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“Actually, I chose him. You don’t strike me as an angel content to swoop in obliviously, which means you’re aware of that as well. You have your finger on every pulse, and this impromptu visit is—at a guess—trying to prove your dominance over him. Sibling rivalry? Or just jealousy on your part?”
Stifling a grin, Seth pressed his lips firmly together, trying not to react to his brother’s face darkening with temper. The angels were a temperamental set of beings, mercurial with their moods, and Adephis evidently wasn’t in the mood to be argued with by a mortal.
“The game is over,” Adephis snapped. “Three guesses have been made, three guesses were wrong. The terms of the agreement have been met, and my brother is the winner. That means you die, and the balance of the world is restored before the category five hurricane brewing off the coast of Florida takes shape and wipes out a few thousand people to return order.”
“Well, I was hoping for one last guess, but seeing as you know everything, you won’t want me to have it. So, I suppose the choice rests with Death.” She turned big green eyes on him, ignoring the hulking brute of an angel standing in front of her as though he didn’t exist. “What say you, oh mighty master? Will you give me one last try?”
In all honesty, he didn’t know what was happening right now. Adephis’ body language was shifting subtly into battle stance, and Seth eased his way between Lara and the beast. If the pompous prick tried to attack her, Seth would block it as best he could.
“I forbid it,” Adephis growled.
Oh, if there was one thing he hated, it was being given orders in his own space. No wonder Lucifer preferred spending his time below, playing king of hell instead of trying to build burning bridges with the high and mighty ones above. “This is my home, and you are not the boss of me. Don’t forget we are equals, Adephis, despite our locations. We both answer to the same powers.”
“They forbid it.”
“Then why is it they say nothing to me?” Hating the fact his back was now to Lara, he held out his hand to the side and waited for hers to slide into it.
“This will only end badly, brother.” Triumph gleamed in Adephis’ eyes as he grinned, flashing white teeth. “Or it would. A fourth guess will be invalid, will it not, if someone accidently blurts out the answer. Regardless, your human will die either way. Her presence in the human world is no longer required.”
Lara’s hand in his anchored his rapidly rising temper. Squeezing it, Seth already knew his choice was made. Adephis’ arrival and attitude sealed the deal—a reminder of how boorish and egotistical his own kind were.
“Go ahead,” Lara taunted. “Nothing you say or do now can affect the outcome, and that scares you. Our paths are meant to merge.”
As his pride in her surged, so did the flames of his internal fire. A heavy wash of heat and light emanated from the fireplace, reflecting his emotions.
“I’m tired of being alone, Adephis. Reaping souls is a thankless job, one I do without complaint. Alone without a single visit from my siblings, until you want me to bow down to your wishes, because it’s what you want. I’m tired, constantly surrounded by grief and tears and recriminations.” Seth tugged his female in front of him, duvet and all, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Lara may not be celestial, she might not have wings, but she is the light we all seek. Light I desperately need.”
“She will damn you, Seth.”
His name echoed like a gunshot, and something in his gut withered and died at the realization his brother had just sabotaged any attempt Seth had of finding happiness.
Fury ignited with an audible whoosh in his head. Even as he went to push Lara aside, his woman gripped his arms and shook her head as she laughed. A full-bodied, rich laugh that bought a scowl to Adephis’ face.
“What’s so funny? The game is over, and you have to move on.”
Now she eased out of Seth’s hold, letting the duvet pool around her feet as she lifted her hands to her hair. “My grandmother died when I was five, and she was the last practicing witch in our family. My mother only dabbled, but between them both, I learned a few things.” Turning until both men could see her back, she scooped her hair up, revealing her nape and hairline. “Like how to conceal what needs to be hidden from prying eyes.”
“Impossible.”
“Considering you haven’t stopped me, it absolutely is possible.” She tilted her head forward. “I got this tattoo the day I understood what a gift I was being offered. Loving Death is a once in a lifetime phenomenon, and I’m not stupid enough to turn away from it because it’s…”
“A death sentence?” Adephis demanded. “Has that crossed your mind, mortal? Seth is so far beyond your comprehension, it’s ludicrous for you to even consider dreaming about a future with him. To begin with, the very fact you breathe is a hindrance to any pursuit of a relationship with him.”
“I’m right here,” Seth ground out between his teeth.
Adephis dismissed him with a wave of his hand, his attention focused on the naked woman running her fingertips around the base of her skull. “He cannot love. It is not in his makeup, not the way it is in humans. You may have convinced yourself he’s human, that he feels things the way your kind do, but—no offence, brother—he is not what you need him to be.”
More than displeased with the warrior, Seth jabbed his thumb toward the ceiling. “I think it’s time you show yourself out, Adephis. Your welcome has worn thin.”
“I can’t return home until this mess is dealt with. The glitch needs to be terminated, and you have to get back to work. This foolishness has no future, Seth, and trying to make one will only create chaos at a time when the world cannot afford it.”
“What the big, scary angel isn’t telling you,” Lara interrupted smoothly, “is that it’s me he’s afraid of, not what might happen between us.” She tapped a finger on a patch of skin marred by darkening black ink. “I’ll admit, I did cheat. There is no crazy old psychic—the vision of your name came to me firsthand. I’ve dreamed of you, had visions of you, since I hit puberty.”
Cheated, lied, and manipulated the game to her own advantage, Seth thought with a frown. He stepped forward, peering at his name tattooed in a neat scrawl in her flesh. It could be another lie, another deception, but when he clamped his hand on her neck, his palm covering the marking, he sensed no magic.
Perhaps she’d used her family magic to conceal it, but she wasn’t using it to conjure.
His fingers bit into the muscles of her neck, eliciting a sharp squeak of alarm, but the predatory part of him insisted she’d known what she was doing when she stepped into his territory with this end in mind.
