Ruthless (The Seraphim Series Book 2) (5 page)

“I love you so much.”

Azrael lifted his head. “Good, because now I’m going to make you mine forever.”

Chapter 4

Lilliah was lying in bed the morning after. She was sore but content and couldn’t stop smiling. She felt so giddy. Last night had started off crappy, but had ended in the most amazing way possible. She still couldn’t quite believe it had happened. Azrael, like always, was already up. She could hear him in the kitchen making breakfast. She spread out, enjoying the extra room. Azrael’s sheets smelt like him, and now her.

Stretching, she reached for her phone and wasn’t surprised to see that Rebecca had texted her.

Rebecca:
So, how did it go? ;)

She grinned and wrote back:
I don’t kiss and tell.

Her phone buzzed almost immediately.

Rebecca:
Oh please. You did more than kiss. Please tell me you did more than kiss.

Refusing to have this kind of conversation by text, Lilliah dialled her number.

“You need to tell me everything,” Rebecca greeted.

“Not happening. That’s just gross. You’ll have to be content with knowing that it did happen, he wanted me, and I won’t be a single Pringle.”

“You would have ended it had he not slept with you?” Rebecca burst out laughing. “You’re so full of crap.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t have ended it. Who am I kidding?” They giggled. “I feel so girly. I want to do something today. Let’s go shopping or something. We can invite Jeremy.”

“Wait, I’ll call him and we can have a three-way.”

Lilliah waited while Rebecca tampered with her phone. Lilliah, Rebecca, and Jeremy had been inseparable growing up, but their friendship had hit a stumbling block when Lilliah had started dating Azrael. Jeremy had been furious and had even stopped talking to her for a while. He only started speaking to her again when he began dating a girl, Sadie, from college.

“Jeremy?” Rebecca asked. “Is this working? Are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Jeremy said. “You need to learn how to use your phone. Read the instructions.”

“I already know how to use it. We’re having a three-way conversation, aren’t we?”

“Whatever,” he said dismissively.

“Where are you?” Lilliah asked. The noise from a nearby road made him hard to hear. “I can hardly hear you.”

“I’m at college,” he spoke louder. “You know, like normal people our age.”

Lilliah snorted. “Yeah, I’m still in bed. How is college life?”

“Still in bed?” He didn’t sound surprised. “Oh, the life of the unemployed. I thought you were getting a job with your boyfriend?”

“Huh?” Lilliah had no idea what he was talking about.

“That’s what Rebecca said.”

They fell silent, waiting for Rebecca to explain.

“Oh yeah, I did say that.” Lilliah spoke instead. She paused, trying to work out where she was going with this.

“Of course she’s going to get a job. Why else would she have left college?” Rebecca’s laughter sounded forced.

“Yes,” Lilliah joined in, realising Rebecca must have lied to Jeremy. Making a mental note to tell Rebecca to start writing down her lies, Lilliah thought quickly. “But it’s not with Azrael. It’s with one of the companies that works with his company, if that makes sense.” She knew it didn’t.

“I guess …” Jeremy drawled out. “So what do you guys want? I need to get to class.”

“Remember when we used to talk for hours? What happened, hmm?” Rebecca sighed dramatically. “I miss those days.”

Lilliah fluffed the pillow behind her. “We want to go out tonight. Want to come?” She settled back, waiting for his reply.

“Sorry, guys. Can’t hang out tonight.”

“Oh, come on.” Lilliah’s shoulders slumped. “You didn’t even think about it.”

“I’m meeting Sadie’s parents tonight. It’s a big deal.”

“Damn, that’s soon.” Lilliah pulled a face, glad that her friends couldn’t see her. “Don’t you think it’s a little too soon?”

“You and Azrael moved so quickly that I blinked and you were together,” Jeremy said simply.

“That”—Lilliah pursed her lips and then said—“is very true.”

“And they had sex last night.”

“Rebecca!” Lilliah shot up in bed, pulling the bed sheet up with her. She was horrified at the turn of conversation, but she couldn’t ignore how her heart had leapt for a second.

“What?” She laughed down the phone. “Jeremy’s our best friend, and best friends share.”

“Congrats, Lil.” Jeremy snickered. “We can go for a
‘well done, you popped your cherry’
drink tomorrow if you want?”

“That’s never happening.” Running her hands through her hair, Lilliah silently praised that no one could see her. What she and Azrael had shared the night before had been amazing—and private. She didn’t want to cheapen it by talking about it with her friends. “I’m not even sure I want to have a drink with you losers now.”

“Oh, come on.” Jeremy laughed. “I really am happy for you, and I do want to see you guys. It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

Lilliah smiled as Azrael walked into the room with a steaming cup of tea in each hand.

“Yeah.” She didn’t take her eyes off Azrael’s face. “Text me when and where.”

“Same,” Rebecca answered.

“Okay. Wish me luck tonight!”

“Good luck,” Lilliah and Rebecca answered together.

A few seconds later, they all hung up, and Lilliah stretched out on the bed. She reached up to take the mug. “I could get used to this.”

“I always make you tea.” Azrael sat beside her on the bed, their arms just touching.

“Because you make the best tea.” She smiled sweetly, her cheeks warming, though after the night they had shared she didn’t know why.

His deep chuckle did things to her that she didn’t think was possible, and made her feel a whole new set of emotions. She loved it. Before last night she had thought her relationship with Azrael was amazing, but afterwards, they had somehow entered a whole new phase, a deeper phase of their relationship.

“I just love you.” She leaned forward and pressed a light kiss on his cheek. “That’s all.”

