Ramel’s arms tightened around my waist, and a sleepy “Morning, deathtrap” escaped his lips.
“Morning.” I looked up at him, and he caught my mouth in his, giving me a deep, slow kiss. I let out a soft moan and melted into him, reveling in the way my skin buzzed with electricity at each point of contact.
“How did you sleep for the rest of the night?” he asked, finally pulling away. He studied my face carefully as if looking for signs of distress.
“Good.” I gave him a reassuring smile.
“I don’t need to fuck any more nightmares out of you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. I laughed, shaking my head.
“No. You’re the only nightmare for me,” I promised, kissing him on the tip of his nose. He looked so happy for a moment, my heart broke. The second he realized I had noticed it, he quickly wiped it away, resuming his usual aloof, yet slightly amused expression.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, glancing down at my bandages. They needed to be changed as some blood had managed to leak through in the night.
“Good.” I bit my lip, sitting up. His gaze roamed hungrily down my naked body, but he let me pull away. I felt my lip twitch.
Progress.
“I want you to teach me how to use the blade today,” I demanded, and his face immediately darkened. He got out of bed, pulling on his discarded sweatpantsas he stood.
“Sorry, deathtrap, but you’ve officially lost all knife privileges for the foreseeable future.” He snatched up his pack of cigarettes from the nightstand and put a butt to his lips. I wrinkled my nose at him.
“Don’t you dare smoke that in here,” I snapped, and he looked over at me, raising an amused eyebrow. The cigarette dangled from his lips, and a strand of dark hair had fallen into his hazel eyes. I couldn’t help but appreciate how cut he was. His lean torso was corded with muscle, and I had the urge to run my tongue down the lines of his abs. He swept the unlit butt out of his mouth and tucked it behind his ear. Suddenly, he was prowling across the bed toward me. I jumped as he wrapped his tattooed hand around my jaw, that saccharine smirk playing across his lips.
“Just because I love you doesn’t mean you have free reign to run this perfect little mouth, deathtrap.” He licked a hot line over my lips to punctuate his words. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’ve gone soft. I won’t hesitate to chain you the fuck up and remind you who’s in charge.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Believe me. I’m well the fuck aware.” I grinned at him, and his eyes flashed with amusement.
“I see,” he purred, and I shivered. “It would seem my little deathtrap has become fond of her chains.”
“So what if I am?” I asked, and he chuckled.
“It just means things are about to get a hell of a lot more interesting,” he hummed, leaning in closer. A shot of adrenaline shot to my core just as the door opened, and Shem blew into the room. We both tensed, and Ramel growled in frustration, turning to face the cat demon. He pulled the cigarette from his ear and put it back between his lips, though I noticed with satisfaction that he didn’t light it.
“I need to talk to you,” Shem said abruptly, and I frowned. Ramel glanced back at me, his own brow furrowing in concern.
“What’s going on?” I asked, but Shem just grinned at me.
“Nothing, sweetheart. I just need to update Ramel on some things for the feast. Super top-secret birthday stuff.” He winked at me, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
“It seems a hell of a lot more urgent than justbirthday stuff,” I grumbled. Shem just laughed and brushed me off.
“Nothing you need to worry about. Ram? Outside.”
Ramel glanced back at me, all the amusement gone from his face.
“Stay here,” he ordered, getting up to follow Shem into the hallway.
I sighed, annoyed that they were keeping me in the dark about whatever was going on. I knew them well enough now to know when they were lying. Shem definitely wasn’t talking to Ramel about birthday shit. It had something to do with our plan to take out Yahweh, which wasbullshit.The whole thing had beenmyidea. I should be involved in the conversation.
Scowling, I hopped out of bed and made my way to the wardrobe, pulling on a pair of leather pants and a black, long-sleeved crop top. I was too angry to sit back and let them fight against Yahweh without me. I deserved my revenge just as much as they did. I took a deep breath and built my resolve before following them into the hall; consequences be damned.
“I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss.”
—GOMEZ ADDAMS, THE ADDAMS FAMILY
“We have a mole,” Hazai said as soon as I shut the door behind us. My eyebrows shot into my hairline.
“We have awhat?”
