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My body jostles, and sensation returns to me. Dante’s familiar scent permeates the air, and I feel his soft intake of breath against my shoulder as he sinks his fangs into my skin.
I moan, his intoxicating venom kicking my heartbeat into a rapid pace as tingles course through me.
“I need to hear more of that.” Dante’s whisper tickles the hair hanging over my ears. “That feels good, doesn’t it, pretty soul?”
I arch my back and stretch, grimacing at the sharp pain in my chest. It’s enough to jolt me upright, but Dante doesn’t let me go. He holds me down against his chest and ends up wrapping his muscular legs around mine.
He restrains me, and I automatically fight him, trying to break free of his hold.
Cool fingers touch my cheek. “Raven, I know it hurts. I know you’ve been through a lot. But hold still. Your wiggling ass is going to get yourself hurt even more.” Elias’s familiar voice steals my breath away and returns it at the same time. “Look at me, darlin’. I need to see your eyes.”
“I’ll do it for you.” Lucian’s rough voice stirs something dark inside me a second before light burns my vision.
I groan and frown. “Knock that shit off, dickhead. It hurts to open my eyes.”
“It’s pointless to force her to do something like this. We all see it for ourselves. Give Raven some room so she can orient herself. This is going to be tough on her.” Zade’s voice hums in my ears, the softness opening up a deep ache inside me.
What does he mean? His words frighten me on a level that nothing should be able to penetrate. It’s a part of me that has been hidden by my light and kept safe. It’s as if the wall is broken, and I feel things that I haven’t in a while. It hurts me deeply. I can’t explain it, but it feels as if I lost something.
I open and close my mouth, licking my lips. “The babies?” Tears already fill my eyes at my comment. I know that I was stabbed by Mikail. I know that he stole something from me. What if he took the light of my angel baby? I never thought a thing was possible.
Fuck.
Muscular arms engulf me, sandwiching me to Dante. “They’re perfect. It’s okay. Nothing happened to them, so take a breath, little hellion.” Andre squishes me in a way that doesn’t hurt me but makes me feel as if he is keeping me together.
I gasp a breath of relief, the sudden fear vanishing but only to be replaced with confusion.
“Fuck. What the hell does that mean, then? What happened? What did Mikail do to me?” My words tumble out of my mouth as my voice finally manages to escape, though it cracks.
I’m greeted with silence. No one wants to answer my question. It must be bad.
I nudge Andre back and look down at my bare chest, the knife wound burned closed. It looks gross and hurts even worse than before, but I know that the devils did this to stop me from bleeding out.
“Whoever tells me first will be rewarded.” I pant through the pain, wishing with everything in me that Dante would give me another bite of his venom. He’s only giving me enough to take off the edge instead of numbing me completely and sending me on a high that could last for days.
Again, no one responds. It’s unlike them not to fight over who gets the reward.
Annoyance rushes through me, and I gather my strength and dig my nails into Dante’s legs hard enough to get him to let me go. The way everyone looks at me strikes me to my very soul. It opens me in a way that I can’t stand. Elias and Cassius both back up, and I watch as fear crosses their gazes. I’m nearly certain Micah and Zade are afraid of me too.
“Tell me!” I scream, rage blooming from my annoyance. “What happened to me?”
“There are too many of us here. Our presence is affecting her. I know you all want to be here, but Raven is my soulmate. I am begging you to give me five minutes. Let me break the news to her, and then you guys can give her what she needs.” Elias tightens his jaw, his whole being radiating with heavenly grace. Something is different, though. I don’t feel the same familiarity I had before. Actually, I’m not sure I feel anything at all. I know I love him. I know that I have missed him. But for some reason, I can’t seem to feel anything except for this deep, dark anger roiling through me.
“Maybe you should let dickhead tell her. That way, if she wants to kill someone, it can be him. He’s a tough guy.” This comes from Lucian as he motions to Cassius. “This is kind of his fucking fault anyways. If he had just stuck to the plan—”
Elias twists and shoots heavenly power at Lucian, a deep bellow of frustration escaping his mouth. “I asked everyone to give me a minute! Go!”
I lie in shock as the devils and Cassius listen to him. Micah vanishes within the summoning circle without a word. Dante kisses my temple and shifts me off him and onto the rickety cot. It’s not even a bed. I don’t even know where the fuck we are. This place is bare bones with nothing much in it. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think we were in a prison cell. Not an angelic one either. Human. Mortal. A place that is beneath my devils.
My breathing quickens in anticipation. If the devils leave without complaint, it must be bad. It must be worse. But what? I can only think of two things that are world-ending to me in this moment. One, something happening to the twins. Or two? Something happening to my guys.
Elias sits beside me and drapes his arm over my shoulders, pulling me in close, adjusting my legs to sprawl across his lap. His iridescent wings fold around us, and I cringe. It’s an automatic reaction and unlike me. Usually, I’m more fascinated by angel wings than this.
He must notice because he ruffles them, and they disappear, turning him into the handsome mortal I fell in love with. I had no idea how much I missed what he had looked like before he died as a human. I know his body was just a body, and this is his soul in a new form, but I don’t know. I can’t explain it.
“Take a couple of breaths, Raven. You’re going to hyperventilate.” Elias strokes his fingers across my spine, trying to smooth out the shivers trembling through me. “It hurts me deeply to see you like this.”
“Stop avoiding telling me what the fuck is going on,” I snap, my whole body stiffening. I don’t mean to yell at him, and I can tell how hurt he is by my short temper. I just can’t control it. All of these dark emotions run wild through me. I can’t get thoughts of the angelic army out of my head and how they just got away with hurting me.
