Page 34 of Devil Bound
I shrugged.“I wasn’t volunteering.I just thought with that talisman and one victim being a magic user, my expertise might be of help?”
She nodded.“Mitch sent me the update, and we’re looking into that, but since you don’t have any ties to the community, I got Dr.Lily to ask around.”Christine shrugged.Having no ties to the community was a nice way of saying I had no friends.Christine could be diplomatic like that.“Get some rest and walk that pet of yours, I guess.I’ll call you if we need you.”
Dr.Lily undoubtedly had the social skills I didn’t.She talked to people other than her patients and seemed to enjoy it, so her helping out was a good thing.Doubly so because it meant she wasn’t going to call me into her office for a surprise shrink session now.
“All right,” I said.
I really had no excuse to linger now, even if I would have waited around just for a chance to see how Mitch liked his coffee.I walked out of the station slowly, the linoleum floor making squeaky noises as I went, hoping I’d run into the sexy detective in the elevator, but no such luck.
Back in the car, Soul greeted me with a growl.
“Yeah, you think you’re the only one with issues?”All that got me was more of the same.I sighed.“You’re going back to the Devil now, so save the attitude for him, because he actually deserves it.”
I wasn’t sure whether the poodle understood me, but at least she shut up as I pulled out of the parking spot and left the lot behind to get her to Lucifer’s too-showy mansion at the fucking opposite end of the city from my own place.She watched me with her beady eyes though, and even if she couldn’t pass her curse to me, she was damn creepy to have in the car next to me.
I walked up the path to Lucifer’s front door with the poodle in my arms, and once I stood in front of the large oak door that should have been at odds with the fancy glass and chrome facade but somehow worked, I rapped my knuckles against it three times.
I expected Lucifer to open his door, but instead, I was faced with a tall blonde woman with a runner’s body and curly hair reaching well past her shoulders.She wore baby blue slacks with a white blouse tucked into them.
“There you are,” she said, giving me a critical once-over and wrinkling her nose.“Tiamat is dying to meet you.”
“Huh?”
I found myself dragged across the threshold by the woman, whose grip was far stronger than it should have been.I gave her a look with my mage sight, and sure enough, she was an immortal.She stopped three steps into the building and pried the poodle from my arms.
“This one does not make you look any better.”She put Soul on the floor before she looked me up and down again.“But then again, I can’t see what would.I’m Metatron, by the way, but you’ll call me Trony, got it?”
“Erm—”
“Now, your shoes.Off with them.”
“Excuse me?”
She gestured.“Your shoes.Take them off, or I will do it for you.”
“I didn’t come here to stay, I just wanted to drop off Soul.”
She—Metatron, Trony, whatever—didn’t look impressed and bent down.Getting a firm grip on my left ankle, she made me hold on to the wall for balance while she yanked my Converse off so fast that I thought there might be magic involved there.
“Yuck.These will need cleaning.And your socks aren’t matching,” she told me as I was standing there, one hand still on the wall, shoeless.
I followed her gaze, and sure enough, the left sock had white polka dots on it—my attempt at adding some color to my wardrobe.The left one was all black, but sort of washed out, the color having faded to a grayish, muddy hue.
“Well, I was in a hurry, and in my defense, I wanted to sleep in when—”
Before I could finish complaining about how the Devil had ruined my morning, Lucifer rounded a corner.He wore his usual jeans and T-shirt combo, looking beautiful as always.He was also not wearing any shoes, and his hair, rather than being a carefully sculpted mess, was neatly combed for once, flowing around his ears like pure black silk.
“There you are, Nelly.”His voice was the husky promise of a midwinter bonfire, and damn it, I didn’t want my body to react to it, but it did.
Dry-mouthed and with my cock aware of Lucifer approaching, I only had half a brain left to catalog what was going on around me.I was in Lucifer’s house.I’d never been here.I’d been at his door, yes, but I’d never gone in, not even when he’d invited me inside.
Soul was scuttling away, presumably to wherever she had spent the last few months.Her claws clicked on the fine marble, which had under-floor heating.I could feel the warmth against my mismatched-socked feet.
“I was just dropping off Soul.”
Lucifer approached, his closeness making shivers run over my skin before I had a chance to control my reaction.It was unfair that him just being around me did this.If he hadn’t been an immortal, yeah, I would have risked jumping his bones, but he was what he was.Too fucking hot for me to think straight and keep myself from getting aroused, apparently.
“Nelly.”His perfect brows crumpled into a frown.“Did you hurt yourself again?Is your head okay?”
