by Larissa Ione
He certainly wouldn’t start with his mate.
“Lilliana?” he murmured. “I know you aren’t asleep.”
“What gave me away? The fact that my eyes are open?”
Apparently, the theme tonight was ornery. He could play that. “You have a sharp tongue, female.” He caught a lock of hair in his fingers, and so much for not touching her. “May I suggest that you put it to better use?”
“May I suggest that you go to hell?”
“That insult has no bite, given that we’re already here.” Not technically, of course, since Azagoth’s realm sat on a special plane between the human realm and the demon one, but the barrier between Sheoul and Sheoul-gra was extremely thin, allowing far too much leakage between them.
She sighed. “What do you want?”
Bracing himself on one elbow, he leaned in, inhaling the fresh rosemary mint of her shampoo. His cock stirred, and whaddya know, that scent was apparently an aphrodisiac.
“Tell me,” he breathed into her ear. “Tell me why you’re here.”
“You really want to know?”
He inhaled again, this time catching the faint citrus spice of her skin along with the shampoo. She was a living, breathing dessert he couldn’t wait to taste.
“I’m not in the habit of asking questions I don’t want the answers to,” he said, letting his lips brush the skin of her cheek.
She inhaled sharply, and the unmistakable aroma of arousal rose up all around her. His body responded with a primal surge of hunger, and his rapidly swelling cock went all helllooo, baby on her backside.
Another inhalation, this time a little ragged. “I...ah, I was given a choice between being demoted and stripped of my abilities or mating you.”
Azagoth had known the answer, but hearing her say it felt like a punch to the nuts. Buh-bye, baby. “And how difficult was your decision?”
The mattress creaked as she turned over to face him. Light from the fire danced on her face, softening her features, but making her eyes glow with a defiant glint.
“I’m sensing that there’s a right and a wrong answer here, so why don’t you go ahead and tell me which one I should pick.” She propped herself up, matching his pose. “And why does any of this matter? I’m here. Isn’t that enough?”
No, it wasn’t. Being here wasn’t the same as wanting to be here. If he had any emotions left in him at all, he’d be happy if just once, someone—anyone—truly wanted to be with him.
“It doesn’t matter.” Impulsively, he kissed her on the forehead before rolling away to leave her alone on her side of the mattress.
Weird, but this was the first time his massive bed didn’t feel big enough.
Chapter Eight
Azagoth was gone when Lilliana got up the next morning. She experienced a fleeting twinge of disappointment, and then she buried her face in her pillow as she remembered feeling the press of Azagoth’s erection against her butt. The velvety tip had nudged her solidly between her cheeks, spreading heat through her pelvis as her nerve endings sparked with awareness.
Everything about Azagoth and his realm might be polar-level cold, but his body was definitely in the triple digits.
How she’d been able to speak a single word, let alone entire coherent sentences after that was beyond her comprehension. Her heart had hammered so hard and erratically that she’d felt it in her spine, and her lungs hadn’t been able to get enough air.
If things hadn’t gone rapidly downhill right after that...nah. She’d have told him to roll over to his side of the bed and stay there.
While she lay on her side and stared at the spanking bench across from her.
Yawning, she started for the bathroom, slowing to give the bench a swat for keeping her awake for a good part of the night while she played out scenes in her head involving it and Azagoth. Inevitably, those scenes had turned ugly when she thought about the other females who had enjoyed a good spanking at his hand.
Sometimes, an imagination was a terrible thing.
His bathroom was the only truly light part of his manor that she’d found. Rough-cut white marble gave the room a masculine edge, but it was modern and elegant, and she could spend hours in the shower. Though she had to wonder why he needed five shower heads and two marble benches, but the heated floor tiles were a nice touch. How many females had he brought in here, anyway? She pictured him naked, water and suds sluicing over his muscular body, and suddenly the shower got a lot steamier.
Stop it.
Now he was on his knees, his tongue catching rivulets as they cascaded from her breasts to her abs.
