“If you’re a good shot they do.” Alex smirked.
“Not the point.” I sighed and tried again. “They need to know how to protect themselves.” I stood, “And we need to keep our secret from the humans at all costs.”
“It’s always such a joy.” Alex yawned. “Protecting the weak while they continue to kill off one another without any realization they’re still alive and breathing because we choose to protect them.”
I smiled as more visions of Alex’s future laid themselves out before my eyes. Maybe I would get my payback a lot sooner than I originally thought.
“One more thing,” I added, waiting until every set of eyes was on me. “You are your strongest when you’re mated.”
The room fell silent.
“I’m calling numbers for you both. You will have a human by sunset next week or so help me I’ll kill you myself.”
Mason let out a guttural howl as he fell to his knees, then got up and ran out of the room.
All eyes fell to Alex.
He was pale.
So very pale.
“Is that going to be a problem, Alex?”
“No.” He swallowed. “No, my King. It is not.”
His thoughts screamed at me.
His words and actions said otherwise—because Alex, might be a lot of things, but he was loyal. He would obey me in this.
And it would eventually be for his own good.
Eventually.
“And what about you?” Ethan asked.
“Me.” I grinned for the first time since I’d woken up. “I have Stephanie.”
“But you have wings.” Genesis blurted out. “Isn’t that… forbidden?”
“Red Bull…” Alex laughed. “…also has wings, but I touch my lips to that can like it’s my job—”
Stephanie shoved him out of the chair, he fell to the floor with a giant thump while Ethan laughed.
“We were mated before all of this and regardless, I’m still a Dark One, I just have actual wings… believe me, you cannot redeem the damned.”
Ethan stood. “Seems to me your wrong… what did you say happened to Sariel again? He went dark? Lost his mind? Ceased to exist?”
“He was taken,” Stephanie blurted out before I got the chance. “With over five thousand angels as an escort.”
The room was silent and then Ethan added, “Seems to me, you can very well redeem the damned… doesn’t it?”
He was right.
Because Sariel had been cursed.
Yet, something told me, he was still—present. Not in the same way as before.
But… aware.
Stephanie slid her hand into mine. “Can we go talk?”
“No,” I grumbled pulling her hard against my chest. “I want to kiss. I want to make love. I want to forget the fact that you stabbed me in the chest and ran away. That we can do anything else is off the table.”
“He gonna throw her on the table right here then?” Alex asked from his semi comfortable position on the floor, even leaning back against the counter he looked like a sexual deviant, just waiting for a lady in a short skirt to walk by so he could steal a peek while she peeled her clothes off in ecstasy.
“Upstairs.” Stephanie smiled pulling me in for a searing kiss. I was already carrying her as fast as I could through the house when I heard Ethan yell.
“Please don’t burn down the room! Keep your feathers under control, Cassius!”
Stephanie
“I LOVE YOU.” I pressed another kiss against his mouth as he ripped the rest of my clothes from my body, his hands sliding down my waist. Then he lifted me by the hips and tossed me roughly onto the bed.
I was a tangled mess in the sheets as I tried to pull myself up and give him my best glare. Instead, all I could do was openly gape at his naked body.
Nothing about Cassius was imperfect.
And it was so amazingly difficult not to stare at every plane of his body. His muscles bulged with every breath he took.
And like a knight from the fairy tales I’d read so long ago, his dark black hair cascaded over his shoulders in a magnificent fashion, he looked both wicked and heroic.
“I desire you.” His eyes fluttered closed. “More than you will ever know. And my love for you,” A silver tear ran down his cheek. “Would move mountains.”
Tears blurred my vision.
“His job was to watch life,” Cassius whispered pulling me into his lap. “And I plan on watching yours very, very carefully.” He kissed my lips hard. “Slowly.” His hands gripped my sides. “Thoroughly.”
Our bodies joined, there was no warning, nothing but him moving within me, watching me.
Loving me.
The moment was so beautiful, so perfect, I could have wept. Instead, I placed my cold hands on his body.
And felt warmth.
Gasping, I jerked back. “Why aren’t you cold?”