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CHAPTER11
Now that she’d escaped the Pit for the second time, Raze was desperate to bring her back to the safety of the hotel and then never let her out of his sight again.
One plus side to making their home base in Sin City? Most mortals had some contact with the factions in one way or another. They were more of an open secret than anything else, and while he’d have to be more careful if he lived in a heavily human-populated area, he didn’t even think twice before he released his wings again.
It was the first time Becca had seen him with his full wingspan on display. She immediately marveled over them, calling them beautiful as she reached with hesitant fingers to stroke his nearest feather. He preened under her touch, enjoying it as she grew bolder, more confident in her caresses.
The time for pretending as if she wasn’t everything to him was over. So what if she was a demoness and he was an angel? So what if she worked as a server in his casino? He’d give her his shares in the business if she wanted him to, he’d serve alongside her, he’d hand her everything so long as she took his soul, too.
There was no rush. He could wait for her to grow used to the idea of being his fated mate. Whatever it took—just as long as she was with him.
“Hold on tight, Becca, baby,” he murmured, pressing his hands to her back so that she was against his body. “We’re going home.”
She didn’t argue. Instead, hopping up and wrapping legs around his torso, Becca tucked her arms under his as she clung to him.
It was the first time they flew together, and with Becca so close, he vowed that it wouldn’t be the last. For now, though, he just wanted her where he could keep her out of harm—and Lucifer’s—way. The Twilight Sphere was his target, and he didn’t stop flying until he’d landed easily on the walkway in front of the hotel to the surprise of more than a few tourists.
After disappearing his wings inside of him, Raze brought her to his suite—but that hadn’t been his first destination. As soon as he led Becca through the entrance of the Twilight Sphere, he loaded her into the nearest elevator and jabbed his pointer finger decisively on the number ‘13’ key.
Thirteenth floor. Becca’s personal hotel room.
He had her tucked into his side, almost as if afraid that, if he let her go, she’d disappear on him again as they rode the elevator together.
She’d only been gone for a few hours but, to Raze, it seemed like a lifetime. Lucifer’s sly offer still rang in his ear, and if he hated his old enemy before this night, that was nothing compared to how he felt now knowing that Lucifer had to have been lying in wait, specifically hoping to scoop up Raze’s soulmate. Not because he owned her soul, but because it belonged to Raze.
He had to have known. Becca hadn’t, but Lucifer must have—probably going back as far as Becca’s contract, he had known.
Talk about playing the long game. Add that to Becca’s reveal that Lucifer stole their talisman so long ago—that he purposely allowed her to catch sight of—and he knew this was about more than just the latest curse.
Raze had underestimated Lucifer once before. He wouldn’t do that again.
Just like he wouldn’t underestimate his soulmate.
During their flight, when he had asked Becca how she escaped, she showed him her bare wrist.
The rosary was gone. She’d used it, plus her faith in Raze, to momentarily break the hold Lucifer had on her in order to escape the Pit, she explained to him over the rush of his flapping wings against the night’s sky.
But it wasn’t just that, Raze decided as he soared over the City of Sin. During the weeks they’d gotten to know each other, Raze’s powers might’ve continued to wane courtesy of Lucifer’s curse, but the bond stretching between them was more than enough to break Lucifer’s hold on her.
Becca believed that she didn’t have a soul. She was wrong. From the moment he found her waiting for him at that high-top table, he unwittingly gave her his.
No.
He didn’t give it to her. It had always been hers. As his soulmate, he was only returning it to its rightful owner. Everything he was, everything he ever would be, was Becca’s, including his soul.
And an angel didn’t belong in Hell. When Raze and his brothers fell, they fell to Purgatory, and if that’s where he had to stay, he would, so long as he had Becca with him. She was his everything, and he’d do anything he had to to make his dishonesty up to her.
He might not have told her from the beginning that they were meant for each other, but now she knew—and she still came back to him. Not because she needed him to protect her from Lucifer, either. With his soul nestled deep in her chest, Lucifer could try to claim her again, but he’d fail. Raze was certain of that. Whatever the lord of Hell stole from Becca, he could keep. She didn’t need it, not when Raze’s soul was more than enough for both of them.
That didn’t mean he wanted to push her, especially after what happened to her. For too long he’d been putting his own needs first. It was time to respect what Becca wanted, which was why he made the move to bring her back to her room. Then, when she refused to step out onto the thirteenth floor, instead murmuring for him to bring her up to his suite, Raze realized that he was making the same mistake again. Instead of asking her what she wanted, he was deciding for her.
And that had to stop.
So he asked. He asked Becca what she wanted to do now, and listened when she told him that she wanted to take a hot shower, and that she didn’t want to be alone.
He could handle that.
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