Stop it!
In the next moment, she was bracing herself against the shower wall as he licked her sex, alternating quick flicks against her clit with long, firm strokes through her wet valley.
Stop. It!
Her blood quickened and her breaths came fast and hard as she drove her hand between her legs. In her mind, it was Azagoth’s tongue circling her sensitive nub before thrusting inside her core, and when her climax took her a second later, it was Azagoth’s name that whispered across her lips.
And damn, imaginary Azagoth was good. Her knees shook as she dried off, but the mouthwatering smell of bacon spurred her on. Once dried, she selected a pair of skinny jeans, boots, and a form-fitting violet sweater from the wardrobe, then followed the aroma of food to the kitchen.
Where she found a redheaded female in ripped-up jeans and a lacy fuchsia corset doing dishes.
“Breakfast is on the table,” she said with a perky smile.
“And you are..?” She’d better not be one of Azagoth’s bedmates. Not that Lilliana was jealous. Offended, yes. Jealous, hardly.
The female wiped suds off her cheek with the back of her hand. “I’m Cataclysm. Call me Cat.”
“Azagoth failed to mention that he has a fallen angel for a cook.”
“He hired me this morning. And I’m Unfallen, not True Fallen.”
Meaning she’d been expelled from Heaven, but she wouldn’t be evil to the point of no return until she entered Sheoul and became a True Fallen.
“So you’re trying to earn your way back into Heaven, huh? I can think of better ways to do that than working for the Grim Reaper.”
She shrugged as she shoved a cast iron pan under a stream of hot water. “Life in the human realm with no angelic powers is dangerous for Unfallen. Here I’m protected from demons and angels alike. It’s a good gig. I wasn’t about to turn it down. Especially because suddenly, everyone is working overtime to drag Unfallens into Sheoul. I was almost caught twice in the last week.”
Lilliana found a towel to dry dishes and stepped up to the counter. “Why the urgency?”
Cat snatched the towel from Lilliana and pointed to the table, which was loaded with pancakes, bacon, some sort of egg casserole, and mixed fruit. It was enough to feed half a dozen humans, but Lilliana figured she could down most of it herself. She’d always had a healthy appetite, and food was a guilt-free pleasure.
“Sit,” Cat said. “And I don’t know what’s up, but everyone’s scared. Just six days ago, one of my friends was dragged into Hell. When I saw her yesterday...” She shuddered. “She tried to force me into Sheoul. So, here I am.”
As far as fallen angels went, Cat didn’t seem too bad. Besides, Lilliana didn’t have any room to judge, given her own disgraced status.
“So,” she said, as she filled a plate with food. “What did you do to get the boot?”
Cat bowed her head. “I fell into temptation.”
“Sex with a demon?” Lilliana slathered butter and syrup on the pancakes.
“A demon?” Cat wrinkled her nose. “No. Gross. Although...have you ever met a Seminus demon? Because if there’s a demon out there who can tempt an angel...”
She fanned her face, and Lilliana rolled her eyes. Yes, the sex demons were legendary lovers who, as a species, had gotten more than one female angel kicked out of Heaven, but was having a half-an-hour-long orgasm really worth the
risk?
Okay, maybe.
“Anyway,” Cat continued, “do you know the Four Horsemen’s ex-Heavenly Watcher, Gethel?”
The bite of fruit in Lilliana’s mouth soured. “The evil bitch who wanted to start the Apocalypse by slaughtering one of the Horsemen’s children? And who is now carrying Satan’s baby? That Gethel?”
“Yes,” she said wryly. “I see you know who I’m talking about. Anyway, I was her apprentice when she was still an angel. She made me do a lot of things that were questionable, but I did them anyway. Who was I to question the great Gethel, Heavenly Watcher to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, you know? By the time I figured out that she was working for Team Evil, it was too late. I was in too deep.”
“And you were punished by expulsion.”
