“Please, Wrath.” Rosabella held her hands out to him. “Find my baby girl. Find her and bring her home. Don’t let your hatred of me color the way you treat her.”

Wrath stared as he worked words out of his mouth. “I don’t hate you, and even if I did, I would never punish Eddie for that.”

“Please.” Rosabella rushed from the kitchen.

As she passed Haziel, her expression of forlorn pleading smoothed into a little smirk. She caught sight of Haziel and stopped. “And who are you?”

“I’m Haziel.” It was the truth, and she didn’t owe Rosabella any more than that.

Rosabella studied her with a sneer. “So, you’re Wrath’s latest.”

“No.” The idea of her and Wrath was just…well…ludicrous. She loved Ramiel and he and Ramiel were, if not exactly enemies, then opposing forces. “I’m not Wrath’s anything.”

“Hmm.” Rosabella’s gaze swept from her toes to her crown. “Take it from me, honey, you don’t know what you’re missing out on.” She grimaced. “Then again, he may be hot, but he’s a stage five clinger. Ugh!” She wrinkled her nose. “Nothing turns me off faster than a clinger.”

Haziel had no idea how to respond to that, so she repeated, “I’m not Wrath’s anything.”

“Pity for you.” Rosabella smirked. “Although, I don’t know how much of him there’s left.” She leaned closer. “Now that I’m gone.”

Well, wow! Haziel turned and watched her as she hurried down the stairs. Eddie did not deserve that mother of hers. She’d have been much better off with her father.

“What are you doing here?” Wrath thundered.

Oops. Haziel turned back to him with a sinking in the pit of her stomach. “I was looking for you.”

“To spy on me?”

“No.” But she had been spying, so she confessed. “But when I saw you arguing with Shade, I didn’t want to interrupt, and then Rosabella came, and that didn’t seem a good time to announce I was here either.” And because she could never tell a half-truth because Ramiel had made sure she couldn’t, she finished with, “And I was fascinated when I heard who she was.”

Wrath tensed like an enraged bull about to charge. “You admit it.”

“I admit everything.” They may as well get this out of the way right up front. If they were going to work together, he needed to understand this about her. “In fact, I wouldn’t tell me a secret because I’m incapable of keeping them.”

“What?” He gaped at her.

Haziel stepped away from the wall she’d been trying to blend into and straight into the full-bore glare of Wrath. It was lucky for her that he didn’t have his power, or she’d be angel dust by now. “It’s my gift.” If one could call it that. “Or curse, if you will. Truth. Always have to tell the truth.”

With a head shake, Wrath studied her intensely. “You always have to tell the truth?”

“Yup.” And how she wished sometimes she didn’t. “And don’t get me wrong.” She risked a step closer to him. In his current powerless state, he wouldn’t be able to hurt her too much if he lost it with her. And Wrath lost it a lot. Like most of the time. “I would love to be able to tell the odd half-truth, maybe a white lie, and there are definitely circumstances that call for an outright lie. This one being a case in point.” She shrugged. “But I can’t.”

“So no lies?” The corner of his full, sensual mouth quirked. Those bluer than a summer sky eyes gleamed. “No evading the truth either?”

“Eh.” She waggled her hand as a visual aid. “That’s more nebulous. More of a gray area.”

“Like?” He closed the distance between them and towered over her.

Goodness, he didn’t look this tall from across a room and from her usual spot behind Ramiel. “I can choose not to speak and omit the truth with silence.”

“Huh?” He ran a palm over his chin. “Let’s put that to the test.”

Why did this always happen to her? She’d lost count of how many times similar conversations had left her squirming. “I’d really rather not.”

“Why are you following me?” His pitiless blue eyes bored into her.

“Ramiel said he wanted me to keep an eye on you.”

His eyes flashed ire. “Why?”

“He’s concerned you’re going to try to find your daughter on your own.”

Wrath leaned closer to her. From across the room, she also hadn’t noticed that he smelled good. A sort of leather and tobacco scent that was intrinsically male. “You’re holding out, aren’t you?”

“Yup.” Fuck it!

“Why is he worried about me going looking for my daughter?”

“Because of your emotional state.” She cringed inwardly. He wasn’t going to like this next bit. “And because you have no power.”

Wrath straightened away from her. “Well, look at that. You weren’t lying.”

“I told you.” Just once it would be nice if beings got the idea before making her squirm. “Always speak the truth.”

He narrowed his eyes in thought. “What did you think of Rosabella?”

Oh boy, this wouldn’t go well. “She’s lying to you and manipulating your feelings. You’re still in love with her and she knows it.”

“Damn.” He grimaced. “Remind me not to ask you questions I really don’t want to hear the answer to.”

That he wasn’t ripping her head from her body seemed like a positive outcome. “What do you think of her?”

“I think you’re right,” he said. “I am going to find my daughter. But I’m not going to do so with you tagging along behind me. Go back to Ramiel and tell him that.”

Haziel stood where she was as he stalked away. If only she could, but she wasn’t going to let Ramiel down by failing to do what he’d asked of her. Ramiel needed her, and she wouldn’t fail him.

Chapter Four

Dee looked at her daughter and was forced to admit something that would shock other mothers everywhere; she didn’t like her daughter. Oh, she loved Rosabella and would gaze mistily at pictures of her as a child, but the woman she had grown into wasn’t someone Dee could respect or take pride in.

Rosabella was selfish, petulant, a user, and sitting in front of her shedding crocodile tears for Eddie’s safety. If Dee didn’t send her updates, Rosabella would have no idea who Eddie was or what was going on in her life. She’d left before Eddie was properly off the breast and blew in every few years—generally when she wanted something.

And right now, it looked like one of those somethings might be Shade.

Rosabella was sitting on Eddie’s bed as Shade gathered a few possessions and shoved them into a duffle bag.

Dee turned her attention to the being who had the best chance of finding Eddie. “Are you sure she’s on the earth plane?”