Shackled (The Lord Series) by Amy T

Shackled (The Lord Series)

21. Experiment 514

100

The woman on my right shoulder thrashes, wanting to escape me, makingeven angrier with her and my

angel because | don’t understand his obsession with her.

The skirt she is wearing is short, her thighs exposed to the cold December winter, and | slap them hard, causing

her as much pain as | can, her screams being muffled by the gag in her mouth and the sack covering her face.

“Stay still,” | growl.

Laughter and loud music cfrom the house in front of me, and for a moment, | question myself why | came

here. Probably hoping my family is looking for me, but here they are, having a good tduring Christmas.

What dia

did | expect, for them to put all their lives on hold just because Azael faked my death?

| touch the left side of my torso, the bandages soaked with blood. The only reason | am here is because | found

someone who could remove the tracker from my spine without killing me, and now Azael can no longer find me.

But | had to give up my left kidney. A small price to pay to be with my family again. And now that | am here, in

front of the house | grew up in, | can’t even knock on the door. What will my family even think of me? Will they

recognize me? And if yes, will they welcme or shun me?

No, | should turn around and find a place where | can figure out why my angel wants this woman. My demon

doesn’t like her, and to be honest, neither do L.

The music stops.

| turn around and start walking away when the front door opens. My heart beats faster. “What do you want?” a

man asks me.

Cirro.

He must have seenthrough the window.

“I have mistaken this house for another,” | reply.

“I know that voice. Turn around,” Cirro demands.

It is dark outside, and being certain he won't recognize me, | do as he asks.

He turns on the light from the porch. “Good God! You are alive. Rin! Rin!”

And then my cousins in the doorframe. Even if fifty feet separates us, | can see his eyes shining with unshed

tears. Levi is behind him.

“Yan,” his voice trembles as he says my name.

+10%

Bonus

Yan.

04:05

| have been 514 for so long that | almost forgot my name. That's why | told it to 713. But now she is dead, and |

won't

21. Experiment 5141

rest until 919 and Azael pay for taking her away from me.

Rin runs to me, and | throw the woman to the ground and give my cousin a bear hug. He is the only one who can

touchwithout makingwant to kill him.

“I never thought | would see you again,” my voice cracks.

“I looked for you everywhere until | convinced myself that you were indeed dead. When Stefan toldhe saw

you in a facility, | didn’t believe it.” He takes a step back and looks at me. “You look like shit. And why is 514

tattooed on your face? Were you an experiment as well?”

How does he know about the experiments? | thought Azael kept it a secret.

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“Yeah.” There is no reason to lie about it.

“Explains why you turned out to be so ugly.”

For the first tsince Azael kidnapped me, | laugh. “I missed you too.”

The woman tries to get up, but her hands and legs are tied together. Rin looks at her. “Who is this?”

“Let's take her inside, and I'll tell you everything.”

He helpscarry her inside the house, and we put her on the sofa in the living room.

Cirro and Levi, who | assbecRin’s blood-brothers, follow us, curious about the woman. And about my

story as well..

| remove the sack from her face. Tears run down her cheeks, her terrified blue eyes looking at us.

“This is 666, and my angel is obsessed with her.”

“Shit! It's Emily,” Cirro says.

1 study 666. So Emily is her name.

“Alekos will thank you for finding her for him,” Rin chuckles.

The idea of another man touching her makes my angel angry.

“Wait? Did you say angel? Are you a Duke then?” Levi asks, his disgust visible.

“I am something else, as | have a demon as well. And no one touches her until | figure out what my angel wants

from her.”

Shackled (The Lord Series)

21. stefan

The Elders having an urgent meeting right on the day we are supposed to take Angel on our honeymoon irks me

to no

end.

Whatever the urgency is, there are many blood-brothers to call.

“We are supposed to be free of duty for an entire month,” | complain as | drink my brandy.

Reuben, sitting near my blood-brothers and me, smirks. “I thought newlyweds were always on duty.”

“That's just the point,” | groan in frustration wishing | didn't have to leave bed so early in the morning and kept

snuggling with Angel. “What happened to your face?”

Reuben touches the three scratches on his left cheek. “My Christmas gift got a little out of hand.”

“A new horse?” | try to guess as | try not to think of one of the gifts Angel gave us because | will sport a hard-on

until I return home. To her.

My wife.

Fuck.

I love how that sounds.

We got spinning rings as wedding bands. | start fidgeting with mine. My body and soul being fused completely to

my demon givessanxiety, as 1 am still getting used to the new me. Sblood-brothers are slowly

overpowered by their demons after the Piercing Ceremony until they take complete control of the human men,

but Angel being a hellstar, balanced us in a way | didn’t think was possible.

Beneath the tattoo that covers my torso, the two words written by the demons living in the Catacombs seem to

burn..

| am unworthy of Angel, neithernor Reyes or Alekos deserve to have her as our Lady. We know it, but saying

it out loud is another thing entirely, as we don’t want her to realize how undeserving of having a hellstar we are.

