tight to me!” Lucifer yelled, as he flapped his wings and hurled us toward the dragon.
With a shaky breath, I tightened my grip around his neck and tucked my legs in as close as I could. There was nothing else I could do, and I felt so damn powerless and terrified.
The dragon roared, sending shivers of terror through me, but it was hard for me to see him in the darkness until more fire emerged from his mouth. Before he could unleash it, tendrils of magic so dark they blended into the night erupted from Lucifer’s hands and shot toward the dragon. The dark tentacles circled the dragon all around, coiling over it and tightening in place like a net.
But then Lucifer swore under his breath in a language I didn’t recognize, his gaze on something to the right. I turned and spotted more fire emerging from two other dragons’ mouths, as they loped toward us on reptilian wings.
Lucifer turned and flew faster, arms tight wrapped around me, toward the helicopter. As we shot through the air at breakneck speed, the other dragons chased after us, moving just as quickly. Lucifer moved instinctually, avoiding the bursts of fire that blazed hot trails toward us, and I tried not to scream when one came dangerously close.
Azazel and Gadreel descended on the dragons, and I watched in awe as they whipped, whirled, and surged around the enormous creatures, wielding glowing white swords. But then we turned a corner of the canyon, and in the darkness of night it was impossible for me to see what happened next.
Lucifer reached the helicopter and landed hard on the rough stone, the ground trembling under the impact. I glanced back, but didn’t see any hint of the battle going on out there.
“Get in!” he yelled, as he helped me into the chopper. The very rock behind me shuddered with the rage in his voice, and I scrambled inside the cockpit.
He slammed the door shut and then vanished, literally just…disappeared into the night. A second later darkness surged into the cockpit with me and coalesced into his form, while my jaw dropped to the floor. Damn, how many powers did he have?
“What the hell was that thing?” I asked, as I hurried to buckle myself in to the seat.
“A dragon shifter. A demon of greed.”
Shit, I really had seen a dragon. I’d started to doubt myself as soon as we were out of sight, like maybe it had been a trick of the light or something, but no. A fucking dragon! Breathing fire at us!
“How dare they attack us?” Lucifer growled, as he started up the helicopter. He was beyond furious, but also something else. Terrified, I realized. For me. “You’re my mate. They know better than to hurt you. If they’d harmed a hair on your head, I’d wipe the rest of the fucking dragons off the face of this world.”
The helicopter lurched into the air and my stomach plummeted as it rose higher and higher. I held my breath as we zoomed off, and in the distance I saw the flash of bright lights and burning flame, and prayed my two bodyguards would make it out alive too.
When we got back to The Celestial, Lucifer was still furious. He immediately summoned some Fallen guards to watch over me, and then he gave me a hasty kiss. “Now that you’re safe, I have to go back.”
I nodded, my hands trembling a little, my stomach twisted with worry for Zel and Gad. This time Lucifer took off on his wings, flying faster than he’d done with me, and then vanished into the night. With a sigh, I realized he would have stayed to fight the dragons if not for me. He probably could have defeated them easily, but he’d run because he was worried for my safety. My mortality was holding him back. He feared losing me again so soon.
I was the devil’s weakness.
19
Hannah
I fell asleep in Lucifer’s bed alone, curled in his black silk sheets. He joined me late in the night, murmuring softly that both Zel and Gad were all right. The three of them had killed one dragon and captured another, but the last had escaped. Then he tucked himself around me and held me close as I fell asleep again, feeling safer in his arms than anywhere else in the world.
When I woke in the morning, he was already gone. A note told me he was investigating the attack and that he’d prefer