Page 99 of Death is My Ride or Die

“It’s the ward.” Death reached down and picked up a rubber doorstop. He flung it high into the sky, and it ricocheted off an invisible dome—the “ward,” as he’d put it—that made itself visible with electric blue fissures that stretched down to the edges of the roof. “It acts as an insulator. I put it up a few years ago when I bought the building. It notifies me when anyone unwelcome tries to breach the barrier.”

My thoughts snagged onbought the building. I couldn’t fathom how much it had cost to purchase all the open space below us. If he’d acquired it legally, of course . . .

Death inclined two gloved fingers to himself.

With my heart in my throat, I strode closer, an innate warning of danger licking up my spine.

“Stop right there,” he commanded.

I glanced up at the sky and laughed. “Is a piano going to drop on my head or something?”

Death grabbed the back of his long-sleeved shirt and pulled it over his head.

He might as well have dropped a piano on me because I was deceased.

I took in his herculean frame. His broad shoulders, powerful arms, and outrageously defined abdominals. He tossed his silky shirt on the ground like a model in the middle of a photo shoot and stood in a relaxed way. Intricate black markings covered his torso and drifted into his sweatpants. The sweatpants hung low on his hips, and now I was picturing yanking them down a little further . . .

“I will remind you,” Death said in an alluring, velvety voice, “that allowing you to view my wings is equivalent to showing you my . . . well, mydick. See, angels rarely expose their wings for long periods of time, especially as a demonstration. It can be considered a grand display of intimacy.” Then he looked meaningfully at me, as though seeking permission for what could happen next.

“How are your wings even remotely comparable to the male genitalia?” I wondered with a coy smile. “Do they have testicles at the end of each feather?”

“Say that last part again.” His eyes darkened to a sultrier deep-green, crackling the tension between us. “Slower.”

“In your dreams.”

“They’re comparable because of their impressive size,” Death answered. “At least, in my case. I suffer terribly from TBDS.”

“TBDS?”

“Too Big Dick Syndrome.”

My mouth fell open.

Death barked out laughter. “Priceless. Don’t worry, cupcake.” He gave me a slow, deliberate once-over. “I’ll make sure it feels good.”

Heat flooded my cheeks. “What makes you so certain I’ll give it up to you?”

“I’ll arrange my long list of reasons and get back to you. The first one is the most obvious though: your incessant flirting.”

“You’re the one who’s always staring at me with your freaky cat eyes.”

“See, now that’s hurtful. And flirtatious.”

I punched his powerful arm, and he released a hearty laugh, which in turn made me laugh too. When our laughter faded, there was a shift in the air. We looked at each other with such intensity that everything else washed away.

“Show me,” I said.

I could see the vulnerability in him as he stepped back. He lowered his gaze as he pivoted, showing me his broad back.

My hand crept up to cup my mouth. Two violent, jagged scars marred either side of his spine. The gruesome remnants of a pain unlike any other, tombstones where wings had once been embedded. Beneath inky markings and bronze skin lay the bone structure of another species. His shoulder blades protruded out a little at the bottom, like . . .

“Don’t come any closer,” Death said.

Confusion knit my brows. I thought maybe he was self-conscious of his scars. That he didn’t have wings after all because he was a Fallen. But then his skin darkened, ink slinking over his bronze skin until he was one with the night.

“Angels are built differently than humans.” His voice had morphed from man to monster, deepening to a low, primal husk that sent chills down my spine. “Our bones are larger, stronger, though less dense than a mortal’s, so it’s easier to take flight. Some angels were once mortals that died, others are purebloods born from other angels.”

“How did you become an angel?” I wondered.

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