CHAPTER TWENTY

In front of her, Prophet went stock still. He couldn't possibly be more shocked than Ella.

Betrayal burned her throat and lungs. That fucker. That ass-licking fucker.

Viper had sworn there'd be no other women. She'd believed him. She'd taken him at his word. Hadn't had a single moment of doubt.

My mistake.

Prophet slowly and woodenly turned to face her, releasing the office door as he did so. It steadily swung open, and her gaze slammed on Viper. He was pushing out of his seat, his broad shoulders tense, his face hard.

Ella glared at him, dropping her glamor, barely holding back a snarl. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her jaw hurt from how tightly she clenched it. Her demon longed to punch him in the throat.

Dice took one step toward Mia, and Ella sensed her sister stiffen; heard her low hiss of fury. He halted, his lips thinning,

"Prophet, get gone," Viper ordered, the words coated in frost.

The angel disappeared fast.

Viper's eyes flew back to Ella as his expression softened. "Baby, come inside," he urged, his tone beseeching. "You too, Mia. Jester, give us some privacy, would you?"

"You got it." Jester stalked out.

Ella half-considered pivoting on her heel and marching out of the club. But, no. No, she was going to give this lying son of a bitch a verbal ass-reaming before she did.

Barging into the office, she bared her teeth at him. "You are such a hypocritical fucker. You don't want me sleeping with other guys, but you're fine having other women in your bed."

He lifted his palms, skirting around his desk. "Baby, you've got it all wrong," he swore.

Dice tried taking Mia's arm, but she flinched away with a growled, " Don't ."

"It isn't what you think," the VP told her.

As he and Mia began to argue, Ella took an angry step toward Viper and said, "I believed you. I actually believed you when you assured me there'd be no one else. More fucking fool me."

Viper dropped his arms to his sides. "There hasn't been anyone else, Ella."

"Other than for the brunette, you mean?"

His jaw went tight. "She's not someone I fuck."

"So, what, she's all about blowjobs and hand jobs? Because that counts as cheating, in my book."

Viper prowled to her, his face solemn. "I swear to you, I haven't touched another women since you; none have touched me. What Prophet said … It doesn't mean what you think it does."

Ella guffawed. "What else could her being a regular possibly mean?"

He pressed his lips tight together.

She felt her mouth twist into a bitter smile as hot tears stung her eyes. "Right."

He covered the space between them in a blur of movement and caught her face with his hands. "Every word I've said is the truth."

He looked so earnest it was difficult to doubt his words, but how could she not? "Then explain what he meant by ‘regular'."

Viper drew in a deep breath and looked beyond her—something he often did when she asked him questions. "Some secrets aren't only mine to share, you get me?" he asked, his eyes returning to hers. "If you react badly, if you tell others, a lot of people could be affected. Even killed."

Ella's skin chilled at the grave note to his voice. He wasn't being dramatic here. This whole ‘regular' thing was strongly linked to one of the things he'd so far kept from her. "Those people being your brothers," she guessed.

"They rely on me to keep them safe."

Ella licked her lips, only then becoming aware that her sister and Dice had fallen silent. She looked their way. He was rubbing at his nape while Mia—who'd now also dropped her glamor—stood with her hands on her hips, her chin up in challenge … as if daring him to cough up a truth he clearly felt compelled to keep quiet.

"Ella," Viper said, pulling her attention back to him. "I promise you, baby, I have not betrayed you. Never would."

"I want to believe that."

"Then believe it," he implored, his eyes delving so deep into hers it was hard to hold his gaze. " Trust me ."

"Why? You don't trust me, or you would just be honest with me here and now about what Prophet meant." She paused. "I guess this answers the question of whether or not you always planned to keep me ignorant. If you're ever willing to share anything with me, now would have been the time to do it." She pulled her face free of his hands and whirled, meaning to walk out.

Power rushed through the room. The door slammed shut. The lock flicked. A growl sounded behind her. Mia sucked in a breath. Dice cursed low.

Ella furiously spun back to face Viper … and froze. His eyes had changed, becoming all white. A white so pure it faintly glowed.

What the fuck?

Her skin prickled as the temperature dropped … much in the same way it did when a person's inner demon surfaced. But what stared back at her was not a demon. Nor was it Viper. Something lived inside him. Something not anything close to holy—a strange sort of malice oozed from it.

Her demon should have been unnerved. Instead, it was plain intrigued, the weirdo.

Mia's mind touch hers. What is happening? she asked.

I have no clue , Ella replied, swallowing hard.

