“Rude,” the man in question drawls lazily. “My ass actually has a genius-level IQ, thank you very much. Just ass it anything.”
For the love of God…
“And, baby girl?” I smirk deviously at my little mate as she blinks wide, innocent eyes up at me.
“Yeah?”
I’m still smiling as I take my first step into the portal, cool wind whipping around me as magic rips us out of one realm and into another.
I can’t help the fear that lodges in my throat at the thought of something happening to her. Fuck, what was Akor thinking?!? Now, all of us are going to be distracted keeping her safe instead of focusing on the mission. Not only that, but we’re going to be vulnerable to attacks.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck!
“Raz?” she presses softly, cupping my face as I take another step. The portal almost resembles sticky sludge that clings to my body like a second skin. I have the sudden urge to wipe it away.
The smile I give Katrina is pure sin—the exact thing that Heaven is trying to keep out. “You’re going to have to deal with Kastros when he discovers you’re here.” I lean forward to nip at her nose, even as we finally enter the portal completely. It almost appears as if there’s a tornado of swirling stars in its silver depths. Each step we take causes the air around us to ripple like a pebble being thrown in a tranquil pool of water. “And then when we get home, you’re gonna have to deal with my hand on that perky ass of yours. Because lesson number one of being in our murder? I’m the fucking king, baby, and next time I give an order, you’re gonna learn to listen.”
23
Katrina
Raz’s words make my panties catch on fire, but as we step through the portal, a very different kind of heat settles over me—the bad kind. I feel like I’m being roasted alive! If not for Raz spreading his huge black wings and shielding me, I might have.
Even with the shield, I feel like I’m inside an oven. My blood starts to boil, I’m instantly covered in sweat from head to toe, and my mouth feels like sandpaper.
Where are we? Some part of Hell? I thought we were supposed to break into Heaven. What’s going on?
Raz leans down, and I can hear his muffled speech through his wings. “Gonna fly, baby girl.”
A second later, we are lifted off the ground, though his wings are still wrapped firmly around my body. The other guys must be carrying us. I hear someone grunt, confirming my theory. We go up, up, up so fast that my insides fall out and get lost somewhere in the portal. If anyone sees a random organ floating around, it’s probably mine.
I cling to Raz, clawing his massive pecs, probably ripping out a little chest hair trying to get a good grip, despite the fact that my skin is as slick as a Slip-N-Slide right now. I do not want to join my insides and fall into the portal. Can you get stuck in one of these things? Just kind of suspended forever? I don’t want to find out!
Panic takes my mind to a place where thoughts are brief and flash like disco lights. On-off. On-off. Again and again.
I can hardly perceive that the air is cooler through my panic.
Suddenly, Raz lurches, and we start to fall.
“Fuuu—” My curse is cut off when his wings unfurl and catch us like a parachute. We slow and drift through the air, caught up on an air current. When I’ve caught my breath, I look down to see a cotton candy kingdom nestled in the clouds. There’s a purple cloud castle that looks like a fantasy drawing sprung to life. It’s all soft, downy looking turrets capped, with red tips that look like maraschino cherries and curtain walls like mattresses that have been tipped on their sides and stripped of their covers, their plush cotton inside a pale lavender. It appears to be the perfect place to curl up and take the most enchanted nap in the world. And maybe it is.
Beyond the castle, in the distance, are little pink cloud huts whose roofs look like merengue before it’s been torched. There are paths between the huts that sparkle as if they’re made of jewels. I glance beneath us to see a blazing field full of sunflowers—but, unlike the field we stomped through on earth, the field here has hundreds of miniature actual suns.