Azrael offers me a soft smile, his voice husky from disuse.
“Good morning, gorgeous.”
Merely laying eyes on this male has made me parched, and I’m forced to lick my dry lips.
The audacity of this male to be so handsome that it can affect one’s physiological state.
“Good morning. How’d you sleep?”
“Like a babe. And you?”
“Like the dead.”
He smirks.
“Where’s Levi?”
“Outside.”
A distantthunkis heard in the distance as confirmation.
A corner of his mouth twitches as his gaze returns to the pancake he expertly flips in the pan.
Thunk.
I narrow my eyes at him before making my way towards the front door. He couldn’t possibly be...
Thunk.
My hand closes around the doorknob. I should have braced myself properly, but my mind would not have been able to grasp the sights awaiting me on the other side.
Thunk.
I swing open the front door, and in the same moment, my jaw hits the floor. Hanging upside down from a high branch of my seldew tree is an enormous gangalarous, bound by its giant, rabbit-like legs, lethal horns scraping the ground beneath its head.
Already skinned and gutted, the fur hangs beside it, drying. How Levi managed to catch it, I cannot fathom, but I also cannot find the will to inquire at this particular moment. As though drawn by some irresistible gravitational force, my gaze lands on a shirtless, sweaty Levi just as he raises my axe above his head.
Time seems to distort as I am instantly mesmerized by the sight of his thick, tattooed muscles shifting, stretching, and contracting.
Levi brings the axe down with a quick burst of strength, splitting the large stump of wood in twain.
Sacred Fu?—
A suicidal insect flies into the back of my throat just as I remember to inhale. I am instantly overcome by a coughing fit.
Levi turns, face contorted with concern as he sets the axe down and jogs towards me.
“Jesus Christ, Vi. Are you okay?”
No.
I force myself to nod, attempting to turn away from him, as water streams from my eyes, and I proceed to hack up the remains of whoever attempted to make my lungs their personal fucking mausoleum. Levi’s large hand pats my back.
And just when I thought my humiliation couldn’t get any greater, Azrael appears in front of me.
“Hellish fuck, Violette, I didn’t think it would kill you.”
Bastard.