The only thing we can keep doing is to love her in our sick and toxic way. It is the only thing we know how to do

right.

“A bitch,” Rueben says. He slaps Tyson's back. “He and Jasper bought her for the farm. She needs a lot of

training but she is of a good breed. Hell, she might even give birth to strong pups. But not until she is clean and

does what we tell her to do.”

| am not sure if he is talking about a dog or a woman. Reuben is even more deranged than Reyes. His sister's

death. hit him hard.

Elder Calum clears his throat, catching everyone's attention.

“Not long ago Brother Alekos gavea pen drive and toldit contains crucial information about the D other

things. | had Brother Cirro analyze it, and after reading report after report and watching hundreds of videos, he

and | cto the sconclusion. The Dukes are preparing something that will change the wor

know it.”

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03:50

21. stefan

“What do you mean, Elder?” one of the blood-brothers present asks.

“I am going to show you,” Elder Calum replies. “Yan, you may reveal your face.”

My gaze goes to Rin and his blood-brothers. A fourth person has been sitting between Rin and Levi, his face

hidden by the hood of his sweatshirt.

Yan.

| should have guessed it by now, but my head is filled with thoughts of Angel and how to keep her safe from any

harm, especially since Carlos is still out there. Just thinking that he will cafter her fillswith a rage | have

never felt before and a growl leaves me.

Reyes squeezes my left shoulder. “I know how you feel.”

Yan pulls back his hood. “I don’t know how many remember me, but I am Rin’s cousin who went missing....” He

pauses for a moment. “Several years ago. | was locked up in a medical facility and all manner of experiments

were performed

on me.

“With what purpose?” Elder Janoah wants to know.

Yan traces the tattoo on his face. “For a long time, | asked myself the sthing over and over again until | felt |

was going insane. After | escaped, | spent many weeks observing the Dukes and | think I know what Azael is

trying to do. He is making an army to attack the Garden of Eden.”

Everyone starts talking at the stand it takes the Elders a few tries before they have our full attention

once

more.

“Azael?” Reuben asks.

“The Betrayer,” Yan confirms any suspicion.

Azael. The one who betrayed Lucifer. He has been on Earth for a long time, his identity always hidden, but for

him to say his actual name...whatever he is plotting, it must be big.

“Before my mother died she toldthat if we find Azael, we will find Carlos,” Reyes suddenly says.

“What now?” Alekos asks.

Elder Calum looks at us. “We stop the Dukes before they set their plan in motion.”

“How?” | want to know.

“The leader of the Sisterhood contacted me. She is willing to help us,” Elder Calum informs us.

“In exchange for what?” Reuben asks.

+10

Bonu

03:4

Hours later we are in a private airplane, flying to Bora Bora. We kept our destination a secret from Angel,

wanting to.

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2/4

21. stefan

surprise her, knowing how much she loved it the first twe'd been there. We rented a bungalow close to the

beach. where we proposed to her, and for the next two weeks, we will turn off our phones, and try to relax and

enjoy our ttogether.

Angel gets up to go to the bathroom.

“We need to protect her at all costs. What Yan and Wasp told us worries me,” Reyes says.

Alekos runs his thumb over his bottom lip. “We will hire guards and one of us will have to be with her all the

time.”

“Where can Carlos be hiding?” | wonder.

“If he is working for Azael, it can be anywhere. Even if it takesyears, | will find him and kill him,” Reyes says.

Angel returns and we fall silent.

“Can | know now where we are going?” She tries to make us speak.

“You have to be patient,” Alekos tickles her.

She shricks and laughs at the stime. “Stop!”

1 pull her into my lap. “You will see in a few hours.”

Angel huffs and puffs for a few minutes before she falls asleep, her head leaning on my shoulder. Reyes covers

her with

a blanket and we talk in low voices about all the security we will install in our new home.

| put my hand on her belly and | feel our child moving beneath my palm. She told us she felt the baby moving

during

our Piercing Ceremony.

“The baby,” | gasp.

“Is something wrong?” Alekos starts to panic.

“She is moving.” We still think the baby will be a girl.

Reyes

and Alekos put their hands next to mine, and we keep them there until the baby stops moving, tears in our eyes.

“War is coming whether we want it or not, but until then, we should keep Angel in the dark,” Alekos says. Reyes

and | agree. “Let her enjoy her pregnancy and our baby while she can.”

Before we land we wake up Angel, wanting to see her reaction when she realizes we are in Bora Bora.

As expected, she cries with joy.

“This is perfect,” she says as we walk barefoot on the beach where we asked her to marry us.

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Unknown

03:3

The man in front ofhas a pair of white wings, but they are twisted at a strange angle as if someone tried to

rip

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21. stefan

them out of his back.

“Who are you?” | ask him.

“Your creator. You will go out in the world and conquer it for me.”