The advancing crowd stepped back a little at the sight of my weapons, but they soon realized they had knives, guns, and God knew what else, and charged me. With the most rapid movements of my life, I crisscrossed my arms, arcing the whips through the air like a wild woman. They lashed into the faces, necks, and arms of the advancing mob, which actually fell back for a moment, stumbling over each other to escape.

I was preparing to make one of those shields again when I heard Lincoln curse behind me.

“Succubus,” he murmured.

Oh hell.

Please God no.

Please don’t let us die in some Romeo and Juliet fate bullshit, right before our happy ending.

I hadn’t even gotten to speak to Lincoln yet, or touch him, or look him in the eyes. We couldn’t go out like this.

I felt a tug on my waist as Lincoln backed us into a corner, the empty slave cage at our back, and mob of angry assholes dead center. Looking up, I went weak in the knees at the sight of three Succubus psychos crawling upside down on the ceiling, wearing wicked grins. In one swift move, Lincoln tucked me behind him and held his measly dagger before him, like that would do anything.

Rage like I didn’t know I was capable of, boiled inside of me.

“Get behind me!” I growled, sidestepping my man, and positioning myself in front of him.

Something big, ugly, and beautiful was building within me, something that wanted to kill, protect, and defend, was clawing its way out of my soul. Lincoln was my freaking soul mate, confirmed by the archangels themselves. Nothing was going to tear us apart while I was still breathing.

When I felt like the building pressure was too much, I released the beast inside of me, just as the Succubi leapt from their perches in unison. A massive blanket of plasma-like jelly flew from my hands, creating a dome of silverish goo. It slammed into the advancing Succubus demons and draped over them like a wet blanket, pinning them to the floor. They hissed and screamed as the plasma hardened like cement, freezing over them.

They were trapped inside.

What the hell?

It kept coming, pouring from my palms as it covered the rest of the demons, and stall merchants who tried to advance on us, cementing them in place like statues. It hardened within seconds, the demons beneath it beating at the walls in an effort to break out of their prison.

When all of the threats had been immobilized, the substance stopped coming out of my hands.

I stared at my palms in shock.

This was a new and terrifying power.

Lincoln’s arms quickly went around me and he pulled me into him, pressing me tightly against his chest. I retracted my wings to better fit within his arms as he carried me. The second I smelled him, really smelled him for the first time in so long, I burst into tears. He ran up the stairs with me in his hold, pumping his legs as hard as he could, and kicked down a door. Then sunlight was falling on our faces.

“Stop!” a male voice commanded. I didn’t dare look, just tucked my face into Lincoln’s neck and breathed him in deeply. With one burst, we were airborne, the sound of snapping bullets whizzing past us.

I couldn’t stop sobbing. I couldn’t handle it. It was too much for my fried emotional system.

I was in Lincoln’s arms. He was alive. We were together.

We flew for about twenty minutes before Lincoln started to descend over a thickly wooded area. He hadn’t said one word to me, only held me in a deathly tight grip as we flew in silence.

Once we landed, and were alone in a completely uninhabited area, he finally looked at me for the first time. Really looked at me.

His eyes were lined with tears as he stroked my red hair, my neck, before resting his hand on my chest over my beating heart.

“How?” he croaked.

I could barely speak. “Healer demon fixed me up, but then I was stuck down there.” There was so much more I wanted to say, but I had no idea where to start.

Lincoln was looking at my lips like he wanted to kiss me, but I could tell he was hesitant, like this was all too much for him, like he didn’t believe I was real.

“Brielle, I’ve dreamed of this day a thousand times, and now that it’s come… I fear I’m not the same man you left. Your disappearance… it changed me.” His voice was husky with emotion, and my heart picked up speed at his words.

Stepping forward, I threw my arms around his neck. “Then I’ll fall in love with you all over again.”

It was like he’d been holding his breath the whole time, because at my declaration the air rushed out of him, and we crashed into each other. His hands came up under my butt, lifting me onto him. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I met his open kiss with an eager one of my own. Tears poured down my face, and formed a salty seal around our lips. When his tongue slid into my mouth, I nearly whimpered, I’d forgotten how good he tasted. Everything within me came together then, every broken piece that had torn apart with Lucifer.

Lincoln finally broke away from me, taking my face in his hands, and looking straight into my eyes. “Your absence made me realize how much your presence had made me a better person. I don’t ever want to be without you again. Ever.”