The entity cocked its head. "You're wary of me," it noted. "There's no need for fear. I'd never harm you. If it makes you feel better, I promised Viper I wouldn't."

It was a little worrying that Viper had felt a need to extract such a vow. "Do you always keep your promises?"

"No." But the entity didn't appear to see why she might not feel so reassured.

Oookay.

"He's telling you the truth," it went on. "There was no betrayal."

"Why won't he explain what Prophet meant?"

"He doesn't have your full trust, loyalty, or commitment. He has no surety that you will hold your silence. In his position, would you so easily confess a secret that keeps many safe?"

Well, no.

"Maybe you can be trusted to say nothing, but there are ways of extracting information from people. For instance, I could enter your mind, take out anything I wanted—even the memory of this conversation; you'd never know we'd had it."

She went cold all over.

"But I won't," said the entity. "Instead, I propose a geas. You would promise to never repeat what you are told, and you would be bound to silence by his power. It would also mean that no one could take the information from your mind—the geas would keep it hidden from prying psychic eyes."

Ella blinked, having not expected such a suggestion. She'd heard of geasa, of course, but she'd never had reason to use them. Considering that death was often the infraction for violating such oaths, the idea had never appealed to her. "I wouldn't be bound to my word. Geasa can be broken."

"Not those put in place by celestial power."

Fair enough.

"We can do something similar with a spell," Mia told the entity. "The magick would bind us to our vow to never repeat whatever we hear."

The entity considered it for a moment but then shook its head. "Another incantor could undo it."

"We overlay our spells with wards so they're not easily untangled."

"But they can be untangled, can't they? I have witnessed many be destroyed or nulled." The entity pinned Ella with a serious look. "You would have to agree to a geas … or walk out of this club, out of his life, and never know what he might have told you. Never know that he was, in fact, telling you the truth."

Mia telepathed her again, asking, What do you think?

I'm not crazy about being under a geas , Ella replied, but it's not as if I'd reveal what they told us anyway, so it doesn't make much difference.

You make a very good point. A sigh. All right, I'll agree to it.

"A geas it is," said Ella.

Triumph momentarily rippled across the entity's face. "Right decision." It retreated, and Viper's eyes went back to their normal startling blue. Eyes that then intently watched her … as though he were searching for signs of revulsion on her part.

He wouldn't find any. Hey, she was leery of his entity, but not repulsed. It would have been hypocritical if she were, given that she had her own inner entity.

An awkward silence fell, but Mia quickly broke it, saying, "Well that I hadn't expected." She looked at Dice. "Do all angels have inner entities?"

"Yes," Dice grunted.

"Why do you keep it secret?" Mia asked him. "It's not that big of a deal. We demons have our own entities—we wouldn't be spooked."

"But your kind would be surprised," Dice rightly stated. "They think they have the Fallen figured out; that they know all they need to know about us. If they realize they don't, if they realize we kept something like this from them, they'll wonder what else they don't know. We don't want their scrutiny."

Viper drowned out the conversation between his brother and Mia, focusing instead on his woman. She was watching him, her eyes slightly narrowed—not in suspicion, fear, or distrust. It seemed more as though she felt she was seeing him for the first time.

Fuck Prophet for being so damn careless. The angel had telepathically apologized mere moments after fleeing, but Viper wasn't feeling all that forgiving.

Prophet had known that the sisters were in the club. Okay, so he wouldn't have seen through their glamor. But he surely would have sensed that two people were close behind him.

Neither Viper nor Dice had asked to be notified if people they regularly fed from arrived. Still, if Prophet had really felt the need to inform them, he could have done it mind-to-mind. Instead, he'd come to the office—not entered, just stuck his head inside and kept the door partially open—and spoken aloud without a thought to whom could be nearby.

If Viper didn't know any better, he'd think that Prophet had planned for the sisters to overhear.

Either way, Viper could honestly pummel him into the ground and think nothing of it. He telepathically reached out to Dice, saying, That was careless of Prophet. Careless in a way that makes me a little suspicious.

Dice's psyche bumped his. You think he knew they were close enough to overhear him?

It's possible. He knew the sisters were here; would have guessed it was them on the way to the office—and I find it hard to believe he didn't notice them.

Viper had been mindful of each step he took with Ella. It was a precarious dance that required him to get the timing, moves, and balance just right. And Prophet might have just fucked it all up.

Viper hadn't intended to tell her about his ‘diet' yet. His original plan had been to wait until she was firmly attached to him before he told her anything. He'd decided to spoon-feed her the things he needed to reveal as he established his place in her life. Spacing it all out, giving her time to process each reveal before moving onto another, would make it easier for her to digest it all.

