54. Violette
VIOLETTE
Apounding on my front door stirs me from my slumber. Despite the absence of our bond, intuition tells me who it is, and for some godsforsaken reason, my heart flutters with delight.
Admittedly, I’m fucking impressed he found his way here. Though my spite remains steadfast. I am resolved to stay in bed and ignore him.
Bang-bang-bang.
My eyes open to stare at the ceiling as I begin a new mantra.
Don’t get up.
Don’t get up.
Don’t get?—
The moment his fist hits the door again, I’m vertical, and I swear to Akash I’ve never folded to my boudoir mirror so fast.
Quickly primping my hair, patting my cheeks and face to give my ghostly pale skin some color, I will on my most alluring silk robe. Letting the chest hang open just enough to give him a mouth-watering eyeful of my cleavage.
The banging on the door continues. A twisted smile curls as I pinch my nipples through the silk to harden them before folding to the front door.
Because, as furious as I am with him, I want him fucking salivating.
I swing open the door just as his fist connects with the stained glass as he leans heavily on one arm, braced against the door frame. His lips part, and his pained relief is palpable.
I want to punch him in his pretty mouth.
Make him feel just a fraction of the pain he’s caused me.
The only thing that gives me pause is the entourage he’s brought with him. All people that I want nothing to do with.
Ginny, the only other female I know of who possesses portal magic, narrows her eyes, darting between Levi and me.
“Apologies for the intrusion. The male was quite desperate. Shall I leave him with you? Or return him to his realm?”
Levi’s eyes scan my stony expression—his own reflecting the heartbreak hiding beneath my surface. The tattooed hand gripping the doorframe tightens, knuckles turning white.
“Violette, please…”
My spite urges me to push him away no matter how desperately I want him to stay.
To plead and beg.
To reduce himself to a fucking puddle on the floor for me.
However, Azrael will be arriving shortly.
And oh-my-hellish-fuck how I long to see the look on Levi’s face when he realizes I’m being courted by another male.
And not just any male.
A god of death.
Malevolent glee bubbles up inside of me, and I give Ginny the most evil grin I can conjure.
“It’s no intrusion at all. He’s arrived just in time for breakfast.”
My fangs lengthen in anticipation.
Ginny’s brows pinch with concern as her wariness shifts from Levi to me. Her three orc mates standing sentry beside her bare their fangs at me. Their disdain for me fuels my ire in the most delicious way.
Winnow looks equally concerned.
Gideon less so.
Levi shifts to face them. “Thank you for this.”
Before I can utter another word, he grips my arm and tugs me into my own house, slamming the door behind him.
I can hear a muffled discussion happening from behind it, but Levi is towering above me, crowding me against the foyer’s wall.
My heart thumps as I stumble backwards until I can go no further, and his body is pressed firmly against mine.
“Get away from me, beast! Before I?—”
Levi’s fist dives into my hair, craning my head backwards to bare my throat. His voice is calm with a fury that sparks something inside of me.
“Before you what, princess?”
Grasping his arms, my claws sink into his flesh. His expression shows no reaction to the pain.
It’s a wonder he isn’t bleeding from my lethal glare.
“I could kill you. Easily.”
The statement is a fact. Not a threat.
A corner of Levi’s mouth twitches. “Do it, then. End this fucking misery, please. I won’t even try to stop you.”
Whatever twisted joy I’d felt moments ago sputters out. The pain behind those words is something I’m intimately familiar with.
Levi smirks. “All bark and no bite, aren’t you?”
Before I can summon a scathing reply, Levi cranes his neck down and sinks his teeth into the side of my neck. A whimper escapes me as he growls around his mouthful of flesh before sucking away what little blood his blunt teeth manage to draw.
“You are mine. Do you understand?”
What?
Just a day ago, you wanted nothing to do with me.
The wound he inflicted burns as brightly as my tears.
“I fucking hate you.”
Levi’s gaze is devouring. Determined. “You promise?”
At my hesitation, Levi’s mouth crashes onto mine. A needy moan escapes me as our lips slide perfectly into place, and our tongues meet. The fist in my hair tightens, and my bloodied nails loosen their grip on his arms.
One of his hands dives beneath the silk fabric of my robe. Warm, calloused fingers graze my entrance, swiping through the evidence of just how desperately I desire him. He gives a low growl of satisfaction as he breaks our kiss to hold his glistening fingers between us.
Levi hums his pleasure as he licks his fingers clean of my arousal, holding my gaze.
