She peered up at me with bleary eyes. Her face was beet red, and her hair hung in messy clumps around her shoulders. But she was alive, and she wasn’t bleeding. Thank god.

“Serena.” I knelt beside her and got to work on the knots around her wrists, ignoring the total chaos raging on behind us. “Are you okay?”

She yelled against the sock in her mouth. Heart hurtling into my throat, I whirled just in time to see Rafael rush toward us with anger flashing in his eyes. I braced myself, wishing I had a damn sword myself.

Az slammed into Rafael’s back with a roar, knocking him down onto the concrete. Rafael rolled onto his back and launched a kick into Az’s chest, but Az leapt to the side just in time.

Rafael panted as he glared at the Prince of Hell. And then he vanished into mist.

29

“Mia!” Az rushed toward me, lifted me into his arms, and then squeezed me so tightly I thought my ribs might shatter. The scent of flames whorled around me as shadows pulsed against my skin. For a moment, I let myself give in to the steady, firm sensation of his body against mine.

He cares, I internally whispered. He actually cares.

But then I forced myself to pull back and climb out of his arms. “You can’t let him get away. He’s going to run straight to Lucifer and tell him everything. This was a test, to prove you’re saving souls. Now, he knows you’ve turned your back on Hell.”

“Shit.” Az ran a hand down his face. “I should have seen this coming. Rafael has always had it out for me.”

“He might not have gotten far yet, boss,” Phenex said, jogging toward us and hefting his glittering sword onto his shoulder. “We don’t know how far he can travel with his vanishing power. It might not be much. We should search the streets. See if we can hunt him down before he leaves for Hell.”

Az nodded and gave me one last squeeze. “I agree. You two wait here.”

The Legion thundered out of the warehouse, leaving me with Serena. I watched them go and then knelt back down beside her, gently removing the sock from her mouth. As soon as she had use of her tongue, she let out a muttered string of curses that would have made a sailor blush.

“I should have known not to trust a dumbass guy who seemed perfect on paper.” She ripped the ropes off her legs and tossed them across the floor. “Cute and nice. Kind to animals. With a ridiculous amount of shared interests. It was all pretend, the whole time. And you want to know why?”

I sat back on my heels and gave her a sad smile. “Why’s that?”