the monsters when we were in trouble. He’s like family to us.”
“For years, you thought of Eva as family,” he pointed out. “But she betrayed us. She is the reason the Legion branded me a traitor.”
“Eva is different than Jiro.”
“How?”
I couldn’t answer that. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I believed it.
“We need to have faith in people, Damiel. We can’t just jump to conclusions. We learned that so many times. Things aren’t always as they seem.”
“It’s not prudent to trust someone who has lied to you,” Damiel said.
“People sometimes have good reasons for lying. My father lied about who and what my mother was. He did that in order to protect me. Should we not trust him?”
“Of course we shouldn’t trust your father. He’s an angel. Angels don’t put their trust in other angels.”
“So I shouldn’t trust you then?” I asked, my brows peaking.
“That’s different.” Damiel shot me an enchanting smile. “We’re soulmates. And as soulmates, I’m selfishly invested in your happiness.”
“But we shouldn’t trust any other angels?”
“Of course not. Angels are, by nature, vicious celestial creatures.”
“And trusting my own father would be…”
“Foolish.”
“Because he’s an angel?”
“Yes.”
“And an archangel, no less,” I added.
“That’s even worse than a regular angel.”
“I’m curious, Damiel. Have you imparted this nugget of angelic wisdom on our own son?”
Damiel frowned. He seemed to be contemplating my question carefully.
“Because angels should not trust other angels,” I continued. “Especially not other archangels.”
Damiel was still thinking.
So I spelled it out. “You are an archangel. Our son Nero is an archangel.”
“Yes, I am aware of that, Cadence.” One side of his smile dropped. “I’m thinking.”
“About the holes in your logic?”
“No.”
“Then about double standards?”
Damiel frowned. “You’re teasing me.”
I chuckled. “It took you awhile to figure that out.”
Damiel took my hand and stopped running. He turned and looked into my eyes. “It’s been awhile since you’ve teased me.”
I knew what he meant. We’d been apart for so many years.
“But we’re together now,” I said.
“Yes. We are.”
His hands wrapped around my hips. He dipped me back and kissed me with such fierce passion that my body trembled from head to toe with denied desire. I gripped tightly to him, fearing he might pull away to tease me back in turn. But he didn’t stop. As his hands began to pull roughly at my clothes, I realized he was just as impatient as I was.
“Damiel.” I smiled against his lips. “We have a job to do.”
“Reacquainting myself with my wife’s perfection.” He brushed my braided hair away from my neck. “Yes, that’s a very important job.”
“I’m serious, Damiel.” I was melting into him. “The fate of the universe lies in the balance.”
Damiel snorted. “What else is new?”
His teeth nibbled gently against my skin, teasing the pulsing vein on my neck. I didn’t want him to stop. Hell, I wanted him to keep going, to see where this diversion would take us. But we angels rarely got what we wanted, particularly when it came to saving the world. So I pulled away from him.
He gazed upon me, his eyes lit up with lust. He looked like he was completely drunk on magic, as though he’d sipped from my blood. But he hadn’t.
“Later?” I said.
“Now and later.” He took a step toward me.
And I took a step back. “What’s gotten into you?”
He shook his head, like he was trying to rattle some sense back into it. “The magic on this world is out of control. It might be affecting me. I apologize for my feral behavior.”
“Well.” I grinned. “Fortunately, my clothes are still in one piece.”
“Yes.” Damiel’s eyes very slowly trailed down my body. “Fortunately.”
I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Are you going to be all right, or should I put you on ice?”
“Since I know you mean that quite literally, Princess, I will endeavor to behave myself to avoid that frosty fate.” He shivered.
“I could set you on fire instead if you prefer.”
He laughed. “Let’s call your Fire-or-Ice idea Plan B, and shelve it for now.”
“As you wish.”
I started running again. Damiel ran behind me.
After a few minutes, I glanced back. “You’re staring at my ass, aren’t you?”
“Of course,” he replied, totally unapologetic.
“Looking leads to touching, Damiel.”
“Only if I’m lucky.”
I sighed. “You are incorrigible. What am I going to do with you?”
“I have a few ideas.” His tone was downright wistful.
And his words were giving me ideas too. Ideas about touching. And tasting.
I shook off those thoughts. Maybe I should be icing myself. I was just as out of control as he