Page 62 of Absolved In Death

I peeked inside, then grinned so hard I thought my ears would fall off. That little creep had my missing cufflink, one of my styluses for my tablet, and the watch she ripped off me the first time I visited her, when she was still completely feral.

“Are youobsessedwith me?” I teased her, knowing exactly how cheeky I was by even suggesting it when I was actually obsessed with her.Hiding in plain sight and all that.“You little stalker.”

“Maybe. If you stay I’ll tell you…” she taunted me as her hard nipples pressed against her nightgown.

I knelt by the couch and held her jaw with my thumb and finger. Her bright eyes shone, even with dark circles from her transition. Fuck, if I kept drowning in those molten hazel pools, I’d never be able to swim away. One last kiss on those cloud-soft lips wasn’t enough. It turned into me crawling on top of her, and her fisting my suit jacket as she pulled me closer. Her thick thighs wrapped around me, keeping me in place. As if there was anywhere else I’d rather be.

I kissed her until she was breathless, nipping and licking my way down her neck. Her moans made me forget why I exercised self control. The tang of this woman’s skin would become my new addiction. I tore her nightgown open so I could kiss her collarbone, breasts, and the valley between them.

Her mewling echoed through the air, and I immediately stopped. What was I doing? She didn’t need me riling her up, potentially turning her feral. We had to wait until she was in the right state of mind. She needed to be truly taken with me. I wouldn’t accept any less of her.

“We need to stop. I don’t want to rile you up.” I panted, kissing the tip of her nose. We learned about too much anticipation the hard way a couple of nights ago. “I have to go. What time should I come by tonight?” I stood up, immediately missing the closeness we shared.

“Hmmm, I don’t know, I have a really packed schedule here,” she deadpanned, gesturing at the open concept sleeping and living area she resided in. It was like something out of a luxury hotel, but it was still a small space to be trapped in whilerecovering.

Even though I knew I had to go, I gallantly took her hand and kissed the back. She didn’t need to know the kiss was a little bit of light spellwork. “Say my name tonight and I’ll come to you.”

“Or I can say your name while I?—”

I didn’t let her finish the sentence. “Excuse you, little stalker. Don’t you dare tease me before I go into a meeting. I’m going to leave before you sink those pearly whites into me again.”

As I closed the door, she jokingly licked her fangs. There I went, melting again.

Angela Rossi would be the figurative death of me.

20

ARES

We were in the middle of an active military threat, and I was personally offended that three necessary people for this bullshit meeting were late.

I didn’t give a fuck where Fae Menace went, and Bash said he and Diana were working on her mental shields, but I wasn’t born yesterday?—

No, genius. You weren’t even technicallyborn. You were created. Hera just sorta said ‘surprise’ and lo and behold you came to be,Voice reminded me.

Yeah, yeah yeah, don’t remind me. She probably did it to outshadow one of Zeus’ bastards being born,I quipped.

I stopped thinking about my toxic parents, cosmos forbid that summoned them somehow, and glared at Bash as he led Diana into the room. He tried to sit next to her, but I threw him onto the other side of the room and took the spot. I was still cranky about being assaulted by a dinosaur and needed my Little Goddess by my side to ease the hurt.

You twat,he grumbled, taking another seat close to us.

“Just waiting on Fae PA,” Lucifer said in an unaffected voice while checking his watch.

The pointy-eared asshole strode into the room as he quipped “Not anymore.”

His disheveled hair and swollen lips immediately caught my attention. Then I clocked his wrinkled suit. Heneverhad a wrinkled suit or uniform. Quelier was late because he was smooching someone.

Judas’ low, gravelly growl cut through the room as he glared daggers at Fae Menace. I knew gossip was technically bad, but I’d make sure to ask Mal what was going down later. He knew everything about everyone.

“Now that we’re all here, I can announce the breaking news Ares and I received.” Lucifer turned on the projector thing that showed 3-D images in the middle of the table. “Red has attacked New York City and L.A. He’s currently blowing through the human’s forces, and has already leveled parts of each city.”

Diana’s face settled into a cold rage, her face twisted in pure anger. She was a New Yorker through and through, and Red would pay for attacking her city. I leaned forward in my chair, switching the projector to side by side maps of each city.

“When do we leave?” Diana demanded.

“LG, we operate as a special unit. I’ve deployed troops to both cities, and they’re exterminating Red’s soldiers as we speak. He isn’t at either site, but if word comes in of him showing up, I’m ready to deploy us to capture him,” I reported.

“Good, because I want to rip him to shreds,” she growled.

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