Free Binding Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys of the Underworld Book 3) by Mallory Crowe

sent to Heaven or Hell. If she did enough work for the angels, she would get a second chance at her life to make good and earn her way into Heaven.
    Ava had done her best to protect Samuel, motivated more so by her growing love for him than her desire to be free from Purgatory, but it hadn’t been enough. Eventually it was too dangerous for Ava, and Muriel stepped in to save them both. She managed to keep them safe but lost her wings in the process. Then Kier interfered.
    “What do you know about the apocalypse?” she abruptly asked.
    “The general stuff. End of the world with Hell being released on Earth for all eternity.”
    He was mostly right. The apocalypse was when God would effectively end the world, bringing all the righteous into Heaven and abandoning the rest to Hell. Most of the citizens of Hell were not too happy about this. They liked Earth and having their pick of mortals to choose from.
    Hell wasn’t known for being pleasant. Most demons spent a majority of their time above ground to get away from it. The current king, Azazel, figured out a way around it. He was slowly destroying the barriers between the Hell and Earth realms. If enough of the walls were destroyed, the realms would completely merge. All of the demons, ancient beasts and the more modern ones like Kier, would be free to walk the Earth.
    It might sound good on paper to a demon, but demons fed on human souls. They had a vested interest in keeping the human population elevated. Azazel didn’t care how many of his demons would starve. As king, he fed off corrupt souls. Every time one of his demons dragged a mortal further into depravity, Azazel got a power boost. He would never starve or fight over food. He had seen to that the moment he stabbed Lucifer through the heart.
    God, although not taking an active role, had not abandoned the Earth. He gave about ten mortals across the globe the gift of prophecy. Those prophets led Muriel to Samuel. She had been told that Samuel’s life would stop the apocalypse. He must live.
    There was no actual time limit. Samuel was mortal, so he would die eventually. Until then, all angels were on high alert to keep him safe. The night he came closest to dying was the night Kier forced his blood down her throat.
    “How do you feel about it?” she asked with narrowed eyes.
    “You think I’m working with Azazel?”
    “I know that you work for him. I want to know if you agree with him,” she said. “You didn’t seem too supportive of Samuel the last time we met.”
    “I work for myself. What I did that night was purely to advance myself. It had nothing to do with Samuel or Azazel.”
    Muriel didn’t know why, but that made her feel better. He was already cornered by her. Did he really have any reason to lie?
    “Let’s get showered and then we can order some room service. I’m starving,” he said.
    They’d eaten just a few hours earlier while on the road, but she supposed demons had a high metabolism. Angels rarely ate. It was one of the things she actually enjoyed more about being human. She loved learning the new tastes and textures of food.
    She was pulled from her thoughts as Kier walked into the bathroom. The bathtub and shower were separate, the tub being an oversized Jacuzzi. The shower, with various sized spouts on three out of four walls, looked like some elaborate torture chamber.
    “What is that?” she asked.
    “A shower.”
    “That’s not like any shower I have ever seen.”
    He smiled at her. “I thought you were older than me. I still have so much to teach you.” She narrowed her eyes at the idea of him teaching her anything. “Take your shirt off for me, Muriel,” he commanded.
    With those few words, the tone in the bathroom shifted. “I’m not doing anything for you,” she protested.
    Kier stepped in closer and his hand fell on the flared curve of her waist. His touch was so light, she almost couldn’t feel him, but she was all too aware of his body so close to hers.