132. Rafe
Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Two
Rafe
I zip my bag and look around the room. Exams are over, and it is time for summer break, which means my deal is about to take effect.
Mira lingers in the doorway, her fingers on the jamb, her eyes on me.
I hold out my hand to her, and she wipes a tear from her face before it evaporates and takes my hand.
I pull her to me, tenderly kissing her face as I’ve seen my father do many times to comfort my mother.
The ease of intimacy I’ve taken for granted my entire life.
How effortlessly they gave me the blueprint of how to show my love.
“Just a few days, and you’ll be coming to visit me,” I assure her, even as she buries her face against my chest.
“But it will be weeks for you,” she whispers against my skin, her arms wrapping around me. The heat comforts and grounds me.
“I asked Summer to help me with some runes,” I say, kissing her head. Without moving out of her hold, I pull a leather-bound sketchbook from under my bag. “She helped me connect this one to mine, the one Connor gave me.”
The one he gave me, not knowing that I had been thinking about ways to die as an angel just minutes before.
It was just one of the many times he’d effortlessly kept me alive.
It never ran out of blank pages, but I’d barely touched it this last year.
Not until I drew that sketch of Mira. Since then, I’ve fallen back into the hobby, often finding ways to draw her when she isn’t looking.
Now my fingers are stained with charcoal more often than not.
“Connected?” Mira asks, sniffling, and her lower lip trembling slightly as she takes it.
“Yeah. When I sketch, you’ll be able to see it. I thought you’d like it more than just texting and calling.” I am grasping for any way to make it seem like I’m still here with her, another tie to her, another gateway.
She nods and cradles it against her chest, holding me tightly.
“You’ll be with Summer over the break too,” I say with a brittle smile as if that could be enough for us. “You’ll have time to bond.”
Mira knows Summer is important to me, and vice versa, but we’ve all been so busy and wrapped up in our significant others that they haven’t really had time to get to know each other. I hope that changes over the summer.
“I love you,” she says, her eyes swimming with tears when she looks up at me.
My lower lip trembles. We still have so much to discover about each other, so much to discuss, but that doesn’t negate how we feel about each other. How much this connection has rooted itself in our souls and hearts. I reach down to lift her, tossing the sketchbook to the side and kiss her.
“I love you too,” I murmur against her lips.
She deepens the kiss and grabs my horns, sending a spark of heat down them. It’s both reassuring and arousing, effortlessly Mira.
“You have to go,” she whispers and pulls back, but her hands tighten on my horns.
“You’ll come see me? You swear?” I ask, my claws digging into her, anchoring myself to her.
No one has ever really looked forward to seeing me before. My presence is usually endured and avoided. I have always been too angry, too hostile, too unpredictable. Those wounds still linger beneath my skin. How long will it take for them to heal? A year? A decade? A lifetime?
“I’m already packed,” she whispers, kissing me again. Tears slide down her cheeks, some of them evaporating from the heat of her skin, seasoning her kiss with salt.
“I don’t want to leave you,” I admit shakily, offering her my fear and vulnerability. I’m not afraid of Hell or Uncle Lu, but letting Mira out of my sight again, even for a moment, makes anxiety rattle down my spine.
She cups my cheeks and stares at me, flames flickering in her eyes. “I don’t want you to leave, but I’ll be with you again soon. I promise, Rafe.”
She effortlessly switches to comforting me, with the same words I’d used to comfort her only a moment before. Gathering her up in my arms, I hold her even tighter to me .
“And you’ll call me?” I ask.
“Every day.”
Without putting her down, I blindly reach for my bag, holding on to the handle, but keeping her wrapped around me as I head downstairs to where my sisters are waiting. She trails kisses along my jaw, not even trying to get me to put her down.
“Rafe? Did you get more brimstone? The headmaster said he sourced some for you, and I’d rather you did not have to buy any while down there,” Summer asks, not even blinking at the way I am holding Mira.
“No. What is the issue with getting it there?” The place is literally made of it.
Summer crosses her arms. “You won’t have a soul card to use, so you’d have to rely on Lucifer to get it for you.”
Which could lead to him trying to broker another deal with me.
She doesn’t have to say the words out loud.
But she’s right. Even though I felt that Uncle Lu wanted me to choose Hell, he would still play his games.
He couldn’t help himself. Normally, I find that endearing, but not when I am the target.
Mira disentangles from me, and I reluctantly set her back on her feet. “I’ll run by the headmaster’s office to pick it up,” she says.
Summer shakes her head. “I got it. Say your goodbyes.”
This should be my responsibility. I should take care of it, but I want every moment I can get with Mira.
“How much brimstone do you have?” Summer asks, pulling on her shoes.
“Enough for three weeks, Mira packed it for me,” I say, brushing a tender kiss against her smiling lips.
“Mira will be there in three and a half weeks, maybe four?” Summer asks.
I nod.
“It will only last three weeks, and that is if he uses it sparingly,” Mira adds, and I shoot Summer a guilty look for not thinking this through. Brimstone is an essential part of my diet right now. It helps me consume regular food, and it helps negate the cravings for other meat.
“I’ll be back in twenty,” Summer says, throwing me a glare before departing. I should feel bad, but the moment she is gone, I lose myself in Mira’s lips, determined to take advantage of every moment together.