As Wrath’s energy approached her suite, she took a long sip of her strawberry daiquiri. Working for Ramiel didn’t allow any time for indulgences, and she was beginning to discover that even angels had needs. Still, if Wrath was here now, she couldn’t in good conscience delay him any longer. Messing with him a bit, though, that she was looking forward to.

The pounding on her door was typically Wrath—demanding, impatient, and impossible to ignore. Still, she didn’t get up from her comfortable velvet chaise with its beautiful view of the fountain garden. Classical music drifted in with the soft evening breeze. Water danced in the fountains to the tune of the music. It was all rather splendid and definitely relaxing.

She suppressed a sigh as she called, “Come in, Wrath.”

“There you are.” He appeared in her door like a summer thunderstorm—all force and implacable nature.

Haziel took another sip of her cocktail. “Here I am.”

“Angel?” A demon appeared at her elbow. “Would you like another?”

Who wouldn’t love being here? “I would.” She smiled at Covet. The demons here were so helpful, it was hard to remember why angels had been at war with them since the beginning of time. “That would be lovely.”

Covet twitched his thick, unruly red eyebrows. “Or perhaps you would like to sample a mango daiquiri. Our mixologist is a master with the mango.”

She did like mango. Another thing she’d discovered since Wrath had abandoned her here. As she would be leaving soon, she said, “I would love to try the mango.”

“Very good.” Covet scuttled off, leaving a very disgruntled looking hell prince glowering at her.

Dressed in nothing but a short bath towel, Wrath was almost a better view than the dancing fountains. Unless she could persuade him to dance, and then it might be a fair competition. “Do you dance?”

“What?” He frowned at her. “No, I don’t fucking dance.”

“Pity.” No contest then, the fountains won.

Wrath took a slow, careful breath and stalked over to her. He had lovely, muscular legs, and the towel hit him mid bulging thigh. Maybe she’d overestimated the appeal of the dancing fountains. He wiggled his fingers at her. “Enough, Haziel. We’re leaving at first light. I need to find Eddie.”

Covet arrived with her mango daiquiri, and a charcuterie board. Creamy, mature cheeses, ripe figs, pickles, fresh honey, warm bread—Wrath could do what he liked. She wasn’t going anywhere. Not at this particular moment anyway. “No.” She took her time selecting the right combination of cheese and olive. “You are welcome to leave, but I am a guest here.”

“You’re an angel,” he snapped. “And you have outstayed your welcome.”

Ava hadn’t said anything like that. “Did Ava say so?”

“No.” His jaw went tight enough to break rocks. “I did, and Ramiel did.”

“Ramiel knows I’m here?” Her heart gave a little flutter. Ramiel knew she was here, and he must be worried about her to demand she return. She sipped her drink. The mango was delicious. She might prefer it to the strawberry. “He’s right, you know.” She gestured to where Covet had disappeared. “The mango is very special.”

“Haziel,” he growled in a way that sent sensation skittering over her skin. “You need to come with me. My daughter is still missing, and we haven’t found Lucifer.”

“You left me here.” She hated pointing out the obvious. Not really. It was rather satisfying. “You left me here where anything could have happened to me. And now⁠—”

“I left you with Ava. You were perfectly safe.” His gaze flicked over her clothing. “And clearly, very comfortable.”

“Oh, yes.” She looked down at her floaty, gauzy outfit. She’d taken to copying these from Ava. A cropped top left her midriff bare to the cooling breezes, and the overlapping panels of her long skirt revealed her legs. “Do you like it?”

Wrath gave her legs a searing look. “Don’t ask stupid questions, Haziel.”

“So, that’s a yes?” After her embarrassing confession he’d forced out of her about his ass, she was due a little payback.

“That’s a yes,” he said. “But we still need to go.”

“Sit down.” She motioned to a nearby comfortably armchair. Night was not a safe time to travel in hell with roving demon hordes most active and powerful in the dark. “You’re looming over me in a very disagreeable manner.”

He raised that brow again but took a seat.

“Charcuterie?”

“No.” His towel created a couple of minor difficulties, and he solved those by shoving it between his thighs.

“Have a drink.” She studied his sculpted and muscular body without bothering to hide it. She’d already admitted to liking his form. “You’re more muscular than Ramiel.”

He sighed. “I don’t want charcuterie or a drink. What I want is for both of us to get on with searching for my daughter. And you’re drunk.”

“Tipsy.” She needed to clarify the drunk part, but he was right about their needing to find Eddie, Still, she could torture him a little more. “I am pleasantly buzzed.”

“Right,” he drawled. He looked a bit grumpy. “And when did you see Ramiel naked?”

For Ramiel’s sake she needed to clear up any misapprehensions he was forming in his fertile mind. “I have worked under…I mean…with Ramiel for a long time. I have seen him sparring many times. And other things.” She didn’t feel like going into too many details, and especially not about how Ramiel liked to hold some of his meetings with her when he was in the bath. Those were particularly torturous for her, because unlike now, when she didn’t have to hide her perusal of Wrath, when she was with Ramiel, she kept her eyes strictly on her papers.

Covet appeared with a piña colada and handed it to Wrath.

He took it with a growl and tossed the bright pink umbrella and hibiscus blossom on the floor.

“Fine, we’ll play this your way for now, but only because I don’t want to travel in the dark,” he said and took a careful sip of his drink. He pulled a face, but she got the sense he did it more for effect than anything else. Who didn’t like pina coladas? Coconut, pineapple, white rum—yummy.

“You’re leaving in the morning,” she said and drained her daiquiri.

“At first light.” He fixed her with a gimlet stare. “So, you have your fun but I’m off to find my daughter and you can join me or explain to Ramiel why he has to get you out of Ava’s demesne.” He smirked. “You might also need to explain to him at the same time why you abandoned your mission to keep an eye on me.”

Check-mate. Game over.

Covet reappeared.

“No.” Wrath glowered at him. “She doesn’t need another drink.”

“Yes, I do.” Haziel resented the end to her fun. She was also not enjoying the way he was taking charge of her and her drinking. “You abandoned me,” she snapped. “You don’t get to arrive here and start telling me what to do.”

“I didn’t abandon you.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Rosé All Day?” Her favorite demon smiled.

Just the thing. “Yes!”

“Haziel!” Wrath surged to his feet. “You have a job to do here. And that doesn’t include getting shitfaced on cocktails and lounging around in skimpy outfits.”

“You said you liked it.”