“Your hatred tastes like fucking heaven.”
Pressing his forehead to mine, he returns his fingers to my core.
I’m helpless to stop him as he strokes my clit with a gentleness that steals my breath—middle finger circling the slick hood with steady, unhurried motions.
My hips rock in counter against his measured movements.
Only mere moments have passed before the beginnings of an orgasm is tingling at the base of my spine.
Breath panting against Levi’s lips, teasing mine as my legs part wider and my back arches.
His mouth dips to my breast where my gown has gaped open, sucking and torturing one nipple so perfectly that my simmering orgasm surges towards its pinnacle.
The words come out breathless. “Oh, fuck… Levi…”
Levi buries his face in my neck, nuzzling the tender spot where my flesh is still healing from his bite. “That’s it, Vi. Tell me who you belong to.”
My climax feels like a cascade of fireworks shimmering through me. Only when it begins to fade can I manage my rueful reply.
“I will never give myself to you.”
Levi is undeterred, humming thoughtfully as he continues to gently stroke my clit and settle me down from my receding orgasm.
“You can’t give what’s already mine, mia rovina.”
Two long, thick fingers slide into my still-fluttering center and begin to firmly stroke that soft spot against the front wall of my core in a come-hither motion.
I have to grit my teeth against the pleasure as my heart fractures at the reality of the situation.
“Not anymore.”
Levi looks between us, eyes hooded with need, to observe the sight of his fingers working inside of me.
My gaze follows his, and fuck if the sight of his tattooed fingers stroking inside me isn’t perfection.
As if he can read my mind, his eyes lift to mine.
“You sure about that, sweetheart?”
Squelching noises ensue as I whimper, forced to relent to the unparalleled command he has over my body. His palm rubs against my clit with the firm, frenzied motion. Something pinches deep inside my spasming core, and in the next moment, my release floods his hand and trousers.
“Look at you. I walked in this door less than three minutes ago, you’ve already had one orgasm, and now you’re squirting for me. Who the fuck else could you possibly belong to Violette?”
A familiar magic whispers over my skin, making small hairs rise. A sensation that conflicts, or perhaps complements, in some strange, unspeakable way, the descent of my climax.
A throat clears from behind Levi.
“Potentially, me.”
Perhaps I’m too desensitized from all my years working at the brothel, but I feel zero shame as fluid continues to trickle to the floor from between my bared pussy.
Levi goes still.
With unsettling calmness, he sets me back down before tugging my robe closed and turns to face Azrael.
To Levi’s credit, or perhaps his insanity, he doesn’t appear cowed in the least. He might not realize who Azrael is exactly, but it’s more than obvious he is immensely powerful and very much not human.
Azrael’s enormous wings are on display, and he’s some inches taller than Levi.
“Salvatore Amato.”
Who?
Levi’s brows knit together, and for some reason, he looks less surprised to see him than I’d anticipated.
Azrael grins. “Though that’s not what you go buy these days, is it?”
Levi’s—or Salvatore’s—expression sharpens with an evil grin.
I’m not sure what I expected from Levi, but it certainly wasn’t delight.
Breath held and in such shock, I don’t even see Levi drawing the gun from the rear waistband of his trousers. Like me, the action is unexpected and swift, Azrael doesn’t realize until it’s too late.
My yelp goes unheard over the loud bang that explodes through the air at the same moment a gaping, gushing hole appears in Azrael’s throat.
Surprise widens his eyes as Levi proceeds to unload his gun into Azrael’s face and chest, who stumbles backwards with each fired shot.
I’m cowering in a ball against the wall, covering my screaming, and momentarily deafened ears.
Azrael drops to his knees, swaying slightly before face-planting on the tile of my foyer.
The look on Levi’s face is void of emotion as he proceeds to calmly reload his gun, approaching Azrael’s motionless body.
What in all the sacred, heavenly fucks just happened?
I can scarcely breathe.
As if trying to ground myself, my fingertips dig into the cold grooves between tiles of my floor as I land on all fours, trying to fit gasping breaths down my too-tight throat.
Levi shoves Azrael’s enormous body onto his winged back. An entire quarter of his head has been blown off. The sight of his brain matter and gore causes my stomach to heave.
My former soulbound pays me no mind as the sound of vomit splattering against the blessedly cool tiles fills the room.
Instead, the entirety of his focus is on Azrael’s indisposed body as he withdraws a curved, jagged blade from a holster strapped to his side, hidden beneath his shirt.
