AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, the Devil doesn’t care about you killing a lord of Hell. But he also won’t bother to stop Dantalion from sending his forces after you.”
“What is Dantalion?”
“A duke of Hell. You killed one of his sons. And tonight I killed another one. He’s not going to give up on his revenge.”
“So… what? I’m a target as long as he’s alive?”
“I don’t know, baby girl.” And for the first time, the admission didn’t annoy me. “The only thing I know at this point is that I have to keep you safe one day at a time. And if I have to spend the rest of my life doing it, I’m okay with that.”
“I don’t like not having a plan or being left in the dark.”
“I don’t like that Dantalion is still breathing, but there isn’t a hell of a lot I can do about it.”
“Where did he go? You two were fighting, and then he was gone.”
“He went back to Hell. Demon royals can move at will between Earth and the realms of Hell that they rule over.”
She shut the doors that hid the washer and dryer and leaned against them. “Can the other demons do that too? Is that how they get around without anyone noticing people with horns and red skin wandering around?”
“They can, but not at will. Lesser demons answer to the royals. Most of the time they’re only allowed to come to Earth in spirit form. They spend most of their time whispering horrible ideas into humans’ ears and reporting anything of interest to their masters. It’s not actually common for a human to everseea lesser demon.”
I watched her process the new information.
“Lucky me,” she muttered under her breath. “What are we going to do now?”
“I’m going to beg you to let me sleep in your room tonight.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “All right.”
“All right?” I raised my brows at her.
She reached out and laced her fingers with mine. My heart flipped in my chest at the simple contact, and I let her pull me down the hall into her bedroom.
I hadn’t been in here since the day I broke her door. Usually I was a halfway decent person and let her have this one room of privacy. With the wards, there shouldn’t have been any reason she needed me watching over her while she was inside the apartment. But tonight I didn’t care what made logical sense. I needed to be close to her, to be able to see and feel that she was here and safe.
Sierra slipped out of her jeans and bra and climbed into bed.
My intention had been to sleep on the floor of her room, but her hand caught my wrist when I grabbed for one of the four pillows on her bed.
“You better not be considering sleeping on the floor. You nearly bled to death tonight. You’re sleeping in the bed.”
I didn’t have it in me to argue. I was too tired and drained. And I wanted this too much to resist.
I toed off my boots, stripped out of my jeans, and climbed under the blankets beside her.
Her vanilla scent surrounded me. It was on the pillows, the sheets, in a cloud around her body. It was like a drug, and I couldn’t help myself from breathing in deeply.
I knew there were reasons why I was supposed to be keeping my distance, why wrapping my arm around her and pulling her close was a very bad idea. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be lying beside her with nothing but a few thin layers of fabric between my body and hers.
None of those reasons seemed important at the moment though. I held her against my chest, burying my face in her hair.
Mine.
She wasn’t mine, but it was so easy to pretend in that moment. I could picture it. Falling asleep with her in my arms every night. Her face being the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes every morning.
I wanted that life. I wanted it more than I wanted to return to Heaven. And for the first time since Micah told me he was giving me guardianship of Sierra, I hoped she never stopped needing a guardian angel.
Fifteen
