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Sariel stared at me for a long moment. “How did you fake the blood test results?” he asked.
I tried not to freeze at his question, but failed.
“And your eyes,” he continued. “I thought they were contacts, but, no… they’re too pretty to be contacts. No artificial coloring can be that specific shade of gray-blue.”
I kept my mouth shut while I began to slip along the wall, out of his reach. He—a man who had cost me my job for being fallen-blood—was putting the pieces together before my eyes, and I couldn’t think about anything other than escaping him.
Fear had incinerated whatever my libido had started. I could barely hear him over the sound of my heart's staccato rhythm. I needed to run.
“You’re— Aria!” he started, and I bolted.
I made it maybe six steps before he was in front of me; I crashed into his chest with a grunt, immediately beginning to struggle when his arms wrapped around me. “Hey,” hewhispered harshly as I kicked in his embrace. “Calm the fuck down before we both get caught.”
“Help!” I yelled, only to have his hand slapped over my mouth again.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he swore as he carried me deeper into the garden. “I’m not going to hurt you, Aria.”
That was impossible to believe at the moment. For the first time in my life, I begged my wolf to take control and get me out of here.
“Please,” I chanted repeatedly, “Please, please, please,please—”
“I’m trying to save your stubborn ass. Can you fucking cooperate?” Sariel sighed. “If I wanted to hurt you, I would’ve done it in the kitchen when you called me all those names.”
I took a steadying breath as he slowly released me, though his arms were still loose around me in case I decided to run again. He looked sincere, which was an issue, because I was determined to get the fuck out of there.
Maybe Mr. Ambrose would help me, but… even as I had that thought, I dismissed it. Although Mr. Ambrose might be powerful, he couldn’t usurp the Upper Council, and they especially frowned upon my existence.
“Aria,” Sariel said carefully, as if speaking to a wild animal—and did I feel pretty wild at that moment, like I could fight tooth and nail to get away from him.
This would be much easier if my wolf would get with the program. Instead, I could feel the animal being confused with me wanting to run from him, even being adamant that we stay with him. The unreliable hussy had already forgiven him.
“I need you to be honest with me, okay? And no matter what you say, I won’t hurt you,” he began. “In that house are at least twenty fallen-blood wolves. I thought they were there for me, but if Azazel invited you overjustto discuss your job, he’d neverhave that kind of company waiting. Do you know who he might have a bunch of fallen-bloods waiting for?”
I gulped, shaking my head, eyes glued to his as he spoke. “A half-blood.”
I closed my eyes against whatever emotion I might see on his face.
“Are you half-fallen and half-blessed, Aria?” he asked quietly.
“Yes,” I answered monotonously.
“Fuck.”
I opened my eyes in time to see him drag his hat off and run a frustrated hand through his hair before replacing it. He paced away before swiveling on me. “Aria, my father is on the Upper Council.”
I immediately began to shake my head, because humans weren’t allowed to be on the Council. That made no sense.
“He’s not human, Aria. Neither am I,” Sariel said, as though hearing my thoughts. “I don’t know how you got tied up in this shit, but I can guarantee you going into that house is a horrible idea.”
I wanted to tell him that I would trust his father over him, that his father just wanted to make up for Sariel’s own fucking mistake, but he made sense.
They hadn’t felt or smelt like humans, and I had previously interacted with every supernatural creature type there was, except for two: demons and angels. Fear had kept me from confirming which one they belonged to before this.
“You have two options,” he said, picking up his duffel. “You can go into that house and take your chances with the devil you don’t know, or you can follow me out of here and take your chances with the devil youdoknow.”
He began to walk off, and my wolf snarled in my head. She was urging me to go after him. Trusting my wolf’s instincts hadalways been an issue for me, but I believed she would do what she thought was best for me.
A low growl sounded off from inside the mansion. It was a terrible noise, like someone gargling shards of glass, and it sure set me in motion. I flew over the flowers and speed walked toward Sariel, who was already halfway around the house.