“Yep.” She held up a pitcher of orange juice, but Lilliana shook her head. “So here I am. Thank you for giving me this chance. I was starting to get scared. It’s very dangerous for my kind out there right now.”
Footsteps signaled an approach, and a moment later Azagoth entered, looking scrumptious in black jeans, a forest green Henley, and Dr. Martens. His gaze traveled up and down her body, and her cheeks grew hot as her shower escapade roared back into her head.
“I see you’ve met your assistant,” he drawled.
“Assistant?”
He swiped a grape from the fruit tray and popped it into his mouth. “Cataclysm is here to handle all your needs. Her chamber is down the hall.”
“I...um...why?”
“Because Zhubaal has enough to do already.” He went for a slice of apple next. “And you were right about my realm being no prize for someone like you. The least I can do is make this punishment of yours more tolerable. So for as long as you’re here and you want her, Cat will be as well.”
Okay, so now she felt like a piece of shit. Cat was here for her, so when Lilliana left with the chronoglass, Cat would be out of a job and a home, and she’d be vulnerable to anyone who wanted to hurt her or force her into Hell to complete her fall.
Dammit, she did not need this complication. She wanted to get out of here, and now she had Cat’s future to consider.
“Well, thank you,” she said as she pushed to her feet. “Did you come for breakfast? I’m just finishing up—”
“I came to ask if you’d take me someplace.”
“Ask?” She snorted. “Is this going to be like last time?”
He swore, and yup, looked like they were in for a repeat of the drill sergeant routine. So she was shocked when he said, “Will you please take me someplace? I’d really like to get out of here for a little while.”
“You’re lucky I have nothing better to do,” she said, only half-teasing.
She’d planned to spend the day in his library and wandering around his realm in search of anything that might help her get the chronoglass out. She doubted she’d find a moving dolly, but there were millions of items with the mystical power to render even the heaviest items much lighter. A lot of spells, too.
Azagoth led her out into the hall, where he started in the direction of the library. “We’ll find something for you to do.”
“Like what?” Walking next to him, she waited for a crude comeback like, “You can do me,” but he didn’t. He was serious.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I was thinking of creating a new level in the Inner Sanctum, one appropriate for demons who aren’t evil.”
“All demons are evil. That’s why they’re demons.”
He shook his head. “Just as there are angels and humans who are bad, there are demons who are good.” He slowed to let a griminion scurry past. “There’s good and bad in everyone, Lilliana. Some just have to work harder than others to overcome their nature.”
She supposed that was true, but boy, did it ever fly in the face of everything she’d ever been taught in battle angel classes.
“What do you do with these ‘good’ demons now?”
“I send them to the first level, which is a vacation spot compared to the others,” he said. “And I authorize their reincarnations first.”
“Aw, look, there is some good in you,” she teased.
He laughed. “Sending non-evil entities back into the world isn’t out of the goodness of my heart. It floods Sheoul with neutrality, which means the truly evil demons will pay any price for me to authorize the reincarnation of evil souls.” He winked. “I’m very open to bribes.”
Charming.
“Why are you being so nice and talkative all of a sudden?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say, nice, but you are my mate, and this is your realm now too. Cold and dreary as it is,” he added. Ouch. He still had a bite, didn’t he? “You need to have your own space and purpose.”
Lilliana could just shake her head. How could someone who was so awful to his children be so thoughtful to someone he barely knew?
“People in Heaven think you’re a monster, you know.”
“I am.” He pegged her with a dark stare. “Don’t let my calm exterior fool you. There’s a beast inside me that’s capable of horrors you can’t imagine.”
She didn’t doubt that.
They arrived at the library, where a fire was roaring in the hearth, but the temperature in the room was more akin to someone having left the freezer door open.
“Oh, and just FYI, something I forgot to mention last time.” She shrugged like it was no big deal, but it kind of was. “There are a handful of fallen angels who can sense entries into the shrowd, and they make it their mission to destroy any angel who travels through time. It’s rare that they find their target, but when they do...” She shuddered. She’d come up against them twice, and her mother had lost her life to the bastards.
