Page 37 of Viper

His entity grinned, stretching; both relaxed and eager to start officially hunting their woman.

“Not only because it would be impossible,” Viper added, “but because she’d either mistake if for a withdrawal of interest, or think I was playing games.”

“And then she might find herself a different bed-buddy,” said Omen. “Let’s face it, you wouldn’t let him live.”

“Did you feed from her?” asked Jester.

“No,” replied Viper. Droplets of her blood didn’t count. “I won’t drink from her without her consent.”

Omen’s brow furrowed. “You do it to others.”

“But she’s not some random human. She’s mine. That makes it different.” Viper let his head fall back to hit his chair’s headrest. “I don’t look forward to explaining I can’t survive without feeding on the life-force of others.”

Jester frowned. “She was prepared to accept it when you knew her as Everleigh and warned her about the curse.”

“Back then, it wasn’t the same. She accepted that I was an archangel, yes, and she showed no fear of what would happen to me if I fell—only compassion. But now I have fallen, and we’re not dealing with things that would happen; we’re dealing with shit that’s already occurred.

“Asking her to accept my new reality is a hell of a lot different from my sharing what could become of me. Plus, I hadn’t gotten round to telling her what happens to members of the Seven who fall. I don’t know how she would have reacted to that.”

“She’ll accept you,” Omen maintained. “She loved you in her previous lifetime. I don’t see why it would be different in this one. And with love comes acceptance.”

Viper sure as fuck hoped so. If she didn’t accept him, he deeply suspected that his entity would take the situation into its own hands and tie her to them anyway. There wasn’t anything it wouldn’t do to ensure it got to keep her this time. Much as it made Viper a huge fucking bastard, he couldn’t even judge the entity for that.

“When are you planning on telling her that this ain’t the first lifetime you’ve known her in?” asked Omen.

“When I’m sure she cares for me. She’ll more easily digest it that way.” Viper sat up straighter in his chair. “Besides, if she hears it from a relative stranger, she might struggle to believe it. Once she knows me, once she knows I’d never mess with her that way, she’ll be more open to the idea.”

Considering that, Omen gave a slow nod.

“Much as I’m done keeping my distance from Ella, I’ll still have to be careful not to be seen with her in public until the strix are dead and we can be certain there are no celestial spies keeping watch.”

“I haven’t found signs of any spies,” said Jester.

His other brothers had given Viper that same assurance, but … “The Uppers told Ophaniel about the local human disappearances. They could only have known about it if someone reported it to them.”

“Maybe they’re no longer watching us. Whatever the case, we won’t let our guard down. And if any spies do turn up and somehow notice you’re spending time with Ella, they won’t live long enough to share any suspicions they might have with the Uppers.”

No, no, they wouldn’t.

“Just so you’re aware, your private time with Ella was almost interrupted.”

Viper felt his brow furrow. “By who?”

“The blonde. Neta. She tried marching into the alcove, but Omen blocked her path. I convinced her to leave.”

Viper felt his mouth tighten. The woman in question was a member of Maddox Quentin’s lair. A descendant just like her Prime, Neta was a regular at the club … and at the dive bar … and even turned up at the pool hall on occasion.

A few of his brothers had fucked her, but the others had turned her down. Why? They’d come to learn that her goal was to bed every one of them—and then eventually be claimed by Viper.

Even if there’d been no Ella, he wouldn’t have been interested. “That she’d dare charge into the alcove was fucking ballsy. What could she possibly have thought would come from it?” All he would have done was send her away.

Omen shrugged. “Maybe she wanted to break the moment. Or scare Ella away. Or just plain piss you off. I don’t really know what’s going on with Neta. I don’t quite get why, when her plan was to seduce you last, she suddenly switched shit around.”

“She might have seen how you look at Ella, V,” Jester mused. “Maybe when at the pool hall or dive bar.”

It was possible. “I don’t much care so long as she stays away from my woman. It’s not gonna be easy to coax Ella into pushing past all her reservations about demons getting involved with angels. The last thing I need is someone making it harder.”

“Yeah, you don’t want Ella realizing until it’s too late that you’re more trouble than you’re worth,” said Omen.

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