Page 55 of Lucifer's Redemption

Clearing my throat, I grabbed both her hands, kissing the top of her knuckles. “Repeat what you remember,” I ordered.

Uriel’s eyes widened, her face turning a beautiful shade of pink. “Umm…” She bit her bottom lip. Taking my thumb, I pulled it from her assaulting teeth.

I will be the only one to bite that damn lip.

As I pulled her lip away from her teeth, her tongue licked the top of my thumb.

Fuuuuuuuuck.

“Uriel,” I growled. She squeaked in her seat as her ass jumped slightly. Her head lowered before she took both of her hands and fiddled with them. “Answer me,” I growled.

“Y-you said your mom helped pair my mom and dad,” she began, looking between her lashes to my stern face, “and then you got paired with” —Uriel’s eyes widened—“Me?” Her finger oscillated between the two of us while her face lit up cheerfully.

“We are mates?” Her voice rose in excitement. She put her arms around my neck, and I laughed. I smelled her sweet scent of gardenias, burying my nose into her neck. “Does that mean you can take these tingles away?” she whispered in my ear.

Fuck! If there was a God of Cursing, I would take home that title today.

My eyes rolled back in my head as her hips pushed back into my dick. “Uriel,” I groaned, pushing her back.

“Sorry,” she whispered again.

Once we both calmed ourselves enough, her head tilted to the side, eyes wandering everywhere but my face. “Wait… How long have you known?”

My hands landed back on her bare thighs, her dress only covering the one spot I wanted. “When you touched me at the baby announcement. The tingles”—I laced my fingers between hers—“let me—letusknow we are soulmates.” Uriel hummed, processing this new information.

“Why didn’t you tell me then? I thought it was just me.” She hung her head low.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I pulled her chin back up to meet my face. “Your parents”—I reigned in my anger—“kept you hidden. You didn’t, and still don’t, really understand a lot about these things. I didn’t want to push too much on you when we first met.”

Uriel shook her head. “I thought you didn’t like me. You had a grumpy face. You always had a grumpy face, until today.” Uriel stared me down.

For the first time in my life, I was damn scared, scared of what she would think when I told her I wasn’t sure if I was going to claim her.

“Uriel, before you came that day, I was planning on doing something.” Uriel sniffed, listening. “I was going to lock myself away. I can be scary sometimes. I get angry, so angry.” Gripping my hand, she pulled it to her chest and loved on it, like one of those stupid stuffed animals in her room.

“I didn’t want you to…” I trailed off, my mind reeling, deciding if I wanted to tell her everything. “I didn’t want to scare you.” I stopped. “You are the Goddess of Innocence. What if you weren’t supposed to see me… angry.”

Uriel dropped her mouth. “That’s kind of stupid.” She put her hands to her hips and my jaw dropped.

Did she just talk back to me?

“I see Mom angry all the time. Just because I’m supposed to be some Goddess of Innocence, doesn’t mean I need to be hidden fromeverything. You, my mom, my dad, and everyone else know nothing about me.” Uriel stood up. Her weight leaving my body had me jolting toward her. “I don’t even know anything about me.” Her head looked to the palace as I entrapped her in my arms.

“You are so smart, Uriel.”

Her head whipped back, this time a hint of fire in her eyes as they landed on me. “If I’m so smart, then don’t keep things from me.” Her lip wobbled. “If I’m so smart, then tell me why you didn’t embrace me immediately if you knew what a mate is? If they are really so special? If you had let me walk out those palace doors, I would have never known! I could have been alone forever and not known any differently!”

My anger erupted. I didn’t want to tell her what I was. I wanted her to see me how I am now—different. I am different with her, and I’ll revert to what I was before her.

“Uriel, I am the God of Destruction,” I whispered in her ear. Her body stilled as I held her close. “My powers were out of control. My anger and my ability to hurt others have grown stronger with each passing day. I didn’t want to hurt you,” I growled, pushing her back gently to look at her. Her eyes looked up at me, brimming with tears.

“I had to be sure that I wouldn’t hurt you, but the pull we have is strong, Uriel. It is so strong that in theoneday you have been here, you have changed me.” My thumb grazed her cheek. “The bond is complicated. At one time, I didn’t even believe it could help me.” My voice softened. “But with you being here, I can see that it has.” Putting my hand on her lower back, I pulled her towards me. “It really has, and I don’t ever want to let you go.”

Uriel glared at my bare chest, still not looking up at me on her own.

Smelling the salty tears in her eyes, I sighed. “I’m sorry you have been left in the dark,” I grumbled, still pissed off at her parents. “If there is something you want to know, just ask, and I’ll tell you. I won’t keep anything from you ever again.”

“You better not,” she whispered, “because I can tell when people lie.” My body shivered at how she said it so cryptically. “You haven’t told me a lie that would hurt me, just Mom,” she muttered.

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