Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
The raw honesty in his voice was the good kind of punch to the chest. Much as he’d done some verbal ducking and diving and weaving since they first met, he was clearly set on being truthful here and now, even if it meant exposing his emotions. The guy seemed too damn self-assured to feel vulnerable doing so.
“You have no idea how close I’ve come to permanently binding you to me so you’d never escape me,” he said. “I’m selfish enough to do it; to ignore what that would mean for you.”
Her pulse skipped a beat. “Then why haven’t you?”
“Same reason I wouldn’t take your blood without your consent. I need for you to want it. Want me. I get that the thought of irrevocably belonging to me might not be so thrilling. Still, I can’t let you go, Ella. You have to know I won’t.”
She licked her lips. “You’re throwing around words like ‘binding’ and ‘irrevocably’.”
“Because when I claim you, I will own you. Every inch of your body, every part of your soul, every thought that passes through your head—it’ll all be mine. You’ll be shackled to me just as surely as you’re shackled to your psi-mate. My claim will be that irreversible.”
Ella’s skin pebbled at the intensity with which he spoke. “I didn’t know angels could lay those kind of claims.”
He smoothed a hand down her hair. “I didn’t fully claim you last time because it’s a binding of souls; I wasn’t sure if my falling would somehow stain yours if we were that tightly connected, so I chose to wait.”
But then the rest of the Seven had taken her.
“I’m not pushing you to consent to it here and now, I’m just making it clear that it will happen. Not only because I want that, but because it’s the only way I can ensure that no one can take you from me again.” He lowered his face toward hers. “Fact is I love the fuck out of you, baby. There’ll never be a time when I don’t.”
He’d spoken so matter-of-factly, no awkwardness, no shame, no hesitation to give her such honesty. He needed to stop with these verbal feel-good punches. They were affecting even her demon at this point, and not a lot touched it emotionally.
“You’re not there yet. I know that. But you’ll get there. Unless you let what I’ve become poison what you feel.”
Maybe it should have poisoned all she felt. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t told her some major shit. But it would seem that not even such revelations could change how she felt about him. And even if it had been too hard to accept, how could she ever have held it against him that he’d fallen when he’d done it for her?
“What I said at the Red Rooms still applies: That you’re cursed isn’t your fault. Yes, you knew what the consequences would be; you knew how it would impact everything and everyone around you. But you’re not responsible for the curse itself, or for becoming the personification of a deadly sin.”
“But you’re scared,” he sensed, his lips bowing down.
“Not of you. I’m scared for you. If my kind find out what exactly you are … ”
“There’s no reason they ever would.”
She anxiously rubbed at her nape. “What if the Uppers let it leak?”
“They wouldn’t. Not even to ensure my death. They use this realm in various ways, such as dumping angels here and forcing them to earn their halo. If demons learned what could become of a fallen archangel, they’d come for me. But what else would they do?”
“Kill the rest of the Fallen, as well as any non-Fallen angels, in case there’s other stuff they don’t know about your kind.”
He nodded. “Demons outnumber celestials here in this realm, so we’d be wiped out fast and hard unless those in the upper realm sent backup, and I’m not sure they would. They know there’d be no real winners if a war broke out between the light and the dark. But if they let us be slaughtered, demons would then essentially own this realm. There’d be no angelic presence here. The Uppers will never want that.”
Viper badly wanted to haul her close, kiss her, hold tight to her. But his baby was so overwhelmed and off-balance that he knew she needed personal space right now.
She’d handled things far better than he ever could have hoped. She was still here, no distrust or misgivings in her expression. She wasn’t looking at him any differently than she had before. But yes, she was definitely overwhelmed. “I’ve given you a whole lot to think about, haven’t I?”
“My synapses feel fried.” She eyed him curiously. “You could have just taken the memory of the note from my head, couldn’t you? You could have delayed having to tell me all this—I would never have known any different.”