Panic instantly filled me. The last time I had been put in this position, I had a ring shoved onto my finger. I couldn’t breathe more than quick shallow breaths, my mind spinning as I tried to remain where I was rather than slipping into another nightmare.
My eyes flicked to Evelyn as my heart raced. Her gun was on the door too, Lucy snarling and snapping in warning.
But a moment later, her gun lowered an inch, her fiery expression turning to irritation. “What thefuck, Azrael?”
“I’ve been greeted by far more guns in far smaller spaces,” he said in a sing-song voice, the sound making my skin crawl. “More than once by family.”
“That’s because you always show up unannounced.”
I closed my eyes for a second. Just breathe. He wasn’t pressing up against me, he wasn’t forcing me back against the wall, he was just standing there.
I swallowed, gritting my teeth as I opened my eyes again. I still couldn’t look around him though. He was too close. All I could see was his back. The way his spine curved, the way his muscles slid under his shirt and vest, how well they fit him. His scent accosted me, the warmth sliding from his body, caressing every inch of my bare skin.
This wasn’t like what Steven had done. Nothing like it.
I shivered, lifting my hands carefully, holding my breath as my fingers hovered over his back. I remembered how his hand had felt under mine when he finger-fucked me, how his legs had felt when he did the same thing in the park.
How he looked standing above me with that gun tracing over my body, slidingintome.
Nothing but strength and power. Real power. Not the arrogant, ‘alpha’ power those self-proclaimed idiots boasted about on the internet, but real,truepower. Unspoken, not needing to be flaunted or shown, because it just was. It exuded from his skin in waves. He didn’t need to say a single thing about being the most powerful person in the room, he justwas.
It was no wonder Lucy obeyed him. With the way my head was spinning, I truly wondered what I would do if he asked me to get on my hands and knees and speak.
Seconds ticked by. “You’re not going to lower your gun?” Azrael asked, causing my eyes to lift to Everett’s right shoulder. His arm was still up, unmoving. Why? Who was this guy?
“Where have you been?” Everett asked coldly. “Why are you here?”
Azrael was quiet, but something about it was deafening. After a moment, he said, “I’ve met a meek little mouse and a fire-starting daffodil, but I have yet to meet the thorn covered rose.”
My brows furrowed and then my eyes widened. Me? Was he talking about me?
“I assume she’s hiding behind you. I can see her prickling.”
I glared, my hands tensing, but right before I was about to step out, my eyes caught Evelyn’s.
Her eyes were steady, a warning.
I frowned, turning back to Everett. Why? They had guns, and I was sick and tired of people. Just all people. All of them. Every single one of them. Who was this guy to come into my house and call me prickly? Asshat.
I glanced the other direction and found Lucy. She had backed up closer to me, making sure I was within her eyesight. I caught her eyes and nodded for her to quiet.
She kept snarling for several more seconds before she stopped. She kept her head low, and her eyes trained on Azrael, rage burning in their depths.
“Oh,” he smiled, “she wants to meet me too.”
I wanted to hear—
“She wants to hear what you’re saying,” Everett said, remaining where he was. “She’s annoying like that.”
I glared at him, reached up, and plucked a hair out of his head.
He flinched, glaring back at me out of the corner of his eye before turning back to Azrael who had released a creepy sort of laugh. “I know a little mouse who likes to listen. Have you picked another mouse, Everett?” He clicked his tongue. “Sad. I thought highly of you.”
“She’s paying her dues,” Everett spat. “A debt owed. That’s what we’re here for. She’s nothing to me but a means to an end, a pawn in my game. Why are you here?”
I swallowed, feeling the rock grow in the pit of my stomach. Paying my dues. His whore for the time being, that’s all I was. Which was why Ihatedhis fucking kindness. I was his whore,paying off a debt Steven occurred, nothing more, and I kept letting myself forget that. My mistake. Always my mistake.
“I have my own mission, as always. Don’t worry, I’ll be the ghost breathing down your neck in the depths of the night. I just needed to get a better picture of the rose. You should have used my cameras, yours are a little old, the pictures grainy.”
