A slow smile spread across her face. “When did you get so wise?”

“Recently. Very recently.” I gave her a tight hug.

Natalie told me that hate makes you stronger, love makes you weaker.

I couldn’t have disagreed with her more.

“Well, good.” Her voice trembled as she stroked my hair. “Because that all could have just gone very badly. I imagined several outcomes, you know.”

“This outcome is a good one.”

She nodded and gave me another quick hug before we both went into the house. I closed the door behind us.

“Feel like pizza?” she asked. “I’ll order one. It’s not too late.”

“Make it a large? Can we get wings, too?”

“No problem. Pizza and wings.” She turned toward the kitchen to grab the phone, but looked over her shoulder at me. “Lock the door while we’re waiting. Can’t be too careful. This city is getting more and more dangerous every day.”

A chill went through me as I turned the lock and pulled the safety chain over. “You’re right. You can never be too careful.”

She had no idea what was lurking out there. No idea what her adopted daughter really was. But she was safe from me. With everyone else—there were no such guarantees.

I needed time to deal with what had happened to Carly. I needed to find Stephen and get the chance to recover my soul—and hers. I had to figure out what it meant to be an honorary team member in a group of angels and demons who were currently trapped in Trinity and tasked to protect the city.

I also had to deal with the fact that I’d fallen in love with a fallen angel—one with an extremely scary and deadly past—and if I ever kissed him again I could destroy him completely.

Yes, those were some serious problems I had to deal with very soon.

At the moment, however, all I really wanted to think about was pizza.