“There you are!” Azmodea called, descending one of the staircases. “I’ve been looking for you all over. Are you okay?”
She shook off what looked like a tiny reptile that had sunk its teeth into her right calf, and picked something out of her hair that fluttered away on leathery wings, before she joined us on the floor of the lobby.
“I’m fine,” I said. “We’re leaving.”
“Oh, thank Hell. This place is the worst.” She patted my cheek. “So glad you’re in one piece, darling.”
Falling into step with us, she gave me a once-over, her eyes lingering on the bloody dagger in my grip. “So, what’d I miss?”
“Later,” Azazel said.
I released a rough exhale and laid my head on his shoulder, glad for the delay.
Because I had no idea how to explain what happened without mentioning Naamah.
We didn’t speak again until we entered Daevi’s territory. The moment we flew over the border—marked by patrols and a line of fire on the ground—Azazel’s shoulder muscles lost some of their tension under my hands.
Azmodea took her leave soon after, promising to come over later to compare notes—after a thorough shower, as she said, to wash off any vermin residue and persistent glitter.
We flew on, the harsh landscape of Hell zooming by underneath us.
Can you hear me? Azazel’s voice in my head.
Yes! What happened earlier—it felt like you were cut off.
Lucifer. Azazel’s mental voice held a growl. He blocked me.
Such a cock-block.
Azazel barked a laugh, and warmth bloomed in my chest.
I love hearing you laugh, I whispered.
You’re the reason I do.
I smiled into his neck, the happy warmth spreading to every part of me.
Did you get him? I asked after a moment. My dad?
I hadn’t had a chance to check in with Azazel earlier, to see if he’d made it. I’d been out of commission during most of the mission, thanks to the forced nap time after I drank the amrit.
Yes.
My next exhale was perilously close to a sob, relief making me tremble in his arms.
Thank you. I kissed his neck. Thank you. His jaw. Thank you. The corner of his mouth.
You can thank your way down my body later if you’d like.
Don’t worry. I grinned. I’ve got lots of gratitude left over.
Hmm. The corner of his mouth kicked up.
I raised my hand and traced the curve of his lips, my heart painfully open. He caught my finger and nipped at the tip.
I’m sorry, I said. About earlier.
He frowned. What?
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. When Lucifer made me drink the amrit. The things I said—
That wasn’t your fault, he cut me off harshly.
I know. I curled my hand in his shirt. But still... I’m so—
He snapped his wings tight to his body, making us plummet at neck-breaking speed. The scream that wrenched its way out of my throat could have woken the dead.
There we go, he murmured in my mind.
“Stop it! Azazel!”
Of course, he did nothing of the sort. Instead, he rolled us in the air so we torpedoed like a damn bullet. I screamed and screamed and screamed.
Azazel laughed, the fiend.
“Stoooooop,” I yelled, and then, when he ignored me like the brute he was, I added, “How unbecoming of an angel!”
“That’s it,” he said. “I’ll drop you.”
“Don’t you dare!” I clutched him tighter than a Black Friday shopper at Costco did the last iPhone on sale.
He pinwheeled across the sky, alternated between powerful, ascending wing beats and sudden, stomach-dropping free falls, until my screaming turned to whooping laughter, and he kissed me breathless.
I only noticed we were close to home when he landed on the balcony outside his suite. Not even pausing to set me down, he shifted my weight and unlocked the door with the sigils, then briskly walked inside.
The door had barely fallen shut when he had me pinned against the wall, his kiss a bruising thing of passion. Arousal flared in my core, rolled outward in lush waves of lust as I slung my legs around his hips.
He broke the kiss, breath heavy, and laid his forehead against mine. “You’re here,” he rasped. “You stayed.”
For me. He didn’t add that last part, but I heard it clearly, understood how much it meant to him.
“You’re mine.” I stroked his cheek, tunneled my hand through his hair. “I’ll never give you up. You’re stuck with me now. I’ll cling to you like that glitter.” I nodded at the pink dust covering him.
His husky laugh did all sorts of sinful things to me. “I’ll be finding glitter on me fifty