“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.”
He tossed his glass over the balcony and stomped over to her chaise. It was all rather thrilling with his dark, broody good looks and delicious muscles.
“We are leaving,” he said. “In the morning.” Leaning down, he put his face close to hers. “And don’t mistake me for Ramiel. Next time you look at me like you want to touch, I’m going to take you up on the offer.”
Chapter Fifteen
Sophia wanted to share her good news, but with Dee so worried about Eddie, she was forced to hug it to herself. She’d auditioned and been offered the part of Cecily. Peter had said she was a natural, and even Lillian had admitted she had talent.
If she’d known she would love acting so much, she would have done something about it centuries ago. All that time and all those wonderful parts that she hadn’t played. But she was going to make up for lost time now. Gabriel would have a shit fit, but Sophia didn’t care. Other supernaturals broke the rules with impunity and got nothing more than a slap on the wrist. She was going to act, and the rest of the heavenly host could get twisted about it.
“Uriel—I beg your pardon—Sophia.” Daniel hurried down the corridor toward her. His clean-cut, handsome face wore a worried expression. “I’ve been monitoring the seals.”
“You can do that?” The guardians had never admitted to being able to monitor what happened in hell.
Daniel flushed. “Yes, I’m not supposed to tell you but, in the circumstances, I think some of the rules need bending.”
Exactly what she had been thinking. “The news is not good?”
“No.” Daniel held up his phone and showed her seven bars of light. All of them either red or orange. “Each bar is one of the seals. Wrath is the most stable, lust still the worst, but avarice and pride aren’t looking pretty either. I have a theory all the disruptions in hell are only adding to the problem.”
“The red means danger?” Sophia studied the flickering lights.
“Yes.” Daniel pointed. “The hell princes are going to get more unpredictable the more the seals deteriorate.” He put his phone away. “Have you heard from Shade?”
“Not for a couple of days.” And he was out there in the earth realm, broadcasting unadulterated lust as he searched for Eddie.
Daniel stared at his phone and frowned. “I understand what he’s doing and why, but the situation is getting more precarious.”
“Oh, dear.” Her news took a definite back seat to Daniel’s.
He put his phone away and looked at her. “Can you do anything?”
“I could find him and see how he’s doing.” Shade hated being checked on. “However, we need to get him back to hell where he can cause the minimum amount of damage to humans and try to contain his seal.”
“Will he go?” Daniel chewed on his bottom lip.
“Not without Eddie.” Sophia shared a concerned look with Daniel. She understood how Shade felt, but it was time to insist he went home.
