“And do you think he intends to mate her?” I pressed.
Az considered me. “Would it bother you?”
“Yes,” I replied immediately.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because he’s not worthy of her.”
Az’s eyebrows flew upward. “Not worthy?”
“He’s keeping her alive for you and Melek, not because he wants her alive,” I said, my teeth grinding together.
Az looked ready to speak, but I wasn’t done.
“Lucifer’s motives revolve around his kingdom and his mates. Until he can see Cami for who she is and wants her forher, then no, he’s not fucking worthy.” I picked up my drink again, intending to finish it, and found it already empty. “Fuck. I need another drink.”
A Hell Fae male turned nearby, no doubt having heard my comment and taken it the wrong way. I’d sounded ungrateful. That hadn’t been my intent.
But as he stormed toward us, I realized he’d absolutely read my hostility wrong. And now we were about to have a problem.
Kuro launched from my shoulder before I could stop him, his beak going straight for the Hell Fae’s eye.
I called him back to me before he could truly strike, but the Hell Fae shrieked in alarm anyway and tried to swat at my owl.
“Kuro,” I commanded when he righted himself in a position to strike again.
Fortunately, my familiar obeyed me and puffed out of existence just to reappear on my shoulder again with an indignant squawk.
“Little asshat beast!” the Hell Fae roared.
“He—”
“Take thatthingback to the Midnight Fae Realm!” he shouted, cutting me off before I could utter more than a word. “And why the fuck are you even here,ex-Warden? You’re not a real Hell Fae. You’renothingto us. And you sure as fuck don’t deserve a seat at His Majesty’s booth.”
My jaw ticked, his words ones I’d definitely heard before. Well, maybe not theboothpart, but I’d definitely dealt with other Hell Fae telling me I didn’t belong here and saying I shouldn’t have the title of Warden.
Usually, I demonstrated my power through a sparring lesson.
Today, I just stared him down.
Because I had nothing to say back to him. While my position as Warden had been officially reinstated, there hadn’t been anysort of official announcement yet. At least, not one that I’d heard, anyway.
And I probably shouldn’t be in this booth, either.
“He’s right,” another Hell Fae chimed in from a nearby seat. “You don’t belong here,Midnight Fae.”
“I disagree,” a voice boomed from the other end of the room as Lucifer appeared, a screen in front of him.
I frowned, assuming he was arguing with Hades.
Instead, he said, “I’m going to have to call you back,” to the Mythos Fae before disconnecting.
Did he just hang up on Hades?I asked Az, somewhat shocked by that move. I highly doubted the godlike entity was used to being disconnected in that manner.
It seems so,Az said, sounding more amused than irritated.
“Perhaps Ajax’s presence at my side today hasn’t been noted by everyone in this room,” Lucifer said, his voice carrying throughout his nightclub. “But let me be clear. Ajax is my Warden. He’s also officially a Hell Fae now, as he’s mated to my Commander.”