“Well, that makes it okay then,” Cora said sarcastically. “Look, how about we cut this morbid Game of Thrones dialogue short and get on with the soul binding. I think I speak for us all when I say we are so ready to get the fuck out of here.”

Keon lunged at Cora, but she winked out and appeared on the other side of the room. “You’re gonna have to be quicker than that, blue boy.”

“Stand down,” Lilith ordered Keon.

He slipped back into his spot behind Lilith. Her lethal shadow.

“What are you?” Lilith asked Cora.

“I’m a witch,” she said. “And your Blade has nothing on me, so you come at Fee, and you’ll have to go through me, and trust me, it’ll hurt like a bitch.”

I stared at Cora. When had my best friend become such a badass?

Lilith smiled, but there was a wicked edge to it. “I admire your conviction.” She said it as if she were petting a puppy who’d bared its teeth. “And I agree, it is time you all got the fuck out of here.”

Well, I never!

Chapter Thirty-Four

Moonlight streamed through a skylight down onto a font of water. Azazel stood opposite me on the other side of the font. He was serene and statuesque, hair pulled back off his strong face, opaque eyes shining like silver pennies. Like me, he was dressed in cream robes. Whereas mine hugged my curves lovingly before flaring out below my hips, his hugged his muscle-rounded shoulders and stretched across his powerful chest.

It was just us and the cardinal who’d intervened on our behalf in the throne room. He stood to one side, holding a black satin sash in his hands. I couldn’t take my eyes off Azazel, even as the cardinal approached with the sash.

Azazel held out his hands to me, the corner of his mouth lifting. Oh, God. I wanted him to smile. I wanted to see those dimples. I wanted to kiss them. Instead, I placed my palms against his.

The cardinal wrapped the sash around our hands and stepped back.

“Open your hearts,” he said. “Open your souls and accept the binding.”

I wanted this, I wanted him. I wanted us to be whole. The feeling surged up inside me, swelling in my chest and then rushing through my veins. I sucked in a sharp breath as the black sash lit up with a thousand tiny silver symbols. They began to move, swirling and shifting, then merging until there was only one symbol. Azazel’s mark. The mark on my chest pinched and burned, and Azazel gripped my hands tighter, nodding to reassure me.

Accept it. I had to accept it.

I exhaled and rode the wave as the mark became mine, became a permanent part of me. The spot in my solar plexus that I considered a source of my power bloomed and unfurled with a gentle welcoming heat, and then silver strands were pushing out of my chest. What was this? But the same was happening for Azazel. Silver ethereal threads rushed out of his chest, twining through the air, headed for mine. The threads hovered inches apart, and my chest began to heave as my breath came faster.

It was about to happen.

The binding.

This was it.

And then the threads rushed toward each other. A shock wave coursed through me, yanking my chest forward and throwing my head back. Azazel’s grip was the only thing keeping me grounded as his essence, his power, flooded me. It slammed into my chest, tunneled into my veins, and then melted into my soul, leaving every inch of me tingling.

My head fell forward, and our gazes snagged again. His eyes were no longer cloudy and opaque. They were silver, bright, and intense, and fixed on me in awe.

He blinked. “How…How is this possible.”

“You are whole now, Azazel,” the cardinal said. “What was once taken has been returned by your soul bond.”

“Fee…Do you feel it?” Azazel asked.

I did. Like quicksilver in my blood, like a fullness in my heart, like a second heartbeat. An imprint of him. I stepped around the font, keeping hold of his hands, tilting my head up and devouring him with my gaze.

“Take me to bed. Azazel. I need you to make love to me.”

The cardinal cleared his throat. “Ah, I see.”

Azazel scooped me up into his arms, hugging me to his chest. The doors opened to let us out of the ceremony room, and the look on Lilith’s face when she saw us was pure horror.

“Azazel?” She stepped in front of us. “What is this?”

“Oh, did we not say?” Mal asked with a little too much glee. “They’re the intimate kind of soulmate.”

Lilith masked her shock quickly. “This doesn’t change anything,” she said to me. “I stand by my word.”

Her word that she’d find a way to kill me. “And I stand by mine.” I nuzzled into Azazel and felt his heartbeat quicken.

Azazel hugged me tighter. “If you excuse me, I’m taking the woman I love to bed.”

We didn’t bother to draw the drapes before tearing off each other’s robes. Mine left me naked except for my knickers, but he was wearing tight pants that left little to the imagination. His body was a work of art, kissed by moonlight, every hard plane and dip begging to be caressed and kissed.