Levi grabs a fistful of Azrael’s hair as he presses the blade to what’s left of Azrael’s neck.
Akash-all-fucking-mighty.
This male is a savage.
I squeeze my eyes shut, looking away, as I continue to heave. It’s only slightly louder than the wet sound of Levi’s knife cutting through flesh and bone.
My heaving is replaced with panting as I try to catch my breath, and the sound of Levi’s near-silent footsteps draws my gaze just as he comes to stand in front of me.
Holding.
Azrael’s.
Head.
Or at least what’s left of it.
Levi stares down at me—expression hard as stone.
I stare up at him. Tears streaming down my cheeks, mascara smeared.
“This is what happens when someone tries to take you from me. Do you understand?”
Shock pours through me.
“But how did you know?”
Levi ignores the question. Still fisting Azrael’s head in one hand, he holds his free hand out to me.
“What should we do with this?”
This?
“As in Azrael’s fucking head?!”
Levi blinks. “Yes. I’m assuming there’s a way to prevent him from coming back to life.”
Oh, my gods.
Rejecting his hand, I stand on wobbly feet, swaying so much that Azrael’s pulpified head hits the floor with a wet smack as Levi attempts to steady me.
Bracing myself with one hand on the wall, the reality of the situation finally begins to trickle in.
“You’re a bloody fool.”
Levi picks up Azrael’s head again. My tears spill in earnest.
“Akash almighty, what have you done? He’ll never forgive you for this. Forgive us for this. And he…”
Sniffling, guilt hits me square in the chest.
“He didn’t deserve this.”
Levi doesn’t look entirely pleased by my compassion but chooses not to argue.
My face contorts with hatred. “You fucking did this. You didn’t want me, so I sought out a solution—as promised.”
The stoic expression concealing Levi’s emotion falters.
“Azrael was only trying to help! He wasn’t trying to steal me from you!”
His expression returns to ice. “I might have acted hastily.”
My jaw drops, voice rising to a screech. “MIGHT?!”
If I didn’t speak English, Levi’s calm expression and tone might otherwise lead me to believe he’s enquiring about the weather.
“Again, what do we do with his head? His body? Burn it? Bury it? Carve his heart out?”
I huff a mirthless laugh, shaking my head.
“Do whatever you want with it. He can’t be killed... You reckless, impulsive, idiotic human. No matter what you do, he will take form again. And he’ll be furious. He’ll want revenge.”
Truly, this male either cares nothing for his life, or he’s suffering from one of the most common male-specific ailments:
Fatal confidence.
“We’re both going to spend an eternity in the lowest chasm of hell for this.”
Levi smirks. “Well, at least we’ll be together.”
I burst into a sob.
Levi heaves a sigh. “Fire it is.”
My gaze snags on the seeping black and gold vapors from Azrael’s body like some great, ominous exhalation. Levi shifts to follow my gaze, immediately dropping Azrael’s head as he quickly reloads his gun. Darkness coalesces to take the form of a vaguely Azrael-shaped shadow.
This is it.
We’re going to die now.
Levi uselessly fires his gun—it does nothing to stall the specter now floating towards him.
Quicker than our eyes can even trace, Azrael’s shadow closes the distance between them, towering over him as his hand curls around Levi’s throat.
Before I can think better of it, I rush forward, trying to separate them.
Azrael’s shadow’s flesh seems to only be solid where he wills it. My hands pass uselessly through his arms until an expanse of dark flesh briefly appears at his chest. Magic zings down my arm, causing even the follicles of hair on my head to prickle and burn.
“Azrael, please?—”
Azrael’s void-like face and dark, glittering eyes glance briefly at me before he lowers his face to Levi’s.
The words he speaks are not heard with my ears, but instead scrape through my mind.
“You know not what you do, fragile human.”
His fist tightens around Levi’s throat as he lifts him off the ground.
Feet dangling, Levi buries his serrated blade into the specter’s chest to little effect. He merely looks down at the handle of the blade sticking out of his only partially corporeal body before looking back up at Levi, choking, and then to me as I continue to beg him to stop.
Something in his gaze softens before, in a whoosh of black vapors curling inwards, he evaporates entirely. Levi’s feet hit the ground, knees buckling as he coughs violently to catch his breath.
Sniffling and drawing in a deep breath, I swipe angry, frustrated, fucking traumatized tears as I turn towards Levi.
“Come with me.”