"Yes, but I never expected this! Not for many years, anyway."
Brandy handed Isaac another toy. "I don't envy you my friend. Aurora's definitely special, but I can tell she's going to be trouble," she said with a laugh.
Lucifer grinned. “Yes, she is. The best kind of trouble."
I glared at him, worried he wasn't taking this seriously. All our sons had wings, of course, but they'd gotten them at twenty-one. Back then, I'd thought that had been a challenge. Oh past Hannah, how little you knew.
"Let me take her out flying with me," Lucifer said. He'd been asking if he could do it for some time, but I'd been too worried to say yes before. "She'll be perfectly safe in my arms the entire time. She clearly wants to experience the feeling of it, and I can give her a taste of it and show her the proper way to use her wings."
I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "Fine. Just don't go too far."
26
Lucifer
I looked down at Aurora, wrapped snuggly in the fabric Hannah had helped me wind around my body. I was pretty sure Hannah had wrapped us extra tight—more to prevent Aurora from taking off on her own than to ensure I didn’t drop her into the ocean. As we flew, I imagined what my enemies would say, seeing the devil with a baby strapped to his chest, but the thought only made me laugh.
Real men wore babies.
Aurora giggled as sea spray coated our faces with a fine mist of salt water, and her little wings moved uselessly against her wrap. Oh, she was trouble, all right. And she wasn't even one yet. How were we going to handle her?
“One more loop around?” I looked down at her, and she shrieked her excitement again as I banked left and swooped a wide arc over the waves. I cupped the top of her head under my palm as water splashed higher than I’d anticipated. I’d never experienced protectiveness quite like this, even with my sons. It was different this time, maybe because she was a girl, or maybe because I knew she would be my last child.
“We need to head back, little one,” I said, and she pouted on cue. That face got me every time, and I dipped lower, almost trailing her through the ocean. She shrieked and laughed again, and I chuckled as I smoothed a hand over her wet hair.
“Your Mom’s going to kill me for bringing you back drenched in salt water.” But I looked at Aurora’s face and couldn’t find any regret in me. This time together was too precious.
I landed on our carefully manicured lawn, not far from the pool with the tiny Roman-style tiles that Hannah seemed to like. Then, as if thinking about her had summoned her, she burst through the door from the house, running toward me at top speed with a panicked expression on her face.
"Lucifer! There you are!"
Shit. We'd been gone too long, and now I was going to get an earful. I held up my hands in surrender. "We were perfectly safe the entire time, I promise."
"It's not that." Hannah pushed her windswept hair back roughly from her face. "Samael just called. Lilith is missing!"
My heart seemed to stop. “What? Three mates and they can’t keep it straight where she is?”
Hannah shook her head. "She was traveling without any of them. All of her guards were found dead. Ripped apart by shifters."
I swore under my breath in languages not spoken on Earth any longer. "Fenrir must have taken her because he knows she has one of the only keys to Hell."
Hannah's eyes widened. "That means they're going after Death. Oh no—Kassiel!"
She sprinted toward the house, and I followed right at her heels. Once inside the kitchen, she grabbed her phone and dialed Kassiel. If Fenrir was trying to release Death, he would need Kassiel—the only person I knew of who could open the tomb, since they'd have to be both born in Hell and carrying the blood of one of the people who had sealed Death away—me, Eve, Michael, and Oberon.
While the phone rang, I unwrapped Aurora. She immediately cried and reached for her mom, and I passed her over to Hannah and took the phone to speak to our son. Luckily, Kassiel answered on the first ring.
"Hey Mom."
"It's me actually."
“Dad?” He always sounded suspicious when I called him.
"Lilith is missing, and Fenrir might be coming for you next. You need to go into hiding. Take Olivia and her other mates with you for protection and leave immediately." There was no point in sugar-coating or small talk. We didn't have time for any of that.
"I understand." Kassiel's tone was serious. "We'll leave right away."
"Get a burner phone in case they're tracking us somehow and check in when you're safe."
"I will."
“Tell him I love him.” Hannah touched my arm, her eyebrows draw together.
“I heard," Kassiel said. "I love her too. And you, Dad. Look after my sister, okay?”
My chest swelled with a potent mix of love and fear. "I will. You look after yourself too. Love you, son."
We said goodbye and I turned to Hannah, whose eyes reflected all the same worries I had. It pained me that I couldn't be there physically to protect Kassiel. Maybe I should have had him come here. Or maybe that's what Fenrir expected. Maybe it was better if Kassiel was hiding somewhere that I had no knowledge of. Maybe it was better if he was far from Aurora if shit went down. Maybe not. Fuck. I hated having to make decisions like these.
“Is Kassiel safe?” Hannah cradled Aurora closer, pressing our daughter’s head to her shoulder.
"He’s as safe as he can be.” Then I blew out a sigh. "I need to call Samael."
"I spoke to him just before you returned. He's already sent people to search for Lilith. He's very worried, of course."
I nodded, but knew it wouldn't
