Page 140 of Angel Betrayed

“Yes.” He smiled at her. A real smile. One that made her heart feel funny.

Still more than a little confused, she shook her head. “You thought I wanted to kill you, and you still?—”

“Thought you were sexy as all sin.”

He would know about sin.

A growl rumbled at the door, and then something hit the wood—hit it hard enough to send a long crack racing along the frame.

Seline tensed. That growl, oh, crap, not again. She knew that deep rumble that sounded like thunder from hell.

Hell.

“He’s probably waited as long as he can,” Sam decided as he lifted her off his lap.

“He?” Sam could not mean?—

The door was shaking now because some thing was hitting it very, very hard.

“Um, yes, you got yourself a male hound.” Showing no fear, Sam strolled away. “When you went back upstairs, you left me a present.”

No, she hadn’t. Not deliberately, anyway.

Sam opened the door.

A giant mass of black fur raced inside the room. The hellhound hurried toward her, growling and—jeez, was that some kind of really scary hellhound smile? The beast’s tongue—long and black—hung out, and the hound sure seemed to be grinning at her.

Seline held out her hand. The hound bent his head and rubbed against her fingers. No attack. Just warmth. A welcome. “How is he still here?”

Sam smiled at her again. Oh, damn, but that man was gorgeous. “You told him to protect me. You didn’t send him back.”

No, but?—

“So he’s been here, with me, waiting for you.” Sam came closer and gave the massive hellhound a scratch behind his ears. “He’s really not so bad. Not once you get to know him.”

Seline stared down at the beast. He looked back up at her with his blood-red eyes.

Pain. Blood. Death.

The hound whined and butted her lightly with his head.

“He doesn’t want you to be afraid,” Sam said quietly. “And neither do I.” He squared his shoulders. “You said you loved me.”

The hound lay down on the floor and stared up at them.

“I love you more than anything or anyone on this earth—or beyond it,” Sam told her.

Okay, that sweet-talk was exactly what she wanted to hear. Seline eased over the hound and curled her arms around Sam’s shoulders. “Good, because that’s the same way I feel about you.”

She’d traded her wings for a life with her Fallen. Heaven, hell—everything in between—didn’t matter. Paradise was staring right back at her.

Seline laughed, finally, finally free of her past, and she grabbed hold of the future before her with both hands.

Dangerous, dark…yes, please. She didn’t want some kind of white knight. She wanted her lover with the wildness in his eyes and the danger at his back.

And the hellhound at his feet.

Seline kissed Sam and knew that paradise had never tasted so good.

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