Bind Me To You

Chapter Ten

Those two words were all she needed to convince herself to sign the contract. She didn't need the other trivial questions answered, she didn't need to know if he was innately good or bad. He would protect her, he would stand beside her. Nobody would be able to hurt her again.

"Bind me to you... So that I can keep my promise".

Avery's heart skipped as she gave him a small nod. A smile reappeared on Azrael's lips as he looked down at Avery, pleased that she had finally agreed.

Azrael reaches down to hook his fingers under the rim of his shirt, lifting the material up, revealing the inked skin of his hips.

"W-wait!" Avery stuttered, putting her hands out to shove the demon back, "What are you doing?". Quickly finding that her human strength could not move the demon standing before her, Avery quickly turned away from the boy who was about to strip before her eyes.

Azrael couldn't help but smirk at her outburst, his eyes watching her as he tugged the black shirt over his head, discarding it on the floor haphazardly. The sound of clothing hitting the floor sent a shiver through Avery. The demon stepped behind the blonde, leaning down to whisper against her ear, "The binding ritual... Did you forget?".

These words left goosebumps as Azrael's breath brushed against the exposed skin of her neck, lighting a fire within her that she hadn't ever felt before. A bright blush turning her cheeks rosy pink, "D-don't I just sign the contract?".

Azrael chuckles at this question, leaning away from the young girl and turning to walk towards her desk. "I thought that you had read that thing at least fifty times, did you not read the agreement clause?". His words echoed through the room as Avery drew a blank. She had been so careful to read each section and subsection so meticulously that she had just assumed that she would only need to sign the paperwork to make it official.

Avery turned to look at the demon who leant over her desk, opening the top draw and rummaging through the stationary that she kept in it. Her eyes widened as she noticed his shirtless form. He was muscular, his inked skin moving flawlessly over the padded muscle and indent of his spine. Two small dimples present just before the black denim of his jeans swallowed him.

She could see that the vines that ran up his chest and behind his ear disappeared into his hair. Another long vine began at the nape of his neck and ran straight down his spine. Toward the middle of his back this vine split either side, joining with the tattoos that ran around the length of his arm just before the elbow.

Avery had taken so long examining him that she had forgotten to answer his question. He turned to look at her, a smirk graced his lips as he caught the mortal eyeing his body.

Avery jumped, turning her back to the demon as her cheeks flushed into a deep red. She brought her hands to her chest, feeling her heart pounding beneath her shirt. She felt nothing but pure adrenaline running through her as she tried to calm her breathing.

"Do you like what you see?"

Azrael's voice had returned to her ear as a whisper, causing her body to jolt forward in shock, distancing herself while refusing to turn and look.

The demon's eye gazed over the nervous mortal standing in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back. He caught his lower lip between his teeth letting a quiet groan escape, eyeing the blush that had flooded all the way up to her ears and getting lost in the pure innocence that emanated from her.

Avery struggled to catch her breath. She let out a gasp, her lips parting as she tried to calm herself. "I-I didn't see anything..." she lied, glancing down at the wooden planks below her. She lowered her arms to her side to tried and act as though she was unaffected, but both she and Azrael knew that wasn't the case.