I spun across the dance floor, my body thrilling at its own movements. Kratos had installed this studio for me, with a wooden floor and everything. I was only now getting to use it for the first time. Truthfully, a fae preferred to dance outside, but since he didn’t know my true nature, the wooden floors would have to do.
That morning, I’d taken a quick mirror call from Yasmin—just a few flashes of the candle to signal to my handler from the Order that I was in no immediate danger. Then, I’d quickly found my way to the dance studio.
As I moved, arching my back in an arabesque, a thin sheen of sweat spread over my body. Gods it felt good to dance again, and now that Hazel had returned to me, I could finally truly enjoy myself for once. I glimpsed myself in the mirror as I danced.
Twirling, a familiar ecstasy rippled through my ribs. This was what I was born to do. And ever since I’d connected to the Old Gods in the forest outside—since I’d harnessed their light—I felt connected to the earth, to my body, more than ever.
Closing my eyes, I twirled, a smile lighting up my face—until I spun right into a powerful chest that felt a lot like a wall of steel.
I opened my eyes, finding myself face-to-face with a muscled chest dressed in a finely cut crimson shirt, and the sweep of coppery wings. Then, I looked up into the chiseled face of Kratos, his eyes blazing like sunlight as he stared down at me. A vein throbbed in his neck.
From somewhere behind him, one of his ivory hounds growled, as if sensing the tension in the room. As if I were a threat to him. The creature padded over, his claws clicking against the hardwood floor, and stood next to his master. Kratos reached down, giving the hound an affectionate pat.
“Culloch, I’m fine. You can go away.”
With a low whine, Culloch turned and padded in the other direction.
Kratos’s golden stare turned on me again, and energy crackled between us. Suddenly, I felt intensely aware of the sheer amount of skin I had pressed against him, seeing as I was only dressed in a leotard.
“Good afternoon,” I said sweetly. “I was wondering how you were doing.” I knew he was going out tonight to kill, to hunt humans, and I still smiled at him. Maybe Hazel and I were more alike than I was admitting, pretending to be people we weren’t. “Thank you for bringing my sister back.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw as his gaze swept over my body. “I want you to be happy.”
“I am. This dance studio is everything I want. Dancing and Hazel, who you found for me.” A sharp pang of guilt coiled through me. He was standing here telling me that he wanted me to be happy, while I’d come here to find a way to destroy him. I’d already taken down one angel—at least temporarily—and maybe Kratos would be next.
Of course I needed to stop them. What the hell was I feeling guilty for? They’d destroyed New York, London, one city after another. They hunted people and sowed death and destruction across the world. I had no loyalty to his kind, and I could never forget that.
“You belong here.” His voice was a low murmur that warmed my skin.
Every word of his seemed like a command, so powerful that I wanted to obey. And sometimes, when he looked down at me with his golden eyes, like he was doing right now, I had to fight the urge to fall to my knees before him. Something about his raw magic compelled me to bend to his will, to worship him. The wooden floor called to me, urging me downward to kneel in supplication. My legs practically shook as I resisted him.
Kratos’s gaze swept lower over my body, and his muscles visibly tensed. He wasn’t allowed to touch me—not really touch me. He’d been cursed for his whole life, and that meant that if he gave into earthly temptations, he’d fall. He’d turn into a demon, all leathery wings and horns.
And yet, he seemed entranced by my throat right now. Without entirely realizing what I was doing, I tilted my head back.
“Must you dance in something so revealing?” Tension laced his voice.
I swallowed hard. If I tempted Kratos to fall, the consequences would be terrible for everyone, but I wouldn’t let it go that far.
I just needed to distract him enough that he kept his mind off slaughtering everyone, but not so tempted that he’d actually fall. If he did, the terrifying archangels known as the Heavenly Host would fly to earth to finish off the last of the living.
“Maybe you could take the night off hunting,” I suggested. “Stay here to watch me dance.”
His golden eyes darkened to a deep umber. “I can’t skip the hunt. The curse compels me to do it.” He ran his fingertips over his chest. “When I don’t act as the curse commands me to, I burn from the inside out.” He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply as if some strange sort of ecstasy were overtaking his body. “But sometimes I wonder if it would be worth it to burn.” He opened his eyes again, trailing his gaze over my body, and I had the disconcerting feeling that he could see right through my leotard to the bare skin beneath, to the freckle just below my left breast.
Maybe I shouldn’t get too close to Kratos—maybe an angel tempted to fall was too much of a dangerous thing.
Now seemed as good a time as any to dig for information, now that Kratos seemed completely entranced by my body. “And Adonis is the only one of you who isn’t cursed?” I still didn’t understand these angels.
For just a moment, a cold fire flashed in Kratos’s eyes, and his coppery wings spread out behind him. “You need to stay away from Adonis.” His voice was almost a growl. From his back, his hound snarled in warning.
I reached up to touch Kratos’s cheek as if soothing him. “What do you think will happen if I don’t?” I asked, widening my eyes innocently.
He was looking at me the way a predator sizes up his prey. Instinctively, I took a step away from him, backing up into the wall.
But Kratos moved with me. In the next instant, his hands were around my waist, then lower, sliding down over my hips. I gasped as his fingers tightened possessively.
He leaned in, his breath warming the shell of my ear. “If I weren’t cursed, I’d be pulling that scrap of clothing off you right now and…” He stopped himself, fighting with his impulses.
I was certainly doing my job of distracting him. His fingers moved up my body, until his powerful hands curled around my biceps, pinning me to the wall. Something wild and untamed blazed in his eyes.
“Are you trying to tempt me to fall?” he asked, his voice a growl.
No, that would be bad. I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He was breathing deeply, his golden magic burning from his body like sunlight. “I see you walking around the castle, the way you sway your hips, the way your clothing hugs your body. You want to turn me into a demon, like you. Maybe I want to know what that feels like. I want to know what you feel like.”