“Drop your shields, Fee,” Azazel ordered.

I opened myself to him and gasped at the images that filled my mind. Me on my back with my thighs wide open, my hand working the slick wetness; me on all fours, hair fisted in Azazel’s hand as he fucked me from behind; and me cupping my breasts and moaning. And then came the tsunami of desire, hitting me like a freight train.

My legs gave out, and I fell back onto the bed. Azazel advanced, a lion let off his leash, a predator unchained. His epically muscled torso rippling with every movement. My mouth filled with saliva. I wanted to lick those abs. Fuck it, I could. I pushed up onto my knees as he reached the edge of the bed and placed my hands on his shoulders rounded with muscle. I dug my fingers in, reveling in the tautness of his flesh.

He gripped my hair, yanking to force me to look up at him.

“No holds barred, Fee,” he said. “I need this. I need you.”

He had no idea how every inch of me craved him. “Let me taste you.”

I moved my hands down his chest, sucking in a breath as his muscles contracted beneath me. I followed with my mouth, sucking and licking his velvet skin. He tasted of the sea and electric storms, salty and tangy and fucking delicious. His fingers tangled in my hair as I moved south, trailing my tongue along the V that teased at a bigger prize. I hooked my thumbs into his waistband and tugged; they snagged on his erection, and I reached in to free him.

“Fee…” He gripped me tighter.

I pushed his pants down. Fuck, he was beautiful, perfectly formed, and mine. I licked my lips and then took him into my mouth.

“Argh, fuck.” His hips jerked, and his grip on me tightened.

I sucked him in as deep as I could, and he widened his stance and began to move his hips, fucking my mouth while he grunted and groaned. I grabbed his ass, moaning as his buttocks flexed beneath my hands.

“Fuck.” He pulled me off him with a growl.

He shoved me back onto the bed, tearing at my underwear before pushing open my thighs and planting his mouth on me. His tongue lashed against my clit, and I arched my back, grabbing his head and pulling him to me. He feasted on me until I was a gibbering swollen mess in need of release, and then he climbed on top of me, hooked one of my legs over his shoulder, and entered me.

He claimed my cries with his mouth, sucking on my tongue to own each of my moans.

He moved on top of me, cock thrusting deep, drawing sounds from my throat that I never thought I’d make. He nipped my neck, fangs pinching and drawing blood.

“Yes.” I slipped my hand into his hair and fisted the silken strands. “Feed.”

He sank his fangs into me, drawing deep while I bucked beneath him, heat spiraling up from my toes to grip my throat until the pressure exploded in a violent orgasm that had me sinking my teeth into Azazel’s shoulder as I came over and over again.

Mine. Azazel was finally mine.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Azazel was asleep, his glorious naked body sprawled across the sheets like a feast. I was partly tempted to wake him with round fifteen. But we could both do with a breather. Every muscle in my body had been worked out, and my skin seemed to glow with an inner light. Pulling on loose pants and a T-shirt, I headed into the lounge area to find Cora and Mal playing cards.

Cora looked up with a smile. “Did you break Azazel?”

Mal’s smile was strained, and it hit me that my being with Azazel might be painful for him to accept.

“Are you okay, Mal?”

Cora pursed her lips and ducked her head.

He shook his head slightly. “It’ll take some getting used to. I’ve never felt possessive before. It’s a strange feeling.”

He stood and stretched, so his T-shirt rode up to reveal abs and the V that drove me insane with lust. I lifted my gaze to find him watching me with a knowing smile.

Shit.

“I’m going to turn in,” he said. “Feel free to join me later if you want.”

He left the room, and I exhaled and plonked myself on the sofa beside Cora.

“You’re gonna have your hands full with those two,” Cora said. “And various other things.” She wiggled her brows.

Yeah, I hadn’t considered the logistics of being in a relationship with more than one guy at the same time.

“Don’t look so worried,” Cora said. “You’ll work it out. Carriage is all ready for dawn.”

“You’ve been scoping out the place?”

“Yeah. It’s huge, and blue boy’s been stalking me. I think he likes me.”

“Keon? He gives me the creeps.”

“You and me both.” She shuddered. “But we’ll be away from here in a few hours.”

“Can’t you just…poof out?”

“I tried. This place fucks with my mojo. I figure it’s best to travel the old-fashioned way.”

My comm told me that the sun would be up in three hours. “Have you got any news on Conah?”

She shuffled the deck of cards. “No, but I did find the room they’re keeping him in.”