Page 76 of All's Hell That Ends Well

“If our places had been reversed,” he said with surgical precision, “would you have waited for me?”

“Of course!” The truth of it pulsed within me, and I knew he’d feel it through our bond.

He gave me a knowing look. “Then why would you think I wouldn’t do the same for you?”

My face twisted with the anguish of not wanting to admit out loud that he had a point. That I should have been secure in the expectation that he’d wait for me, because it was no less than I deserved.

“My love,” he said softly, his voice now wrapping around me like velvet, “you are worth waiting a lifetime for. I made you a promise, and my word is eternal. There will never be anyone but you. No temptation will sway me, and no amount of time will chip away at my devotion to you.”

“Stop,” I whispered, my heart splitting wide open. “You’re killing me.”

“That’s not what I want to do with you,” he murmured, a spark of humor in his eyes. Leaning in, he gently kissed me, the touch of his lips the sweetest benediction. “One of these days, you’ll heal that wound inside you. You’ll see your own worth, and you’ll accept that you deserve to be loved so fiercely that no force in this world or beyond can shatter that bond.”

I blinked against the wet heat in my eyes, my throat constricting.

“I am nothing if not patient,” Azazel said, caressing my face. “And I’ll keep showing you the truth until you believe it, however long it takes.”

I exhaled roughly, some of the tears spilling over. Cupping his cheek, I brought my lips to his, pouring all the words that were stuck in my throat into the kiss, letting him feel my gratitude and unending love.

CHAPTER 22

It wasn’t until long hours later, as we were chilling on my bed, limbs wrapped around each other and our skin cooling from our latest bout of mind-melting sex, that I remembered to tell Azazel about the attack on me and what had followed.

Predictably, he went near ballistic.

I fanned down the flames that rolled out from him, now finally able to control fire thanks to my rigorous training with Lucifer, and sent him a dark look. “Oy! This room is already half in ruins. Don’t you dare incinerate it any further.”

His eyes glittered murderously. “Who was behind the attack?”

He didn’t say it out loud, but the tacked-on question ofWho do I need to kill?was written all over his face.

“I don’t know.” I worried my lower lip. “All the assailants died thanks to Vengeance, so we didn’t even have anyone left over to question.”

“That was a targeted hit.” The muscles in his jaw clenched hard. “Someone ordered it. I would bet my wings on that.”

“But why? I’m not that important.”

A calculating gleam entered his eyes. “To Lucifer, you are.”

I frowned and shook my head. “Okay, but why would that make someone want to kill me?”

He studied me as he considered that for a moment. “Perhaps because they fear you’re having a good influence on Lucifer.”

I raised my brows and barked out a laugh. “Me? A good influence on the Devil? Surely you jest.”

Settling back against the headboard, his abs rippling deliciously in the process, he said, “He’s been passive for years, apathetic and withdrawn, and thenyoushow up—personally claimed by him—and suddenly, for the first time since returning from Earth after Lilith’s death, he leaves his quarters.” He leaned forward and said with emphasis, “To walk your dog.”

I almost choked on my spit. Clearing my throat, I muttered, “If you put it that way…”

“Whoever ordered the hit on you,” Azazel said, easing back against the headboard once more, “is likely interested in keeping the status quo or making the situation worse, namely Lucifer’s decline and the continuing negligence of his duties and authority.” He jerked his head at me. “And they probably think you’re standing in the way of that.”

Well, shit. I gulped, a ball of anxiety forming in my stomach.

Azazel’s eyes held a hard glint. “So, Lucifer hasn’t deemed it necessary to provide you with a protective detail after that attack?”

I shook my head. “But he’s been training me.”

“Training you?”

---