Devilish Mate

2

As her eyes focused on me, her beautiful mouth twisted, and her gaze registered confusion and horror. Fine, yes, I deserved that. We’d work on that problem later. All that mattered was that she was alive—and that the curse was broken. A sense of triumph filled my chest knowing I’d once again beaten my father at his own game.

“Just breathe,” I said in a low voice as Hannah struggled to sit up. I held out my hand, which she took with some hesitation.

But then Hannah shrunk back against the couch as if trying to get away from me. She stared at the other people in the room, her eyes wide, but her gaze kept returning to Kassiel. Understandable. I settled beside her, ready to say or do anything she needed as she came to grips with what had happened.

“Our debt is repaid now.”

Without even turning, I knew who’d spoken. The gravelly, flat voice could only belong to one person. Callan, Jophiel’s son, and Olivia’s most hard-headed mate. I turned his way with a sharp, withering look. If only he knew who Hannah truly was...

“Thank you all for your assistance,” I said, glancing between all of the people gathered around us.

“Who is she?” Kassiel asked.

Hannah jerked slightly when she heard his voice, and her hand moved to grip the arm of the couch, her knuckles whitening as she squeezed. She was freaking out and trying not to show it. Who could blame her? Being murdered by your mate and then brought back from the dead would be a lot for anyone to take in.

I rose to my feet and adjusted my poor suit, which was covered in dragon blood and devil knew what else. “We’ll speak later. For now, I need to be alone with her. Samael, can you find rooms for our guests and arrange for cleanup to begin?”

Samael nodded curtly, obviously displeased about the situation. I’m sure I’d hear about it later in great detail. “Follow me please,” he told the others, and his strides were sharp as he walked away. Kassiel gave Hannah one last curious glance before following Samael and the others out of the penthouse.

As soon as they were gone, I turned back to Hannah to offer her comfort and perhaps a glass of water. Her eyes locked onto me and she suddenly burst into movement, jumping to her feet, her face twisting with rage, her blond hair flowing behind her.

“You killed me.” Her chest heaved as her eyes blazed. “You killed me!”

“Hannah…” I stepped forward to take her into my arms and reassure her, but she stumbled back and held up her hands to stop me.

“Stay away! Don’t come any closer!” The color drained from her face, and she brought her hand to her throat. Clutching it gently, as if remembering.

I sighed, wishing I could take that memory away, the memory of my squeezing her neck until life left her. “Hannah, let me explain. Killing you was the only way to break the curse, but I had a plan all along. I called in a favor with the angels and had Marcus resurrect you. He’s the son of Archangel Raphael and, like his father, he can bring people back from the dead.”

Hannah reared backward, her eyes wide. “Were you certain it would work?”

“No, but I had faith.”

“You had faith?” She grabbed a vase, one of the few breakable things in the room that had survived the battle unscathed, and hurled it across the room. “I might have died!” she screamed. “f**k you. I did die!”

As the vase hit the ground and shattered, I stayed calm, trying not to do or say anything that would add to Hannah’s distress. “Yes.”

She stopped and stared at me, more shock blooming across her face, if that was possible. “And this time I wouldn’t be reborn.”

“Yes.”

She picked up a wine glass and threw it toward me. “You could have told me that was your plan first!”

I lifted my hand and caught the glass just in time. “I couldn’t warn you. Believe me, I wanted to tell you everything, but I couldn’t. It had to be an act of passion, done with my own hands, and you had to look at me and know I was killing you. My father made that very clear when he cursed us. If you’d known my full plan, it might not have worked. I couldn’t risk that. Even if we have to live with the memory for the rest of our days.”

She held up a hand to her head, as if in pain. “Why now? If you knew how to break the curse all along, why wait til now?”

“Because until recently I had no way to bring you back.” I set the wine glass down and braced for more flying objects. “About a year ago I helped some angels—the ones who just left—escape from prison, placing them in my debt. I couldn’t have brought you back and cheated Death without their help.”

Hannah sucked in a shuddering breath before she spoke. “Is the curse broken then?”

“I believe so, yes.” I’d felt it when she died. Like a rubber band snapping in half deep inside me.

“So if I die, that’s really the end of me?” She looked lost as she said the words.

“As it is for all living things.” I spread my hands and c****d my head, unsure of how to respond. She’d wanted to break the curse as much as I had, if not even more. I’d done it for her, after all. For us. “We must all face our demise at some point. At least now we can face it together.”

“No, no, no…” she muttered to herself, as she backed away from me, shaking her head. She grabbed her head with her hands as agony claimed her face. “It’s too much… I can’t…”

I rushed forward as she bent over and cried out, but then she held up one hand while her other arm clutched her waist.

“Stay away from me!” she screamed.