Chapter Fifty Azrael
Chapter Fifty
Azrael
The sight of Charlotte absolutely eviscerating her father might be one of the most erotic things I’ve ever seen. But I don’t plan on telling her that.
Not with that haunted look in her eye.
The divine fury she’s wielding.
Like she’s just broken apart completely.
She turns her anger to Lucifer, the look of judgment, of divine justice, contorting her pretty features as she lifts her hand and then—
“No!” I shout, diving for her, pulling her into my arms, and spinning us both away from Lucifer.
The blast of white light that bursts from her takes out a large chunk of the ceiling, no longer aimed toward our lover.
Ours.
I may be fucking furious with him at the moment, but the word acts like a kind of anchor for me. Despite what he may think, I’ve never wanted to end him.
Not even when I put the blade into play.
And no matter what we may have broken tonight, they both still mean something to me.
Even if I can hardly stand to look at them.
Charlotte thrashes and fights, furiously battling against my hold. But if it’s Lucifer’s job to ramp her up, push her to be all she can be, then it’s mine to drag her back down again, to ground her. Make her remember what it means to be human.
Remind her of why she keeps coming back to me.
“Shhh. Shhh, little siren. I’ve got you,” I rasp into her ear, even as I pin her against the wall. Like I did the first time she faced her father.
When standing in front of him nearly tore her apart.
But this time, she’s broken completely.
We’re lucky she didn’t burn the world down with all the rage she’s just unleashed.
But this is what she needs to heal, to let all that toxicity out.
She collapses beneath me, crying harder than I’ve ever heard her before.
“It’s okay, baby girl. You burned it all down, and we’re still here. You’re allowed to feel it. What he did to you doesn’t own you. Not anymore.”
That seems to be the key, what puts her back together slightly, soothes her.
Reminds her of her own humanity.
She comes back into herself slowly, her breath deepening and her pulse fading as she gradually becomes more still in my arms.
“That’s it, baby girl,” I purr. “Let it out. Just breathe.”
Lucifer’s watching us with an uncertain look in his eyes, like he never actually expected her to need me. For me to be an integral part of this.
“It wasn’t about me,” she whispers, the words soft, broken.
“No, it wasn’t.”
I may not have what anyone would consider parents, but I’ve seen enough deaths, enough life, to know that the only thing worse than their hate is their apathy.
And the scars they leave.
“Jax,” she whispers, tensing in my arms. “The Righteous. We have to—”
“Lilith’s been keeping her obscured from me.”
Charlotte’s eyes go wide. “If her death is the key to the fourth seal, then Lilith, the Righteous, Michael . . .” She scrambles off me. “We have to—”
Lucifer steps into her path. “Darling, rushing in unprepared to face my Mother might not be—”
“No,” she says to him, refusing to step aside. “You forfeited the right to make decisions for me.” She turns and looks at me like she’s giving me this one last opportunity to be her choice.
To support her.
“Are you coming with me or not?”