Only I wasn’t, I reminded myself. The Legion, and everyone who worked forInfernal, had surrounded me in solidarity. And while I couldn’t go back to my receptionist job now, I truly didn’t care. It had bored me out of my mind. So, while I didn’t have a home or an actual job, I had friends.
I just had to trust Az to take care of the rest.
With a determined nod to myself, I flushed the note and turned toward the mirror. I winced as my eyes scanned my face. I’d looked better, that was for sure. My eyes sported some purple bags, and my red hair was wilder than a cluster of thorny bushes. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do to fix that right now.
When I tiptoed out of the bathroom, I hung a left toward the back door that led right into the alley that had started this whole thing in the first place. As I stepped outside, I pulled the cool night air into my lungs and tried to relax. No such luck. I hadn’t seen Lucifer on my way out, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t watching me. And following close behind.
Despite our sneaky little attempt at covering up who I really was, I knew we’d done a piss-poor job of it. He’d know about the hidden fae court and why we’d go there. I wasn’t an idiot. Lucifer probably knew way more about Manhattan than anyone else did. He’d been around for…how long, exactly? Since the beginning of time? It boggled the mind.
Some of theInfernalregulars had already seen me dance. They might not have known my name when I last worked at the club, but they’d known I was involved with Az. We’d been flagrant about it. If Lucifer had heard them talking…
Shaking my head, I picked up my pace, casting an uneasy glance over my shoulder after every fifth step I took. No sign of him yet. Or any other supernatural serial killer. The fallen angels, Rafael and Michael, were probably back from Hell. Would they pick up where they’d left off?
For the first time in my life, I wished I could hide my blazing hair. It made me far too conspicuous.
Shockingly, I actually made it to the Brooklyn Bridge without incident. But fear kept pumping through my veins like acid. One of the things I loved about New York was the energy that pulsed through the streets, no matter the time of day or night. But it was four o’clock, the small pocket of time between the night owls and the early birds. The partiers who stayed out late had drifted to home by now, but dawn was till an hour away. No runners plodded down the bridge, and commuters were still in their beds.
It was so quiet. Too quiet.
I wet my lips as the wood groaned beneath my feet. The bridge rose before me, the beams reaching out like eager fingers toward the sky. In the distance, I spotted Az’s unmistakable form. He hovered toward the center of the bridge, arms braced on the railing. As I strode toward him, my heart flipped. Strength pulsed from his body. I could feel it rippling in the wind, travelling to me on invisible wings.
Strength, and…violence.
Sometimes, it was easy for me to forget that he was a demon, but I’d seen the raw power of him the night of the Covenant Ball. Just before the sacrifice, he’d stalked toward me, almost-feral vengeance in his eyes. The mask he wore for the world had fallen away to reveal the truth. He wasextremelydangerous. And he would doanythingto protect his Legion. Guilt-free.
That included ripping an enemy’s head off his—or her—body.
“Mia,” he said, as I approached him. His stubbled jaw clenched as he kept his gaze forward, focused on the rippling East River far below us.
“Az.” I joined him on the edge of the bridge, popping up to sit on the wooden railing beside where he stood. “What’s with the cloak and dagger routine?”
“You know.”
I sighed. “Yeah. Though I’m not sure why you wanted me to meet you on the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s not exactly private.”
“Lucifer hates the East River. He won’t come out here.”
I arched a brow. “You mentioned that before. Why?”
“No one knows.”
“It seems there’s a lot about Lucifer that no one knows.”
“Just how he likes it.” Az nodded. “His fear of the East River is one of the reasons why we chose Manhattan as our home base. The river is always here if we need it, though only in emergency situations. Avoiding him only raises his suspicions.”
I sighed and leaned against one of the bridge’s beams. The cool metal bit my skin. “Seems like his suspicions are already sky high. Why did he want me to work at the club? Why do I smell like a fallen angel? Have I lost my soul because I went intoInfernal? What’s going on, Az?”
Tears blurred my vision, and I blinked them away. As close as I was to totally losing it, I had to keep my shit together. Breaking down was not an option. I had to stay strong.
“For once, I know nothing more than you do.” He gripped the bridge with his powerful, tense hands, leaning out over the edge to gaze down at the rushing river. “As for the contract...I ripped it up the day after you signed it, knowing you’d end up breaking our deal, eventually. Couldn’t risk you losing your soul. I just didn’t know it would be so soon.”
On any other day, I might have laughed or grumbled at him for being so sneaky. I should have known. He’d secretly ripped up our last contract, too. Az would never truly risk me losing my soul. He might be a demon, but he was not the monster the world thought he was.
“What are we going to do, Az?” I whispered.
He seemed to sense my fear, or maybe he just heard it in my voice. Releasing his grip on the railing, he palmed my knees. Every cell in my body lit up like flames. His warm hands soothed me, even as they transformed my stomach into knots. The flecks of ice in his eyes softened as he leaned in close. The scent of him curled around me, driving away the fishy scent of the river. We were the only ones on the bridge, and his fingers were dangerously high on my thighs.
It almost made me forget why we were here.
