It was so fucking obvious. It would keep Galilee alive and convince his princes that she wouldn’t be a threat to them, and it would make her his for as long as he wanted. Thrilled at the possibility, Lucifer laughed into the empty sky, and it sounded like a city crumbling. Galilee just had to be as innocent as he hoped, because if she was part of any kind of plot, then he’d have no choice but to keep his promise to his princes and rip her head off. But that was a small risk far outweighed by the other possibilities, because if he was right? If she had nothing to do withanything, if she was just a fluke of dormant power who didn’t even know what she could do? Lucifer could save her, and he knew exactly how to do it. All he had to do was make another deal with her, and that wouldn’t be hard. He hadn’t even beentryingto seduce her into the first one, so Galilee stood no chance against the true force of his desire. He was the dawnbreaker, the radiant one, and he always got what he wanted.
This time, Lucifer wanted her soul.
An hour later, Lucifer was scaling the side of Galilee’s building, his glamour still in place. It had been easy to track her down: Onyearugbulem’s daughter had sent a car to Galilee’s address to pick her up for the party, and Lucifer had simply pulled the information under his persona as security personnel.
He was so far away from that now—perilously inhuman in this winged form—but it was important that he stopped pretending with Galilee. He didn’t need to walk politely through her front door like he wasn’t all the horrific things that he was, like he wasn’t a nightmare hunting her. She needed to understand who he was, understand that he could give her anything, whatever she wanted, in exchange for her soul. He could already imagine what it would look like, a bursting incandescent star that would reduce him to ash, and fuck if that didn’t make him hard with desire. Once he had her bargained into his safekeeping, no one would interfere with them, and Lucifer would be free to explore Galilee. She could scream with pleasure, uninterrupted for centuries, and they could explore whatever was coiled inside her, the scorching power he now craved. Lucifer stopped at her large open windows, almost purring with delight at his plan. He was about to slide into her loft and materialize slowly, but then he paused with a frown.
She wasn’t alone. In fact, she was currently being cursed out by her two friends, the spoiled princess and the storyteller. Lucifer perched on the windowsill and watched with curious amusement, his glamour keeping him unseen.
“I’mclearlyfine,” Galilee was saying, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “Completely unharmed, very much alive. Y’all cangonow.”
“Oh, fuck you,” the storyteller replied. “We’re not going anywhere until you tell us what happened with that Helel motherfucker.”
“I’ll have his balls if he hurt you,” the princess added, fuming.
Galilee growled. “He didn’t hurt me.”
A small smile pulled at Lucifer’s mouth. She was angry that they’d speak against him. She wasdefendinghim. Warmth curled deep in his chest, and he drank in her face, now stripped of makeup, the bare skin freckled and soft. Her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head, copper coils sticking out around her ears. An oversize T-shirt hung off her shoulder and stretched around her hips before stopping midthigh, and Lucifer wondered if she was wearing anything under it or if she was naked and already slick at the thought of him. He wanted to burst into the loft, throw her friends out, and spread Galilee on the bed, putting his mouth on her until she was arching and begging again. Claws burst out from his fingertips and carved small slivers of wood from the windowsill at the memory of her taste, but Lucifer dragged in a deep breath and got his flesh under control. His restraint was always a little volatile when he let his other forms out to play, but he had things to do before he could explore Galilee. He had deals to make and secrets to hunt.
“Galilee, you went off with him and then you weregone,” the princess said. “All we got was some weird voice note—”
“In which you may or may not have sounded like a hostage,” the storyteller added.
“—so we’re worried about you. And you’re going to have to give us a little more before you expect us to believe that everything’s all good here.” The princess folded her arms with a stubborn set to her jaw, and Lucifer watched as Galilee made quick calculations behind her eyes.
“Fine,” she said, flopping down on her bed. It was a performed capitulation, and it fascinated him no end. “We hooked up, and I freaked out, so I ran. Y’all happy now?”
Lucifer raised an eyebrow, surprised that she’d told them even a version of the truth. Her friends exchanged looks, then screamed in delighted unison, jumping on the bed with Galilee.
“You didwhat?”
“Girl, tell us everything!”
“Wheredid you even fuck him?” The last question was from the princess, frowning as if she was running through the layout of the wing they’d been in. “A bathroom?”
Galilee blushed. “First of all, we didn’t have sex. And yeah, kind of.”
An annoyed rumble started in Lucifer’s chest. They hadabsolutelyhad sex, and Galilee was evading her friend’s question.
“We just fooled around, but it was kinda intense so I dipped out. That’s it.”
Oh, she was a liar. He would have to punish her for that later. It was his job, after all, to punish people for their sins, and Galilee Kincaid was aliar. It didn’t matter how many thin truths she used as a veil, nothing she was saying was whole. She’d broken it into fragments that she was spoon-feeding them, and they were lapping it up because they were human and humans bought stories so easily.
“He’s so fine,” the storyteller was saying. “I don’t blame you for getting overwhelmed. Was he a good kisser?”
Galilee’s blush darkened, but Lucifer also saw her hackles rise at the implication that he had overwhelmed her. She hid it well, tucking a coil of hair behind her ear.
“He wasn’t bad,” she said, with a small secretive smile. It wavered as Gali looked over to the princess, and Lucifer made note of how true she made the performance seem. “I felt weird, with him working for your dad and all, you know? I’m sorry if it was inappropriate to do that in your house. I just got carried away.”
She was agoodliar.
Lucifer knew damn well that Galilee didn’t give a fuck about his false position as head of security, and she certainly hadn’t cared how herfriend might have felt back when she was grinding on his face. She’d also been painfully deliberate about everything she did, from cutting a deal with him to offering him her silk-wrapped cunt.
The princess shrugged. “It’s my dad’s house, not mine. You’re good.” She smiled, and mischief lit up her eyes. “I’m glad you had some fun, even if it was with that asshole.”
Galilee’s smile hardened slightly. “Yeah, hewaskinda an asshole, wasn’t he?”
“Ah, the bad-boy type.” The storyteller sighed. “They’re a classic.”
