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“Yes.”
Using her voice to guide him up, he rose, far enough that he should be able to make out the vehicle with its headlights on, the flames from the building, city lights, anything. The darkness wrapped around him.
“Alexei, where’d you go?” Alys kept talking as if he’d answered her. “Nita says the car’s interior lights and headlights went dead, the fire’s out, everything’s still. Total blackout below too. Where’s Joelle?”
“She jumped.” His gut churned, and his body sank with the words, but he refused to believe that he’d lost her. Not when he could stillfeelher.
His sister’s gasp cut through him even as a rush of air surrounded him, making him beat his wings faster to stay upright. The stench of smoke and filth pushed past him, replaced by the scents of sage, amber, andJoelle.
The darkness unraveled into a black night filled with glittering stars, a sky older than cities, the men who built them, or the firelight they’d gathered around in the time of cave dwellers. He’d never seen a night sky like this. He doubted anyone alive had.
Our Lady of Stars.The title whispered through his mind as though his mate’s warm breath had brushed against his ear.
A ripple of platinum brilliance exploded, unfurling in lush feathery wings tipped in starlight. Joelle flew in front of him, her long hair flying around her now completely silver, the shine from her magic pulsing an onyx shimmer beneath her skin. Her blue eyes the color of a cloudless summer sky had gone midnight black.
Warmth flooded his chest, breaking the icy awfulness that had lodged there. His blood crackled as hot as the lava his magic had created. Swooping in, he claimed her mouth in a kiss. One of relief, love, a demon prince conquered. He would worship his goddess forever whether she be spun of sunshine or stars. Weightless in the air, her wings fluttered in a lazy stirring, a sweep of powers against his skin.
She smiled, her lips curving against his. “I kept my promise.”
He couldn’t slow his heart rate. “You jumped, and I couldn’t get to you.” His rough voice dragged over the confession as if raking over broken glass or the sharp tips of her starlight.
“I came to you instead.”
“Don’t ever do that to me again.”
She laughed a throaty chuckle that held promises as dark and wicked as the magic shimmering beneath her skin. “I don’t plan to.” Reaching for him, she asked, “What about Noxx?”
“She followed you over the side.”
Joelle’s gaze went wide. “I’m afraid to look. I don’t know which outcome scares me more.”
“Bring the lights back on, and I’ll check.”
“Oh.” She squeezed her eyes shut, opened them. “Did it work?”
Lights flickered to life around the tops of the silos and on the vehicle far below. The glow of downtown LA revealed itself in the distance like shadows parting. Angling his wings to keep his mate to himself another moment longer, he glanced toward the ground and saw the broken body of a grey-haired woman sprawled, a gun lay beside one hand and the siphon clutched in the other. “She’s dead. Alys, can you and Eddie secure the witch’s artefact and make sure Noxx is really gone?”
“On it.” His sister’s voice faded as she flew, calling orders into the radio.
“I killed her,” Joelle whispered, the sparkle fading from her magic.
“She did it to herself, and I’m glad she’s gone.” More than glad. He would have his soldiers dismantle whatever remained of her supernatural army and the Order.
“Um...” His mate gripped him tighter. “I don’t know how to get down.”
“I’ve got you,” he told her.
“Promise?”
“Always, angel.”
She rippled her wings, a riot of silver and black. “Still sticking with the angel nickname after all this? After all we’ve done together?” Her voice darkened to hold hints of wickedness, wrath, violence, vengeance, lust. But her gaze? Her dark eyes shot through with glittering silver still radiated hope and heart, a kindness that couldn’t be crushed or smothered.
He would forever be grateful to the fates for sending her his way. His too-good-for-him sunshine mate. His Lady of Stars. His goddess. “My wicked grace.”
Her sigh melted his heart. “I can live with that. Let’s go home and get back to our happily ever after.”
Epilogue
