The compliment warmed all kinds of stuff inside her. “Why were you looking for me?”
“Well.” Wrath stretched his long legs out beside her chair and got comfortable. “I thought I’d make it easy for you to keep an eye on me.”
“Liar.”
He laughed. “You know, demons have been ended for less than that.”
“Not a demon and not scared of you.” She tried to suppress her answering smile.
Wrath’s laugh was infectious, a deep bass rumble that made you want to share the joke. “Why are you here?”
Dammit with the direct questions! “Ramiel sent me.”
“Why?”
She was the one who was supposed to be asking the questions, but she couldn’t get control of the narrative, not with her heart pounding and a flush of pleasure that he was here controlling her good sense. “He wanted me to check on the horsemen and assess the damage.”
Wrath sat up and frowned. “And he sent you? A seraph.”
“He…” She wanted to say that Ramiel trusted her, but their last interaction had made her question that, and she couldn’t say it. “He thinks…” Nope, she couldn’t say that Ramiel even believed she could handle herself, because seraph versus horseman wouldn’t go well for her. And she was down to the truth. “He wanted me away from you.”
“Ah.” Wrath smiled his thanks as the waitress put down their drinks. “Ah, Misty.” He stopped her before she could leave again. “I know this is going to sound weird, and you don’t know me, but the answer is yes.”
Misty looked confused. “What?”
“The question that’s bothering you.” Wrath sat forward and leaked a tiny amount of his power. “You should leave him. If you don’t, he will do it again.” He took her hand and brushed a gentle finger over the bruise on her inner wrist. “He’s an asshole and bad to the bone.”
“How did you—” Misty frowned. “I didn’t…”
“I’m psychic.” Wrath shrugged. “I know shit.”
Haziel stared at him. “Ramiel would definitely not like what you just did.”
“Don’t give a crap.” Wrath sipped his wine and gave a happy sigh. “Humans and their wine. They really do know their way around a grape. These South African whites are particularly good. I’ve been trying to replicate them in my demesne, but I haven’t got the composition of the soil quite right.”
Her head was spinning with the information overload. Wrath cultivated wine. Wrath giving advice to human women. Wrath being here at all.
“Is Eddie okay?”
His face softened. “Yeah. She’s doing great. Ramiel helped me heal her, and that sped things up a lot.”
“Good.” So Ramiel had kept his side of their bargain. But Wrath being here now could complicate things. “Does Ramiel know you’re here?”
“Nope.” Wrath finished his glass and picked up the wine list. “I think I want to give this sauvignon blanc a try. I like the vineyard.”
“So he doesn’t know you’re here.”
“Unlike you, sweet Haziel.” Mischief made his eyes dance. “I don’t have to report to Ramiel, and I’m here because I want to be.”
“Why?”
He chuckled and motioned for Misty. “That is an entirely different discussion.” He placed his order with the still mystified waitress. “Now, tell me why you told that child what you did.”
Issy and her mother had left the lobby, but the story crashed into Haziel again. “She’s dying, the little girl.”
“I know.” Wrath’s gentle tone brought tears to her eyes. “But you know she’s going to be all right. It all works out in the end.”
“I do know that.” Haziel had never spoken of her feelings to a fellow supernatural. Most of her peers barely noticed the human souls they shepherded from one incarnation to the next. “But humans…some of them go through so much in a lifetime, and they face impossible challenges.”
“Yeah.” Wrath sat forward and took her hand. “But you know why they do.”
“I know.” She sighed and enjoyed the warm comfort of his grip. “I know it’s what each soul chooses before it enters this incarnation, but the person living through the reality doesn’t know that. All Issy’s mother knows is that her little girl is dying, and all Issy knows is that her mother will be shattered by her loss.”
Wrath nodded and raised her hand to his mouth. “And it really sucks while they’re going through it.”
The warm press of his mouth against her fingers made her breath catch. “I suspect I said something to Issy for the same reason you told Misty about her violent boyfriend, because we’d like to give them what little help we’re allowed.”
“You like them. Humans.” Wrath studied her with a heart clenching tenderness.
Haziel nodded. “I do.”
Wrath’s smile was open and sincere. “Yeah, me too.”
And it didn’t matter to Haziel anymore why he was here, only that he was.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
