Page 68 of Touched By Death

Her salty tears wet my hand as I line up the scissors. Anticipation quickens my blood. My heart pounds against my ribcage, desperate to break free.

“It won’t hurt. Much.”

Before I have a chance to make the first cut, the door flies open, and Dariana, Ronan, Alaric, and Dmitriy tumble through. They come to a halt when they spot us on the bed. Dariana looks from me to the scissors in my hands and back.

Barging forward, Ronan and Alaric tear me off Genesis and toss me to the floor while Dariana approaches the sobbing angel on the bed. Throwing an uncertain look behind her at Dmitriy, she swallows thickly and flips Genesis’s skirt back down.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Alaric growls, glaring down at me with enough anger to set fire to the place. I can’t help but fucking laugh. They know better than to challenge me; I’m the ruler of Hell, after all.

Watching me climb to my feet, they stay silent. I walk over to the minibar and proceed to pour myself a stiff drink. I need it now that they’ve interrupted the hunt. Every nerve ending in my body buzzes. I’m still high on the adrenaline.

“What were you doing with the scissors?” Dariana asks, making me roll my eyes at her naivety.

Clenching his jaw, Dmitriy answers for me. “He was about to cut her wings.”

“Cut her wings?” Blood draining from her face, Dariana looks from Dmitriy to me before her eyes skate over to the white wings mounted to the wall behind the bed. “You’re a psychopath, Lucifer.”

Unbothered, I shrug as I take another sip. “Normal angels don’t defy God.”

With a look of disgust, she slides her gaze in my direction, but Genesis’s labored breathing steals her attention, and she turns away from me to untie her wings.

“That’s a bad idea,” I mutter, throwing back my whiskey. Not that she listens. Untying the ropes, she peers at Dmitriy beside her. “Do you think it’s Genesis?”

“My father said it is. Aurelia is lost in the shadows.”

“How do we know?” She looks around at the people gathered in the room. “There’s no way of knowing.”

“Of course there is.” I refill my drink and take a long sip before placing the tumbler on a side table as I walk over. Now that my nerves are settling down, I can think straight again. “What makes Aurelia unique? Genesis is the ashes of the shadows that were left behind after I stole her light. She’s different from Aurelia.”

“You talk like you know her,” Alaric sneers, and Ronan claps him on the shoulder to calm him down.

“I don’t know her,” I admit. “Not like you. But I do know my son, and he wouldn’t develop an obsession with someone who lets herself be so easily seduced by me.”

“What’s your point?” Ronan asks, watching me closely. Out of the three of them, he’s the calmest. He observes and calculates.

“Never-fucking-mind that,” Alaric growls, walking up to me and pushing me back a step. “How fucking dare you touch her? You were gonna cut her fucking wings… Then what? Fuck her? Is that why you’d pulled her skirt up over her ass?”

Releasing a blast of fire from my hand, I send him flying across the room, fed up with his fucking attitude. “Do I need to remind you of who I am?” I growl as I stride up to him where he lies crumpled and groaning on the floor beside the desk. “I’m the fucking Devil. Do not fuck with me, or you won’t live to see another day.”

Rushing up to him, Dariana crouches down between his spread legs and holds her hand out placatingly. “He knows. Don’t hurt him.”

Dmitriy and Ronan walk closer, watching the scene unfold with tense muscles and clenched jaws.

With a roll of my shoulders, I let the fire on my palm die out. “What my son seems to forget is that this is my kingdom.” I poke my chest. “I rule Hell. Me. If I want to cut an angel’s wings, I will. It doesn’t matter who she is, or who the fuck has fucked her cunt before I got my hands on her. Not even where my son is concerned. Aurelia lives in my kingdom. Therefore, she’s mine.”

Alaric goes to snarl, but Dariana silences him with a hard stare before turning in my direction again. She’s unable to look me in the eye now that my dominating nature oozes from my pores like heat waves. It makes lesser angels cower. I’m the ultimate alpha and the most powerful fallen angel here in Hell. No one challenges me unless they have a death wish. She knows it, just like every man in the room knows it. They’re blinded by their desire for the angel on my bed.

As I turn to look at Genesis, I do a double take. Silence settles over the room while we stare blankly at the empty sheets. I snap my eyes to the window. It’s open.

It’s fucking open.

Black curtains billow in the breeze, swaying seductively as I stride over and look outside. She’s gone. The clouds part, lighting up the empty lawn and the thick clusters of trees lining the property. “Fuck,” I growl out, slamming my hands down on the windowsill. “FUCK!”

“I don’t understand…” Dari whispers uneasily. “She was tied up.”

“That didn’t stop her back at Daemon’s house,” Ronan points out.

At the mention of my son, I swivel around and cock my head to the side while scanning their cozy little group. “Where is Daemon?”

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