“Neither do I.” I whimpered as he pulled me in for a tight hug.

We held each other for a moment, just breathing in each other’s scent, feeling the heat from our bodies. This was real. I was really back with Lincoln.

When he finally pulled away from me, he had a wild look in his eye. “Marry me. Tomorrow. Right when the courthouse opens,” he begged.

Laughter burst from my lips, complete and utter joy spreading throughout my limbs. We were soul mates, and I didn’t want to be without him for another day in my life. Life was too short for caution. I wanted to live my life to the fullest.

I just nodded because I couldn’t speak, and a huge, gorgeous grin swept across his face.

He pulled me into him again, my head tucked into his chest.

“I can’t believe this is real,” he murmured.

I sighed, relishing the warmth of his body against mine, his smell, his arms—everything.

“Let’s go home,” I told him.

He moved quickly then, releasing me before walking over to an overgrown brush. He made quick work of it, pulling large branches off what now was revealed as a hidden green pickup truck.

“Is Noah with you?” he asked.

He knew Noah would never leave Shea and me to navigate San Francisco alone.

I nodded, reaching into my pocket and pulling out the small vial of light magic that Raphael had given me.

“Yes, he’s fine. First, drink this. Lucifer can see everything you do outside of Fallen Academy. He could be watching you right now.”

Lincoln paused, looking a little alarmed, but then he downed the bottle in one quick swig, without further question.

After opening the passenger door and letting me inside, he went around and climbed into the truck. It was dusty, like it’d been sitting there a while, and when he turned on the key, it took a few times to get the engine to turn over again. I was getting the sense that time was of the essence and we shouldn’t linger, because he quickly pulled onto an overgrown path and made his way toward a main highway.

Reaching over to hold my hand, he glanced at me. “Tell me everything. Since the day we’ve been apart. I want to know it all.”

I took a deep breath, squeezing his hand tightly, and then I told him everything: Raksha and the drugs, Sera and having to leave her, making the promise with Lucifer, and his desire to have some weird baby with me. I told him every last bit of it until my voice started going hoarse.

He listened quietly, holding tightly to my hand the entire time, and I knew everything would be okay because we had each other.

Chapter Twenty-Six

We’d driven all night, only reaching Fallen Academy in the early hours of the morning, and promptly passing out, wrapped around each other inside of Lincoln’s trailer. Noah, Luke, Chloe, and Shea had all been there when we’d arrived, all thankfully unharmed.

Noah helped heal my knife laceration, and I’d been given a quick report on the people we’d saved from a life of slavery. They were being sorted into temporary housing, and given Angel City citizenship. After declaring to my mom and Shea that Lincoln and I were getting married when we woke up, we’d fallen asleep.

I peeled my eyes open to find Lincoln propped up on his side, staring at me with obvious adoration. He trailed his finger down my neck and across my collarbone. “I missed every part of you.”

My heart did somersaults at his words, and I almost couldn’t believe it was real, that we were finally together after everything. I had missed Lincoln’s naturally poetic love declarations.

Sitting up, I leaned in to kiss him when a loud bang sounded on the trailer door.

I froze.

“No seeing the bride before the wedding!” Shea hollered through the door.

I grinned, knowing in that moment without a shadow of a doubt that Shea hadn’t slept, and had probably been planning my wedding all morning.

Lincoln groaned as I leapt from the bed, flying across the small space to open the door.

Shea, Chloe, my mom, and Luke were standing there with a variety of cheesy bridal items, including a big penis-shaped lollypop that Chloe was sucking on eagerly.

“Come on, bride-to-be, we have a bachelorette brunch to go to!” Shea informed me, slipping a sash over my baggy pj’s that said ‘Bride.’

I laughed. “We just want a small courthouse thing.” Knowing Shea, she was going to make a huge deal of it.

She glared at me, hands on her hips. “Not gonna happen. Come on.”

I rolled my eyes. “Let me brush my teeth first!”

Shea yanked me forward. “No time. Wedding is in two hours.”

I spun around to see Lincoln holding my toothbrush filled with paste and a cup of water.

“Have fun. I love you, and I can’t wait to marry you,” he announced.

A collective “Aww” sounded behind me, as I took the items from him and popped up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss.

As I let Shea pull me toward the campus, I looked out onto the open field where we did battle formations and training sessions. It was being filled with rows of white chairs.