“Once the ritual is completed, Azrael would be mortal. One hundred percent human, with just as much susceptibility as the rest of your disease-ridden brethren.”
After shooting him another annoyed glare, I redirect my focus to Az. “What’s wrong with the way things are? We can come and go between your home and mine, see each other every day. I want to spend forever together, but not at the expense of your well-being.”
“You would ask me to live without you?” Az asks, and I can’t look away from the storm inside his eyes, those swirling grays holding me prisoner. “Allow me to love you for a lifetime, watching you age while I stand idly by? Come on, baby… you know that’s not going to happen.”
For a long time, I stare, my mind spinning with the implications. My parents are older and realistically, they’d never have to know. Other than them, I have no one else important enough in my life to consider. No siblings, no children.
No one but him.
Hope flickers in Azrael’s eyes as I push out a defeated sigh. He realizes he’s got me. “It’s safe?”
Micah nods, momentarily allowing the tiniest splinter of relief before he hardens once more. “Painless.”
I glance at Az once more, pulling his hand to my mouth and pressing a kiss on each of his knuckles, drinking in the smile that pulls deeper with each one. “Alright, how do we get started?”
Chapter 16
Azrael
Three Months Later
Kisses dot along my spine as I shiver, forcing me to seek refuge under the covers as I yank them over my head. “Why are you awake so early?” I grumble, but Beau only laughs, ripping away the blankets and exposing me to the sunlight.
“First day of school, remember?”
“And we slept in the Cherub realm… why?”
Another deep rumble of a chuckle leaves his throat, the bed shifting under his weight as he sits on the edge. “Because you wanted to make use of that enormous hot tub last night.”
I grin into my pillow, remembering the slosh of the water as I rode his cock. Puddles splashed onto the stone floors as I gripped the edges of the tub, falling apart with my head thrownback before he bent me over the side and ate his release from my still-pulsing hole. “Worth it,” I mutter.
Most nights, we stay at Beau’s house, since it’s easier for me to transport myself. I have no fixed schedule to adhere to, and travel so often it doesn’t matter where my home base is. Micah still has a hard time releasing the reins, and requires weekly meetings to go over my numbers, but honestly? I like seeing the results, and the Archangel is slowly warming up to me.
I wouldn’t call it trust, not yet, but we’re making headway.
Occasionally, Beau tags along, and I’ve determined the only reason he comes is so the two of them can butt heads. They sling insults and ruffle each other’s feathers, but it has turned into a game in their unacknowledged bromance as they try to best each other.
Sure, on the surface, they still love to bicker, but after Micah asked him to teach a few classes, everything changed. Once a week, Beau teaches a course on humanity, so we aren’t stuck learning from outdated books or one-off experiences.
The classes started being offered to the younger Cherubs, but word spread quickly, and they soon turned into a realm-wide hit. Now he has a steady rotation of students coming through, from the young ones to the archangels.
Even Micah sat through a few.‘Just so you’re aware of the many improvements you need to make,’he claimed, but we all see right through it.
Bromance, I’m telling you.
Unsurprisingly, every student has questions about the diaper-baby depiction of Cupid.
Everyone loves Beau. In the months he’s spent in my realm, I swear he has made more friends than me in my thirty-two years of living here. His relaxed demeanor makes him easy to talk to, even for people like me who are usually closed off.Walking down the street with him is like being in town with a celebrity—everyone wants to come over and say hi.
Preparations for the soul joining ceremony are complete, but Beau has been procrastinating. Every time I ask him if he’s ready, he comes up with one excuse after another, and there’s a microscopic, insecure part of me that worries he might have changed his mind.
That forever might be too great a demand from someone who has so much to offer.
Movement beside the bed makes me crack an eye open to find Beau kneeling in front of me, that soft smile on his face. “You gotta get up, sweetheart, because I can’t make it to work without you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumble, sitting up and arching my spine in a stretch. He dots kisses on my forehead and cheeks until I can’t help my smile, then pulls me to my feet and ushers me into the bathroom with a swat on the ass.
I glare. He grins.