She'd begun to care for him. He knew that; felt it. But she didn't yet love him, so he couldn't be sure that his upcoming confession—he really had no choice but to make it or he'd lose her—wouldn't scare her off. He couldn't predict her reaction.

Ella was, by nature, a compassionate and accepting person. The qualities were stamped on her soul. She didn't judge unless it was deserved. And his entity felt confident that she wouldn't hold their diet against them. Viper? He wasn't so confident. Because it was a fuck of a lot to accept—and it was only the tip of the iceberg.

At least she hadn't walked out. Or, as it were, tried to. No amount of magick would open the door now that his entity had locked it.

She hadn't tried, though. She wasn't announcing an intention to leave. And she didn't appear to have closed her mind to whatever Viper might say.

He took a slow step toward her, pleased she didn't tense or back away. "You're sure about the geas?"

She gave a decisive nod. "Positive."

It was a good thing for them all, since his entity had been bluffing when it said she could either agree or walk out of his life—it wouldn't let her go. Neither would Viper. Not for anything.

He held out his hand, relieved when she took it without hesitation. "You swear not to repeat what Dice and I tell you?"

"I swear," she replied, her pulse beating fast in her neck.

Viper let a burst of his power blast into her system in a cold, electric wave that made her suck in a breath. The power writhed and glowed beneath the skin of her hand as it bound her to the vow she'd just made. And then it settled, the glow fading.

He released Ella's hand, watching her carefully. She idly rubbed at her palm, staring at him in a sort of awed caution. Not fear, though, thankfully—he couldn't have hacked that.

He arched a questioning brow at Mia, who dipped her chin and stuck out her own hand. He pressed his palm to hers and demanded the same promise of her. Mia gave it easily, and he then used his power to hold her to her word, much as he'd done with Ella.

As he dropped her hand, Mia flinched back with a blink. "Your power is, like, wow ."

Viper leaned back against his desk. "Try not to judge me and my brothers too harshly for choosing to fall even knowing what the cost to us would be."

Ella's brow creased. "Cost?"

Slanting his head, he said, "Your entity is a sort of inner darkness, isn't it? Mine was once an inner light. But that changed."

"Changed how?" Ella asked.

"What lives in me, in Dice, in my brothers … those entities feel no joy. No contentment. No peace. Their emotional spectrum ranges from dark to darker. The nearest thing they feel to happiness is a shallow sense of satisfaction, which they usually only experience at the expense of someone else's pain or discomfort or humiliation."

Damn , thought Ella. Her demon was an utter psychopath. It felt no remorse, empathy, or love. But it could experience some positive emotions, and not all were shallow.

"One feeling overrules all others for us and our inner entities." He fixed his gaze with hers, demanding her focus. "Thirst."

Ella's scalp tingled as wariness danced in her veins. "Thirst for what?"

He waited a few beats. "Blood."

She stared at him numbly, aware of her sister drawing in a shocked breath.

"The Fallen are cursed—quite literally—to subsist on blood as well as food and water," said Viper, his expression carefully blank. "We go from virtuous beings to decadent creatures. It's why they call it a fall from grace. This is our punishment."

Well, shit. Nothing could have prepared her for this revelation. There'd been no clues, no hints, no rumors. And who would ever think that freaking angels would be doomed in such a way, fallen or not?

Her chest panged with sympathy. Maybe she should have recoiled in horror—it would certainly be understandable—but it was impossible when he looked so damn tense, clearly braced for revulsion and rejection.

To have to survive on the life-force of others … Ella couldn't imagine what kind of existence that would be. She only knew she'd hate it.

Mia narrowed her eyes. "Do you generally kill those you feed from?"

It was Dice who answered, "Not unless it's during battle."

"I never heard any rumors about how the Fallen might drink blood," Mia said. "Not even a few whispers about it. How are you forcing people to keep it quiet if you're not killing those whose blood you take?"

"They don't remember us taking it," Dice explained. "We can rid them of the memory, and we heal the puncture wounds."

"None of us like our new reality," said Viper. "We were prepared for it. For the cravings, the bloodlust, the unquenchable hunger. But we quickly came to see that there is no real way to prepare yourself for this life. You're a parasite, plain and simple."

Ella's heart ached for him. To consider yourself a parasite, to feel that you'd been reduced to such a creature … It would be a mindfuck for sure. He must have had one hell of a good reason to choose to fall.

"We make the best of it," Viper continued. "It's all we can do."

"We also have ironclad rules," Dice added. "We never make the feeding painful. We never drink from the young, the ill, or the weak. And we never take more blood than we need."