He took a sip of his tea. “Last night was one of the best nights of my life. I really want you to know that.”

Lilliah’s eyes widened. “That’s so unbelievably sweet.” Then she smiled playfully. “It probably came in on my top five.”

“Oh, really?” His eyes narrowed. “Guess I’m just going to have to try
harder
.”

Lilliah burst out laughing. “Harder, huh?”

Azrael nodded, looking innocent.

“That was a gross joke.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Who said it was a joke?”

“Later, baby.” Lilliah smiled so wide her cheeks hurt.

“All these promises.” Azrael’s hand trailed over the sheet.

Lilliah swore she could feel his touch from under the quilt. He reached for her hand and turned it over, his pointer finger tracing small circles on her palm. She loved it when he did that. The small movement of his fingers sent shivers through her body. He had started doing it absentmindedly when they would watch TV, but now he did it all the time. Lilliah would never complain; she loved it.

“Who was on the phone?”

“Rebecca and Jeremy—the let-downs.” She pulled her hand back. She couldn’t think when he did that. “We were all going to go out for drinks later, but Jeremy’s meeting his girlfriend’s parents tonight.”

“How dare he.”

“I know, right?”

They snickered.

“Why don’t we go out?”

Lilliah frowned. “Go out where?”

“Drinking?” Azrael suggested. “Or to eat? What would you do with your friends?”

“Probably drink.” Lilliah wasn’t sure. When she was with her friends they either got completely drunk, or stayed in and watched Netflix all night. “I can’t imagine you in a bar or a club.”

“I own a club,” he said, reminding her of his club, Purgatory.

“I know that.” She squinted her eyes, trying to suss out whether he was being serious. “But it’s not the same. I can’t imagine you in a pub drinking beer.”

She liked the idea, though.

“So you don’t want to go?” he asked, clearly confused.

“Oh, we’re going.”

She tapped Azrael’s arm in excitement. They didn’t go out on dates much. They mostly stayed in his apartment, with him cooking and her slowly making her way through his extensive wine collection. She was turning into a hermit, but she didn’t mind.

“Good.” Azrael gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “I have something I need to do first. Be ready at seven?”

Lilliah nodded. “What did you find out yesterday?”

Azrael looked thoughtful for a second. “Nothing concrete.”

Lilliah narrowed her eyes. “But you did find something out?”

“Benedict doesn’t think Lucifer is back. Not fully anyway.” Azrael stood. “He thinks the doors to Hell weren’t fully closed after Ada. He believes Lucifer is more seeping through the crack than fully liberated.”

Lilliah had lost her smile. “But that’s still bad. He can still kill people, even if he’s not fully here.” Lips set in a thin line, she remembered the girl’s eyes from her dreams.

Azrael cupped her face. “Try not to worry.”

She faked a smile, more to reassure him than anything else. “I’ll try.”

“Look, I need to go and see a few people today. Want to come?”

Lilliah cocked her head to the side. Why would she want to go with him? He’d never asked her before, so why now?

“I’m going to see the werewolves. The head werewolves. They might know something.”

Lilliah was off the bed and picking up clothes before Azrael had even finished speaking.

“I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes,” she called out behind her.

An hour later, Lilliah and Azrael pulled into an old warehouse. A few cars were parked outside, but other than that, the building looked derelict.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Lilliah looked out the passenger window. They weren’t too far outside of London, but the place was in the middle of nowhere. A huge field stretched out on the west side of the warehouse, and two other buildings sat opposite, but that was it.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Azrael exited the car and walked around to open her door.

“And this is the werewolves’ headquarters?” she asked, holding Azrael’s hand as he led her to the door.

“Looks can be deceiving. This building is one of the most heavily guarded places in the world. They know you’re coming from ten miles out.” He pointed to a building opposite. “That’s their security unit. They can access any CCTV camera in Britain.”

Lilliah squinted. It looked like an ordinary office block to her. A part of her thought Azrael was joking, that at any minute he’d pull her back to the car, laughing, and then they’d drive to a country estate or something, to where the real headquarters were.

When they reached a small, green door, the paint worn and flaking off, Azrael knocked once. The door opened and a small woman walked out.

“Azrael,” she greeted formally, her eyes briefly flicking to Lilliah. “Martin has been expecting you.” 

She walked back inside. Azrael and Lilliah followed. Lilliah jumped when the door slammed shut behind them.

The inside of the warehouse was nothing like she had imagined. People were everywhere, working at desks or running around. It looked like a busy, ordinary office.

“This is so strange,” she whispered as the girl led them through the room.

People stopped and stared as they passed—something she was getting quite used to with Azrael. Everyone in this world knew who he was, and because of that, they now knew who she was.

“They run everything from here—their clubs, restaurants, stock markets, hotels. They have their hands in everything.”

“Just like you, then?” She nudged his arm with hers.

“Similar, yes.”

The girl led them to a staircase at the back of the room. “Martin will be waiting for you at the top. Is there anything I can get for you? A drink perhaps?”

Lilliah shook her head while Azrael ignored her and started up the stairs.

“We really need to work on your manners,” Lilliah said quietly enough so the girl wouldn’t overhear.

“Why does it matter whether I speak to her?” Azrael opened the door at the top, letting Lilliah enter first.

“Because manners don’t cost a penny,” she replied, quoting something her mother used to say all the time. “It probably would have meant something to her.”

“Azrael,” a voice boomed.

Lilliah turned to see a man standing in front of them. He was smaller than her, and rounder.