Page 14 of Forged in Twilight: The Complete Series

CHAPTER6

She looked surprised at his sudden appearance.

To be honest, so was Raze.

He’d been finding too many reasons to distract Becca while she was working which, in turn, was becoming a huge distraction for Raze.

Yeah. His whole “stay away from my soulmate” plan had barely lasted a night. But he was trying. It wasn’t going so great, but he was trying. With Sam still MIA and Micah doing… whatever he was doing, he’d managed to avoid his brothers figuring out that their new hire was anything other than a pretty face to work the crowds and get the patrons to spend more money. Becca seemed happy at the casino, and a few pointed questions to the hotel team confirmed that she went to bed alone every night.

It was the most he could hope for—until Cael let slip that Anthony, in security, had been paying close attention to the new demoness.

He should let other males woo Becca. If he couldn’t bring himself to claim her as his soulmate, there was no reason she shouldn’t be able to pick a different lover. Just because he was a stubborn old fool, that didn’t mean she should be punished.

He couldn’t have her—but as he watched Anthony sidle up to Becca from across the casino, Raze couldn’t remember a single reason why he was fighting this.

Most beings had a fated mate out there. It was part of the magic that made them different from mortals. On top of each individual faction’s powers, skill, and abilities, they could create a lifebond with a predetermined mate.

Raze had never searched for his before. He had been too busy surviving as one of the Fallen, taking care of his brothers, and looking for a return to Heaven to worry about finding the other half of his soul.

After falling to Purgatory, he cycled through the seven deadly sins. Raze was able to shake off some of them quite easily: envy, sloth, gluttony. Wrath was harder to control in the beginning, though that faded as Raze grew harder. Colder. More determined to succeed. However, pride was one he could never shake, and greed kept him always working for more.

Then there was lust.

Of course, like most males, he had needs. As soon as he had a few gold coins to spare, he’d find the best companions in the most respectable brothels as he could. One night every few decades was enough, though the time between matings grew longer as pride took root in his soul.

He wanted wealth. He wanted power. He wanted to never want for anything, and as the centuries passed him by, he found more pleasure in a business deal than in a paid-for pussy.

Raze and his brothers went from shepherds to farmers to kings. The royal angels of Sin City. Gone were the days where he had to pay for sex. For centuries, women chased Raze—and he took his pick on the rare occasion he wanted to have someone else worship his cock. He didn’t have to resort to prostitutes any longer, but Raze made no mistake in believing that it was anything more than a physical act. In fact, he paid his modern companions far more for a few fucks than the gold coins he kept in a pouch at his side for those midnight trips to the local brothels.

But after what happened to Micah four decades ago—when he loved, then lost his soulmate before he could claim her—Raze realized that he never wanted to be responsible for a soulmate of his own. She would be a weakness he couldn’t afford, especially now that he knew the reality of Lucifer’s curse.

That, at least, he had shared with Micah. He didn’t tell his brother where he’d gotten the page with Becca’s delicate scrawl written on it, and Micah pointedly didn’t ask. When the lines made it perfectly clear that the curse wouldn’t be broken unless the brothers found both their missing talisman and claimed their soulmates, it didn’t really matter.

Micah lost his.

Raze stubbornly refused to approach Becca.

And Sam…

Well. He was Sam.

They were fucked. The curse would only continue to steal their power, and what happened when the other angels found out? They’d been the princes for centuries, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other beings looking to usurp their throne.

Becca knew what the curse said. She had to, since she gave it to him. Now that it became clear he would need to bond her to him to break the curse, he definitely couldn’t claim her. No doubt she would figure that he was only paying her attention because he needed her, not that he cared.

But he did. Damn it, it had barely been a week, and he cared so fucking much he almost wanted to tear his heart from his chest for just a moment’s relief.

Was this what it was like to be in love? With a fated mate, the bond was instant. Lust, too. Love was usually an afterthought, but everything he learned about Becca since they met, every time she flashed him a shaky smile that grew more confident with the next… Raze knew lust. He knew attraction. He knew what it was like to need to fuck so bad, his balls were turning blue.

This was different.

For the first time ever, his heart was involved.

And he fucking hated it.

If it was just lust, he could’ve seduced her. Tempting a demoness had a bit of irony a fallen angel would appreciate, and he was sure he’d more than enjoy Becca’s body. But it wasn’t just lust. She was his soulmate, the one female fated to be his, and because his heart was involved, he had to put her first—and putting her first meant leaving her the hell alone.

But when Anthony leaned in, smirking slyly as his golden gaze darted down Becca’s already low-cut shirt, Raze realized that he couldn’t pretend to be noble any longer.

---