"Unless, of course, there's a battle—then all bets are off," Viper tacked on.

As the puzzle pieces knitted together, Ella said, "The brunettes at the bar are people you feed from routinely, aren't they? That's why Prophet called them your regulars."

"Yes," Viper verified. "But let me be clear. I don't fuck the people I feed from, Ella. I take their blood and walk away. That's it."

"Same goes for me," Dice told Mia.

Ella rubbed at her face, considering all they'd told her. She was a little thrown by it. She recalled once catching a glimpse of one of the Black Saints in a shadowy alcove, his mouth on the neck of a woman—she'd thought they were just having a little sexual fumble, hadn't once guessed there was more going on.

Though Viper had talked of how sharing his secrets presented risks to his brothers, she'd half-thought he might be making excuses. But no, it truly was risky. There had once been a few blood-drinking breeds of demon. Feeding on life had made them tremendously powerful. Other demonic breeds hadn't liked that, so they'd wiped them out. They would do the same to the Fallen for certain.

"I see why you held this stuff back. If it got out, you'd all be hunted and killed." It wasn't only his brothers at risk, since … "Any members of the Fallen worldwide would be tracked and executed."

"That's the reason for the geas," said Viper. "It's not that I don't trust you. I just needed the extra bit of insurance. No truth spell or hypnotic energy could force the information out of you—you're literally unable to share it."

"I actually feel better knowing that. I was put under a truth spell once. It was horrible."

His expression went dark. "The fuck? Who did it?"

"It was a long time ago. I was just seventeen. My cousin thought it would be funny to embarrass me by making me blurt out all kinds of private stuff." Secret crushes, her menstrual cycle, the joys of masturbation, what powers she possessed. Hearing herself so casually spill it all, completely helpless to stop it, had been an instance of pure horror. "It's all right, I got my revenge."

"I don't doubt it." He paused, his eyes drifting over her face. "You're taking all of this better than I thought you would."

Her brow furrowed. "Hey, look, it's not exactly happy news. But it's not your fault. Yes, you made the decision to fall, but you didn't ask to be cursed. You don't kill who you feed from. You don't take the blood of those who are young or vulnerable. You make the best of a shitty situation. The only people I'm disgusted at are those who created the curse."

Viper felt some of the tension drain from his muscles. She wasn't running. Wasn't judging. Wasn't going to reject him.

His entity cast him an I told you so smirk, the smug fucker.

"What happens if you resist drinking blood?" Mia asked Dice, the threads of anger gone from her voice; replaced by compassion.

"We go into bloodlust. That happens, we're isolated until it passes." Dice held his hand out to Mia. "Can we go somewhere to talk? Alone?"

Mia's mouth went tight, but then it relaxed. She placed her hand in his. "Okay." She looked at Ella, her brow flicking up.

Ella gave her a subtle nod, and Viper sensed they were speaking telepathically.

The other couple then left, leaving him and his woman alone.

Viper pushed away from his desk and cautiously approached her, alert for signs that she needed a little space. But she didn't seize up or frown or back away. Her expression was pensive. "What're you thinking?" he asked.

"I'm wondering"—she tilted her head—"if you've fed from me."

"I haven't, no. But I want to." His reply was frank. Unapologetic. Edged with a sexual undertone that he hadn't been able to suppress.

"Why haven't you? You could have made me forget."

"I want you to give me your blood of your own free will. Or not at all."

The line between her brows smoothed away. "But you take blood from others without their permission."

"They don't belong to me. You do." The knots in his gut fell away when she didn't object to that. It meant they hadn't gone a step backwards.

"How often do you have to feed?"

"At least weekly." For his brothers, it was daily. But they weren't archangels.

"Do you make the bites pleasurable?"

"I personally don't, no. We can if we want to, though. Some do. Some don't. Some do it occasionally. Our inner entities generally don't like us to make it pleasurable, being cruel as they are. Though my entity would be different with you. It likes you." Just the mere thought of tasting her blood again made Viper's cock stir.

"You told me a lot tonight, but there's more you're keeping from me—if the rumors about you are true, why you fell from the upper realm, and … something else. Something bigger. I can feel it."

He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Another time, I'll tell you the rest."

"Why not now?"

"I don't want to pile everything on you at once. My tale is a long story with several moving parts—a lot to take in and process."

Her eyes went slitted. "That's not the only reason you're holding back. Admit it, you're stalling."

Viper slid one hand up to palm the side of her neck. "Be fair, baby," he said, his tone soft. "You're asking me to tell you my deepest, darkest secrets. And you're asking me to do it merely to appease your curiosity. I need the certainty that you're not going anywhere before I lay it all out. You can't give me that yet, can you?"