“Any angel, fallen or not, who dares to challenge me will spend all eternity as artwork in my great hall.”
She frowned, remembering all of the grotesque statues. The ones that looked like humans, demons, and...angels...in agony.
“Wait. So all of the sculptures in your...”
“Yes. Instead of sending their souls to Sheoul-gra, I bound them in statue. Some of them have been there for thousands of years. I’ll bet they’re quite insane by now.”
“You can...you can even do that to angels? Even if they haven’t turned evil? Their souls should automatically return to Heaven.”
He shrugged. “I’m the Grim Fucking Reaper. This is my domain, and if I want to keep a soul, I can.” He shot her a sideways glance. “I told you I’m a monster.”
She’d be wise to remember that.
Because holy shit.
Inhaling the dusty tobacco scent of the library, she started toward the mirror, but something crunched under her feet. “I’m sorry.” She sidestepped, cringing at whatever it was that she’d broken. It looked like a crystal chess piece.
“S’okay.” He swiped the bits of crystal off the floor and tossed them into the trash. “It was broken before you stepped on it.”
Realization dawned. “You broke it. Why?”
“It was a gift from Methicore,” he said gruffly. “I want all reminders of him gone.”
Her heart clenched. She’d sent a rare singing iris from Heaven’s Covenant Mountain to her father once, hoping to open the lines of communication before their first meeting. When she’d finally met him face to face, he’d returned it to her.
Broken into three pieces.
“I don’t understand how you can reject him so thoroughly.” She searched his face for some sign of regret, but she saw nothing in his expression but disgust for his son. “What did he do to you?”
He looked startled that she’d ask. “Why do you want to know?”
“Weren’t you just on the ‘we’re mates’ trip a few minutes ago?” she reminded him. “Maybe we should, I don’t know, talk?”
He swept some papers off his desk and into the trash can, covering up the broken chess piece. “Maybe I’ll talk when you’re ready to do the same.”
“I’ve answered
every question you’ve asked.”
“Really?” Crossing his arms over his broad chest, he pegged her with a hard stare. “Then why don’t you tell me why you’re really here? Because something isn’t adding up, Lilliana.”
“I told you,” she ground out. Was he never going to let this go? “I was given a choice between two evils. I picked this one.”
“How sweet. But I know that. I want to know what made coming here more appealing than remaining in Heaven, even in the diminished capacity they offered you.”
Oh, I figured it would be easy to steal your property, get out of here, and be restored to grace.
She probably shouldn’t say that. She’d try another truth.
“Maybe I’m not ready to discuss my private humiliation with someone I just met.”
A slow, bitter smile spread over his face. “Exactly.”
“So your son is your private humiliation?” She probably shouldn’t be pushing him on this when he’d made it clear he didn’t want to talk, but dammit, she wanted to know what it took to make a father reject his own offspring.
“Private?” he laughed. “No, he’s a very public humiliation.” He gestured to the chronoglass. “Enough talk. I’m anxious to see where we’re going. Somewhere warm, I hope.”
“Sure,” she said sweetly. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Nine
They stepped out onto a frozen wasteland with nothing but ice and snow as far as the eye could see. Not even the sky could offer color or texture. Gray, featureless clouds had turned it into a blanket of blah.
Lilliana watched Azagoth carefully for signs of annoyance that she’d brought him to someplace so cold and barren, but just like when she’d dropped them into the Egyptian desert, his expression conveyed awe and excitement. He wasn’t at all pissed off. If anything, he lit up like the Christmas tree in Times Square.
“This isn’t someplace warm, but I forgive you.” Grinning like a loon, he extended his hands and let a flurry of snowflakes sift between his fingers. “I hate the snow,” he said, but she never would have guessed that with the way he was acting. He even stuck out his tongue and caught a flake on the very tip. She hated that there was something very appealing...and sensual...about that.