywhere, not until you talk to me.”

  She knew he meant it, and ignoring him wasn’t working either. She hadn’t answered any of his calls or texts, and now he was standing at her damn door trying to knock it down.

  Their relationship had been toxic from the start. Eric seemed to equally dislike her and want her at the same time. Eve didn’t understand it; she just knew she’d had enough of it. Of being treated badly, of this weird love/hate obsession he had with her.

  Gritting her teeth and straightening her shoulders, she yanked the door open. This had to stop.

  His dark blue eyes flared, latching onto hers as soon as he had her in his sights, then dropped to her breasts, like they always did. “Finally. Jesus Christ, Eve.” His tone was one a parent would use on a disobedient child.

  Crossing her arms over her chest, she attempted to hide her body. She hated that he still had the ability to make her feel worthless. His out-of-control ego had taken a beating when she’d ended their relationship and he was having trouble letting her rejection go.