Her head flicked to the side. "You don't want me to go anywhere?"

"Of course I fucking don't."

She licked her lips, something warm flashing in her gaze. "We suck at keeping things simple, don't we?"

"We do." They had in her previous life as well, their connection too intense; a connection that ran soul-deep. Humming, he delved a proprietary hand into her hair and loosely fisted it. "So I'm thinking I should keep you. It makes sense, since I'd want to rip out the throat of anyone who touched you."

She gave him a wan smile. "Seems we have a bit of a conundrum, then. You're hesitant to tell me until you're confident I'm sticking around, which I get … but I can't fully commit to you when there's so much I don't know."

Viper had figured as much, hence why he was intent on reeling her so far in she'd never think of walking away. "For now … I say we keep going as we are. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Like you said, we suck at keeping things simple. So let's complicate them a little."

"In what way?"

"We stop calling what we have an arrangement or a fling and call it what it really is."

Her mouth quirked. "A relationship."

He nodded, relieved she'd admitted it. "It might not have been in your original plans, but it's what we have. So let's just keep building on it."

Her throat bobbed. "Okay."

Feeling his lips bow up, he lowered his face to hers. "Good." He gave her a quick kiss. "What's with the frown?"

"I'm worried that others might find out your secret. You're sure you can keep it under wraps?"

"My kind have been doing it since they first fell eons ago."

"But with the technology we have today, it isn't so easy to keep secrets. Everyone's a photographer in this day and age, thanks to the cameras on their cell phones."

"Which is why my brothers and I only feed here in the club. It reduces the risk of anyone seeing anything they shouldn't, as does the fog and the darkness. You ever tried to snap a picture in the club? They always come out fuzzy and staticky."

"Hmm, I haven't actually attempted it. That you guys are powerful enough to render cameras useless is impressive." She cocked her head. "What about when you feed during battle? That must pose risks."

"Some people found out our secret that way, but none who would tell. They're allies, and they have their own secrets to protect. Secrets we learned and could expose if they crossed us." He stroked her hair. "I'm sorry you found out this way. I didn't want that. It never occurred to me that one of my brothers would let it slip like that, so I thought I had time." Time to rehearse what he'd say, plan where and when he'd tell her.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Did he let it slip on purpose?"

She was sharp, his woman. "I don't know. It's possible. I'll find out for sure once I talk to him. Right now, I'm only interested in you."

"I'm fine. Really. I mean, it was obviously a shock. But I can deal. I'm not going anywhere. It's not like you drink blood for shits and giggles. That would be weird."

"Just weird?" he asked, feeling his lips twitch.

"Okay, weird and gross and the ultimate bad habit. Many other adjectives would also apply. But the truth is you have no choice." She stared at him for long moments, a series of emotions flickering fast behind her eyes. "Do you have to feed tonight?"

He stilled. "I'll have to do it tomorrow at the latest."

She scratched the back of her head, pulling a face.

"What's wrong, baby?"

Her arm flopped to her side. "I don't like the thought of you feeding from other people."

"I told you, I don't fuck them, Ella. I make it quick and clinical."

"I still don't like it."

"I get it. In your shoes, I wouldn't like it either. But it's that or bloodlust."

"Or … " She trailed off and rolled her shoulders. "Or you could feed from me."

He stiffened in surprise, his throat burning with thirst at the suggestion alone. His entity smirked once more. "Be careful what offers you throw around, Ella. You need to be damn sure of what you're saying. You offer your blood to me, I'll take it. And if you regret it afterwards, it'll be a punch to the gut for me."

Her tongue slipped out to nervously touch her bottom lip. "You bit me once. Well, it wasn't so much a bite, but you cut my lip when we kissed."

"Not on purpose."

"You scrape your teeth on my neck a lot."

"Teasing myself with what I can't have, hoping that might one day change." He slid his palm from the side of her neck to her nape. "But we're not gonna discuss it any more tonight. You're going to take time to think about it. Really, really think about it. I want you to be sure all the fucking way."

"All right."

"Good." Tugging her closer with the hand gripping her nape, he looped his free arm around her.

"This club … you opened it to reel in possible prey."

He couldn't help but smile. "Clever girl. It's better this way. We confine our feeding to the one place. Innocents don't come here. Only those who are drawn to darkness and sin."

" I'm not."

"Sure you are. You're drawn to me, aren't you?"

She inclined her head, her lips curving. "Point well made."

"It is. Now kiss me."