Page 20

“He’s going to come for her with everything he has left,” Izzy told them as she planted both hands on the table. “The tarhounds were him throwing rocks at the window because she lit up like a flare. The next knock will not be so polite.”

“Is there a chance that he doesn’t already know?” Elsie asked. “I have felt him at the edge of my sleep again. It feels as if he’s sniffing around for something. Perhaps he sent the tarhounds to see what this new power could do for him. He might not be targeting Sarah for the reasons you’re suggesting.”

Izzy let out a pent-up breath. “Even if you’re right, we need to stop pretending one lovesick angel can watch Sarah and every door at the same time.”

“Abraxos would lay down his life for that woman,” Zander pointed out as his mouth twitched. “I have seen that look enough times over the years to read the writing on the wall. Poor bastard doesna stand a chance.”

“That is exactly my point, Dad,” Izzy shot back as her voice climbed and she let it. “You couldn’t watch Mom and me either. You had to use your allies. One angel in love is not a defense. It is a pressure point that Lucifer already knows how to press. He tries to exploit what he sees as a weakness in you, Rami, and every fool in this realm who has ever loved somebody.

“Sarah needs a wall that is not made out of one man’s feelings,” Izzy continued as she looked at her father. “She needs all of us.”

“She’ll hate it if we try to keep her holed up,” Elsie warned. “I spent the afternoon with that woman, and I can already tell being protected will make her feel buried.”

“She can loathe it and live,” Izzy countered as she pushed away from the table. “I will take her mad over dead every day of the week. We’ve all seen the other version, and it’s bullshit.”

CHAPTER 8

ABRAXOS

"—one angel in love is not a defense, Dad. She needs all of us." Abraxos froze as he caught the tail end of the conversation through the war room door. One of his hands lifted to the frame so he could brace himself as he listened to Izzy talk about Sarah’s safety.

He'd left Sarah upstairs, tucked under the covers after she'd spent a good five minutes insisting she wasn't tired enough for sleep, only to prove herself wrong before she'd even finished the argument. He'd sat there another thirty minutes just watching the rise and fall of her chest. And memorizing the shape of her in the dark. Something he never imagined doing in his life. Doing something so sappy went against everything he believed in. Give him a demon to rip apart any day of the week.

Ultimately, the need to know what the hell was happening downstairs finally won out over his need to guard her door with his body. Hearing his allies discuss the woman who had changed his entire life, he shoved the door open and stalked into the war room. The talk died the second he crossed the threshold.

He didn't wait for anyone to fill the silence for him. "Somebody want to tell me, exactly, what's going on, since I appear to be a topic of conversation?" Four heads turned toward him at once. Out of all of them, Izzy was the only one who didn't have the decency to look caught red-handed.

"We're discussing how you're a pressure point for Lucifer to exploit," the vampire princess informed him, blunt as a blade laid flat against the throat. There was no softness in her tone. No apology either. She just said it the way you'd tell someone their shoe was untied. In his case, the shoe was his entire heart.

One of his eyebrows shot straight up toward his hairline. "How's that, exactly?" He didn't bother hiding the edge in his voice. Everyone in the room could feel his agitation anyway.

His brothers picked that moment to join them. Ayil and Araton came through the door and headed right for them. Having heard at least some of the discussion, both were already frowning.

"Everything okay?" Araton asked, glancing between Abraxos and the others like he was trying to decide whether he needed to break something up or just grab a snack and watch.

Zander was the one who answered him, laying out Izzy's theory about Lucifer being tethered to the lake still in a few quick, clipped sentences. Elsie jumped in right behind him to fill in a piece he'd skipped over. Izzy and Donovan added their two cents as well.

"Lucifer needs Sarah, and he'll do whatever it takes to force her into freeing him completely," Izzy finished. "Your feelings for each other aren't exactly a secret. He will torture you if he wants to break her down and force her to use her magic to help him."

His jaw locked up tight, and the old instinct to argue came roaring in fast. It was useless, though. If there was someone Lucifer cared about, Abraxos would have her in a cage as they spoke. They’d do anything to stop the Morning Star.

"Torture doesn't scare me," he replied. "Not for me. I've had my fair share of shit done to me. What scares me is exactly what you just said. I won't be used against her."

"Good." Izzy nodded her head as if confirming something she’d been thinking. "Then you understand the problem better than I gave you credit for a minute ago."

"I understand the problem." His voice became more of a growl. "But I don't have the solution. Honestly, I can’t stay away from her." Especially after he’d had a taste of her. He only wanted more. “I have to ensure she’s safe. What would you have me do differently?"

"I've loved a female the way you love yours," Zander shared. "I ken exactly what it is to stand between her and the whole of creation and think that'll be enough. It's no' enough. It was never going to be enough. No matter how big I made myself. Or how many things I killed trying. You will always need the help of your family and friends.

"Elsie's faced worse fire than your Sarah while pregnant,” he continued. "And I nearly lost her twice, being exactly the kind of male you're being right now. Loving a woman that much doesna make you her wall. It only convinces you that you have to be. That gets people killed just as quickly as not caring at all."

“It’s true,” Ayil echoed. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

Something in Abraxos's chest tightened. It was irrational to want to fight being the only blade between his female and danger, but there was a part of him that was raring to do just that. It was his job to make sure she wasn’t hurt.

"Tell me what sharing this looks like," he said instead, "because right now it looks like a room full of people talking. She’s going to be pissed about us deciding her defense without her."

Elsie's mouth curved, slow and pleased. "You're learning much faster than your brothers. Or these other louts. Knowing she should be part of the discussion was the first useful sentence out of you all night." She gestured to the door. "Go get her. She should be down here arguing for herself."