I laughed again, and more tension left me.
He kissed me, quickly and deeply. “I love that sound.”
“I can tell,” I breathed.
His lips curved into a smile against mine. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“Well, I haven’t told you everything.”
“I don’t think anything could shock me more.” He kissed my cheek.
“Peanut was Michael. Or is my father.”
Zayne sat back.
“My father is Peanut,” I repeated. “He’s been Peanut this whole time. A figment of his...younger years, or a manifestation. Something extremely bizarre and confusing.”
“What?”
I nodded. “You heard me right. It was the only way he could be a part of my life,” I told him, exhaling roughly, and then I told him everything my father had told me.
It all sounded just as ridiculous coming out of my mouth.
“Okay. You were right,” Zayne said when I finished. “That is... I don’t even know what to say.”
I snorted.
“But didn’t he often walk...in on me while I was showering?” Zayne asked.
I cringed. “He claims it wasn’t anything creepy and that he didn’t do it half the times he said he did, but yeah, I don’t know.”
“I’m just not going to think about that.”
“Probably for the best.”
He smoothed a hand along my cheek, catching the strands of my hair. “What do you think of all of this?” He pressed a small kiss to the corner my lip. “How do you feel?”
“I... God, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve even begun to process any of it,” I admitted, toying with the edges of his hair. “Especially how much Michael...my father has done for me. How much I never knew, and here I was, hating on him—hating on him to Peanut. And that makes me feel like a grade-A douche.”
“Don’t feel like a grade A-douche,” he told me, and hearing him say that made me crack a grin. “I think he understands why you felt the way you did. He’s your father. He loves you.”
“He does,” I whispered, blowing out a deep breath as I lifted my gaze to Zayne. There was a lot going on in my head, but I would have... I would have forever to process through it all. “We defeated Gabriel.”
“We did.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “We saved the Heavens.”
“And God saved mankind.”
“I think we also get some credit for that.” His lips brushed over my brow. “Lucifer disappeared again.”
“That was Michael,” I said, wondering if I would ever stop feeling weird calling him my dad or my father. “He’s being escorted back to Hell. By the way, how did you know I was here?”
“After Lucifer vanished, Grim showed up.” He pressed his lips to my temple. “Told me I would find what I was looking for if I returned home. I knew he had to be talking about you even if I was too afraid to hope.”
I rested my forehead to his. “I heard you demanded that Lucifer bring me back and then called for Grim. I hate that you had to go through that.”
“What you went through when I died was far worse. Yeah, those minutes felt like an eternity for me, but you had days.” He curled his hand around the back of my neck. “But we don’t have to worry about that happening again. We’re together now.”
“Forever.”
“Forever,” he repeated, kissing me softly.
I smiled. “We need to let the others know I’m okay.”
“We will.” His hand slid down my spine as his wings opened. “But not right now. I have different priorities that involve you and me, and I do not care how selfish it makes me.”
My breath caught as his hand slipped over my hip. “I think I like it when you’re selfish.”
Zayne stood with me in his arms. “You’re going to love it by the time I’m through with you.”
And he wasn’t wrong.
At all.
In our bedroom, under the glow of the Constellation of Zayne, we didn’t just make love to one another. We showed each other as we undressed. It was in every brush of our skin and every teasing, lingering touch. Love shone with each kiss and soft sigh, and it was in full display as our bodies joined together, unable to miss as we moved together, fueled by the knowledge that we had a lifetime—several of them—of this, of love and acceptance, respect and passion. And still, somehow, even that didn’t feel like enough time.
It was afterward, while I was sprawled across his chest and one wing was draped over my back, that Zayne asked, “Do you know what will happen with your vision?”
“I don’t know. I asked, but he didn’t know, either. There’s a possibility the death of the cells could’ve stopped or it will continue. It’s a wait and see game.”
“Like before.”
“Yep.”
He continued tracing idle circles along my upper arm. “Either way, you got this.”
I grinned. “We got this.”
“We do.” He stretched his neck and kissed the top of my head. Several moments of silence passed. “Did I ever tell you what Heaven smelled like to me?”
I lifted my head, searching to find his features in the dim light. “No, you didn’t.”
“Jasmine,” he said. “Heaven smelled like jasmine.”
It took me a moment—okay, it probably took longer than it should for me to get that, but then I did. “My body wash is jasmine.”
“I know,” he confirmed. “Heaven smelled like you.”
My heart skipped and danced a little jig. “I love you.”
We kissed and then we spent the rest of those softly lit hours showing each other once again just how much we loved one another.
* * *
“Never did I think I’d be at a cookout with demons,” Jada said as she dropped onto the picnic table beside me the next evening. She shook her head. “Hell, I never thought I’d see Wardens and demons hanging out.”
We were gathered at Roth and Layla’s place, in their backyard by an extravagant pool fitting of a...demonic prince. The thing had a rock waterfall! “And don’t forget fallen angel.” I knocked my shoulder against hers as my gaze flicked to Zayne. He stood on the patio near the pool, talking with Ty and Roth.
I was shocked to have seen Ty show up and even more surprised when he shook Roth’s and then Cayman’s hand upon meeting them. And I might’ve stopped breathing a little when Nicolai arrived with Danika and Dez, who’d brought his wife. The fact that the head of the DC clan would come and bring two females with them was astonishing. Yeah, the two male Wardens didn’t indiscriminately hate demons, but that also didn’t mean they hung out with them.